TM

I had this whole post typed out about my pricing, and how I'm proud that I've stayed consistant for almost an entire year, without having to increase or decrease my prices...and about a stupid discount program I was thinking about starting for repeat customers (as a thank you) and how it's tanking because people feel that I'm insulting them and their pocket books by not offering the discount to start with. But I'm scrapping that post for a more upbeat one!!

A Shade Better Than Stick Figures is trademarked now!!! Yeah!!! So I guess I should start labeling everything A Shade Better Than Stick FiguresTM ? I think this is the one thing I am most proud of owning. Granted it's like the "garage business", as I work out of my messy living room- which is actually a bedroom...One day I hope to have a store front...or at least my own studio. I think I would like a studio actually- one where people can pop into during the day (yes day...because by then it will be my full time job), and request drawings in person, or hang around and admire some prints of previous drawings that I've done (I won't let people watch me draw because I hate when people watch me draw- I get paranoid and can hear them in my head, judging every line and thinking to themselves- "why did she just draw it like that? Why didn't she put a line over here?" When in all actuality they are probably just watching and thinking "I wish I could draw like that" or "that's awesome!" I'm weird, the artist who doesn't want to be watched...let me blend with the wall paper folks)
I've actually been toying with the idea of seeing about renting an airconditioned storage space and "using" it as my "studio". Like going there after work and on weekends...but I don't know if they allow such madness at places like U-Store-It, or U-Haul, or any of the many storage places which all names have escaped me. It's not like I would tell people where I was, I would just use it to keep all of my drawing stuff there...and maybe actually buy a real drawing table...a nice dark cherry colored wooden drafting type table...that's adjustable...that I would be able to use in my nice clean storage unit. Where there's no tv to distract me...and maybe I would have an ipod dock, so I could turn some music on.
I know in Princeton Texas...some crazy amount of miles from my house...they have these great places that look like a storage facility, but they have a bay door, like for mechanic work, with a store front door. Some have glass front doors, others have a plain white door, everything's locked. But I have often dreamt about getting one of those so I could have art shows every once in awhile, and just open the bay door to let people in and wander around my "suite"...but it's in Princeton, and the likelyhood that I would go out there every weekend is slim to none, so it wouldn't really constitute the expense. But if they have any closer to the DFW area I might consider it.
But yeah...I dream...I dream big.

Anyway, I also wanted to say thank you to all of the many people who have helped make my first official year (technically I've been doing this since 2004, just not under the A Shade Better Than Stick FiguresTM name), with A Shade Better Than Stick FiguresTM a real adventure. Without everyone who has requested drawings there wouldn't be an A Shade Better Than Stick FiguresTM- there would just be some goofy girl with a pencil and some paper doodling. Thanks a million everyone! I hope to do business with all of you again! And I hope that you all truly love the drawings that I have done for you!!! THANK YOU!!!