Let's look at the kind of results you can expect
from outsourcing your print on demand
design ideas to Fiverr.
This is see some of the actual artwork that I got.
I'll show you the rest as I talk through,
why I chose each artist,
so you can understand my thought process.
And I'll also give you some useful tips
to apply to your own concepts,
so you get the best work possible.
If you didn't see my previous video about how I made $11,000
profit from one Fiverr order,
go watch that first,
so you understand more about the website.
I got the design ideas for this video,
from people in the Passive Owls Facebook group.
The first one was from Rachel,
who suggested a cute bat eating sushi.
He can be sitting at a table
or possibly just holding chopsticks and a tray of sushi.
The artist can choose the parameters.
I gave Rachel's idea to Valiant Graphics
and this is what he came up with as a concept for $5.
He was kind enough to complete the design
with full color and shading,
and this is what it looks like on a mock up.
Although the artwork is excellent,
I thought to myself that a cutesy kawaii type style
would be more attractive to customers.
So I asked him if he would do a second one
and sent him some additional reference files
of the sort of thing that I was thinking of.
These are the two images that I showed him.
The point being that a visual makes it a lot easier
for the artist to see what you've got in mind.
This is when he came up with the design
that you've seen on the thumbnail.
Again, it was a $5 concept, but he was kind enough
to complete the design again,
so you can see what it looks like as a finished product
with a mock up too.
The full color completed designs from Valiant cost more
depending on the level of detail required.
I chose him as the artist for this project,
because it's clear from his profile
that he's a talented guy and all the customers in the review
section were satisfied with his work.
He also offers unlimited revisions for your concepts,
so he can make sure you're happy with the work.
Given that the description of the cute bat
that was open to interpretation,
I didn't want to take advantage
of the unlimited revisions too much.
I was pleased with the artwork,
but whether the concept will be popular or not
is for Rachel to find out.
The next idea was from Benjamin in the Facebook group,
who suggested a headless horseman,
who's holding his pumpkin head.
Again, there's a million ways that an artist
could interpret this, and I'd usually suggest
being more specific as well as providing references
because the artists won't know
whether you want something scary, or cute,
or funny, or whatever.
But that's exactly why I chose this as an example,
to show the kind of variation that you get.
Each artist has their own style and interpretation
of the exact same request.
Which is why I sent the same instructions
to two artists to compare the results.
This is what fai_012 came up with for only $5,
which is also really good.
I chose Fai because he has excellent reviews
and a style which is marketable, in my opinion.
Fai kindly offered to complete the design in full color,
which looks amazing and would usually cost an extra $5.
I imagined this style of artwork becoming popular
on a platform like Redbubble,
since it lends itself well to sticker a sales,
which would then increase your overall relevancy
for all products.
Now to compare the styles, I found a different artist,
a guy called Carloclemente.
Hopefully, I'm pronouncing that right,
and gave him the same brief about the headless horseman,
literally word for word copied.
He came up with this artwork for only $5.
He stated that this is just an initial sketch
and it would tidy it up and offer
a full color version for extra.
I was really impressed with the result.
You'll notice that on Fiverr many artists will charge $5
for, "A simple sketch" or "a concept",
which are often excellent pieces of work
as they are for print on demand.
These simple styles are actually quite popular
and there's plenty of examples of best-sellers on Redbubble
or Merch by Amazon and similar print on demand sites
that fit this category.
But, it is worth investing in a full color artwork
if it's appropriate for your concept,
because it can make your design stand out
against the competition in the thumbnails.
Last but not least, we have Alicia from the Facebook group,
who suggested a black and orange dragon holding a skull
as if he was performing the Hamlet monologue.
I chose this suggestion because of the cultural reference.
I know exactly what Alicia means
by performing the Hamlet monologue
because I'm a native English speaker,
but I wasn't sure the artists on Fiverr would.
Cultural references, idioms and metaphors
don't necessarily translate well.
So bear that in mind,
if you're choosing an artist who isn't a native speaker.
Even for works of Shakespeare,
which have been translated the world over.
Your specification can easily get lost in translation,
even with fluent speakers.
Be clear and specific about what you want.
For the purposes of the experiment,
I left the brief exactly as it was.
If I was asking for this type of design myself,
I'd send a photo example of what I meant.
I chose azpro1717 on Fiverr
and this is what you came up with.
Another amazing piece of artwork for only $5.
Although his gig description stated
that he'd only do a simple black and white illustration,
he gave me a full color result for whatever reason.
He's relatively new to Fiverr,
so maybe he wanted to build up his positive reviews
or he was just feeling generous that day.
I chose him because his outwork and recent deliveries
look consistently impressive.
I had no idea if this was the kind of dragon
that Alicia was looking for,
since dragons can appear in many different forms.
So it would be useful to specify
and provide a reference image
if you were doing this for real.
Now, you've seen the results,
I'd like to give you some further advice
for working with artists.
First of all and importantly, in my opinion,
respect the artists that you're working with.
Remember they're a person at the other side of the screen,
just like you and they're trying to make a living.
Think about how you'd feel
if someone was demanding or rude to you.
You wouldn't want to go above and beyond for them,
would you?
The reality is you're more likely to get good artwork
and have an ongoing relationship,
if you're kind and respectful
towards the people that you work with.
I appreciate that we're all just trying to make some money,
but every interaction is an opportunity
to create the world that we want to live in,
so why not be nice to each other?
Make sure that the artist can cater to your specification.
Especially, if you're working with someone
who doesn't normally do design for print on demand.
Most of the artists that work with print on demand
sellers regularly know how to export their work.
But if you've got someone who isn't used to it,
then you'll need to be clear about
what format and size you want,
as well as making sure
that they save the file with transparency.
Also, make sure that you check on their gig page
that they offer commercial use for their work.
Most of the time they do but if it isn't mentioned,
ask them if it's okay before purchasing.
It'll save you getting into trouble
with copyright claims later on.
Next, this sounds really obvious,
but people get carried away spending money on artwork
that there isn't demand for because suddenly
they've got the resources to come up with intricate ideas.
I'm sure these artists can make pretty much
any idea look impressive,
but is there a market for it?
Will anyone actually want it?
Make sure there's demand for an idea
before commissioning it.
When it comes to choosing an artist, do your research.
There's literally thousands of sellers available
and many will promise you the world
without being able to deliver it.
Do the research and make sure that you choose someone
who can meet your expectations.
Many sellers on Fiverr know that print on demand commissions
are popular and therefore, you'll see a lot of gigs
on that from people who aren't necessarily competent.
Especially, look out for those
who are offering text-based designs
or using design elements that are freely available online.
This is something that you'll pick up on
after looking around on the site for awhile.
You want someone who can create something unique for you
and whose recent deliveries look similar
to what they promise.
As I've said, when you're speaking to an artist,
be clear about what you want, provide a visual example
of the style that you're looking for.
You can find samples of similar work online
or draw a quick sketch yourself, even if it looks terrible.
Explain what you want in plain English
without cultural references or metaphors.
Follow this advice and I'm sure you'll get some great work
that leaves everyone happy.
And remember, $5 isn't a lot of money,
so keep your expectations realistic.
Since I was in Fiverr already,
I decided to outsource the thumbnail for this video.
So, if you clicked because it looked enticing.
Thank you, Fiverr artist who did that.
I also treated myself to a banner for this channel
since I achieved 20,000 subs recently
and I thought the result was pretty nice.
The only change I made to it was increasing the saturation
in Photoshop to make it pop a little bit more.
Very snazzy.
And it also leads me into my next tip for you,
which is if you're ever concerned about an artist
not creating something entirely themselves.
You can select or crop a part of the design
that you want to check
and run it through a Google image search
or a website like TinEye Reverse Image Search.
It will analyze the image and bring up a list of results
where it's used elsewhere on the internet.
This is what happened with the elements
in my YouTube banner.
It's fine for an artist to use design elements
that they didn't create,
as long as you were expecting that.
And those elements are free to use
for whatever purpose you want, like that we're in this case.
I just want to say thank you
to the artists featured in this video.
Especially, those who went
above and beyond what was expected.
You'll find a link to Fiverr in the description,
so you can find these people
as well as thousands of other artists.
As I've said before, you don't have to use Fiverr.
You can use whatever website you want.
There's plenty more just like it and I'll be talking more
about other methods of outsourcing soon.
You can even commission the artists directly.
Let me know which artwork you liked best in the comments,
and I'll see you in the next video.