Creating a Mobile Independent Artist Business - Part 7: Maximize Your Art by Creating Variations

Last post I showed you how to reproduce your traditional 2D art as a high quality digital file. Using the digital file you can create variations of that artwork with very little effort.

For example, The Cage Monster artwork I created in previous posts was intended to be reproduced on the bottom of skateboards. With a little bit of color replacement magic in my photo editing software I can create versions of the same image with different background colors should a potential buyer not be a fan of the original color scheme.

Just by changing the background color my Cage Monster
Art can appeal to a wider audience. The original is
shown on the far left for comparison.

Why stop there? Using your photo editing software you could change the entire color scheme of your art with just a few setting adjustments. Turn a daytime, landscape painting into a night time scene, perhaps? All it takes is loading your images into your software and start playing around with all the various settings.

These recolored variations were created in minutes using Photo Fix filters
in my editing software including (from left to right); Blue Tint, Etching and
Sapphire (with the tint turned up and the temp turned down!).

This image was created by
running the top and bottom
half of the same image
through Prisma then stitching
together the two images in
my photo editing software.

If you're not getting good results experimenting yourself, why not run your images through an app like Prisma. Prisma is available for both Android and iOS devices and includes more than 30 filters that can redefine your images using the style of other famous artists. See what your work looks like through a Picasso filter! (Note that at the time of writing Prisma only supports square images and watermarks them with their logo).

Search around online and see what other apps you can find to filter your art through.

Your own photo editing software may even have some artistic preset filters built in.

Creating variations doesn't just stop with adjusting color schemes. Your digital image can be used to create new art using collage like techniques.

Say you have two images with sections that you think would really look good together. Now you can use your photo editing software to easily remove just the sections you need, combine them into a new composition and, suddenly you've got a new artwork. (Congratulations, you've just taken the final step into creating artwork that exists first as a digital composition).

Once your work is digital the possibilities for
how you use it are really endless.

Once you start cutting and combining artworks there are literally thousands of possibilities for variations and new compositions. Each one only taking hours or even minutes to create.

Why Create Variations?

Once you have all these variations you can sell each version as a digital print (we'll look at options for this in a later post), giving your artwork wider appeal to a greater number of potential buyers. They may not be sold on the original image but one of your variations may be the right combination to trigger a purchase.

One way to use this new found knowledge of creating variations is to not release hundreds of variations all at once to your buyers. Hold back. In between creating all new artworks, you could release a series of variations of previous artworks, every now and then, giving your buyers some new choices to consider while they await your next completely original piece.

It's an especially good technique to use if you typically take a long time to create your art. In between regular updates of your progress you can remind people you still have other art available to purchase through the periodic release of new variations. In this way you are giving buyers something new to look at while reminding them of your previous works of art.

---o ---o--- o---

Now that we've spent some time exploring the creative side of your mobile, independent artists business, in the next post we'll be returning to the more business side of your endeavors.

This post is part of a series called Creating a Mobile Independent Artist Business. Read earlier parts at the links below:

Part 1: Introduction and Equipment
Part 2: Business Software
Part 3: Creative Software
Part 4: Social and Marketing Software Plus Your Website
Part 5: Documenting and Sharing Your Work in Progress

Part 6: Photographing and Preparing Your Art for Printing

Comments

Is AI Art 'Art'? The Say NO to AI Art Movement, and Why Human Artists Will Adapt

AI Art No T-Shirt by TET Also available on other items . Right now there is a big debate over not just whether AI art is 'art' but whether AI's are actually ripping off the work of actual human artists, without their consent, to create their images - particularly images 'in the style of' specific artists. From my own observations this debate started to get more traction when artist's signatures began appearing in the output of AI Art image generators. Is It Art? Cool Froyd the Cat Sketch by TET. My style is very much influenced by classic Disney and WB character styles. To get some clarity on how real human artists work (of which I am one)... we, that is all of us... take influences from the art that has come before. i.e. whatever artists we like, have studied, seen etc. we are influenced by. It shows up in our work, intentionally or not. If you really study my own cartoony art style you'll see I'm heavily influenced by early Disney and Warner Bros cart...

Jimmy Barnes, Working Class Man 40th Aniversary Tour - Barossa Valley, Peter Lehmann Wines

D espite being in the middle of Summer, and experiencing some record temperatures across the state, we got a perfect day for the South Aussie leg of Jimmy Barnes' Working Class Man 40th Aniversay Tour. Lightly overcast. Almost no chance of rain. The cloud cover taking all the edge out of the sun, which was still quite fierce during the brief moments when it did break through the clouds for a little while. Guest artists supporting the show included, Jon Rooney, Kate Ceberano, Ian Moss, and Ice House. Unfortunately, while my partner and I had every intention of being at the concert when the show actually started, so did quite a lot of people. We didn't quite anticipate the traffic getting into the venue, Peter Lehmann Wines, Barossa Valley, and we certainly didn't expect the 5-10 minute hike from the carpark to the concert area itself. Kate Ceberano By the time we found our seats, Kate Ceberano was already part way through her set. Prior to this concert, I certainly knew w...

TV Series Review: Wonder Man (2026) - Disney+ No Spoilers

F or those of you that aren't adverse to your superhero content being a little more character driven and a lot less big action set pieces then Marvel's TV series, under the 'Marvel Spotlight' banner, Wonder Man , is a real underrated gem. Wanna-be actor, Simon Williams (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is a suspected superhero in hiding who believes, he was born to play the title role in a new superhero movie, Wonder Man. A chance meeting with fallen actor, Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley), formerly known as 'The Mandarin', at an audition, puts them both on a path to success but, everything isn't quite as it seems. While you will certainly relate very quickly to Trevor if you know his past from the movie Iron Man III , or, to a lesser extent, Shang-Chi , neither are essential viewing. You get all you need to know about Trevor as the series unfolds. That said, Ben Kingsley must have jumped at the chance to play Trevor a little less as the comic relief, and a little more ...

The Lego Man - He's got all that!

Who would have thought that owning one of the worlds largest, private Lego collections could take you so far. Tom Lucieer of Angaston, South Australia, not only has met the Queen (of England) but is a frequent guest of her majesty and family when they are in Australia. He's also met Prince Charles, Lady Diana and Camila Parker-Bowles. Not only that, he grew up with TV Vet, Dr Harry, and is a friend of the Irwin family (yes, that's Steve Irwin's family). Tom will happily tell you all this as part of the guided tour of his collection, which, aside from Lego, includes much railway memorabilia and colourful anecdotes about days gone by, his achievements and more. Frequently he will finish each particular monologue with the phrase, "Have you got that?", just to check that he hasn't confused you because, as he points out, his display and the stories behind it are a lot to take in at once. In the photo you can see Tom holding a special award, which I think is for bei...

Boom Crash Opera Born Classic But Not Again

Boom Crash Opera are an Australian Band that reached the peak of their popularity in the mid to late nineteen eighties. They are a band that I knew about at that time but was never really excited by until they released their ill fated double album Born and Born Again in 1995 (Album cover pictured). At the time of its release I was very much into emerging Australian musical acts and was also looking out for new sounds that were different and had kind of a futuristic/electronic sound. Artists that I was buying at the time included; Swoop , Nine Inch Nails and Pop Will Eat Its Self . As well as a really interesting release by David Bowie, the concept album, Outside . Born was a fairly radical departure for Boom Crash Opera (BCO). The first single, Gimme , was often compared to the sounds of Gary Glitter, particularly his single, Rock n Roll part 2 , because of the pounding drum loops. Watch the video below. My favorite single from the album is dissemble which probably went now...

New TET Painting: Cat Amongst the Pigeons - Prints Available

Cat Amongst the Pigeons by TET 2026-02-22 Original Acrylic Painting on Canvas (15.5" x 12"). I n my previous post, Painting Whimsical Cats (and probably other stuff) Again After Almost a Decade Away From Traditional Art , I, obviously, mentioned I'm painting cats again. It wasn't an empty promise. As you can see I've created my first official, new cat painting - since the previous one was actually a test piece - titled Cat Amongst the Pigeons . This painting features two firsts; the first time I've painted a cat with pigeons, and the first time I've broken the edge of my white border with the image. (In case I'm not explaining that well, the cat's ears extend into the white border that is usually masked off with tape during painting). I just didn't want to clip the cat's ears! WIP Collage of Cat Amongst the Pigeons painting. Images from sketch to finished art. What Does It Mean? While this can mean anything you want it to mean, I was think...

How to Transfer Any Line Art to Your Griptape - Easy Skateboard Griptape Art Tutorial

Dog Star Griptape Art by TET Griptape art is once again gaining popularity amongst modern skateboarders. For those of us who have tried to create our own griptape art, using paint pens, you'll know reproducing your design onto the grip, without making any mistakes is incredibly challenging. Mostly because you just have to go for it and draw the design freehand, with paint pens, directly onto the griptape. You can make the odd mistake here or there but if you get the proportions of the design completely wrong, it can be very difficult to fix. Often you just have to live with the mistake. To address the problem I've come up with an easy way anyone can transfer a line art design to their griptape, removing almost all the anxiety of getting the proportions wrong. In fact, you could do this with any line art design, even if you have no drawing skill at all. Watch the video below to see my technique in action and/or skip past the video where I highlight the basic steps to get your de...

TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Search This Blog