Author Topic: Has anyone bought any design work (covers, logos,etc) from Pinterest, DeviantArt  (Read 2340 times)

Avdal

Hi everyone, long story short is basically I’m not too happy with my current places I’m promoting my design work through. Facebook and I have a complicated ‘I hate you, no I hate you more’ relationship and right now I’m writing them off because I just can’t take their toxic crap anymore so I’m looking into other options. I’m already using Twitter and Instagram with some luck though it’s slow going.

So, like the title says, have you ever bought cover/banner/logo/design-whathaveyou based off either Pinterest or DeviantArt or Etsy? Not through Pinterest or DA directly since I don’t think you can do that, but you found out about the designer via them?

Pinterest 1st. I’ve been doing a lot of research into how other designers promote themselves and a lot of them speak very highly of Pinterest. I’m not sure why, but… well enough people are swearing by it so there must be something to them? I haven’t had luck yet. I have all of 6 followers there after a month, though its a great place to find inspiration. Many of the posts I’ve seen for them are old(er) and  don’t know what to make of Pinterest. When I was looking at Pinterest advice blogs it seems like a lot of the strategy is to just pin a crazy ton all the time (could be automated) and then build up an audience with curated posts relating to the whole industry and not just the cover design niche and keep pinning at least 50+ a day. That seems like a whole hell of a lot of work which I am willing to do, but only if there’s actually an audience out there who find their designers there. Otherwise I’m just wasting effort that I could put better elsewhere, if that makes sense?

DeviantArt… TBH I don’t know that much about DA. Mixed reactions in the design community (though many of the blogs I found were from illustrators and they have their own situation going on). There are a fair number of other cover designers on there so logic would say there must also be an audience, right? If anyone has any insights it would be very helpful!

Etsy. Yeah, there are a few artists on there. It doesn’t seem very lively. I’ve heard that etsy is very hard to get the ball rolling on and it’s not necessarily the most enjoyable company to work with. However that’s offhand information from a someone in a different industry.

Any thoughts would be very helpful, I feel like I’m starting to hit a plateau and I’m not sure where to go from here
 

munboy

This doesn't have anything to do with your question, but after looking at your website, I'm just curious...Have you ever thought about expanding out of the romance covers? Your covers are absolutely stunning, but there are tons of authors out there (like myself) who write books that don't cater to the same kind of audience that your covers would attract. Have you ever thought about creating covers for books that have little or nothing to do with romance? That might be something you can look into to get off that plateau.
 
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Avdal

Oh thank you so much! I'm glad you like my covers, I work hard on them and it's been tough finding an audience. It seems like most people use facebook but I have had a ridiculous amount of problems with them so... gotta find something else.

For your question: well, yes I have certainly thought about other genres. I focus on romance because that's the genre I'm most familar with and a big part of cover design is keeping up with the latest trends (ie. mermaids are looking to make a big splash soon, pun intended) and also I have to know the tropes and be able to convey them in the cover at a small size and quickly to attract readers in with just a second's glance. Does that make sense?

BUT, I've been thinking about it. I think I'm pretty good with special effects and lighting etc so could lead to branching out into sci fi, urban fantasy, and regular paranormal (not just paranormal romance). I also know westerns and historicals well. Below are two of my historical premades and they're some of my personal favorites that I've made. I don't know how much of an audience there is for 1920s/30s period novels, but I love those covers. I hope they find a good home.

thanks for the feedback! :)


 

Denise

I check DeviantArt for illustrators, but not designers.

Designers there tend to be digital artists just stepping in the world of design. I don't know a single reputable designer who has only a DeviantArt page. That's not to say that there aren't talented designers on DA, but I think that it's not the place to find clients. You could have a page there as your portfolio, though, but you won't find clients there. Etsy is for physical goods, isn't it?

My suggestion would be Facebook and your own site. There are quite a few premade groups, and it's an easy way to get some eyes on your work. Oh, and this and other author discussion boards are also good places to find clients.

Good luck!

dgcasey

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I check DeviantArt for illustrators, but not designers.

Same here. I like to scroll through DA and look at artworks that might work as a cover for my titles and have even bought one. I do my own design work once I've found an image I like.
I will not forget one line of this, not one day. I will always remember when the Doctor was me.
"The Tales of Garlan" title="The Tales of Garlan"
"Into The Wishing Well" title="Into The Wishing Well"
Dave's Amazon Author page | DGlennCasey.com | TheDailyPainter.com
I'm the Doctor by the way, what's your name? Rose. Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!
 

munboy

Oh thank you so much! I'm glad you like my covers, I work hard on them and it's been tough finding an audience. It seems like most people use facebook but I have had a ridiculous amount of problems with them so... gotta find something else.

For your question: well, yes I have certainly thought about other genres. I focus on romance because that's the genre I'm most familar with and a big part of cover design is keeping up with the latest trends (ie. mermaids are looking to make a big splash soon, pun intended) and also I have to know the tropes and be able to convey them in the cover at a small size and quickly to attract readers in with just a second's glance. Does that make sense?

BUT, I've been thinking about it. I think I'm pretty good with special effects and lighting etc so could lead to branching out into sci fi, urban fantasy, and regular paranormal (not just paranormal romance). I also know westerns and historicals well. Below are two of my historical premades and they're some of my personal favorites that I've made. I don't know how much of an audience there is for 1920s/30s period novels, but I love those covers. I hope they find a good home.

thanks for the feedback! :)

I'd suggest looking into the best selling indie authors. Romance and paranormal romance are obviously the big ones, but other genres like sci-fi, thrillers, and fantasy sell well for us indies. Study their covers to figure out what they do to make it stand out even in thumbnail and see if you can recreate the look and feel.
 

DougM

I found an anime style artist through DevianArt. That took a long time because I was looking for a very particular style. I did the cover design myself.
 

Lorri Moulton

Very nice covers and your prices seem competitive.  I was going to suggest a Facebook group...but that doesn't seem to be an option.  Hope you'll let us know what you decide.

Author of Romance, Fantasy, Fairytales, Mystery & Suspense, and Historical Non-Fiction @ Lavender Cottage Books
 

bardsandsages

The primary issue I have had with DeviantArt in the past is that it is mostly amateurs, not in the QUALITY of the art (because there is some amazing stuff there), but the BUSINESS ETHIC. You'll find a lot of art there that is derivative of other IPs, and if you aren't personally aware of the IP being used you can get bit in the butt if you buy something there because a lot of the artists there don't know the first thing about actual copyright.

The handful of times I hired an artist on DeviantArt for a specific project, the art was either delivered late or was never completed because...reasons...because they aren't professionals and thus they don't have a lot of concern about your pesky deadlines.

I enjoy just visiting DeviantArt because there are some fabulous images there. But insofar as HIRING anyone there? I've been burned too many times to do it again.
Writer. Editor. Publisher. Game Designer. Resident Sith.
 

Writer

I've hired 3 illustrators I found through Deviant Art (2 good experiences, 1 bad) and it's definitely one of the places I look when I'm designer shopping. I do lean more toward looking there for illustrators, though, or photo manipulation so heavy it looks like illustration. For lighter, lower priced photo manipulation, I look at writers forums and recommendations from individuals.
 

Avdal

Alright, I have gotten some really interesting results so thank you everyone here (and elsewhere) who’s taken the time to respond!  I haven’t asked on twitter or instagram yet but here’s the results from here and a few other sites where I asked (so far). I’m counting the 0.5 votes as a ‘yes but with strong exceptions’:

DeviantArt: 1, 0.5, 1, 1, 0.5, 0.5, 1, 0.5, 7 total: 7
etsy 0.5
facebook 1 1 1 1 total 4
pinterest - zero
artstation 1 1 -total 2
tumblr 1
Elliquiy 1
writer boards – 1, 1, 1, 0.5 total 3.5
general word of mouth total 3

So DeviantArt and Facebook and various writer boards in that order with a few votes for other places. Interesting. I’ll ask this on twitter&instagram and I’ll be very curious to see what people say there and if it’s very different (I’ll post an update later if something changes)

What I take from these results so far is that I probably should try DeviantArt out and let’s see what happens. Several people said that they were put of from DA by unprofessional behavior so I’ll try and make my page there be extra polished and professional. Details pending. If anyone would like to share what sorts of things would make them feel more secure with hiring a DA artist it would be very helpful. Perhaps if I advertise the covers through there but then direct you to the sales page of my website? I accept both paypal and credit cards through a major provider and would that be enough for you to feel confidant in the transaction?

Next runner up is various writer boards. I’m advertising here, on dirty discourse, and kboards. So far I’ve only had one customer this way through boards, and that was through kboards. I’m a little surprised about DD since it’s primarily a romance&erotica board and I would have thought my covers would be more in demand.

Pinterest having zero kind of doesn’t surprise me. It’s a good site for inspiration but I just don’t see the angle where it can actually lead to a commercial benefit for my works. In a way I’m relieved that I can kind of let myself off the hook with this one.

For the sites that HAVE worked out,  I like Instagram though it feels like maybe I’m not doing it right. Like I see people there who have 30 posts and 1k followers (what the heck ARE these people following???) and I’m around 90 posts and 120ish followers. I have had the most luck through there though. Low followers doesn’t necessarily translate as low sales as I’ve discovered.

Twitter… yikes. Okay, on the surface it’s a dark den of auto-bots spamming ads at other auto-bots and it really seems like less than 10% of Twitter is engaging with an actual human. So much noise. But, on the other hand, I did have my highest value sale through there so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Oh and I do have my own website avdaldesigns.com. I’m just now in the process of giving it a makeover and polishing it up. I’ll post a notice here when the new shiney site is up and I hope you all will check it out :)

« Last Edit: February 13, 2019, 06:16:09 PM by Avdal »
 
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Writer

If anyone would like to share what sorts of things would make them feel more secure with hiring a DA artist it would be very helpful. Perhaps if I advertise the covers through there but then direct you to the sales page of my website? I accept both paypal and credit cards through a major provider and would that be enough for you to feel confidant in the transaction?

One thing that gives me more confidence in an artist is to see a long work history (who else they've designed for) and to see the process carefully spelled out from hire to completion. Ideally, the artist should state how payments are handled, how long the process will take from beginning to end, how many drafts are included in the price, and any other general policies. Nowadays, with some artists having gained a reputation for using photos not properly licensed, I'd want assurances about rights and licensing as well.

Also, since some artists have a tendency to be flaky on the business end, phrases like "scheduling your project" and "penciling you into my calendar" and "will begin the first week of May" are very reassuring.
 
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dgcasey

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I enjoy just visiting DeviantArt because there are some fabulous images there. But insofar as HIRING anyone there? I've been burned too many times to do it again.

That's why I don't hire anyone there, either. I look for an image that I think will make a great cover and then I write to the artist and ask them about it. Then, if they're amenable to the idea, I offer to buy it for one of my covers.
I will not forget one line of this, not one day. I will always remember when the Doctor was me.
"The Tales of Garlan" title="The Tales of Garlan"
"Into The Wishing Well" title="Into The Wishing Well"
Dave's Amazon Author page | DGlennCasey.com | TheDailyPainter.com
I'm the Doctor by the way, what's your name? Rose. Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!