Donnie

Hey Donnie, what gets you out of bed in the morning?
To be honest, getting out of bed never stops being a pain. But working as a graphic designer in Toulouse and creating designs for Spreadshirt – which I’ve been doing for 4 years now – needs to be done. And then there’s drawing, the cinema, netflix series, video games and music.

Do you remember your very first sale?
It happend right after my registration. I was really happy to know that somebody liked my design well enough to print it on a T-shirt.

Why do you create the designs you do?
When I grew up, movies, video games or manga and the like were ever present. I like making these influences relevant in my designs. More often than not, these themes result in some kind of colourful artwork parody.

Did you attend a training course or an art school?
Nope, I’m self-taught.

Why Spreadshirt?
It was one of the first sites where I signed up for. I like the concept of being able to manage my own designs, set the commission and later put them on new products that are being added to the fashion range.

You have a Shop and also offer your designs on the Marketplace. Which is better?
For me, the Marketplace works better. Spreadshirt generates a lot of traffic on the site. My Shop is good for sharing my content. There’s an additional direct link in the designer so you can easily share Shop products on social networks. But I think the target audience of the Marketplace and the Shop is the same.

How do you promote your designs? Do you invest money?
I only share links. For the time being, I don’t spend money to promote my creations. Maybe I’ll give it a go in the future.

Is the time you spend on creating designs and managing your Shop worth it?
It’s a regular job for me, especially creating designs. A couple of hours a day go into developing ideas, sketching and file preparation. But I only add a couple of new product per month.

What are the steps in the creational process?
I usually make a lot of sketches. Real drafts only come up when I have a better idea of how to continue with the drawing and the colours. Then I clean it up, and – when it’s convincing enough – I work on the colours. For my drawings, I use a graphic tablet.

What is your favourite design of yours?
My little parodies with ‘Dark Vader’. I think they’re my most interesting creations.

Do you have any tips on how to be successful on the Marketplace?
I don’t really know, actually. I create things with a twinkle in the eye that speak to me personally. So the only advice I would have to give is “be true to yourself”. Good designs always find an audience.

What Spreadshirt features do you like most, and which ones are missing?
Each feature on offer will appeal to somebody. I don’t see it in a negative light if I don’t make use of one particular feature. It would be nice to add products to my Shop a bit faster, though. It is quite tedious as there are so many products. But the Marketplace of designs is great because any customer can put the design he likes on the product he wants.

Last question: Since you like the movie ‘Donnie Darko’, do you have an imaginary rabbit as well?
Absolutely! My imaginary rabbit is fine, thanks for asking. It whispers ideas in my ear and gives me tips on how to realise them. He is always there when I need him!

Thank you, Donnie! We’ll hook up with you on Instagram and Facebook and look well forward to seeing your next creations!

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