A friend of mine begged me today to join a Japanese site where people are selling all the usual kinds of merchandise with their art on it. It got me thinking about sites like CafePress (which shows you how long ago I'd considered it the first time - I have no idea really what better shops like that have evolved since CafePress hit the scene, though I often hear that CafePress is awful nowadays).

My primary concerns at the time were:

A) The quality of the product being sold that would have my designs on it. I didn't want someone ordering a shirt that would end up with a design peeling off after a washing, or ugly fading after a few washings, etc.

and B) TIME - and I didn't have any back then. This has now changed since I don't have a full time job. I can devote time to re-vamping some old artwork, making it much more attractive for printing purposes (I used to work in the fashion industry, and am familiar with a lot of the obstacles that can come with designing and printing up tees), and slowly add to that new designs. I say slowly because I've been adjusting to life in a new country and various other major changes in my life that have made my creativity take a back seat for awhile.

I'd want anything I made to be affordable in today's crappy economy, while still quality, and paying me enough to make it a better alternative than spending my days stocking shelves or teaching English (teaching English in Japan does NOT pay much, and it's the bottom of the barrel of jobs foreigners can have here).

If I decide to go ahead and open a Zazzle account or something, I'd love it if those of you who have still been hanging in there would give your opinions of what would be the best artwork to have printed. What would you buy from my gallery that you could get on a T-shirt, keychain, mug, etc. etc? Would you want to commission something in a certain style you see in my gallery for your own bits of merchandise? Like I said, I'd probably have to start by building a back catalog of older designs and customizing them to look good on printed things, but eventually would be able to move in to newer art. I do have some ideas in mind already for some Japan related lines, for example.

Do please give your input, and let me know what you think might be nice! Thanks very much, in advance!