I’ve been doing research online and it doesn’t matter what search engine you are using. It always depends on the ‘pro’ who’s recommending it. It seems that they all have their own favorites/biases when it comes to their ‘insights’.
My plan was to sell any digital product I can think of but I almost forgot that I’m actually restricted to the only tools that I have—my trusty Android tablet and universal stylus pen. 😭
After all the brainstorming I did by reading all the blog posts and watching Youtube videos, I’d decided to just go with my first love….ART. 🖼️🎨🖌️
Why Just Drawing?
Hear me out! I know, if you’ve read my blog posts before, I’ve said that I’m going to be a writer, web developer, and business guru. But since Etsy for me is a new environment and I’ve been a failing artist since birth, I think there’s no harm in giving myself another try in a new platform. Who knows, my dream might come true this time.
I’m not going to draw hyper-realistic drawing or styles that takes a long time to make since I only have the weekends as my free time. I’ll make it simple, cartoon-ish, and a style that all ages will love. I’m also hopeful that a wholesome art style can reach a wider audience.
My Top Digital Art Products To Sell On Etsy
- Wall Art Prints – This is the most common out of all and is my all time favorite. It’s the best therapy a visual artist can have. Being able to enjoy drawing anything that comes from your imagination. Having that freedom is a euphoric experience for artists like me. Well…we have to behave and limit ourselves only to SFW art—😥.
I do have an Android app I use called Infinite Painter and paid for its full access. For the exported format: It can do layered PSD and flattened images like JPEG and PNG. I can even upload different formats in a ZIP file that’s ready for printing as a convenience for the customer. They won’t need to spend a lot of time changing dimensions, cropping parts, and separating layers. It’s going to be a 5-star service.
- Sticker Art – very simple and easy to draw! In fact, I’ve had lots of experience making this one. Those flashbacks of myself promoting my artistry by sticker bombing all around the streets of Cebu. All those memories are making me cry now…🥹
This is probably the first product I’ll make first. I can make designs like anyone can relate to with subjects like: video games, profession, anime & cartoon characters, movies, seasonal themes, and so many others.
- Typography – its one of my favorite things to do. I remember writing graffiti on walls just using pens or markers. Even writing them in my school books was a great way to pass the time.
But the pros recommend we go for minimalist quote prints, motivational and inspirational, poetry, and even custom fonts, animated typography assets for videos (is there an android app for this?), and even logotypes for brands. These are things uncommon for me but I’m willing to dip and test the waters.
- Business Cards – this is a perfect choice for me. I’m somewhat of an “entrepreneur” myself. I think my mobile design setup can handle this perfectly as this product is sold as a Canva Template in PDF. This comes in handy for buyers because its an editable format where they can easily slap their contact info right into the template.
- Pattern Designs – I think this is the easiest one to make (it’s my personal opinion 😆). It’s because you just need to make one tile that can be made into repetitive patterns and it doesn’t even need to be a detailed design.
These patterns can also be applied to print leggings, hoodies, t-shirts, phone cases, tote bags, car seat covers, wallpapers (home decor), pillows, and blankets.
- Apparel, Mugs, and other merch designs – This brings me back memories after I graduated 🥹. I was heavily influenced by friends who pursued in designing T-shirts, Cover albums for musicians, and lots of merch. So I decided to try it for myself and I remember having some few gigs from clients in USA and UK.
The most crucial part of the process is creating the best looking mockup to make it believable for customers to buy.
- Home decor – Majority of the recommended items here are the same items as Pattern Designs so I’ll just mention here that are not included.
Seasonal designs on blankets as gift items (ex. Halloween, Birthdays, Christmas, New Year) and papercrafts that you can cut and fold with already printed design on paper.
- Printable Journaling Pages – This to me is kind of confusing. I was browsing through Etsy and found out that these products are like “trackers” of what your life’s highlights are but it’s like a checklist of things you wanna do or what you’ve done presented in a graphic design.
Thinking of designs, this is much more catered to the female gaze. I need to think of designs that I can and my consumers would relate to. This is going to be challenging.
- Coloring Pages – You know what came into my mind first? COMIC BOOK PAGES 🦸🧌🦹. I can already imagine the content I’m going to make. I’ll be making one-shot comics only in black and white–and can you imagine both young and adult customers enjoying coloring these pages and having their imaginations run wild.
According to the pros, they suggest: Mandalas, Floral, Fantasy Art, Organic Design (Nature), Tarot Designs, Celestial Imagery, Skeletons (horror stuff), Wildflowers, and Wildlife Graphics.
- Embroidery Patterns – To be honest, I think this is the hardest to make and I’m skeptical if I should make this or not but my ego says otherwise 😋. You need to have some expertise in the field of embroidery to make this happen because you also have to make guides of what materials to use and stitching styled including in the downloadable PDFs. I only know cross-stitching. 😭
AI Tools Will Be Used
I’ll give you guy a heads-up, I’m an AI enthusiast and I’m 100% sure this will be part of my drawing process. Some articles even say that the Etsy community doesn’t mind AI made digital products as long as you get the vision of the product they want to buy.
The most important part, since this is a Side Hustle blog, I wanted to experience what’s the actual income potential of using AI tools comparing it to what the pros are claiming it to be. You see them posting proofs of videos in social media and it sounds too good to be true. In my defense, I actually think that nothing beats on hand experience. Well..we’re going to see the results soon.