Overcoming Difficulty - Silkscreening T-shirts

I totally needed a beer to handle this job...

Hi everyone! Monkey is here for our 200th post(!!!) and will be talking about the process of silkscreening the new "You're Not Alone Anymore" shirts aka the "Naricorn" (narwhal + unicorn=naricorn) shirt for short.

Hey all, so I won't be going into too many of the technical details of silkscreen printing here,because if you are interested, I'll be running a FREE demo/workshop on screenprinting at the SF Zine Fest, starting at 3:30 this Saturday, Sept. 4th. More details can be found here. So if you want to talk shop, I'll be there (also at the Monkey + Seal table the entire fest!).

Anyway, so on to the post. Overcoming difficulty. This past week, I have been a bit crazed, as trying to print 30-ish t-shirts with fairly tight registration with water-based textile inks when a)you don't have the right emulsion, b)you're used to printing with either water-based inks for PAPER, c)if you do print on shirts, you've only used plastisol inks, and d)you're out of screen opener. If this makes any sense to you great, if not, just know there were a lot of hurdles to making this shirt.

a)wax paper is not as good as freezer paper, b)my float coat was waaaay to thin for what I was doing

Besides only having one type of emulsion that doesn't hold up well to water-based textile inks (ie the stencil gets eaten away by the inks), the rest of the issues weren't so big. The main issue was that the emulsion (which our shop usually uses fine with plastisol inks). For those that have never screenprinted before, basically the emulsion is what is used to create a stencil of sort on the screen that prevents all the ink from seeping through your screen. Instead of a big huge flat of ink, you only get the parts that you want (the design) on the shirt. If you have holes in your emulsion, you'll get ink that you don't want onto whatever you're printing on. Thus, having ink that eats through your emulsion is a huge issue.

I had never used this current emulsion with the water-based textile inks, so I didn't know this might be a problem until I actually started printing. So with a screen with emulsion slowly degrading, I started to lose hope. I was frustrated at myself for not even considering the possibility, for not planning earlier (I was supposed to ship out the shirts the same day), and for not having all the supplies I needed to make the process easier.

The screen for printing the white layer

Thankfully, after a long day of experimentation and failure and being a bit of a rude jerk to Eve, I realized that being all upset was not going to solve anything. I apologized to Eve when I got home that night and started problem-solving. I started looking up emulsion comparisons and manufacturer's data sheets. I then started cross-referencing good emulsions with any local stores that might carry them. I then took care of the customer service issues, as many of these shirts were pre-ordered and I wanted to let our customers know what went wrong, and offered them a refund if they wanted to cancel. Finally, I took down the phone numbers of all the local stores that could possibly carry professional-level screenprinting supplies (speedball doesn't cut it! Sorry!) and then went to bed.

The next morning was spent on the phone trying to figure out where I could get some emulsion, and while I waited for a few return phone calls, I started systematically going through the process I had used to burn the screens, and realized that there were a few steps that I could have taken to potentially extended the life of the stencil. I then went to the studio, experimented again, and managed to find a way to use the emulsion I had (since I couldn't get the stuff I needed in a reasonable amount of time and at a decent price) and the shirts were printed!

The white layer printed!

White + blue layers = finished shirt! Now I just have to heat-set it.

The reason I wanted to share this story with you was that there were a lot of points where I wanted to just give up and refund everyone their money back. I wanted to curse the screenprinting gods and just kick a hole in my screens and knock buckets of ink over. I even contemplated outsourcing the printing to some other print shop. But I didn't. I stayed (relatively) calm, and by assessing and reassessing the situation, thinking outside the box, and going back to the basics, I was able to get the shirts printed!

The final shirt. Whew!

Panicking and freaking out is never going to make any situation any better. Stay rational, think creatively, and sometimes the most simple answer might be the one you're looking for. Anyone else with any good tips on how to handle adversary? Please share in the comments!

Learn Screenprinting! Learn Bookbinding!

Hi everyone! We just wanted to take the time to remind you all to stop by the San Francisco Zine Fest this weekend (September 4+5) from 11am-6pm at the SF County Fair Building (in Golden Gate Park at 9th + Irving).

The event is totally free, and Monkey + Seal will be there vending. We'll have our ties, prints, and our new postcard line for sale, as well as some new assorted paper products (if we can finish them in time, eep!).

Additionally, there are going to be a ton of great workshops, panels, and discussions going on, and Monkey will be teaching two of them!

Stop by at 3:30 on Saturday to get an insider's look to screenprinting! We'll have a screen or two for you to print from, so make sure that you bring some paper, or some clothing to print on! We'll provide the inks, screens, squeegees, etc., so just bring what you want to print on! PS - Give us some suggestions as to what exactly you'd like to print, and if you're early enough, you just might see it at the workshop!

If you want to get your bindery skills on (or learn some), swing by at 12:30 on Sunday as Monkey will also be an instructor for the bookbinding class. We'll go over some single-sheet books, a pamphlet stitch, and if time allows, for some simple Japanese stab-binding! Awesome! We'll have all the supplies you need, just bring yourself and your curiosity!

Besides the awesomeness of the Zine Fest itself, there are lots of other fun events being put on by the Fest! On Friday, there will be a reading at the Cartoon Art Museum from 7-9pm with super great comic creators. It's a line-up not to be missed, and Monkey will be there for sure!

Also check out our Afterparty and Mixer over at Mission: Comics & Art (3520 20th Street, San Francisco) on Saturday from 7-10pm! Meet and mingle with some of the vendors at the Fest and have some drinks and check out the art on the walls! Sweet!

If you still can't get enough of the Fest, come to our After-After party at the Knock Out (3223 Mission Street). It's a $5 cover for this 90's Alternative dance party, but if get in FREE with zines to trade, a flannel get-up, or if you rock a Baby-Doll dress! It'll be from 9pm-2am, so come and get your 90's indie, underground, and riot-grrl jams, and rock on!

Whew! It's going to be a jam-packed week for Monkey + Seal and we hope to see you at the Zine Fest!

When In Hell, Keep Running Forward!

Seal has this great quote: "When in hell, keep running forward." She's used this mantra for the last ten years to help her get through rough times. And you know what? It's totally true.

Simply put, it works this way. If you were dropped down into hell (as an actual space with flames or whatever) your situation is not going to get better by just sitting around on your toasty butt. If you do nothing, you're gonna just sit there and cook. However, if you take off running, no matter how painful the trek, you're eventually going to come to the borders of hell and get out of there.

The real world works the exact same way. If you're down on your luck - broke, 200k in debt with student loans, sick, mounting medical bills, whatever your circumstances, if you just sit there and focus on how crappy you think your life is, that's all you're ever going to know. But, if you get up and start taking action towards fixing your problem, no matter how much of a baby step you take you'll be that much closer to getting out of your predicament.

Things might seem impossible, but most likely they aren't. You just may require some creative thinking, a positive attitude, and the willingness to take action. Need fifty thousand dollars to start up a business? Think saving up that much would take too long? What about small business loans? Crappy credit? What about finding investors? No connections? What about looking on the internet, maybe kickstarter, perhaps? Can't get funding? What about donating a kidney or something? In all honesty, while we don't endorse selling off of body parts or prostitution or robbery (or crime, in general), if you really need money, there are lots of ways to get creative.

Want to get into a gallery? Have you submitted photos of your work yet? Still no answer? Have you tried all the galleries in town? What about finding out who these curators are and figuring out their friends and trying to get your work in front of them? What about schmoozing up the workers at the gallery? What about bribing them? (Again, crimes are discouraged.)

Our point is that if you are down on your luck, and you want to get someplace, don't sit around and wait for it to get better. It very well might, but your chances are a lot better if you start doing something about it. It's hard when you feel like crap, but if you keep on keeping on, no matter how you feel, things will take a turn for the better. It might be a while, and you'll probably feel like giving up most of the time. But it'll get better. We promise.

Eat the fattest frog first

Recently, Seal has realized how true the saying "Eat the fattest frog first" is (via Mark Twain). Unless you happen to really like eating frogs (we don't - no meat in the Monkey + Seal household), the fattest frog is always going to be the one thing that you don't want to do. It's working on that project for the client that you hate, or it's getting around to wash that huge moldy pile of dishes, or it's paying that overdue bill.

Whatever it is, take it out first thing. We've found that when you save it until there's no more time, everything else you do during the day is tainted by that lingering feeling of unease that is your subconscious telling you that you still have something left to do.

In another gross metaphor, think of it this way. Would you rather eat some whipped cream only to find poop at the bottom of your bowl, or the other way around? If we had to eat poop, you'd be sure we'd want to do it first so that you kill the taste with something decent at the end of the meal. When we go out for (vegetarian) sushi, Monkey always makes a big deal about lining up his sushi in the correct order to make sure that the "ending taste" is exactly what he's feeling up to that day. He knows that there is going to be a single taste that will linger in his mouth after dinner, so he wants it to be his favorite.

If you just get the worst out of the way early, not only will you have taken care of some chore that you have a big resistance to doing, but then your day will be filled with more and more good things. End on a happy note, so that's what you're thinking about when you go to bed, and you can get a decent night's sleep.

Speaking of a tasty note to end on, this is the last week to get your Narwhal x Unicorn t-shirt "You're Not Alone Anymore" for $5 off the normal price in our pre-order sale! The shirts are being printed this week and will go out soon! Get yours now!

Nourish Your Passions

While we might not have the best sleep schedules, please don't take this graph too seriously. Get some rest!

Most of what we write about on the blog deals with life as a professional artist. Usually, that means we talk about things like motivation, finding outlets for your work, inspiration, success, goals, and other stuff like that. However, today, we want to speak a little bit about the other, rarely-spoken-about aspect of an artist's life: other passions.

While it is hard enough to keep on nourishing your art, especially if you're not a 100% full-time artist (someone who is making a living solely off of their art), you also cannot neglect your other dreams and passions.

While this seems a bit contradictory to a lot of the success formulas we've talked about before, we think it's crucial as a human being, and will help prevent burnout as an artist. While this might not apply to you if your only passion in life is art, for us, we have many things in life that we enjoy besides just creating art. We both love to cook, like the outdoors, enjoy sports and dancing, and love music. Granted, painting, designing, and illustrating are our top choices of activities, but when it's all you do, you can easily burn out.

Recently, Monkey has taken a bit of time out of going 110% full-out art-business mode and taken a bit of time to experiment in the kitchen again. He really enjoys coming up with new recipes and recently made the time to come up with two gourmet vegan sandwiches.

While Saturday nights in the Monkey + Seal household are usually spent blogging, researching, or creating concept art, we took the night off recently to head out to a friend's birthday party. The 80's music was going non-stop and we had a blast dancing the night away.

We'll be the first to admit that we're not the all-art-all-the-time artists that some might aspire to be. We're not as famous as James Jean or David Choe or Sam Flores or Tim Burton, many of whom have hustled non-stop for years and worked their asses off to get where they are. But, we also know that while the hustle of an artist takes crazy amounts of dedication, time, and blood, sweat, and tears, if you go too long without a break you won't make it either.

Spend time with friends and family. If you enjoy writing, work on it for 15 minutes at least once a week. Take your time a bit in the kitchen if you like cooking. While we highly encourage you to prioritize your art, just make sure that you're not letting it completely take over your life. Having it take over most of your life is okay, but just don't give it all of it.

Why people won't pay for your art

Pricing and getting paid decently for your work is one of the hardest things to deal with as a professional artist. Ideally, we'd all just create and have people give us enough money to live happily ever after, but the reality for most of us is that we have to constantly sell ourselves.

We have to submit to galleries, show portfolios, scan craigslist and other job posting sites for freelance work. Some of us get agents. It's not the easiest profession in the world.

A huge hurdle that lots of us face is that if you don't work in a creative field, you often don't know what art/illustration/design is worth. I'll be honest, in the past, Monkey + Seal have taken a lot of low paying jobs since sometimes you have to do what you have to do to pay the bills. However, if you can at all help it, turn down these jobs!

Often, we get approached at conventions and shows and asked to do book covers. Unfortunately, it's not by large publishers (although we're hoping to change that soon) but by everyday people who have an idea they want to see made into a children's book, or who have written a novel and want a cover for it to self-publish.

According to the Graphic Arts Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines (which all creatives should own, btw), for a small press (runs of 3000-7000 units) book cover, you should be looking at anywhere between 1,200-2,500. Even assuming it's smaller, offers of $200 are a bit insulting, to be perfectly honest. We're super happy that you like our work, but for some of our illustrations we have spent upwards of 50 hours on. Illustration takes research, thumbnailing, colors and value studies, and piles of sketches before the final execution.

Besides the 50 hours, what clients are paying for are the years invested in honing our craft. Even for our paintings, if you see us whip something up while we live paint, even though we might finish something in an hour, that doesn't take into account the thousands of hours we've spent sketching, researching, studying other artists, playing with color, learning how to use our paints, experimenting with various mediums. So there is a lot of time invested in what you don't see. After all, Michael Jordan didn't just play basketball for those 48 minutes in every NBA game. Every day that you weren't watching him dominate the court, he'd be practicing in a gym, first there, last to leave. He got paid the big bucks because all of the behind the scenes work that the average viewer doesn't see.

Another large hurdle is that our culture doesn't value art like it does other trades. For example, for some reason, people think artists "just paint and draw" unlike, say, auto mechanics or doctors. This, however, is plainly false. The best analogy I've ever heard is like this: you don't go into an autoshop and say "Can you please fix my car, and then maybe if I like the way that it drives and it makes me some money, I'll pay you." You'd probably get thrown out. However, all the time, we hear "Can you please do this book cover illustration for me, and then maybe if I like it and it sells a lot of copies, I'll pay you." Not cool, people, not cool.

The more of us that take this spec work (which is highly looked down upon), the more and more people hiring us will come to expect that as a norm. Not cool.

If you think of hiring a creative:
-Our work takes time! Please be respectful of this - we usually can't do an illustration in an hour!
-If we can do an illustration in an hour, you'll probably want revisions, and those take more time.
-If you think we charge too much, please try and do it yourself. What we do is a craft - it takes lots and lots of practice.
-Please don't try and sell us on "exposure," unless you're representing 200,000 viewers/readers, or have a name like Nike or Pepsi. Even then, you should have been around long enough and have enough funds to pay us anyway.

So if you are a creative:
-Stick up for your work! Don't be afraid to ask for what your time is worth.
-Don't take spec work! You're working for free!
-If you have to take a job, we know that sometimes if its between a low paying gig and paying rent, you need to take the gig, but resist if at all possible!

Free Your Brain of Clutter

Do you have unfinished projects? ideas? or unkept promises? Anytime we take on a project or a promise to deliver, we use up our temporary present memory to store "to-do lists" in our minds. These to-do lists continually remind us that there are things left to be done, and will not go away until we feel closure with a project. When we want to start a new project, suddenly we remember that we needed to edit that document, finish off that embroidery for grandma's birthday due a month ago, or frame that painting, etc. Not just art projects, but personal ones too, such as that pile of laundry, or unworn clothes you've been hoarding in the closet, or the drawing desk full of clutter. How can we invite new ideas in when we are full of clutter?

So dust off that unfinished novel drafts, baby scarf, or sketches you wanted to turn into murals. Commit to following through and finishing them. You'll feel pounds lighter and ready to take on new projects and plans for world domination.