03 April 2012

T-shirts That Sell and What I Don't Like About That

Update: The original shirt was taken down. Here are some new designs.


Currently, my income consists of making t-shirt designs.  It started a while ago when I made a t-shirt that said, "Team Guy Who Almost Hit Bella With a Car."  I had the commission set to $0.50 USD when suddenly I checked the account a couple of months later and I had $18.50 waiting for me.  I had sold 37 t-shirts!  The popularity of the shirt gradually rose and I upped my commission.

Since then, that shirt has paid for a cruise for me and now I have other t-shirts that are selling as well. Simple t-shirts, based around The Hunger Games primarily, but simple all the same.  While I wouldn't say I am making a living off of them, I am comfortably able to survive without a job at the moment (with help from my parents as well for rent, but I pay for pretty much everything else myself).

That being said... the t-shirts that I find simple and silly are the ones that are selling.  The ones that I personally like a lot better and took the time to learn how to do... are not.

For example, this is the t-shirt that I described above:


Silly right?  Yet that has by far sold the most.

Then... I have this t-shirt:


Which I think is much prettier and I spent more time working on that one (really just to learn how to do masks, but nevertheless, it took time).  Yet, I haven't sold I single one.

When I created t-shirts based on The Hunger Games, they too sold like wildfire... and it looks as though anything based on popular culture will sell very well.  Unfortunately... I don't keep up very well with it or else I would probably make a killer off of shirts.

Anywho, I suppose it is to be expected, but makes me a little sad anyways.  My generation and the generation after me are more into pop culture than art (? if I can call even the elephants that).  But, perhaps every generation is like that.  And maybe my elephants are simply ugly... who knows.

For those who are interested, here are the t-shirts that I've made.


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