As you may or may not know by now, I am obsessed with being a greeting card designer. I’ve been in this biz for over 20 years and love it more with each passing year! So why am I so obsessed? Well, chances are you may be too if you’re reading this. But if you’re not there yet, or you haven’t yet considered that maybe designing artwork intended for greeting cards could be an avenue worth pursuing, I’m going to share with you some of the things that have always been major motivators for me. Hopefully some of these will resonate with you too!
Ease of Creation
The first one is honestly the ease of creation when it comes to art for cards vs some other types of painting I have dabbled in in the past. What do I mean by that? Well when making art for cards, the physical size demands are quite small. I make all of my paintings either on 9”x12” watercolor paper pads or on my iPad in Procreate. This is SO freeing compared to painting on a giant 24”x 36” canvas. I used to have to haul out a giant easel, get the canvas and paints all set up, which was a BIG to-do in my tiny apartment back in the day. And then when I started having kids, forget it! I was trying to squeeze my painting time into their unpredictable nap times. By the time I got everything set up, the baby would be awake and crying and I’d then be frantically trying to clean everything back up again having accomplished next to nothing. Or I’d stop before I even began just imagining the whole hassle in my head. With card art, this simply isn’t the case. Easy setup, easy clean-up which means low barrier to entry which equals WAY more art made. And making lots and lots of art is how we refine our craft, and continue to have new art to offer to our customers...so this is a huge win!
Makes an Emotional Impact
Cards make an emotional impact! I have received MANY emails from customers that were moved by my cards so much that they tracked me down via the copyright on the back of the card just to express their appreciation. I mean what more can you ask for as an artist...honestly! I think sometimes it feels cheesy or some people claim (or even some of us FEEL) that we’re a sell-out if we’re making something as mainstream or commercial as cards... but I completely disagree. Cards give you the ability to reach more people than many other forms of art might and create a large impact. I think of each card as dropping a ripple of joy, heartfelt empathy, gratitude, true human emotion into the world. Art should create an emotional impact and greeting cards truly do just that. Nothing cheesy about that in my book! And since I license my art to be sold as greeting cards, this means a larger volume of cards being put out into the world than if I were just selling one offs on my own, while doing less in regards to manufacturing, inventory, sales, and shipping, which means more lives touched by my art! Work smarter not harder as they say! (If learning how to license your art for cards interests you, check out my free Get Started guide if you haven’t already! )
FUN!
This may be my favorite one...this is FUN! I mean plain and simple! We are creating mini works of art that are intended to touch other people and help them celebrate joy, growth, major milestones in their lives. We are helping others express their empathy, their gratitude, their sympathy. In a world where AI is accelerating at a crazy rate, people are seeking out HUMAN connection more than ever. As greeting card artists, we are contributing to this human connection more than anything. AND at the end of the day... it’s JUST cards! When things start to feel tough, or you’re frustrated, having creative block...whatever. Take a breath, take a step back and remember. It’s just cards! This is FUN.
Image-Focused Artwork
The next thing I love about designing greeting cards is that we are using image-focused artwork. Now don’t get me wrong I love a good pattern and do create them myself, but I much prefer to create what we call hero or placement images, which are basically just stand-alone illustrations. You can and should complete your card illustrations with borders and you certainly can create coordinating patterns to broaden the future possibilities for certain designs (think re-purposing a design for use on a notebook where you may need added patterns for the inside cover etc). But when we are talking greeting cards, as we are here, the central illustration is all that is required, which to me feels very freeing. These days it feels everyone is talking surface PATTERN design only, which is great, but for me just simply isn’t where I gravitate. So if you’re like me, cards are the perfect avenue for your art!
Location Freedom
Make your work anywhere you like because you will be submitting it digitally which grants you complete location freedom. How liberating! Some days I sit at my desk and paint. Others I prefer to work on my iPad in the backyard. And if we’re traveling, I can bring my work with me. Glorious! Now I just mentioned an iPad... if you’re now worrying that you don’t own an iPad and have no desire to create artwork digitally do NOT worry. This is all a matter of personal preference! Any kind of artwork can be successfully used for greeting cards.
Recurring Income
OK and the final thing on this list, though there are honestly a million more reasons we could get into but won’t for sake of time, recurring income.
This is the beauty of royalties my friend, which is how you get paid for most art licensing deals. (***If you feel anxious when you hear “licensing deals” check out my online course which guides you through EVERYTHING you need to know to feel completely comfortable with licensing your art for greeting cards!) Let’s appreciate the beauty of creating art once, and getting paid for it on a regular recurring basis for years to come. Yes please!
Have questions on becoming a greeting card artist? Shoot me a message at michele@michelefruscianoart.com and check out my website for some great free resources as well!
Now go and MAKE. THE. ART. You can have alllll the tricks in the book, but nothing will work until you do! I believe in you!
XO,
Michele, The Greeting Card Girl