A few weeks ago my sample pack of playing cards arrived!! I’m absolutely over the moon with how they turned out, apart from a small quality issue which has now been sorted out with the suppliers… and the bulk order is now in production! I’m hoping they will arrive and be ready to sell by mid November.
Pack of cards sent off to print!!!
The last few weeks I’ve been quietly working away in order to finish the pack of cards. Despite having a lot of other work on, I set myself a strict deadline to get them done and ready to sell before the Christmas market goes crazy. I thought that this was an unrealistic expectation… but today I sent all 54 separate designs off to print!!!
Fortunately, as expected the number cards were far easier and quicker to create than the picture cards, and then all that was left were the jokers, the card backs and the box, and I’m really chuffed with how I managed to tie these all together to make what I believe is a really professional, cohesive and beautiful product!
I couldn’t wait to see the real thing so I used a mock up file to create the following images. It’s always great to have extra content to share too. On that note, I’m also pretty chuffed with my reasonably consistent upkeep on socials, mostly Instagram but some others too! By creating a few reels and engaging with the platform regularly I’ve managed to continue to slowly gain more of an audience; which will definitely be beneficial when it comes to putting the cards up for sale. I’m thinking to do a give away once they are ready, in order to start it off with a bang! See my recent videos here: https://www.instagram.com/maryflorahart/reels/
I reckon it will still be quite a while until the cards are 100% ready to go. This is down to 2 main things. Before the final order is sent, I’ll receive a sample, this is great as it allows me to pick out any tiny mistakes and make necessary changes. Additionally, as I’m on a budget, I’ve gone for economy shipping. It’s not ideal, and I know the wait will be painful, but it means I can work on other projects I’ve got going at the moment and sort all the logistics before going live with my shop again!
I have always found selling illustrated products pretty stressful, and despite being very flattered by people wanting to purchase my art, it’s not something I particularly enjoy or find very profitable. Profit however is absolutely not the goal with this project, it’s simply something I’ve wanted to do for years, I’ve poured my heart and soul into it and a I just want to share it!
Because of my previous experience with selling prints, this time round I want to make sure everything is perfect. So I’ll be going the extra mile by revamping my business card, getting stickers, tissue paper and sturdier parcels for postage and packaging, and also hopefully getting a few other smaller products ready as well as re-printing a some older work in order to make sure my shop is full of lots of options.
Knotting Hill Carnival
Throwing it back to this time last year when I worked as an in-house illustrator at the jewellery brand KIONII and we worked on possibly our funnest campaign to date, Knotting Hill Carnival! My illustrations were made for social media posts, a customer card, a website banner and a playlist cover!
Despite Carnival being cancelled that year because of COVID, it was still so much fun. I was given so much creative freedom and previously worked on a self-directed project around Knotting Hill Carnival so I was keen to give it another go with a slight change in perspective. This included creating a classy Knotting Hill interior showcasing many of the country pendants, as well as a more raunchy crop of a carnival outfit featuring different Caribbean flags as nail art.
The aim of the campaign was great fun as the whole team got involved in the festivities with contributions to the playlist, blog posts with traditional recipes and interactive polls over on our Instagram page to get our audience involved. It’s definitely a topic i know I’ll revisit soon!
