POLL: Which "Print on Demand" site do you like the best? (Update #1)

Last summer I started a poll on Print on Demand - Resources for Artists to identify what people's preferences were in relation to different Print on Demands websites.

The popularity of the various 'print on demand' sites waxes and wanes. We know something about the traffic they get ( see the traffic charts below) but what do people think of them after they've used them and/or bought items from them? This poll set out to find out.

This is the situation some six months on.  44 people have responded to date.

Print on Demand Poll as at 12th February 2011

Print on demand - art prints/posters and other printed items

Clearly Zazzle is way out in front.

However looking at the preferences in the context of traffic enables us to get a better picture

Zazzle's premier position is echoed by the growth in traffic to their website.  Zazzle and Cafe Press are far and away the largest competitors with traffic peaking at nearly 7 millon a month in December.  However, since last summer, Zazzle has consistently attracted more traffic than Cafe Press.

Zazzle's traffic (blue) overtook that of CafePress (green) last summer
(January 2010 - January 2011)

Red Bubble is the newest website in this competitive marketplace.  It picked up second place in the order of preferences.

Again this is born out by the compete.com chart when comparing the traffic of Imagekind and Red Bubble - where it can be seen that Red Bubble has been beating Imagekine for all of the last 12 months.

Imagekind (blue) has been consistently losing out to Red Bubble (green) in the last 12 months
(January 2010 - January 2011)

Interestingly 20% of those voting preferred another site - but rather frustratingly didn't say which!

See Print on Demand - Art for more information, advice and tips about the different websites

Print of demand publications

In the print of demand publications stakes, Lulu is preferred to Blurb.  Again this reflects the relative position on traffic.

Lulu's traffic approximately three times that of Blurb (January 2010 - January 2011)

See Print on Demand - Publications for more information

Conclusions / your views

Overall, traffic is a pretty good indicator of preference - with the exception of CafePress.  This site has extremely high traffic but is not the site of choice for most people.  One can only assume this say something about people's experiences with the site or their reputation.

• What's your preferred print on demand website - and why?   
• Have you voted on the poll? - please update the poll if you have not yet voted
  

Moleskine Folio Sketchbook - A3 size

Moleskine A3 size (16 ½” x 12”, 29cm x 42cm) Folio Sketchbook

Yesterday I came across an A3 size Moleskine Folio Sketchbook - and bought it without a second thought.  I've been using Moleskine sketchbooks for the last five years and although I might go out with other makes there's always at least one in my backpack!

I haven't even got the cellophane cover off yet and I'm ecstatic.

My A4 size Moleskine Folio Sketchbook has been my new favourite sketchbook for a while now.  It has all the features of the original "Large" Moleskine Sketchbook - but bigger.  Which means:

• 96 pages measuring 21 x 29.7cm. This means a double spread in inches is 11.5" tall by 16" wide and is my new favourite format for sketches

• the paper is the same high quality heavy paper, acid free paper. The 160 g/m2 weight means nothing ever shows through to the other side - which means you can use both sides of a page all the way though the sketchbook!
• all the paper is FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified
 - which I applaud
• smooth black hardback cover with rounded corners and an elastic band closure
.  The latter is invaluable for avoiding the edges of your paper getting dog-eared.
• inside the end cover there is an inner expandable pocket which I use for mementoes of trips and tickets

The big benefit for me  of having an A3 size Moleskine sketchbook is that I will now be able to do the same large sketches - but with no crease down the middle as I no longer need to use a double page spread.  

The Royal Academy - Courtyard of Burlington House - in the rain
11" x 17", pen and ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine Folio Sketchbook A4
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Now I've got a paper I really like for the media I use and that's big enough for the size of sketch I like to do I might even taken one apart and start selling sketches!

You can see my sketches using a Moleskine on

• Travels with a Sketchbook - the blog
• Travels with a Sketchbook - the portfolio website page

I bought my new A3 sketchbook in the big Waterstones on Piccadilly.  It was priced at very nearly £30.  However I've seen them for less elsewhere including on Amazon. 

Which dark soft pastels are the best?

Soft pastels in very dark colours present a challenge which some manufacturers have tried to address.  This post is about soft pastels in dark colours, shades and tints - and a new opinion poll.

Common problems are:

• Some brands can feel abrasive and scratchy.  Dark shades and tints of soft pastels have a reputation for not being the softest of soft pastels.
• Other brands are 'too hard' and fail to release their pigment load easily
• It can also be very difficult to get hold of good rich colour in dark shades.  Dark should not mean that colour disappears.

Some manufacturers have addressed these problems by creating specific dark sets of soft pastels. These aim to balance the quality of pigment colour (ie colour not black!) with softness and the effective release of the pigment onto the support while also offering a good range of dark colours.

Many a pastel artist has developed a quest for set of pastels which are both soft and dark

I started out with a set of Rembrandt Pastels and found the dark shades to be a tad too hard for my liking.  I addedin Daler Rowney Soft Pastels and liked those - but they disappeared a bit too fast for my liking

I then got a set of Unison Darks and was smitten.  These are very dark and yet have good pigment colour - but are also not abrasive or "too hard".

My set of Unison Darks - photographed when still relatively pristine!

I've also tried out some dark Terry Ludwig pastels in a pastel workshop.  Some pastel artists comment that these work better on abrasive supports rather than paper where to some they feel a little too greasy.  There are two sets of dark Ludwig Pastels:

• Intense Darks #1 set is red/sienna/ochre/brown oriented
• Intense Darks #2 set is blue/grey/purple/mauve oriented

You can also get a set of 60 Intense Darks

Terry Ludwig - 60 Intense Darks

Diane Townsend has a set of 12 dark soft form pastels. she also lists the individual colours whcih means they could be bought singly.  These are Deborah Secor's favourite dark pastels and she says they cover Wallis paper really fast.  She recommends the dark green for those doing landscapes.

Diane Townsend - soft form.  Dark 12 piece set

Sennelier have a set of 24 dark tones.

Sennelier Pastels - Set of 24 dark tones

Pan Pastels have a set of extra dark colours available as 3 sets of 5 colours each - extra dark shades, shadows and earth colours


Daler Rowney now have a dark set - 8 Set Dark Selection Code 153 902 008 - you can see a picture of them here

Girault are said to have a dark set but I've never seen one and can't find one on their website.  Others may have developed specific dark sets and if so I'd love to hear about them.

Which dark pastels do you like best - and how do you buy them?  

Please vote in the NEW OPINION POLL Which is your favourite brand of dark soft pastels? in  Pastels - Resources for Artists

I'd also love to hear about your favourite brands of dark pastels either in connection with the poll or by commenting below.

ALSO How do you like to buy your dark pastels?

• as a specific set of dark pastels (which can be quite expensive) 
• or in singles from open stock

Do please let me know what you think by commenting below

More information

Links to dark sets

• UNISON COLOUR | Pastels - Unison Dark Set
• Terry Ludwig Pastels: 30 Intense darks #1
• Terry Ludwig Pastels: 30 Intense Darks #2
• Diane Townsend - set of 12 dark soft form pastels
• Mount Vision - dark sets of pastels

Links to reviews

• (Review) Making a Mark: Unison Pastels: the Darks and the Lights
• Wetcanvas Pastels - Recommendations for darks - sets or individuals

Links to more information about pastels:

• Pastels - Resources for Artists
• Unison Pastels - Resources for Artists 

The NEW 2011 Pastels Opinion Polls

This is an invitation to pastel artists to vote for their favourite brand of pastels in 2011.   

You can find two BRAND NEW 2011 Opinion Polls about artists' grade pastels for 2011 on Pastels - Resources for Artists.

• Artists have already started to vote - see 2011 Poll: Which is your favourite make of soft pastels? This poll focuses on artist grade soft pastels which are available at the beginning of January 2011.   This is the second of my annual polls and the third poll I've run which has sked this question.  See the end for links to previous polls.
• My resources for pastel artists site also has a second poll on hard pastels further down - see 2011 POLL: Which is your favourite make of hard pastel?  This includes some additional brands compared to the poll I ran last year.

Pastels in the Sennelier Shop
(across the Seine from the Louvre) in Paris

The purpose of having an Annual Opinion Poll is to identify which are the most popular pastels in 2011.  This nables:

• new brands to be reflected in the poll
• people who have experimented with more brands and new brands since voting to change their preference if they want to

All past votes which applied to choices available in the past no longer apply. You can now vote again.  Don't forget to check all the options before you vote. The pastels are listed in alphabetical order.

The Annual Poll can also provide feedback to the manufacturers about preferences which will hopefully provide an some incentive to continue with a good selection in the marketplace and products which continue to improve in both quality and lightfastness over time.

If any of the marketing people from the different pastel manufacturers are reading this and note that their new brands in the pipeline are NOT included please contact me with the date your product is due to be in the marketplace AND on your website.

Previous posts:

• Which is your favourite make of soft pastels? (2010 Poll Results)
• The NEW 2010 Soft Pastels Opinion Poll
• Opinion Poll: Which is your favourite make of soft pastels? This analysed my poll on my website Pastels - Resources for Artists. This ran from 2006 through to the end of 2009 and excluded newer pastels

Which is your favourite make of hard pastels? (2010 Poll Results)

2010 POLL: Which is your favourite make of hard pastel?
on Pastels - Resources for Artists.

310 people voted in the 2010 Poll: What is your favourite make of hard pastels?

This poll shows which particular make of artist grade hard pastels was most liked by most pastel artists in 2010.  The pastels included were artist grade hard pastels available in 2010.  Some may be listed as soft - but in terms of the gradations of pastels overall - these are all the ones up at the harder end of the spectrum.  All pastels were listed in alphabetical order.

The four brands of HARD PASTELS were ranked as follows by the 310 people who voted in poll

1. Prismacolor Nupastel 51.9%
2. Conte a Paris 23.5%
3. Faber Castell Polychromos hard pastels 19.4%
4. Cretacolor Carre 5.2%

The poll has now been cleared and the image is of the results as at the beginning of January 2011

Sketchbook Pro - bargain price in new Mac Apps store

Cosmo Catnapping #11 (on 11.01.11)
drawn using Sketchbook Pro and a mouse!

For the sketchers amongst us.......

If you've got a Mac, there's a rather good offer in the new Apps store for Macs which succeeded in generating over a million downloads in one day last week.

The main purpose of this post is to alert you to this fact and to show off my very first sketch using a mouse and Sketchbook Pro - which is the drawing of my boy cat Cosmo (above)

I'm interested in apps for artists so have been investigating what's available in the Apps stores for the iPad and as of last week the new Mac Apps store.

I've decided to try Sketchbook Pro by Autodesk.

• I started by buying Sketchbook Pro for my ipad via iTunes which cost me the grand sum of £4.99 ($7.99).  For this all I need is a finger!

Autodesk SketchBook® Pro for iPad is a professional-grade paint and drawing application. Using the same paint engine as its desktop counterpart, SketchBook Pro delivers a complete set of sketching & painting tools through a streamlined and intuitive user interface designed exclusively for the iPad experience.

Whether you are an occasional doodler or a professional illustrator, SketchBook Pro transforms your iPad into the ultimate digital SketchBook.

• Sketchbook Pro is available on the new Mac Apps store at an introductory price for a limited period only.  
• It costs $29.99 (which is just under £20).  
• To download SketchBook Pro from the Mac App Store, you need a Mac with Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later. Learn More.  
• I doubt I've ever had a bit of software load so fast and in such an accessible way.  I clicked the link to buy and it zipped across the screen and into the dock!

***Introductory Price! Limited-time only*** Autodesk SketchBook® Pro for Mac is a professional-grade paint and drawing application. Using the same paint engine as its mobile counterpart, SketchBook Pro delivers a complete set of sketching & painting tools through a streamlined and intuitive user interface. 

• If I was buying via Amazon the software would be Autodesk Sketchbook Pro 2011 (PC/Mac) and it would cost £88.33.  I'm assuming the latest version is available at full price and that the Mac versionis maybe not be the latest whizzbang model?

SketchBook Pro is, essentially, your virtual sketchbook. Designed specifically for pen-based interaction, transform your desktop computer, laptop, or Tablet PC into a digital sketch pad. The intuitive interface makes it easy to access a host of tools and state-of-the-art features, including pencils, markers, brushes, colors, guides, layers and blending effects.

Now all I have to do is work out how to use this!

The iMac version really needs a digital tablet and pen - however I got started by using my mouse.  Hence the drawing of my cat Cosmo at the top of this post.  Drawn using the pencil in 2B mode.

I've been titivating about digital tablets for quite some time so this is partly about me getting my head around on what make to get and what size to get.

Any suggestions re digital tablets are most welcome!

I'll be back with a review of Apps for artists in the future when I've played around some more.

Which is your favourite make of soft pastels? (2010 Poll Results)

Which is your favourite brand of soft pastels? Below I detail what  are the results of my opinion poll which asked this question in a year long poll held in 2010.

Back in January of this year I had a couple of posts

• Opinion Poll: Which is your favourite make of soft pastels? - which analysed my poll on my website Pastels - Resources for Artists.  This ran from 2006 through to the end of 2009
  
• The NEW 2010 Soft Pastels Opinion Poll - which announced a new survey.

2010 Poll: What is your favourite make of soft pastels?
on Pastels - Resources for Artists.

I can now tell you that a total of 361 people voted in the 2010 Poll: What is your favourite make of soft pastels? on Pastels - Resources for Artists.

You can see the results on the right.

The top five soft pastels favoured by those voting in the poll are as follows:

1. Unison - 21.9%
2. Schminke - 15.2%
3. Sennelier - 13.3%
4. Talens Rembrandt 9.4%
5. Terry Ludwig 6.1%

(Links are to the manufacurers websites)

Just in case anybody thinks there is any sort of European bias going on here, both this blog and my pastel resources site get most of their vissitors from the USA!

This compares to the 2006-2009 poll results which indicated that the top five soft pastels are

• Unison 19.6%
• Sennelier 15.9%
• Terry Ludwig 13.5%
• Schminke 11.7%
• Talens Rembrandt 8.2%

This means it's the samw top five - just a slightly different order.

• Unison retains its top spot and has apparently increased its market share over other pastel brands (in terms of expressed preferences) through an increase from 19.6% to 21.9%.
• Schminke have had the best result in terms of moving from #4 spot to the #2 spot 
• Terry Ludwig appears to have lost the most ground falling from #3 to # 5 (13.5% to 6.1%)

If you want to know more about Unison Soft Pastels try consulting my resource site below

Unison Pastels - Resources for Artists

Unison produce a really great range of highly pigmented sets of Soft Pastels in colour values which are completely addictive. Recently Unison topped a poll to find artists' favourite brand of soft pastels.