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I'm opening up a brick and mortar this year and want some advice!!
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725 posts in this topic

9 hours ago, SteppinRazor said:

I mean, there's nothing wrong with hating packing boxes.  I don't particularly like doing it either.  If you start your own thing, you get to decide what you want it to be, what you get out of it.

 If only that were true.

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This will be the last time I mention prints in this thread as the topic has already been discussed in full and I certainly don't want to derail or hijack the thread's main purpose. Anyways, I showed the pictures of the prints that are up on Zazzle, but I never actually showed how nice the actual prints are in person. So I figured with my last post regarding prints, I would post up a few pictures of some of the 13x19 Zazzle prints I received this last year so people can get a better idea the level of quality of these prints. Again, I get all my comic prints made on Zazzle's premium archival matte paper as I think comic art looks 1000 times better on matte paper. So here are a few pictures I took last night while trying to organize my print collection. I literally had a stack of like 200 new prints I purchased over the last 6+ months that have just been sitting in my studio. I Just hadn't gotten around to organizing them and putting them in portfolio's yet.

Its important to note that I took these pictures in pretty flat lighting and then just used levels in photoshop to help boost up the contrast. So these actually look a bit nicer in person in regards to the contrast and colors. And I have terribly shaky hands so you might see a tad bit of blur with some of them. That is not the print. These prints are just razor sharp.

IMG_8324.thumb.JPG.b534c3ca0b3e039f170e9995fd93a40c.JPG

IMG_8325.thumb.JPG.8c0de198e1fe68d663e2c577f4d6c9dc.JPG

IMG_8326.thumb.JPG.5650fd4e7f2a3c5f7f1857c3fd798b1f.JPGIMG_8328.thumb.JPG.d5b4dce6c574c59e33b4b85203161e6d.JPG5aa19ea21a87d_IMG_8352copy.thumb.JPG.33c50792ee1abf8ee2b535372f191b5a.JPG5aa19ea57fc31_IMG_8354copy.thumb.JPG.a493e044d8f0c60220969ead6a1443ab.JPGIMG_8327.thumb.JPG.bc46d18d412bc465fc379827172f1294.JPGIMG_8323.thumb.JPG.716d61da401da9de636d833d29ec1079.JPGIMG_8329.thumb.JPG.98dedbdde4595e116ff117503d648a57.JPG

IMO, at just over $5.00 a pop, these prints are one of the best deals all year long in regards to any comic related collectibles. Their 13x19 so their a great size and their made with premium archival matte paper. All in all, its one of my single favorite sales all year long and I highly recommend everyone that enjoys prints takes advantage of it. And it doesn't have to be comic art. It can be any artwork they carry on Zazzle.

Anyways, with that being said I will finally put this issue to bed. 

Edited by OrangeCrush
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2 minutes ago, OrangeCrush said:

This will be the last time I mention prints in this thread as the topic has already been discussed in full and I certainly don't want to derail of hijack the thread's main purpose. Anyways, I showed the pictures of the prints that are up on Zazzle, but I never actually showed how nice the actual prints are in person. So I figured with my last post regarding prints, I would post up a few pictures of some of the 13x19 Zazzle prints I received this last year so people can get a better idea the level of quality of these prints. Again, I get all my comic prints made on Zazzle's premium archival matte paper as I think comic art looks 1000 times better on matte paper. So here are a few pictures I took last night while trying to organize my print collection. I literally had a stack of like 200 prints that have just been sitting in my studio for like 6+ months. Just hadn't gotten around to organizing them and putting them in portfolio's. 

Its important to note that I took these pictures in really flat lighting and then just used levels in photoshop to help boost up the contrast. So these actually look a bit nicer in person in regards to the contrast and colors. And I do have shaky hands so you might see a tad bit of blur with some of them. That is not the print. The prints are razor sharp quality wise. 

IMG_8324.thumb.JPG.b534c3ca0b3e039f170e9995fd93a40c.JPG

IMG_8325.thumb.JPG.8c0de198e1fe68d663e2c577f4d6c9dc.JPG

IMG_8326.thumb.JPG.5650fd4e7f2a3c5f7f1857c3fd798b1f.JPGIMG_8328.thumb.JPG.d5b4dce6c574c59e33b4b85203161e6d.JPG5aa19ea21a87d_IMG_8352copy.thumb.JPG.33c50792ee1abf8ee2b535372f191b5a.JPG5aa19ea57fc31_IMG_8354copy.thumb.JPG.a493e044d8f0c60220969ead6a1443ab.JPGIMG_8327.thumb.JPG.bc46d18d412bc465fc379827172f1294.JPGIMG_8323.thumb.JPG.716d61da401da9de636d833d29ec1079.JPGIMG_8329.thumb.JPG.98dedbdde4595e116ff117503d648a57.JPG

What sizes are these prints?

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1 hour ago, thehumantorch said:

What sizes are these prints?

13x19, but you can make them any size you want, literally. You could make 11x17, 13x19, 13.5x19.5, 18x24, etc. You have the ability on Zazzle to personalize various aspects of the print including the size. 13x19 is my favorite print size in regards to storing prints in portfolio's so I always buy 13x19 prints with Zazzle's sales. If I am planning on framing a print, I tend to go with larger sizes like 16x20, 18x24 etc.. Here are a couple of screenshots that show all of the various preset sizes and it also shows the input boxes at the very bottom where you can literally enter any size you want, thus making your print any size you want. 

5aa1a193971a6_MsMarvel1.thumb.jpg.cb0ddf702ff53f6e413689d7fead91dc.jpg5aa1a195a0ece_Marvel2.thumb.jpg.120e290072459920fc2de65b6370dcee.jpg

Edited by OrangeCrush
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I do want to add one last thing. When you select a print on Zazzle, like the Ms. Marvel Comic #2 Variant Poster I am using in this example, you wind up at this page:

5aa1a5736dad1_MsMarvel3.thumb.jpg.f11f26f0bbeddb960e08f95b43715388.jpg

 

As you can see, its a full bleed print with no white border at all. And the paper type and print size options are on the right side. You can really change the paper at any time, but you should really select the image size before going through the steps I am about to list. In order to get a white border or change the position of the Marvel Logo, you press the customize button at the top right. That will bring you to this page:

5aa1a5e1615fa_MsMarvel4.thumb.jpg.74c06064f5fb225c6d1d7ff547388c83.jpg

 

On the right side you will see the text and images section. This is just like layers in photoshop. If you select the Marvel Logo, your able to move the logo and change the size of the logo. If you select the image, that allows you to edit the actual image. If you want to add a white border, select the image in the text and images section on the right and then press the minus button, which is located in the scale section on the bottom left. I only press the minus button once as that gives a roughly 1" white border which is perfect for me. If you do it more than once, it makes the border too big IMO. This is what it will look like after you press the minus button once:

5aa1a737b5e5b_Ms.Marvel6.thumb.jpg.fd9b7968b9ad06eac2e6e99491f6aa65.jpg

 

As you can see, its shrunken the image size down a bit. The checkered boxes are basically empty space. Since the Marvel logo really isn't in a good position, I then select the marvel logo in the text and images section and then move the logo so its properly centered and in a better position. Here is a picture that shows the Marvel logo selected

5aa1a874aaa33_MsMarvel8.thumb.jpg.7310330ca61a646450775124fa0192e3.jpg

 

And here is a picture that shows the marvel logo centered. You can move the logo once selected with the arrow keys.

5aa1ae95025bd_Marvel7.thumb.jpg.4266b5c84a4b7f5f8b86fb9c9ba6b650.jpg

 

Once your finished shrinking the image down and adjusting the logo, if one exists, you simply press the "done" button at the very top right. The final page will then look like this once you press done:

5aa1a93daef2b_MsMarvel9.thumb.jpg.6a0e1f331699e34618765f2867b07c9e.jpg

As you can see, you now have a roughly 1" white border and the Marvel logo is in a much better position overall. At this point you just add the print to the cart. You also have the ability to save your designs and the nice thing about that is you can go and pick out all of the prints your planning on buying during Zazzle's big Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale, pick the size and make the proper adjustments and then just save the designs to your account. That way when the sale does start, its just a matter of adding those saved designs right back to your cart. All the work is already done. And it still keeps those saved designs in your account so if people selling these prints ever decide to reorder a particular print, the design is still saved so you just have to add it to your cart again. That makes placing reorders extremely fast and easy.

Anyways, I hope that helps!

Edited by OrangeCrush
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58 minutes ago, thirdgreenham said:

@OrangeCrush do you have any financial interest in Zazzle? 

lol 

Short of me ordering a couple hundred prints per year from the site, nope. I don't even sell my artwork on the site as all my limited editions are silver halide prints. Just trying to pass along what is EASILY one of the best deals you will ever find in the comic market.

Again, I was just organizing the last 6 months of print purchases last night and figured I would post up some in hand pictures since the only pictures I showed when the topic was being discussed previously were images straight from Zazzle's website. I figured in hand pics would give people a better idea of the quality. 

Edited by OrangeCrush
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20 minutes ago, OrangeCrush said:

Short of me ordering a couple hundred prints per year from the site, nope. I don't even sell my artwork on the site as all my limited editions are silver halide prints. Just trying to pass along what is EASILY one of the best deals you will ever find in the comic market.

Again, I was just organizing the last 6 months of print purchases last night and figured I would post up some in hand pictures since the only pictures I showed when the topic was being discussed previously were images straight from Zazzle's website. I figured in hand pics would give people a better idea of the quality. 

Great post.....love the step-by-step approach to creating what you want.  If others haven't said so, thank you for all of your work posting on this OrangeCrush......very much appreciated.

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4 minutes ago, Mapleleafvann said:

Great post.....love the step-by-step approach to creating what you want.  If others haven't said so, thank you for all of your work posting on this OrangeCrush......very much appreciated.

My pleasure! Just glad someone found the info useful. 

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59 minutes ago, OrangeCrush said:

Short of me ordering a couple hundred prints per year from the site, nope. I don't even sell my artwork on the site as all my limited editions are silver halide prints. Just trying to pass along what is EASILY one of the best deals you will ever find in the comic market.

Again, I was just organizing the last 6 months of print purchases last night and figured I would post up some in hand pictures since the only pictures I showed when the topic was being discussed previously were images straight from Zazzle's website. I figured in hand pics would give people a better idea of the quality. 

That's am awesome deal but how do you get the price down to $5?  Do they offer discounts on volume purchases?   Most of the posters are $10+ each. 

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1 hour ago, Fiddy said:

That's am awesome deal but how do you get the price down to $5?  Do they offer discounts on volume purchases?   Most of the posters are $10+ each. 

Every year they have 65-75% off sale for Black Friday/Cyber Monday. They have had that sale going on 6-7 years in a row now. So you have a bit of waiting to do until the next sale, but the wait is definitely well worth it. It will give you plenty of time to browse all of the various prints they have from DC/Marvel/Zenescope etc and save up some money so you can make a really large purchase like I do. The price changes based on the paper used and the size of the print you buy. I always buy 13x19 prints and use thier Premium Archival Matte paper and the prints wind up costing around $5.75 apiece. If you scroll back a bit on this board and read some of my earlier posts on this topic, you will see I posted up a receipt from one of my orders showing the prices I got during the last Black Firday/Cyber Monday sale. The sale basically lasts the full week of Black Friday into Cyber Monday and each day they have different items discounted so you can pick up a lot more than just prints as well. Its one of the sales I look forward to the most each year. 

I even got lucky this year and had some copyrighted prints go through. Its really hit or miss if you try and get prints made from copyrighted artwork. Sometimes they will cancel an order and other times they will let it through. In my experience, they are usually so crazy busy during the holiday sales that you have a much better chance at sneaking some prints through. This year I got 4 prints from Bert Stern's Marilyn Monroe "Last Sitting" portfolio and a single Michael Turner print. 

view-2.thumb.jpeg.f9f583daa7bce1a47a94e2e98f0ee1f8.jpegview-3.thumb.jpeg.0216a057286293c2bd27a3af407783bf.jpegview.thumb.jpeg.5c3b6a4d62e49dbf814b15c8f82ca7dc.jpeg

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view-4.thumb.jpeg.d45271fb2171a4e18fe9866b14e8ea17.jpeg

 

Edited by OrangeCrush
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7 hours ago, KPR Comics said:

Agreed.  How’d this become a sales pitch?

The answer to your question (9th post down):

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/408892-im-opening-up-a-brick-and-mortar-this-year-and-want-some-advice/?page=32

2 hours ago, fastballspecial said:

Agreed he says he will stop hijacking the thread and he keeps on doing it.

When people ask me questions, I answer them. It never ceases to blow my mind how people bi*ch and moan about posts that they could VERY easily just skip right over, lol. And in the end posts like yours are the most worthless types of posts on forums in general as they offer absolutely nothing to the topic at all. You may not like my posts, but at least there was a point to my posts and they added something legitimate to the topic. What exactly did this post achieve, short of dragging on the very thing your bit*hing about to begin with? 

Edited by OrangeCrush
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22 hours ago, OrangeCrush said:

I even got lucky this year and had some copyrighted prints go through. Its really hit or miss if you try and get prints made from copyrighted artwork. Sometimes they will cancel an order and other times they will let it through. In my experience, they are usually so crazy busy during the holiday sales that you have a much better chance at sneaking some prints through. This year I got 4 prints from Bert Stern's Marilyn Monroe "Last Sitting" portfolio and a single Michael Turner print. 

Sorry to derail the thread, but I though this was interesting.  

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