How It's Made (Part 1: Brainstorming)

   Something that forever intrigued me before starting my small business was the mystery of how fan merch was made. All these artists creating prints and keychains and various memerobilia in such large amounts. It almost felt like trying to figure out how a magician does their tricks. Now, however, I have some more insight into it. So, for those who want to start selling merch or are just interested in the process, I'll be going through it step by step! For this, I'll be using a new set of keychains I'm making as an example. Overall, no matter what the end product is, they all follow a similar set of steps:

1. Brainstorming

2. Pre-Production

3. Production

4. Formatting

and finally

5. Release 

  I'll be touching on each aspect of these in seperate posts, going in chronilogical order. These will be done in real time, with Step 5 being posted the same day I launch the merch! Be sure to read thee carefully, as I may slip some discount codes into various posts. I'm no savaant at this, so be prepared for us both to do some learning along the way.

  So! First is the brainstorming phase. This is where you're figuring out what you wanna do. There are various ways this can start; having an idea for a design, having a certain type of product you want to make, or having nothing at all! Doesn't matter how much you've got in your head. For the example we're using, I started with the idea that I wanted to make fan march for a game called Dispatch. It's something I played recently, and have really enjoyed it. I try to only create merch for stuff That I've engaged with, whether that's playing the game, watching a playthrough, reading the book, watching the show, etc etc. From the business side of things, it makes sense to follow whats trending, but I never want to sell something that I, personally, wouldn't be interested in buying. Not only does it feel disingenous, but when I have an interest in somthing, it shows through in my art. Avoiding soulless art is my top priority. 

  Try to think of some things you like. Is there media you enjoy that you wish had more merch? Have you ever wished that your favorite movie had something you can rep it with? That's what this brainstorming phase is for. For the sake of this eample, I've chosen Dispatch. Now, we go a little deeper. What kind of merch do I want to make? Which characters or moments do I want to portray? St
art writing them down! Even if it's an idea you're not sure about, get it on paper. It's not about coming up with the one perfect idea, it's about getting any and all ideas you may have out of your brain and onto a legible format.

   I've personally decided to make merch of 3 characters: Robert, Flambae, and Sonar. I'll write down a couple of ideas for things I have for them, as well as some small sketches of what they may look like. These take no longer than a minute, and are called "thumbnails". Theyre small, little drawings that arent meant to look nice, it's just so that idea is preserved for later. Now that these are ideas are marked down, we can move on to Step 2: Pre-Production. This is the step where we take those thumbnails and polish them up just a tad, and figure out how we want to apply them. This is where we'll go over Design and Vessel. Keep an eye out for the next post, and I'll catch yall later!