#but i don't have the means to make my own merch like stickers or prints yet

[dagmartoons]

just posed this question on my youtube community page and i'm gonna ask here too

[fernsnailz]

i'm sure that you get asks like this a lot so i apologize if i'm beating a dead horse to the ground LOL but for someone who owns an online shop, do you have any tips for beginners just starting off / looking into starting one? not really asking for anything specific, but just rather anything you'd be willing to share based off your experience...!

OOF okay so there's quite a lot that goes into running an online shop, so best general advice i can give is to do your research! there's a lot to an art shop that you need to consider and understand before running into things. sometimes it's a bit hard to figure out where to start your research though, so here are the biggest things i think you should look into first:

manufacturing your stuff: some artists hand make merch at home, but if you don't have the means to do that then you'll need to find places that can manufacture your designs for you. like if you're making stickers, look into custom sticker printing sites like StickerApp or Sticky Brand. a lot of manufacturers will have sample packs you can order for free to get a better idea of what their items are like.

shop hosting websites: figuring out where to actually host your shop and sell your art is very important - my shop is through Big Cartel which i really like, but isn't for everyone. other shop hosting sites include Shopify and Etsy, and Shopify is sorta similar to BigCartel from what i know? Etsy is very different, selling through Etsy means your stuff will be easier for people to find through the Etsy search function (BigCartel and Shopify don't have this, any traffic you get will have to come from off-site and you'll have to advertise the shit outta it). HOWEVER Etsy has some pretty bad practices when it comes to how they treat the artists that sell on there. most people i know that use/used Etsy have been burned by them in some way, so be warned.

money stuff (accounting, budgeting, taxes): LEARN HOW TO MAKE SPREADSHEETS!! spreadsheets with just a few simple addition/subtraction formulas will be a huge help when it comes to budgeting and keeping track of your expenses - and you'll need to keep track of ALL your expenses! taxes can also be tricky, most shop hosting websites will collect sales tax for you but do some research on what freelance/small business taxes look like in your country.

shipping: the two main aspects to shipping are your shipping supplies and shipping labels. you'll want to find mailers that fit and protect whatever art you're selling, and tbh the best way i figured this out was from buying from other artists and seeing how they packaged their stuff! shipping labels are their own beast - some sites like Etsy will make them for you, but not BigCartel. i use a site called Pirate Ship to import BigCartel orders and buy shipping labels for them.

thats about all i got for now, running an online art shop is very hard not gonna lie!! but it's very fun and rewarding to make your own funny items :] best of luck to ya!!

[journalsouppe]

The Afternoon Tea DGS zine by @afternoonteazine!! Oh I absolutely adore this zine it is such a perfect theme for The Great Ace Attorney :') The art and writing and merch are all just gorgeous and made me so hungry, I can't get over how cute everything is

As a bonus I also ordered the sketchbook! I have a small review and test page of the sketchbook under keep reading but I am SO pleasantly surprised with the book. Any DGS or even Ace Attorney zine/stickers/spreads I make will now be in this sketchbook so commentary might be shorter because of it! (Game spreads will still be in my larger journal)

Writing Typed Below! (As well as images of the merch and sketchbook notes)

Sept 2023

Zine theme: An English and Japanese tea theme with DGS characters

Merch List:

TEA PARTY (Full bundle + Sketchbook)

Phys + Dig zine

digital emotes

cookie sticker sheet (lostkimin)

tote bag (ooowyn)

Steeping prints (jasminebythebay)

iris charm (jasminebythebay)

gina sticker (starjuicebox)

cups charm (pandalanachick)

coaster (merrymint)

pin (merrymint)

washi (replikayt)

herlock and yuujin stickers (replikayt)

sketchbook (replikayt)

+2 page art spreads turned into prints

This is such a perfect zine theme for this particular game duology. I absolutely love what everyone has made. The art and writing is all so cozy and sweet, it makes me want to have a tea party of my own. I am so pleasantly surprised by the quality of what I received, especially the notebook which is much thicker than expected! TYSM to all the artists, writers, and mods, y'all killed it. I love this sm.

Comments

The cookie stickers are so cute and look so yummy

tea cups ride charm :') :') :')

nyasked disciple cake pin... I'll eat him ngl

AHHH the case names but with tea puns

All of the art is gorgeous and making me so hungry

LOVE the tote, I really like the size of it too omg

I'd love to frame the tea prints and hang them near my tea area

AHHH THE IRIS CHARM

all the stickers are so cute and silly

ryuu with onigiri rice on his face on the coaster omg

that washi is so perfect for this zine omg

THE SKETCHBOOK IS SO NICE

steep for 2 minutes is going to make me cry T^T!

love all the tiny and homey details on the cover :')

had to take a snack break before working on this more lol

love the poison iris is brewing <3<3

the gregson, stronghart, and sithe piece is such a cool idea

klimt and lady baskerville are so cute

Sketchbook Review

The cover is printed well and very durable. The pages are thick and I was surprised at how big the sketchbook is! I have a few mini square sketchbooks and they don't have nearly as many pages as this sketchbook. It also includes a back pocket, a ribbon, and an elastic clasp. Another surprising bit is the pages are honestly some of the smoothest pages I've ever felt. It's not a bad thing at all but I have just never touched paper this nice before lol. That does mean the way some materials react to the paper will be different, but none of my test materials bled through the pages. (only faint outlines/shadows but not full bleed). I genuinely adore this sketchbook and am so happy to have snagged one during preorders

[mayakern]

thank you for the advice on pins ! i am in the process of researching how to set up my shop and i have a couple more questions if you don't mind- at what stage did you feel it was time to open your shop, follower-wise? did it take a long time to become profitable ? i saw you go through a manufacturer for your prints, is it because making them is too expensive? i see you don't make stickers, is there a reason? is a laser cutting machine worth it when debuting ? or superfluous? what did you use to design your website (it's very pretty btw)? do you have advice on getting people interested in checking it out?

how does one deal with sales being down, mentally, and how to be patient in the beginning?

does managing orders require a lot of organization? is a label maker worth the time it saves? in general, do you recomment buying your own machines (printer, or button maker) or stick with manufacturers? also, do you have advice on reconcialiting it with anticapitalism because im feeling conflicted about outsourcing labor and adding products to this world... is setting up shopify very hard ? are taxes a hassle ? sorry if it's a lot, i have trouble wrapping my head around every step i'll have to do and want to avoid beginner mistakes if i can. if you have any other advice and traps to avoid i'd be very grateful

dude this is SO many questions.

the short answer is: everything is hard and takes work.

there is no “right” time to start a shop or start selling stuff. you just kind of do it and hope. i opened mine in college (around 2012 or 2013) because i had already made some merch for a local convention and i wanted to sell the leftovers. my store didn’t become viable as a full time job until around 2017—it was a means to subsidize the income i had from working as a freelance artist.

also i never went into debt for the store so there was never a moment when my store “became profitable.” unless you’re willing to go into debt for this (not something i’d recommend), it’s a slow slog to get to a point where you can afford to sell items with a higher price point at a high enough volume that it is viable as a full career. inventory costs money and the more profitable items cost more money. it takes a lot of time and work and momentum to make this your whole job.

buying your own equipment is only worth it if you plan to use that equipment for multiple years to get a good return on investment.

however a label printer is almost always worth it, but i wouldn’t buy one until you’re getting at least 20 orders a month.

low price point items like buttons and stickers can be good to start out (i used to sell both) but at a certain point, unless you’re selling a massive amount of them there is a limit to how profitable a $3 item can be.

managing a store takes an amount of work/organization that is proportional to the number of products you have/sell. i will say i was an absolute disaster at this when i handled everything myself, which is why the store only became viable as a full time job once devin joined me.

i use squarespace for my portfolio site and shopify for the store. they’re relatively hassle free.

if you’re making most of your income from store or freelance work, find a local CPA to help you do taxes. also keep a running spreadsheet for all your expenses and income. separate your expenses into groups based on the different types of deductions (i.e. office equipment, travel, etc.) and update that spreadsheet, at minimum, once a month. then taxes are easy.

as far as anticapitalist mindset goes… do your due diligence when it comes to sussing out the manufacturers/companies you work with and try to create thoughtfully.

anyway next time you ask for advice please just pick like 3 questions at a time. this was… a lot.

[dojae-huh]

Wanted to comment on the horse reference.

During the first (Apple) fanmeet Doyoung said that this comeback is similar to the meme with a drawing of a horse. The great music compensates the beginning (promotion).

Ifans, naturally, interpreted it like him dissing SM, however, I suspect it is a reaction to a lot of kfans not liking the concept of IG promos (saw this sentiment on Pann and YT), they found it boring. In addition, this comeback will be short (sidenote: 3weeks->2weeks->1week reduction of music shows promotions in normal for older artists. Rookies need every chance at exposure, meanwhile established acts already have fanbase, while music show ratings are very low, few people watch them (usually just the performances of groups they like on YT, not the whole programmes. time to accept the passage of time and 127 becoming seniors). Do always monitors the fandom (Korean part of it, at least) and often reacts.

There is a problem of using words in a wrong way, devalueing their meaning. Walk comeback is not grand, it is on a small scale, but it is in no way "poor" (the word many ifans used in their twits). Using such terms is belittling the work of the creative team and disregarding the improvements in Neo centre. Fans spoil the aftertaste themselves with their attitude.

The IG promo was goofy, endearing and well-executed (all reels were prepared and shot in a few days when MarkHyuk were available, good time-management). It reflected well the motto of "I don't care what others say, I walk at my own pace". It vibed with NCT's lore and image.

The track-videos were all well-made, creative, beautiful. 2 track videos are better than none. People get used to good things quickly and don't value what they have. The comebacks before Neozone didn't have track videos.

"Deities of seoul" is breathtaking, however, the momentum gained by the short promos wasn't carried into the title-track and fell flat (the fandom was so exited with the gods concept, and we got nothing out of it, we still don't know who is supposed to be who). The way this comeback and the promotion unfolds is a smooth ride. It's an improvement in my book.

The physical albums aren't extraordinary, but are OK (with the exeption of the seam eating up faces issue, I'm dedacting points for it, rest assured). And the print quality is good. Physical albums is a weak side of many companies, not just SM. Didn't make me excited, but I'd still buy them for my collection (Jaehyunie is cute there). (at least we didn't get WayV's insect concept version of an album, *cough*, *cough*, count your blessings)

"The timewalk" series was boring, won't lie, but it had a couple of highlights (like the dance battle), and it is Korean type of idol variety shows. They are never interesting, heh. "I walk radio", on the other hand, was a good idea. It is always nice to hear about bts, what members think about the music.

Neos did their own merch. Always a good move.

SM invents new ways to shoot performance videos. DJJ got great ones. "Movement" was directed by the same person who did "Who is Sticker?" and "Meaning of love". SM allocated a bigger budget for it. It took 16h to shoot it. SM discovered Wasabimayo, established a good relationship, and now has another great creative head in their roster (the comments for NCT are always "I was happy to work with them").

In short, the promotion isn't big, but it is a nice one, I'm entertained and left with a good feeling overall. 127 won't go on a tour right after this comeback, therefore, there is no incentive to spend a lot of money on promotion. It is not cost-effective. (I'm hinting at aespa's full album comeback which was grand).

Comebacks is not the only time when a group finds new fans (which is the goal of an extra promotion). This Fact check performance has 12mln views. This mirrored dance practice on an unofficial account has 1,6mln.

Quality music or good choreo that will make people do tiktok dance challenges is hundred times more valuable than appearing on Weekly Idol. After Neozone 127 had 2 luckluster albums - Sticker and 2 Baddies (they had some great songs on them, I'm talking about all songs combined). NCT's Golden Age was a letdown as well. Finally, Fact Check turned the tide. And Walk might be the best 127's album. As Do said, it does feel like a new beginning.

As for the tour. I'd preder for MarkHyuk to have time to rest, SM have time to prepare lightshow, VCRs and special effects on par with aespa's concert, to all legs planned way ahead, including Americas and Europe, than have another subpar quality Link. If 127 will have some spectacular end of the year performances to make the town talk, they can get attention and an influx of concert-goers, as well.

[thornpuck]

A few questions from a budding merch seller?

I'm trying to work out the viability of selling my art as stickers/tshirts/keychains(?)(other??) at the local markets/smaller artists markets.

(Sigh, minor tangent: I'll be real - doing a kids book was too much for me. Like I don't think making merch is going to be easy, but I do think it plays to my strenthgs more, plus, it seems scaleable. I can start small and experiment.)

So I have a few questions that I'm hoping any experienced merch sellers out there would have time to answer.

Anyone know the legality of selling pokemon/other fan merch? I see it done but I'm like, I don't want to be sued? Not that I think I would sell enough to be on their radar, but still, I'll probably just stick to trying to sell original stuff? But people do be liking their fandoms, so.

Is there a high-quality print-on-demand service around anymore? My medium term plan is to take stickers to the markets. I'm really enjoying being inspired by my local scenery and culture, so people from my hometown are more the target audience. But I mean, people in my hometown still like "cool stuff" so I want to design "cool stuff" to sell online first, and see what does well before committing to getting inventory for markets.

If there's no print on demand and you make your own stickers, how do you know how much inventory to order? Like I don't wanna order 600 of a sticker that won't sell. But I also want to have a market stall that has range.

Lastly, I'm aware my work is not exactly out-of-the-box apparel and merch friendly. I'm experimenting with some things. I think my lines are a bit thin? Need things to read better? IDK how much of that is up to style and how much is just git gud lol. But yeah, any suggestions experienced sticker makers can recommend to make my art more sticker/shirt friendly I'd be all ears.

So yeah, that's a lot. If you pass by and have the time to comment, I'd appreciate any tidbit of info you might want to pass on.

[gothamhorrorzine]

Why isn't this zine being printed with full merch? Why won't there be a physical copy?

I've seen this question come up a lot in the interest check, so I thought I would provide an explanation.

No, this zine will not be available as a physical book or with any 'bulky' merch (i.e. charms, enamel pins, washi tape, etc). The book itself will be digital and there will most likely be an option to receive flat merch. Things that qualify as flat merch include: prints, stickers, sticker sheets, bookmarks, and cards. Why? Mostly for my own sanity. Physical production is a DAUNTING task that lasts multiple months and takes lots of time and effort. Getting the zine itself from the point of being a bunch of art and stories to an actual printable book with all the appropriate print-ready requirements is a month-long task itself and that's not counting all the changes that need to be made while in production. That also doesn't account for the fact that the same process often goes to each piece of merch. That's on top of coordinating the more complex merch pieces, there are hours of contact with manufacturers and artists. Digital merch requires no packing.

So why open this zine just to flat merch?

Flat merch is super quick both to produce and pack.

For example, with the full physical zine I have in production right now, the Any Which Way: a Batfam AU zine, I've had the flat merch completed and ready to send since June 10th. It took me approximately two weeks to finalise, order, and pack all the prints, bookmarks, and stickers for that zine.

Adding the bulky merch just... makes the task take so much longer. As a comparison, the AU zine had all its merch ordered on the same day - both flat merch and bulky merch. The flat merch has been waiting for almost a month now. The bulky merch is probably still two or three weeks away from being completed. This means the production process of these pieces will most likely take three months.

So yeah, I'm not sure how many people truly realise how much work producing charms, enamels pins, standees, etc is it's just... a lot. Honestly, I'm not sure people truly realise how much work running a zine is in general.

So, I want to avoid burnout while also giving myself the opportunity to explore more niche topics. Digital zines are great for that! They allow us mods to be a little looser, a little wilder, and do things that don't appeal to the widest audience possible. Plus, it means I'm not dying, which is a good thing all around because I know that people love my zines and want me to do more. Zines are my passion projects. I really and truly love them and the collaboration they foster. I think they are a wonderful way to raise money for charity and unite people from different corners of the fandom, but it's very possible to get burnout on them. So I'm trying to strike a balance between the amount of work I physically can take on and the number of projects I'd love to bring into creation.

~ Mod Kay

[wuntrum]

I love your art & your style! I’m also an artist & I want to be a full time artist one day, but I'm not sure how that may look, so.. Do you do art full time? If so how does it look for you personally?

sorry if this is an intrusive question, I just want to learn more :) Thank you! have a good day!!!!

hi!! i feel like this is gonna be a long answer so i'm gonna put this under a read more haha

so being an artist full time looks different from one artist to another---there's so many different ways artists can support themselves, some methods i don't even know about! keep that in mind, as the stuff that i'm doing right now isn't the Only way to do art full time :)

right now i'm doing art full time-i'm in a weird sort of spot where i either need to just Commit and really pursue art full time, or get a job...but that latter has proven difficult with my mental health, so either i'm gonna stay full time, or get a part time job once i see a psychiatrist LOL. i'm in a very fortunate spot where my rent is cheap (for the city i live in) and my parents are able to hypothetically help me with that if i were to ever need it, so that's certainly a factor in how i went from graduating -> freelancing. (i did also work a full time job back in july/august, and that money has helped me with doing art full time too).

my main income is through commissions---i've been doing album covers mostly, but i think for the future i want to explore getting an agent and representation so i can start doing bigger jobs like book covers and that sort of thing. i don't loooooove doing commissions to be honest---i love my clients, especially the ones who i've worked with over and over again, they mean the world to me---but in terms of actual fulfillment through art, i don't feel super fulfilled doing that. so long term, i'd ideally like to not take on as much commission work, or at least only do the stuff that i'm really excited about, y'know?

along side that i have some other "passive" income (i put passive in quotes because there's obviously still work that goes into setting them up lol), mainly my inprnt shop and instagram reels. inprnt has been a HUGE lifesaver because i don't have to ship any of the prints myself, and the profit margin's a lot bigger than other print-on-demand services like redbubble (it's not perfect; you have to wait a month for transactions to clear, and there's a certain threshold you have to make before you can withdraw the money...and it takes like a full week for it to actually show up in your paypal but i digress). getting people to buy the prints is the hardest part, but if you can do that, it's great! (it took me years to get my first pay out on inprnt, but now i can do it 1-2 times a month) if you have a certain amount of followers on instagram you can get their reels bonus, where basically if you make reels they pay you for how many views it gets; it used to be Awesome but now its just okay, the amount of money vs amount of views ratio has gotten a lot worse (used to be able to make $180 for ~40k views, last month i got paid $115 for 140k).

something i used to do and plan on doing again is creating an online shop! people make merch of all types; i've personally dabbled in zines and prints, i'd love to make more stickers and apparel. now this definitely has some things you need to consider: there's a lot of cost involved in actual manufacturing, getting the stuff you need to ship orders, buying shipping labels, etc. etc....i would recommend starting small, like just selling stickers + shipping them with normal USPS stamps, to get used to the workflow of owning your own shop. but, its definitely something to consider! if you like designing for physical products and want to actually Make things and see people WIth those things, it can be a viable avenue to explore! (i definitely plan on exploring it more, to say the least).

there's also subscription services like patreon and ko-fi, which allow you to set up a membership so that people can pay you directly and support what you're doing. if you can get people to join, i think this is great! the main issue is the actual getting people to join part...and to be honest, that's something i've struggled with myself. i thiiiink i'm gonna switch from the ko-fi i have now to a patreon, just because people seem to recognize the name more. i'm also gonna assess what i'm actually offering people, i really wanna do a postcard of the month? or maybe a zine club sort of thing? i'd recommend looking at other artists' patreons and see what they're providing, to get an idea of what that can look like. ideally, i would love to just be able to support myself through patreon and make all the silly little stuff i want to...we'll see if i can make that happen!

there's also selling originals, if you work traditionally as opposed to digitally. again, this is something i wanna get more into in the future. there's challenges to this as well, just like anything, but if you prefer to make art with physical materials, then selling that original artwork can be a great revenue stream!

in terms of social media you can also explore being a youtuber or a streamer...those have a lot of moving parts, and you really need to commit in order to see success in those fields, but if you like producing/editing videos or like the performance/live community aspect of streaming, that's something to look into as well! those people make most of their money through sponsorships / things like patreon, but having that additional revenue stream of adsense or twitch subs can't hurt!

another thing to keep in mind is that this sort of stuff can vary a lot from month to month! i won't be seeing the actual pay out until november (or maybe december? honestly don't know LOL) but i'm part of the shortbox comics fair this month, so that's another source of revenue that i didn't/don't have access to beyond october! the amount of, for example, support you get for a new launched product, or how well a piece performs (which then leads to people buying prints of it), or how many people reach out to you for freelance work changes a lot from one month to the next. my biggest piece of advice if you want to pursue art full time is to have as many different sources of income as possible! that way, you can account for the inherent instability of freelancing, instead of not being able to pay your bills because no one's buying your stickers right now.

i hope this helps!!! and i hope all the financial talk wasn't too dread-inducing 😭 i'd definitely recommend asking other artists too and getting their feedback; like i said at the start, "full time artist" looks different from one artist to the next <3

[facelessxchurch]

Final Thoughts on the SP Kickstarter

Why a kickstarter? This is something I heard a few people ask since Landy surely has enough money to pay for the merch out of his own pocket before selling it. There are three reasons I think are most likely. One, that was he can print exactly the number of merch he needs and won't be left sitting on a large pile of unsold merch. Second, it is a good way to find out how many people would be even interested in SP merch and it's a solid number he can show HarperCollins to get the official merch store approved. This is pretty much confirmed with this Tweet:

[link]

And third, I think he wasn't sure how well it would do himself since he is probably aware that his sales tanked and a lot of the fandom hates his guts. An indication of this was how ill-prepared the Kickstarter was and how there were no stretch goals.

Ngl I'm feeling kinda iffy that he has people pay for stuff and we didn't even know how half the stuff would look like at the start of the Kickstarter. The Tote-Bags had no pic, the magnets had no pic, and we never got a pic of the stickers, instead, he only described how they would look after I asked him about it. The pins were just a WIP and only got updated mid-way through. Like, he has so little to offer and such simple designs, all of it should have been ready and on the Kickstarter page by the time it got published. Especially since he gave people only 2 weeks to pledge.

Through Reddit I found out that people who backed the Kickstarter got asked which 3 kinds of merch/characters they would like to see the most. On one hand, it makes sense that he would want to add merch of characters that his super fans like (and you gotta be a superfan to fork over money for the stuff he offered on that Kickstarter). But on the other hand, it ignores the people that didn't buy anything from the Kickstarter bc their fav characters weren't represented. 

While 1157 seems like a lot of people but it's just a small percentage of the people that follow Landy on Twitter. He currently has 27.5K followers which means only 4.2 % of his followers backed the Kickstarter. That means an even lesser percentage of the fandom has backed it considering not everyone has a Twitter account.

I don't actually know which percentage is a good number. I heard that having 10% of followers engage with your content is normal. So around 5% actually giving you money is probably good. That surprises me bc a lot of people in the fandom voiced their distaste for the subpar pin designs. I've seen some people (on Reddit) think that the Skul and Val drawn by Landy would not be the final design and that the final designs would be made by Jaime (the pin-maker). I wonder if that plays into it largely or not.

Personally, I believe that if he really wanted to design his own pins he could have done so for himself privately (like I have done before). But this is the first time you can BUY official merch and it should have been for SP fans as much as for himself, but it essentially ended up being an ego trip for him and his GF.

I don't like that he only collaborated with the pin-maker bc she's a super-fan (has an SP tattoo). He's also dating a fan. It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth bc it seems like this wannabe man can only get along with people that adore him/SP. I mean, he straight up admitted he can't get a movie done, not even with an indie, by he's too controlling of all things SP.

Despite being successful, the Kickstarter only brought the fandom back to life for a few days and it was to take the piss out of the pin designs. The new book announcement, "Hell Breaks Loose", barely caused an uptick in activity at all. While I'm happy the Kickstarter was successful bc it means we'll get a store with better merch sometime next year, I'm wondering what it will take to resurrect this fandom.

[enabledarmy]

Kpop merch: a UK buying guide 🇬🇧💜

Top 5 places to get kpop merch and albums in the UK

Hi! I live in the UK (as you may have guessed) and support many different groups, but since I first became a kpop fan it's been really hard to find affordable and responsible sources for merchandise. It seemed like everything came from America or South Korea, which can be pretty expensive when you add shipping and import and also isn't super eco conscious (I know most things are shipped in bulk but I still like to buy locally if I can). Plus sometimes it's hard to tell if the site is really legit.

You see new merch releasing online, look it up and it's only available from Singapore for the small price of your life savings and first born child...I'm sure I'm not the only UK fan who's been pretty confused by it all 😅

But recently I've found some great places, mostly based in the UK and slowly but surely my collection is growing and my room is getting happier 😊 It took a while to find these because they're not big/popular places but I've found them great so if you're a UK based fan I'd recommend giving them a try. Here goes!

(Note- none of this is sponsored or anything, just trying to help fellow kstans out)

1) Oxfam online shop (Charity Shops)

Huh, charity shops? Do they even know what kpop is? Well, no, but that doesn't mean they don't stock it 😂 Charity shops are everywhere over here, you probably have a few at least in your nearest town and they stock a pretty random selection of stuff, so you never know what will be there.

I recommend Oxfam in particular. If you check out their online shop and scroll through the music section (there's no kpop section and it won't turn up any search results but sometimes 'korean' works) you'll find a pretty good selection of albums including Jay Park, BigBang, 2ne1, Orange Caramel, Block B, AOA, ZE:A, KARA and more.

The best part is that, apart from of course being a sustainable and ethical way to shop, the person listing doesn't always seem to know how much these albums are worth so you can get a bargain. You might even find some rare albums that you'd be hard pressed to find elsewhere. For example, this signed and sealed B.A.P album is still for sale on their site

I bought these ASTRO albums from the Oxfam site for a LOT less than it would have cost me elsewhere, especially because they're both signed and unopened!

2) Depop

Another perhaps more sustainable choice because it's second hand, Depop has some gems if you dig around a bit. Be sure to check the seller reviews so you know they're trustworthy, but so far I've only had good experiences. You can message sellers directly, get bundles to save on shipping and it's just a nice personal experience. My last order was packaged so nicely I thought it was from a friend, and it came with freebies too!

You can also get fan merch too, I got some lovely art prints for only a few pounds! (Felt like robbery to be honest 😅)

3) Oseyo

Oseyo is a 'Korean food and culture hub', with shops and shops/cafes at multiple locations. If you stop by the Waterloo hub you can get hot Korean food to eat in while watching kpop on the TV, buy snacks and ingredients to take home and they have a few albums and cosmetics in store too.

The location is Soho has no hot food but is a supermarket so there's a much wider choice of snacks, ingredients, general home supplies and merchandise. I haven't been to any others but apparently there's one in Manchester with a lot more kpop merch.

I got this calendar from the Soho location, and from the Waterloo one I've bought albums and face masks.

They don't have their own website, but direct online shoppers to 'hmart'. Currently the kpop section seems empty but you can get food there

4) Sokkolab

Sokkolab is an independent shop in London run by kpop fans. It's only been open for a year, but has a good selection of merchandise from different groups, new releases and cosmetics. The shop itself is quite small but still had good stuff, and they're moving to a bigger location soon with seating.

The staff are really nice, the playlists are good and they run events during concert season (SuperM one soon I think) so definitely check them out.

You can order online, including preorders for new releases. I've ordered online as gifts for friends before, and it got here fast although there was a little too much packaging (I'm sure they'll work on that though, they hadn't been open that long).

I also went to the store itself in London, which was really sweet and I got some good stuff even though a lot of it had sold out recently and they were awaiting new stock. I had some birthday money from family and managed to get more than I thought I would for my money, including TXT's The dream chapter: Magic which I'd been trying to get for ages. It had technically sold out but the cool person working there gave me a copy that they had under the counter.

5) Redbubble (for fanmade merch)

I love this site because you can find merchandise for pretty much anything, with art designed by fan artists and printed on the items that you choose. You won't struggle to find your favourite group here! Of course it's not offical merch, but I find them particularly good for stickers, which make good gifts in the post to friends or easy decoration for walls (the vinyl peels off with no marks), device cases etc. They often have deals on so keep an eye on the website.

Honourable mentions:

-HMV

-Etsy (for fanmade merch)

-emp.co.uk (for BT21)

-Argos (for BTS mattel dolls and albums)

-WHSmith (for the occasional stray kpop guide book or magazine)

[wheeloffortune-design]

I need art advice! (if you would be so kind as to help me :)). So people have been asking me for merch and stuff. And I'm kinda broke so some money would be nice. The thing is, I don't know where to begin with setting that up? Like how do you price commissions? What's a good site to sell merch? How doi monetize this hobby in general?? (Sorry to bother you, you don't have to answer if it's too much)

al-RIGHT let’s monetize that talent

FIRST- Get a Redbubble or a Society-6 account. NO INITIAL INVESTMENT NEEDED. I love these coz you upload your art, and they take care of the rest, and then you get a paypal transfer every month. I’ve had one for years and I don’t even publicise it and I still get 20 to 30$ every month, which is always nice. Warning: Copyrights- my experience with RB is that they remove your fanart when they find is and they find it even faster if you tag it. They DO have partnerships with some shows now, like Rick and Morty and Steven Universe so check it out!

Patreon: Is nice, but you always have to be uploading something just for them and it’s kinda stressful for me? I mean, I got a handful of amazing Patrons, and a monthly 30$ is still good, but like, half of it are my parents. Anyway, I think it works better with an ongoing project, like a comic or a podcast. 

YOUR OWN MERCH- If you want to invest a bit and deal with everything yourself, you can always do it, but it’s always a bit daunting in the beginning. 

Prints- Get a photo printer and good paper and ink. My printer is a Canon Pixma that I got on sale for huh 100 Canadian dollars at La Source - Circuit City, it prints magnificent colors and no margins. The paper I use it “brochure and flyer paper” glossy, which is less expensive than photo paper and is like light cardboard. For the ink, sadly, that’s expensive, and I cheat a bit coz my cousin’s husband works for a company and gets me super cheap cartridges. 

Buttons: I use https://www.sixcentpress.com  they’re efficient and good quality.

Stickers: I use https://www.stickermule.com/ but then again I got a voucher that considerably reduces the price, if you want to go looking for that. 

Tshirts: I DO NOT RECOMMEND leave it to the prints-on-demand sites..

With all that you can either (or both) sell in on your won website (Wordpress has a good and easy ecom platform and I use it for my shop and calendars, you can check it out on talhidesign.com). You can also go the convention route, it’s a lot of effort and investment but it’s so much fun. 

COMMISSIONS: are a pain in the ass to price?? But you must get into your mind that ART IS A LUXURY, SO THEY SHOULD PAY A LUXURY. There are a lot of mathematical ways to calculate your rate, depending on your time and art experience, etc etc. I go with my gut feeling? I mean, ok, generally I charge an hourly rate for my graphic work, may it be illustration, graphic design, photo retouch, etc. I used to charge 20$CA/hour but then my friend who was in graphic design with me said I should charge more and said her rate was 30$/hour and I was like whaaaaat you can do that? Huh yes, professionals do that. 

All that to explain that it’s normal to feel weird when you price your art because art and women work and fandom work is generally seen as lesser and not real work and not worth money (since we are an exchange based economy)- so people will make you feel that you ask for too much. Those people need to shut up. Your inner voice needs to shut up. Art is a luxury. Price it. 

I found a good ressource for my original work, it’s the Illustrator’s Survival Guide that has a lot of nice pricing ressources, but it’s written for and by Quebec people. If you are american, these prices may vary. Also, canadian money. 

For the internet, you may be temped to charge less, which I feel ya, I mean, your fans are not companies. Don’t go too low, though, I mean, if a sketch takes an hour, don’t charge less than minimum wage. Actually, you’re a professional, and it’s a luxury item, so I encourage you to AT LEAST CHARGE DOUBLE THE HOURLY MINIMUM WAGE. And from there, up tour prices every year, coz you’re gaining experience and drawing faster. 

So calculate how long it takes you to make the sketch of a bust, or a full grown character, how long it takes to color, to shade it, how long does a simple background or a detailed background, and then math this with the hourly rate you picked, and voilà! Pricing grid! 

So, overall, being an artist and making money out of it are a long and tiring thing, and if you want to do it, awesome! But you never stop learning how things work, like right now I’ve been binge watching a ton of youtube vids on how to promote your art on instagram because apparently it’s the shit. 

I wish you, and whoever wants to monetise their talent and hard work, the best of luck, and remember that Auntie Talhí is always there to help. 

[sugarcloak]

seriously! 1: where are you from that english isn't your native language ? xD 2:If you ever plan on doing charms or buttons out of your art, lemme know. I'm a sucker for good charms and stuff xD but freaking Germany DON'T HAS ANY ARGH. *requesting imp tweek and pastor craig lalala* xD

1: Heheh, I’m from France darling ;3!! 2: Well well welllll, tbh I’d REALLY like to make prints, shirts, stickers & charms and all that jazz but, the problem is 

(well it’s not really a problem but anyway) : I’ve always been told and teached (by my parents) that I couldn’t sell merch based on something copyrighted. And to be even more honest I’m a big BIG coward when it comes to “illegal” stuff, and plus it would mean I’d be on my own to run a shop and sell my merch, as my folks don’t approve this at all, and I also have 0 confidence. But I just have to check the Terms of use and Copyright law of SPstudios and see if they’re ok with that… bc even tho a thousand people already did this (maybe without even checking before), I’m mentally weak and I’d feel like a criminal if they don’t hahah coward/20 X’D;;;;

anyway long story short conclusion: I probably won’t, but I’ll try :’3