Design Your Own Jigsaw Puzzle: Tips From An Artist Who Made One Herself! [CC]

[@carinagatta]

Awesome! Such a great video. I'm looking into making puzzles right now and this was incredibly helpful.

[@michimichi2295]

So informative Shea👍

[@akintayooke7132]

Thank you for this. Amazing

[@angeladibble]

Thank you, really helpful info.

[@RezzanHasoglu]

Thank you for all the great advice Shea. How do you create the files? Is it in procreate/photoshop or in vector format? Do you covert the images to vectors before manufacturing?

[@designedbyshea]

Hi! I don't convert my raster illustrations to vectors. I just make sure to size my canvas large enough and at 300dpi so that the quality is crisp for printing. I draw primarily in Procreate and then either save it out as a JPEG or PDF. :)

[@muserwood]

Great vid, thanks. I'm a watercolor artist, and people have told me that some of my paintings would make great jigsaw puzzles, I just want to sell my art to a reputable and trustworthy puzzle company,. The art is things you find in nature: cicadas, pile of leaves, and ladybugs, to name a few. I don't want to market anything. just get paid a fair price. Your thoughts?

[@designedbyshea]

Hi! There are companies like JIGGY (who I now work with), eeBoo Piece & Love, etc. that will manufacture the puzzles for you and do a bit of marketing as well. They'll take a cut of the profit, but you should get paid a percentage each time a puzzle sells. So it's nice passive income! It takes a bit of work applying to these places; I'd recommend looking through the puzzles they currently offer and see if your style is a good fit. Good luck!

[@muserwood]

Thanks. Here's the deal, I'm retired and am not interested in the puzzle business at all, but if they thought one or more of my paintings might work for them, maybe some kind of one time payment and a few puzzles with my art on them would be fine-fun. Do you think something like that is possible? Would you be interested in seeing my work?

[@designedbyshea]

@@muserwood It's possible, though it'll likely take some time, work, and energy on your end to reach out to these companies rather than waiting on them to discover you. In my experience, you've got to put yourself out there by pitching, submitting art, emailing, etc. It might be worth hiring an agent if you're not wanting to promote the work yourself.

[@muserwood]

Thanks, but not interested enough to hire an agent. And I never imagined them finding me. I would, however, be open to emailing my art, or sending an application form, to see if they're interested. Do you still suggest I pursue those three puzzle companies, or might another be more applicable? Thanks again for your info and patience.

[@designedbyshea]

@@muserwood Definitely recommend looking at the companies I shared to start with, and keep researching for more. A good way to do that is also to walk around a store like Target to see what companies produce puzzles and the style of art they're lookin' for. Good luck!

[@sarahcannon1624]

Hi, helpful video, thabkyou. Could you explain what you mean by presale?

[@designedbyshea]

Of course! You essentially sell the puzzles to clients before you've had the puzzles manufactured. It helps you to get the funding you need to manufacture your puzzles. That way, you don't end up over-ordering and have your puzzles cluttering up your studio (like me) :)