Our Next Artist Is Margaret Chayka Of St. Paul, Minnesota

Below, she will tell us about herself and her artistic work:


I'm a digital artist using CorelDraw for vector art and my own Photoshop techniques for watercolor-like creations. Impatience isn't necessarily a detriment; actual brush-and-paper watercolor painting wasn't my cup of tea for many reasons. I specialize in food and drink, cooking and baking graphics, having been a personal chef for a number of years, and my Zazzle store, Chef Catering Biz Cards is chock full of business products and fun stuff for foodies. Chef Catering Biz Cards was opened July 2009 after leaving Cafe Press, and I became a Zazzle Pro Seller fairly quickly. Previously I've done custom graphic design for fellow foodies; currently I solely provide pre-made designs on Zazzle and clip art via stock photo sites.

I initially opened up three stores at Zazzle; one, a tee-shirt and "stuff" store; my note card store, Culinary Note Cards - which will continue to be my Christmas card store - and I'm now working on complete consolidation into Chef Catering Biz Cards. I've started adding t-shirts, hats, aprons and totes along with business products there.

Following will be fotos of her favorite designs with a link to the product:

Our Designer For Today Is Eloise Spleen Of Buenos Aires, Argentina

Below Eloise will tell us a little bit about herself and her work:

My name is Eloise Spleen. Well, not really, but I'm definitely known as such. I'm a twenty-two year old woman that attends The University of Buenos Aires. I am a science fiction fan, book collector, TV watcher, film commentator, candy eater, pastry maker, music appreciator.

For my drawings I use my hand, then scanner, but mainly Photoshop. I think it allows very nice and clean designs. I found out about Zazzle just surfing the net and I've been a member of it for less than a year. 

I thoroughly enjoy drawing bizarre nonsense, ranting about random subjects and making lists.  Below are
some of my favorites with links to my products:

 

 

Our Next Artist Is Hussein Elshareef From Florida

Below he tells us about himself, and his art:

I have been a member of Zazzle for about a month. I have been an amateur sketch artist for a large part of my life, drawing here, drawing there, for myself, for friends, for classroom and work assignments.

For the work on my Zazzle store, Simple Sketch, I primarily experiment with digital media. I like taking advantage of modern technology to compose art.

For hardware, I primarily use a Wacom Intuos2 tablet connected to my notebook. For software, my tools of trade are Corel Painter X, Corel Paintshop Pro X2, CorelDraw X4, and Adobe Photoshop Elements. It is important to understand that these tools are just that... tools. They are an extension of one's artistic sense, not a replacement for them. I enjoy how modern technology enables artists to express themselves in ways that were simply too difficult, too costly, or just simply impossible ten or so years ago. Another major advantage is that these tools make it much easier to share artistic works with others, and make online stores such as “Simple Sketch” possible.

For years I have been trying to find a way to share my work with others, and I'm pleased that I seem to have found an efficient way to do so. 

Ever since I was a child, I was very fond of sketching. In grade school and beyond, I was known as the kid who could "draw."

Simple Sketch is a way for me to tap back into that period and experience sketching in a refreshing way, especially as it relates to using computer hardware and digital design software to explore new avenues of artistic expression.

I hope you enjoy what you see at Simple Sketch, and decide to make some of my work a part of your life. Simple Sketch offers a wide variety of sketch products, including posters, stamps, stationery, stickers... even aprons (if you're in to that sort of thing)!  So smile, browse around, and find something... something simple, for you or a friend, today.

Below are photos of his sketches with a link to his Zazzle product page:

Our Next Artist/Designer Is Rob Birt

Below He will describe his art in his own words:

Over the years I have used a variety of mediums from pencil, inks, to airbrush and acrylics, as well as have had experience in sculpting and Industrial design. Currently for my design and illustrative work that I produce for the products primarily at Zazzle I use a Wacom tablets in Adobe Illustrator. This allows me an ability to "ink" penciled sketches and concepts into standard vector formats without too much additional work as well as not having to have the expense of the ink and the paper. One could also argue its better for the environment. I initially found Zazzle in a search for ways to increase my marketability for my book illustrations and other concepts, like the easy reader book, "Ian Wakes Up". I have actually only been on Zazzle since September of 2009, and have already found it a very beneficial relationship .
I personally think anyone can be an artist as long as they have the passion to follow through with doing the work. Anything can be taught or learned how to do, but the one thing that can't be taught is the passion necessary to be an artist or creative individual.

Be passionate.

Below are some photos with a link to his product in his Zazzle Store:

Our Next Designer Is Rick Niedzwiecki From Cleveland, Ohio

Below Rick  describes who he is and how he designs:

I am chief smart-alek and proprietor of Blurt Shirts. Somewhat humorous, somewhat irreverent, and sometimes political, I don't aim to please. I am to say what you are thinking. Whether sports, politics, music or otherwise-related, designs are available in a variety of products.

My favorite designs - currently - are my Geek is Chic and my 2010 election designs. I do all my development with Inkscape, and I found Zazzle after having it recommended while I was opening Blurt Shirts at another location.

I added Blurt Shirts to my already busy repertoire - husband and father, full time project manager, VP of my church congregation, bassist/vocalist in a cover band - because I love blurting, and figured I was saying what others were already thinking, but needed an avenue to express their thoughts.

I enjoy designing my products. Zazzle provides an easy-to-use framework for uploading and presenting merchandise to the marketplace. Their return policy works - I ordered the wrong size of a shirt for an offline sale once - and product quality is very good, so I can both Zazzle and shop my store with confidence.

Below are Fotos with links to his products:

    

  

Our Next Artist Is Kathie Miller

She describes her work below:
 
I've been an artist all my life and love doing the big cats. I have used many different mediums from colored pencils, to pastels and airbrush and even textiles. I think I like the colored pencils the best with pastels a close second. Colored pencils give me the control I want when details are important. Pastels because it allows me, or should I say forces me, to be a little more loose. When I became a falconer I started working on the birds of prey. Switching from fur to feathers was a lot harder than I expected, but now I really like doing them.

I was with another POD for many years. When they changed their commission policy, I looked around for a new home. I had heard of Zazzle and even played around with it a little. When I moved here in 2009, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get started. Because it's free, I was able to open more and more stores. I started selling my work within weeks of opening my first store and I am now a Pro Seller. I'm glad I came to Zazzle, I just wish I did years ago instead of wasting my time with the other POD.

Selling art is very hard to do, but with Zazzle, it has allowed me to sell my work on many different products. I don't have to have inventory or any cost to me. I would recommend Zazzle to anyone that wants to start selling their art or graphic designs.

One of her stores, and then fotos of her art, with a link to her product:

Our Next Designer Is From Alina's Pencil In Honolulu, Hawaii

This is what she has to say about herself:
I use a digital tablet to create most of my art, although some of my batik designs are photos of actual batiks I've made with wax and fabric dyes. I have a simple, colorful, cartoony style and hope my sense of humor and playfulness come through in my designs.


Because I enjoy woodturning, drumming, massage therapy, Balkan music and dancing, and food, those are all designs I create for my store.

Although I focus on those things more, I also want to make more designs inspired by the beauty and culture of my home in Hawaii, especially those with a bit of humor thrown in, like my Hawaiian Snowman and Hawaiian Penguin designs.

I love Zazzle. I get lost creating designs and putting them on products. Since I'm naturally a night person, the birds starting to chirp reminds me I better get to bed and quit already.


But there are always more ideas, more products to make, more needs to fill. There are very little woodturning or Balkan music and dance designs out there, and I have ideas for more shirts, more business card templates, more cartoons!

Thanks for featuring me and my shop. Best of luck to you and the other independent artists at Zazzle. I encourage everyone to follow their creative expression and to buy Zazzle. It supports us creative types! Opa!

                 To Her Store

Photos of Some of Her Products (Link embeded):

                             

Our Next Designer Is Valerie

This is what she had to say about herself:

I love doing fun childlike art. I’m a published novelist, artist and gothic poet.

I like putting smiley faces on cupcakes, and salads.

Below are her favorite Zazzle products, as a photo, with an internal link to the product she likes:

                                       

Her Zazzle Store

                          

Our Next Designer Artist Is Kim Turner

She describes herself and her art as follows:
I paint in either acrylics or in watercolours. I love the faerie/fairy genre and mostly paint winged creatures, though I do also paint mermaids, Alice and Lowbrow style.



Acrylic is the greatest (compared to watercolour) because if you make a mistake you can generally paint over it! With watercolour, it's not so forgiving. I love both though, as both have their benefits. I love the layering of watercolours and the beautiful jewel like tones you can achieve. Am yet to try oils but everyone tells me it's the best medium - I don't know that I have the patience.


I am an Australian artist and have been painting faeries for over ten years now, I was lucky enough to be published in The Art of Faery, The World of Faery and Watercolour Fairies.  I paint faeries, mermaids, elves and am starting on fairytales… oh subject matter do stop with your unending temptations… I have to stop procrastinating!


Below are Fotos with an embedded link to her  favorite Zazzle products:
 
 
 

Kim's Zazzle Storefront

 

Our First Designer is Kerri Connelly From Texas

She describes herself, and her work in the next paragraphs:

I have been a fractal artist for about 6 years now. All of my work in done digitally. My fractals are primarily rendered using Apophysis, although I do dabble with Tierazon and UltraFractal on occasion.



I've been a member  in Zazzle for a little over a month. I was looking for a secondary place to sell my artwork (I originally came from DeviantArt). I found this place on a Google search, and the rest is history.  I
advertise online in the following ways:  Facebook, Squidoo, Zazzle forums, submitting my site to search engines.   Kerri's Zazzle Shop.

Below are some of her designs, with links to the Zazzle product pages.  Just click on the Foto.