This month Dick Vincent is our guestblogger. His illustrations can be found in our new Sketchbook (now available for pre-order) and the Flow Journal Pack.
This weekend I had the fortunate opportunity of having a stall at Manchester Print Fair peddling my wares. As an illustrator who prefers the comfort of a home studio over a studio share this is always a great opportunity to meet up with my fellow illustrators and engage with the people who buy my work.
I’ve been selling prints/cards and other stationary on my Etsy and with various stockists for several years now, with some success, and it’s always a great feeling when people are crazy enough to give you money for your drawings, however sometimes working through the internet it can get a bit lost that you’re dealing with real people, getting out to fairs becomes more personal and adds a face to the people I speak to through my various forms of social media. As well as meeting people who are interested in my work it’s also a good opportunity to hang out with some fellow makers and as this is my 3rd time at the fair I’m starting to get to know many of the sellers and MPF is a melting pot of local talent, so I get to hang out with some super talented folks and then spend my hard earned cash buying myself stuff from their stalls.
Stall of Sophie Heywood @sophmog
Stall of Rheannon Ormond @rheannon_ormond
This particular fair takes place twice a year and always seems to be a good point in which to launch a new range of products, this time I released a new range of totes, prints and badges, all of which was very fox heavy (if you read previous post you’ll know I’m obsessed with the fox) and for the first time I collaborated with another artist, the foul mouthed embroider Leigh Jennings AKA ‘in twos and threes’ managed to stitch my ham fisted brush strokes into a cute embroidered fox.
Each time I do a fair or market I come away buzzing with new ideas and a clearer idea of the direction to take my work. The majority of fairs I’ve done are local, this is mainly because its easy and setting up a stall can always be a gamble, however I’ve always gained a positive response on my stalls and due to this I’m planning on taking my stall further a field.
Embroidery Leigh Jennings @intwosandthrees
