Licensed Characters on Etsy

Licensed Characters are all over Etsy.

It's a pet peeve of mine that so many sellers, specifically digital sellers, are using Licensed Characters in their artwork and making money from them. 

A license for such characters is super expensive so I doubt these small time sellers on Etsy are paying the agreement fees.  Personally, I'm too chicken to rip off characters like that because knowing my luck, that's when the big companies would decide to go after Etsy sellers for copyright infringement.

You'll notice a lot of sellers put a "disclaimer" stating that they are being paid for the time to put the design elements together and that they do not claim the licensed character as their own. BULLHOCKEY! You're still making money off of a trademarked image. Even if you drew the character yourself, it's likeness is trademarked!

Many other buyers are very careful with their designs and come up with designs from scratch or use royalty free images.

I really hope Etsy starts enforcing copyright more but until then, please do you're part as a buyer and stay away from purchasing trademarked characters, as tempting as it may be.  Etsy is a place for handmade and original works, not a million unoriginal purple Disney's Tangled birthday invitations.

Getting unique fonts for your designs

There are no doubt a ton of Font websites out there.  Most quality fonts, you have to pay for and they are not for redistribution as is.  However, there are tons of quality fonts out there that are free or low-cost.

I'm only going to review my two favorite font sites. Abstract Fonts and DaFont

www.abstractfonts.com

I like Abstract Fonts because of how it is organized. It's very easy to navigate and narrow down the type of font you're looking for.

Another really great feature is that you can view all the installed fonts on your computer. The only thing that is a bummer about this is that some of the downloaded fonts I have installed on my computer will show up on the list by it's name in a basic font, but the font itself won't be shown as an example.  This makes it hard sometimes to discern what fonts you have that may be similar to one you're looking for as, like me, I doubt you have ALL of them memorized by name (maybe just your select favorites!). 

Abstract fonts also lists whether the font is for personal use only or not.  This is especially useful if you're using the fonts to make commercial designs as you don't want to step on any toes and get in trouble for copyright infringement.

And the last cool feature I want to mention is the custom preview of the font. Instead of boring ol' black, you can pick any color to see the font in before you commit to downloading it. (which is nice and keeps you from hoarding fonts to check out in specific colors later!)

www.dafont.com

The other website I find myself visiting often is DaFont.  Not as easy to peruse through the categories like Abstract Fonts but it has an awesome feature that I wish Abstract Font had. dafont allows you to sort the font search by Free, Public Domain, Free for personal Use etc. under more options.  This saves time if you're looking for fonts to use commercially and again want to stay away from copyright issues. HOWEVER! You still have to look at any notes included with the font files that might indicate you have to get permissions to use them commercially because dafont doesn't always label them correctly.

The Value of Pride

New blogger here!

Bear with me as I work out the kinks and learn amongst growing pains of setting up my new blog. I have some great ideas for the future of this blog and hope you'll share in my journey!

So first off, who am I - This woman behind the curtain?

My name is Danielle and I run an Etsy shop called Dazzleology.
Visit my shop here!
I create custom digital designs such as Invitations, Announcements, Stationary, Business Cards etc.

I'm married and we just welcomed our first child, a boy, in May 2013.  You could say he was my inspiration.  I started Dazzleology when I was about 6 months pregnant after looking at baby shower invitations on Etsy.  You ever have something in mind but can't find anything close to what you want?  That was me.

Some of the designs on Etsy looked like something I could create with my basic knowledge of Photoshop, and I did a few things for my wedding the year before. So I whacked up a couple of designs and opened an Etsy shop!  I had no sales for a little over a month and in the meantime I practiced my Photoshop skills by reading and viewing user made tutorials. Then BAM! my first sale!

Now mind you, I'm still in the infancy of my Etsy journey. I've only had 50 sales so far. But, you've got to start somewhere! When I look at it with the perspective of 50 people liked my designs enough to purchase them, it fills me with pride.

I love the idea of creating something from start to finish and facilitating the marketing and sales yourself.  A person gets more fulfillment this way than being part of mass production.  Big corporations and capitalism permeate our society so much that we forget the value of pride.

-Danielle