Stephanie Fizer Illustration

Flourish: The Last Session

After a lot of thinking and pondering and then a bit of making up my mind and then changing it 20 minutes later, I've decided that the Summer 2011 session of Flourish is going to be the last session.  

I've found that teaching others how to get started in their creative biz has been a truly fulfilling experience.  And all the lovely ladies I've encountered along the way have been inspirational and wonderful!  

But as my own business is growing and changing, I want to get back to focusing more on illustrating and continuing to grow as an artist.  And of course, time constraints are always an issue--there are just never enough hours in the day!  When I do make time for teaching online workshops in 2012, I'm looking forward to teaching more of the creative side of things from now on!

So for now I'll be teaching one last session of Flourish this summer, with limited enrollment.  It's an open session running from June 1 to August 31, so you can progress as quickly or as slowly as you'd like because all of the course materials will be available to you right away.  And of course, I'll be manning the course forum during the entire summer, answering your questions and keeping up with your comments.  

You can find more info on this last session here. 

And even after this last official session of Flourish, you'll be able to buy the e-book version at any time.

 

Flourish e-Course Summer 2011

So inititially I was thinking that I would only offer a February session of Flourish this year, but I had so many requests from those of you who couldn't work the February session into your schedule, that I've decided to offer a special limited enrollment summer session.

This summer 2011 session will be a bit different. 

The session is going to be limited to 10-15 students only so students can get the personal attention needed during the course and so I can keep up with my regular workload.  

The session will run from June 1 to August 31 in order to accomodate vacations and other summer fun.  You'll have access to all of the course materials starting on June 1, so you can move as quickly or as slowly as you'd like.  And I'll be available to answer any questions that come up along the way.  

I'm so lucky to be doing what I love every single day, that's why I'm so passionate about getting to share my experiences with others.  I hope that my knowledge can make your journey a little simpler and I hope that I can inspire you towards taking the first steps to building your own creative business.  

If you'd like more information on the course, please read the registration info and FAQs here.

Registration Special:  Register for this course through my Etsy shop now thru Feb. 25 and use code FLOURISH10 to get 10% off your registration fee.  You must enter the code in the Shop Coupon Code box to get this discount.  

Apparently I've got the teaching bug now, I'll be announcing my new online creative workshop for self-taught artists in a few weeks as well.  If you've ever wished you could learn to draw, this might be the workshop for you ;)

 

 

Flourish e-Course: Meet Juliette Crane

Spots in Flourish are filling up--it looks like a lot of people are looking to make big changes in this new year--so I thought today I'd talk a bit about the course for those who aren't familiar with it and I'd also like to introduce Juliette Crane, who will be assisting me in this session of Flourish.

I started teaching Flourish a year ago so I could share some of my personal experiences in building a creative business.  When I first quit my day job back in 2006 with vague ideas of wanting to be an artist, I had no idea where to start or what to do.  The lack of information sort of paralyzed me and after blowing through my savings, a year later I was looking for a "regular" job again.  I didn't give up though, I put on my determined face and started doing countless hours of research on small business basics.  I worked my regular job from 8am-5pm then spent my evenings and weekends growing my little business until just a few months later I was able to leave my regular job again, this time for good.  

In the past two years and a few odd months, my illustration business has flourished beyond my dreams even and it has surprised me again and again.  And now through teaching this 5 week e-course, I'm hoping that by sharing the knowledge I've gained, I can help others create a road map to their own success.  

For 2011, the February session of Flourish--which runs from January 31st to March 4th--will be the only session I am offering.  Normally, I offer a summer session as well, but as my business has grown, my schedule has gotten a bit tighter and for the summer months I'll be offering a whole new e-course, something very creative geared towards self-taught artists.  

If you'd like to learn more about Flourish now, just click the banner to be taken to the Info & Registration page.  Or keep reading to meet the lovely girl who will be assisting me in the February session of Flourish.

Meet Juliette Crane

For this session, I've decided to do something special:  I'm bringing in an assistant teacher.  Juliette was a student of my very first session of Flourish and I'm bringing her aboard to share her own experiences with you.  So let's meet Juliette.

-Tell us a bit about yourself and your work:

I’m an artist, inspired by the little things, and love wandering forests, lounging in the tall grass, and painting in flower gardens around the world. I’m also an enthusiastic cook and would be delighted to have you over for dinner…seriously!

I've always enjoyed creating and imagining wild and beautiful things exist in our everyday world. The characters in my paintings reflect and tell the stories I imagine. I combine all sorts of materials in my artwork—glitter, origami paper, vintage sheet music and wallpaper, acrylics, pastels, pencil, ink and, most recently, loads of spray paint!

I live in Madison, Wisconsin with my husband Brian and our beautiful gardens. Throughout the year, I run my own creative business, teaching workshops, selling my artwork, and telling stories on my blog. Whenever I create something, it makes me happy and my hope is that when someone sees my artwork, they feel that happiness too.

Have you always worked as artist or did you also hold down a day job at one point?  If you had a day job, tell us about the transition from day job to fulltime creative girl.

I’ve always been doing something creative (making cards, jewelry, sewing, writing, gardening, baking), but I didn’t actually feel that mattered or that I could ever do anything with it professionally until the Fall of 2009. Earlier that year, I’d finished writing a novel for children, then lost my job as a landscaper (after a run as a freelance graphic designer and web developer), and I realized I was seriously burned out and unhappy.

I was very lucky that my husband was still working full-time, at that point, so I didn’t have to worry so much about making it all work at once. But I still dedicated myself to my creative business as if it were all I had.

During those first few months after I lost my job, I kept searching the want-ads, but after my first local art show and then while taking FLOURISH last February, I soon realized I could make the same amount selling my artwork as I could working part-time. I’d tried all sorts of other careers-website developer and programmer, journalist, floral designer, photographer, graphic designer-but none of them fit. I was seriously determined to never have to interview for another job I didn’t really care about, ever again.

You were in the very first session of Flourish, tell us about your favorite part of that experience?

My favorite part about FLOURISH was the overall information and background I got for starting and running my creative business. I had no clue what sort of opportunities were out there for artists (licensing, selling prints on etsy, teaching) and not only did I learn the nuts and bolts, but I learned what printer to buy, where to get paper and ink-all of the details that can often make you so frustrated, you just want to give up.

So I guess, having all of my questions answered from a reliable and super nice and friendly source was the very best part of FLOURISH (THANK YOU, Stephanie!).

Give a couple of examples of lessons in the course that you were able to apply to your creative biz.

Aside from all of the details I just mentioned, the big thing for me was learning how to market and promote myself. I was never one to be on facebook and I had an old blog, but I wasn’t posting much. In Flourish, I learned you can’t just start a blog or etsy shop and expect people to find it. You have to get out there and leave comments on other blogs, meet people online (and I’ve met so many awesome people this past year) on Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.

I also learned so much from the accounting/bookkeeping part of FLOURISH. That’s a side of my creative business that I’m not too crazy about, so knowing how Stephanie navigated it all, helped me to not make rookie mistakes or get overwhelmed.

Any final thoughts for students of the upcoming session of Flourish? 

I have to say, that dedicating myself to what I’m actually passionate about has completely changed my life! I just wrote an article for and had my paintings published in Somerset Studio magazine (Jan/February issue) and will be published in Artful Blogging in February! I’m also now teaching my own workshops (How To Paint An Owl http://juliettecrane.com/workshop/index.shtml), going to art retreats (An Artful Journey http://www.anartfuljourney.com/) and assistant teaching at the Do What You Love Art and Creative Enterprise Retreat (http://dowhatyouloveforlife.com/) in Yorkshire England this May!

These are all things I never thought could be possible in my life, and taking Flourish was my initial stepping stone to knowing how to make it all happen and having some really wonderful surprises come up along the way!

Thank you, Stephanie, for having me here and for taking the time to share all of the knowledge you’ve learned along the way! I’m so looking forward to being a part of this session of FLOURISH!

Juliette Crane -- Window of Opportunity

Juliette, thanks so much for sharing!

There are still a few seats open for Flourish February 2011, so if you're interested hop on over to the Info & Registration page to get signed up or if you've got questions, send me an email!

Flourish e-Book Now Available

Hello dear readers!  

I just wanted to give you a heads up than an e-book version of my e-course, Flourish is now available here.

 

This 45 page e-book is the perfect solution for those who just don't have time to dive into the 5 week e-course.  It contains the same lesson and assignment questions that I go through with my e-course students.  

A couple of quick notes:

-if you are planning on taking a future session of the e-course, no need to order the e-book now as you will receive a a free copy of it at the end of the course.  

-if you have already taken the course, you are entitled to a free copy of the e-book now.  If you haven't already received your download, send me an email and I will take care of it pronto!  

Enjoy!  

In The Mail: New Business Cards

I've always been a bit DIY about my business cards, mostly because I change my mind a lot when it comes to designs for myself and inevitably end up doing at least 4 or 5 business card designs within a year.  But it's a lot of printing and cutting for me.  And again, I'm on this whole crusade to streamline my business.  Work smarter, not harder, remember?  

So yeah, printing and cutting business cards for myself?  It's one of those time-consuming tasks that I've decided I can do without.  So on Wednesday I finally placed a big order for business cards and I just received them this morning:  

 

I've coordinated them with the blog header and I think they look pretty snazzy.  These will be tucked in with all orders now and I'm hoping to get myself in the habit of carrying a few of these with me at all times to give to those who are curious about my work.  

Happy Friday!  
 

The Fine Art of Slowing Down

One of the things we talked about in the February session of my e-course was finding the delicate balance between work and life.  It's something that I personally find myself struggling with a lot for various reasons.  

When I first left my day job two years ago, I felt compelled to work constantly because I needed to focus all of my energy on building a solid business and really establishing myself in a community of truly talented illustrators.  But even after my business became a bit more established, I still maintained my crazy long work hours.  Working all the time just became a habit of mine partially because, of course, when you do something that you truly love it doesn't really feel like work at all.  

But then came this past holiday season, where I worked 12-16 hours a day 7 days a week from about October to mid-February.  My little cottage business was jumping and hopping like never before and although I was and am thrilled to my toes to be doing so well, I also ended up feeling quite exhausted by the end of it.  

Even so, I continued to push this ridiculous work schedule on myself as I tried to keep up with my shop and my freelance projects.  Yeah, I'd take a day off here or there, or at least part of a day, but I still felt a bit tired and perhaps over worked.  

Then a few weeks ago, I decided to stop being so tough on myself.  I had become my own worst boss, demanding long hours, few breaks and ever-improving work.  I reminded myself of my motto for this new year:  work smarter, not harder.  And added a little addendum to that:  work less.  

So in the past few weeks, I've been fair more lenient with myself.  If I want to take an hour in the morning to take a long walk with the dog, I do it.  If I want to take the afternoon off to read a book on the back porch or watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I do it.  I've given myself more time to do the things that aren't work:  reading, cooking, exercising, gardening, spending time with my sweetie and just learning to relax again.  

I've also given myself some time to draw, doodle and paint, not for the shop or for freelance projects, but just for no reason at all, with no end product in mind.  

The result is that over the last few weeks I've felt more productive and creatively refreshed.  I feel happier in general.  

I realized that a lot of the time I was forcing myself to do more work I was just sitting here starring off into space or wasting time on Twitter or Facebook or randomly surfing the internet.  Now that I'm in the habit of giving plenty of time away from the drawing desk and computer, when I do sit down to get some work done I'm far more productive than ever before.  I actually work less and manage to get more work done than before, now that's a strange surprise!

Of course, I always harbor a tiny bit of guilt, because as with any business, there is always something to be done here in my studio.  But the lovely thing is, whatever needs to be done will be there later or even tomorrow.  As long as I'm meeting my deadlines and still being creative and productive, I've promised myself to continue this practice of slowing down to enjoy my lovely little life!  

 

Little Bird Sings About Love.

Currently available in 5 x 7 and 11 x 14 prints.
 

Flourish: June Session e-Course

 

For those who don't know, I just wrapped up my first session of my e-course, Flourish, a couple of weeks ago.  My intention in writing the course was to be able to share my creative business knowledge with others who'd like to follow in my path of ditching the day job and making a living from their creativity.  

I was a bit nervous at first about teaching an e-course but I also felt and feel that it is really important to have solid resources when starting out on the journey of self-employment.  I'll admit, I don't have all of the answers, but I have enough of them to provide a really solid foundation for those wishing to start up their own creative business.  

Now after the five week course has ended, I just feel so thankful that I've been able to share my knowledge and resources with such lovely ladies. I love that not only did I get to teach, but I got to answer questions that really made me think about my own business as well.  It's a wonderful thing, getting to wake up every morning to do the job you truly love.  And it's even more wonderful to help others start along a similar path.  

Right after registration closed for the first session, I had a few requests for another session of the course, so I've decided to set up a June session of Flourish.  The course will run May 31 to July 2 and you can find more information and register here. 

The June session will be the last one offered for 2010.  

Teaching this course has opened a whole new area of creativity for me.  There is already another workshop in the works, this one dealing more with creativity and I'm also making some notes on a possible e-book idea that just blossomed.  

If you have questions about the June session of Flourish or anything else, please feel free to click the Contact Me button up in the navigation bar.  

 

Goodbye Alice

Sometimes it's hard to edit your self, your work, your business.  But even though it's tough, it's also necessary.  

I've been straddling the fence for a few months regarding in my Alice in Wonderland illustrations.  They've been in my shop since January 2008 and I have a sincere attachment to them not only because I love Alice in Wonderland, but also because these were the first illustrations of mine that sold really well.  

They gave me hope. 

But 2 years later, my aesthetic has evolved a bit and they just don't fit in anymore.  So it's time to say good-bye to Alice in the next couple of weeks.

 

The prints, postcards and notecards will remain available in the shop for the next couple of weeks, then I will be permanently removing them.

 

Pretty Packaging

Part of my 2010 resolution to Work Smarter involves rethinking some of my printing and packaging practices here in the studio.  

This week in particular has been spent on printing enormous batches of stickers, notecards and valentines:  

 

My theory is that by having a couple of big printing days each month, most items will be on hand to package quickly and I, in turn, will be less stressed out and have more time to work on new projects and releases.  

In addition, I'm streamlining a lot of my item packaging.  Simplifying.  In a lovely way.  So here is the new design for sticker packs that I just finished testing today: 

Simple but sweet.  

 

I love these little glassine envelopes and am ever-so-glad that Elizabeth from Nella Designs brought them to my attention. 

All sticker packs will now be shipping with this new and improved looked, including the new packs that will be released in the shop later this week(hint:  think robots!).

What do you think of my newer, simpler sticker packaging?  
  
 

Flourish E-Course Registration Now Open

 

Just wanted to let everyone know that registration for my e-course, Flourish, is now open.  Click on the banner above or the large icon in the sidebar to get more information on the course and register.  

Registration for this session is being limited to 30 students, so nab a spot while it is available :) 

I look forward to working with you!