Friday Feature with Melody from Everybody Else!

Woohoo to it being Friday! I am so excited for Thanksgiving next week. I only work 3 days and then have a long 4 day weekend. I'm so ready for a vacation it's not even funny!

Also, since it's nearing the end of the month, I'm looking for December sponsors so if you are interested in advertising your blog or shop on The Curious Pug, please click here for more info!

Tell us about yourself. Name, location, what do you like to do for fun?
My name is Melody DuVal. I live in Goshen, IN, which is a rather small city surrounded by farms. I draw, almost constantly. During movies or church or meals. All the time. When I'm not drawing, I'm reading. I love stories. Exotic adventures, impossible mysteries, true love, amusing mishaps - I devour them all. I also help out with my church's youth group. I love teenagers and the kids in our group are awesome. I draw during youth group too. Sometimes it has to do with the lesson, sometimes it's just a huge, flowery, "LISTEN" across the page - it's more effective than trying to whisper over the latest gossip.

What is your shop's name & url? What do you sell there?
My shop is Everybody Else at www.everybodyelse.etsy.com
I sell my illustrations as prints, cards and ACEO's (Art Cards, Editions & Orginals). Most of my work is drawn freehand on paper, scanned into the computer, colored in Photoshop, and printed on Kromekote. But occasionally I post handcolored work as well.

How did you get your shop's name?
Haha, oh the shop name. Well, I draw a lot of people who aren't me, so that's the easy answer and I think an assumption most people make. But, it's a name I've used for myself online before and it comes from Switchfoot's Chem6a song, which is being a bit sarcastic, I think, about the teenage thought process and about how we form our identity.

"I think I'd rather play around
And I think I'd rather watch TV
Cause I don't wanna face my fears
I'll watch the movie
Cause it's not me
I'm just like everybody else
I'm just like everybody else"

So I've used it tongue-in-cheek as my log-on name, on Etsy and I thought it fit well with what I do, drawing everybody else, so it became my shop name as well.

What is your favorite item in your shop?
That's a hard one, right now it's "Night Light", because that's my most recent drawing and the girl with the candle in the dark is something I've wanted to draw for a long time, but it just wouldn't come out right and so finally having it the way I want it just makes me happy.

What inspired you to create what you make on Etsy?
I've always drawn people. And the people who know me have always told me they should be on cards and I should sell my work. And finally, I was in Michael's a couple years ago, buying a pack of fairly bland, patterned cards, 10 for $10 and I thought - "Why? Why I am doing this? I can print my own cards and they will be cheaper." So I did that and I thought I would print some extra and try to sell them online.

Do you listen to music when you create items for your shop? If so, what do you listen to?
You know, I don't really. I don't have a stereo, or even speakers on my computer, so I tend to watch tv while I draw. And music that is really moving, for me, I simply cannot put a picture to, so it would be counter-productive to try and draw during that time.

How many hours a day/week do you put into your shop?
It varies greatly from week to week. Some weeks I put in a ton of time, other weeks I spend a lot of time with friends or family and nothing happens. Since I have a full time job designing ads and illustrating stories, it can be a little over-whelming to come home and put more effort into another creative job, so in the interest of not losing my mind, I've given myself permission to let it go when I need to.

Take us through your creative process when you make items for your shop:
I do a lot of drawing. I draw all the time. And if a sketch catches my eye I ink it. And if I still like I scan it into the computer. And if I don't like it anymore it goes in a pile of papers. Sometimes I come back and I like it more later. I have a couple of original drawings for sale in a coffee shop right now that I just didn't care for when I finished them, but they grew on me later. One of my most popular cards, December, I didn't like until I colored it, but I really wanted a second winter card to sell at a Christmas craft show and I finished it and it was a hit. If I like a drawing I scan it into my computer. If I'm really in love with it I just keep working until I finish it, which may be one or two in the morning, but if it's compelling I can't stop. Midwest Daydreams I finished in one evening, I just couldn't put it away. Some pieces I can't seem to get the right feel for. I have a drawing of two boys with flashlights wandering in the woods and I love the lines, but I just can't get it right, I've worked on it off and on for two years.

If I decide to make a piece into a card I have to resize it and I usually bleed the background to the back of the card for continuity. I know that's not usual, but I like the look.
Then I take the files to the printer and we've gone through a lot figuring out exactly how I want these things printed, but they're really great and now it's pretty routine and they look beautiful.

What is the most helpful piece of advice/tool/tip that you have discovered while selling on Etsy?
Your photos are SO important. I haven't fixed all of mine yet, I still have a few cards that have dark photos and unattractive backgrounds, but without great photos no one will look at your work. And on the Etsy forums I've found great advice on photographing products and I also browse other listings and see what other people are doing and what looks nice and what is off-putting.

What do you find most challenging?
Those wretched keywords. I've long been afraid that I have no idea what a person would search when they're looking for art like I sell. And Google analytics confirms this fear, I can tell I don't do it right, but it's rough. You sell a picture of a girl baking cookies and you can't really use "cookies" as a tag because then you get a bunch of buyers looking for birthday treats.

How do you promote your shop?
I have twitter, where I really just kind of mess around and hope it's helping. And I have a blog where I post new work or random sketches I think are fun, but I'm not going to sell. I have a facebook fanpage which I think is excellent for being in touch with fans without harassing them. They can kind of decide the level of involvement they want there. I'm a big flickr poster. I actually have had a great following on flickr for a couple of years. And I have business cards, I don't do a lot with them, but it's nice to be able to hand them out to interested people. I sketch in coffee shops a lot and people comment on my work, so it's great to be able to hand them a card at that point.

Do you promote off the internet too, such as craft fairs, etc.?
Not much. Anyone who knows me knows about my art, it's really impossible to escape, but I haven't done much in the way of shows. I do participate in an annual Art Gala my church puts on, we auction off art and donate the money to missions and it's great to see people getting excited about art and helping people at the same time. I'm also doing a display at Latte Art in Warsaw, IN for the month of November, so that's great and I have a one day show with Young Professionals of LaGrange County in December, but that side of promotion is really new to me.

What venue do you find to be the most helpful in promoting?
You know, I really don't know - promotion is not my strong point and I know I'm not doing it particularly well in any venue, but I've had some encouraging results from facebook.

If you could give any advice to newbie sellers, what would it be?
Stock your shop before you open. Please. Don't go in with four listings and expect things to go well for you. (I started with two, I think).

What shop goals do you wish to accomplish by the end of the year?
I'd really like to figure out how to get people into my shop. It used to be a lot easier, but with a lot of changes to the etsy site this year I've seen my views drop substantially. I haven't been very quick to adjust, but I'm hoping I'll get that down in the next month or two. I think once I get people in there they enjoy my art and I do get sales.

What is your favorite movie?
I don't know if I have a favorite at the moment, but I can quote "You've Got Mail" from start to finish, complete with soundtrack, and it is definitely a favorite even though I haven't watched it very recently. And I love "Singing in the Rain", the humor makes it a great feel-good film.

Favorite book or author?
Impossible, impossible to choose. I love all kinds of authors and genres. I never get tired of Jane Austen's work, I read her books over and over. C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, Madeline L'Engle and Mark Twain have just such great writing voices. I love Robin McKinley and Patricia McKillip - the way they've written their own fairy-tales that are as timeless as the ones we already know, is brilliant. James Rollins - sci-fi the way it was intended to be. P.G. Wodehouse was a hilarious and prolific writer. I love Suzanne Collin's work with The Hunger Games, I couldn't put it down.

You are going to a deserted island and you can only bring three items. What are they?
Wow. Hm, I feel like I need more back story - Is this a vacation or I am I being marooned? What's this island like for food and shelter? Assuming I have the necessities on the island and it's relatively I'd probably take a good, long, book; a bunch of paper; and a box of pencils.
If I don't get to assume that. A rifle, lots of ammo, and a large, heavy duty tarp. twitter.com/everybodyelse

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