Orion Lodubyal's Art and Fiction Blog

Win a paper copy of Garak actor Andrew J. Robinson's out-of-print novel, A Stitch in Time! This is the actual book / prize for the giveaway. Very good condition, but it is a used book, as this is out of print. My Twitter and Instagram ASIT International Giveaway has started with a paper copy of Andrew J. Robinson's out-of-print novel,  A Stitch in Time. This chronicles Garak's origins and post-canon life on Cardassia Prime after the Dominion War - written by the man who played Garak himself! To enter on Instagram or on Twitter: 1. Follow on Instagram @i_am_orionlodubyal   or Twitter. @orionlodubyal (You may enter on both if you have a Twitter and an Instagram account.) 2. Like and comment a Garak quote from the show or any of the novels, but not reusing a previous quote from the comments (on the #ASITgiveaway thread). 3. Retweet or share in story on Instagram for an additional entry - use #ASITgiveaway. (So, if you share on both Twitter ...

It's Black Friday week so everything is on sale! So Much Fan Art - in all the Fandoms!!! Did you know that you can follow artists on TeePublic? I haven't found a way to like or favorite particular designs I like, but I can at least make a directory of the artists I like most. If you're looking for some Fan Artists to support this holiday season, check out these TeePublic Favorites. If you create fan art on TeePublic, and you don't see your store on this list, please leave a comment and I'll I'd you to the Shop List on the right side of this blog. Keep in mind many of these artists are on multiple platforms and may have more/different merchandise there. Be sure to check out their socials and websites to find out where else you can find their work! And while you're there, please stop by my shop to see what's new! https://www.teepublic.com/user/orionlodubyal Multifandom Artists (Hannibal, Star Trek, Good Omens, Sherlock etc. etc.): Alic...

I wanted to love TeeSpring, I really did. The art placement dashboard was easy to use and the products described seemed really high quality. They are also one of the few Print-on-Demand sites that offer two-factor authentication, which made me very happy. So I loaded up some art and got started. Within two weeks, I knew this was not going to work out. Here's why. 1. Use our amazing marketing tools - after you prove you don't need our amazing marketing tools. You can't use their marketing tools, or be visible in their marketplace, until you prove you don't need their marketing tools or their marketplace. You have to drive your own sales for some unspecified number before your "Trust Score" is high enough to even appear in the site's search results. Also, they want you to "optimize your listings for search" but you can't use tags. ??? Wait, what now? Like a lot of Print-on-Demand sites (TeeFury, Threadless etc.), TeeSpring let...

The first people who support your art . . .  . . . are such treasures. The first person who liked my art and encouraged me to put it up on RedBubble. The first Patreon subscriber. The person who said my legit art (I create more conventional art on other accounts) is great, but I really love your trashy fan art. Those people keep you going through the times when nothing seems to sell. Your art just doesn't come out the way you want. Everything seems like such a struggle. And then you remember those first people who helped you change course and believe in yourself. Just wanted to say, I love you for being the sort of people who reach out to artists - and for encouraging me to keep making art, and keep reaching out to other artists. Y'all rock. That's all.

Now for the dark side: When you know your art isn't going to get approved but you want to sell it anyway.  I am not saying anyone should do this or that it's a good idea or that it's a respectable thing to do. It is very much in the gray area of what is "allowable". Print-on-demand sites let a lot of stuff slide because if you aren't "trading on the brand's name", the brand isn't likely to notice or, in some cases even care.  It's very simple, but not without risk. Proceed with caution (and for godsake back up your artwork!) Don't tag your art with anything the brand owns or looks for.   Don't use the brand's name, the actor's names, anything . This will make it harder to find. My Garak stuff is largely invisible because there is no "DS9", Star Trek, etc etc.  So how will people find it? They won't - unless they know to look for it. You can use fandom tags like Garashir, Spi...

One of the abstract Obsidian Order (commissioned) pieces CBS approved on RedBubble.   Another commissioned set of designs approved by CBS this week.   I finally have a handful of artwork that's been approved by CBS for sale on RedBubble! It only took 6 months, but at least now I have a better understanding of what they're looking for, and what they're rejecting. What follows is only slightly above hearsay but it's what I've learned from other Star Trek artists and from representatives at RedBubble and TeePublic (which have now merged.)   I only recently found out a lot of this stuff when RedBubble and TeePublic joined forces. TeePublic reached out to me upload my fanart over there and I asked them what the brands, particularly CBS/Star Trek was looking for. The rep actually gave me some really helpful info that isn't on the Brand Partnership page. Here's the TL;DR if you don't want to read the whole thing: Avoid actors' face...

If you see my artwork on Amazon, I did not put it there. No one on Amazon has permission to sell my art, ever. In fact, if you see an artist's work that you like on Amazon, look them up on social media or for the website on Google. Ask them if they have given permission to sell their to Amazon. I saw pages and pages of artwork that I know I've seen from artist friends' pages on Twitter. I spent all evening trying to match the artwork with the artists and let them know. For many of them, this isn't the first time, or even 5th time. They have a monthly routine of using Google image search and store name tag search to find their artwork posted in places it should be. It's a job in itself. And now it's my job too. The worst part of it was talking to Amazon's customer service rep on the phone who said, "Amazon has never had this kind of problem before." Oh really? A 2 second search on twitter yields pages of results. Then there's the BuzzFeed ...