What It's Really Like to Own a Clothing Line, and What I've Learned Along The Way.. Part 2
I wrapped up Part 1 touching upon creating new, seasonal lines, and the timing of it all. What I didn't talk about, was where in the world all these ideas come from, how we choose which ones make the final cut, and what it's like to be an artist/have an art based job.
Some of what I've learned about art & being an artist (which is still hard to think of myself as, although I suppose it's true) over the past few years, is that while we both have moments, hours, days, weeks, where the creativity is flowing, we can also have the same amount of time where being creative can be a struggle. I've learned that instead of straining to create something just to create it, I should take it as it comes. When I'm in a creative spurt, I try to roll with it and allow myself the time to do something with it, whether it's a primitive sketch, or a completed design. When I'm not, I try to not make myself badly about it, instead I work on another task that is equally as important to the business, like pricing new items; working on the website; working on the books and analytics of the business; or organizing the print shop.
I've discovered that I'm heavily influenced by my surroundings, that they directly affect my art and ability to create it, and so I've become very conscious of what they are. I surround myself with people that I love, I make time to be outside and be exploring, I listen to music that inspires and energizes me, you never know when inspiration may hit!
A lot of our designs reflect the immediate world around us at the time the idea came to one of us, (you can imagine where we were when the Starbuck Equestrian and Buck N' Go Nuts designs became a thought) as well as our senses of humor. Those two designs in particular were always on the "yes" list for their season for the simple fact that we thought they were clever and fun, and we couldn't think of a single horse person we knew that didn't love horses AND coffee. The Grey's Anatomy tee design hit me one evening while binge watching a show, can you guess which one? If you're a House of Pain fan you can probably guess the song that inspired the Jump Around hoodie. Our incredible ambassador team and their countries inspired our Horses Around The World design, which was one of my favorites to design because it's our love for horses that bonds us all, no matter where we're from or what language we speak.
Once the digital artwork for the whole season is complete, we start preparing to actually print onto the shirts. We start by creating screens by printing films, burning the design onto the screens, and then after testing, we print!
To Be Continued.. Part 3 focuses on what Print Day is like in the shop!
