Creatives Ignite provides creative solopreneurs with weekly inspiration & honest insights about running a creative business. Encouraging creatives to keep their creativity ignited by exploring new tools and techniques, making messes, and connecting with people all around the world.
This week we continue with the product design series this week we have the perfect artist to feature right before halloween. Tim Baron is an amazing illustrator and artist. He has created custom skateboards for Tony Hawk and is a skater himself.
We are going to talk about how he decides what to draw for his product line as well as the commissions he takes on. And he was approached to use his designs for an action figure. You will love this episode and learn a LOT.
Tim is someone who ran this as a side gig for quite a while but went full time and has not turned back!
I hope you will join us LIVE for Episode 486 on Wednesday, October 30, 2024 at 7:30pm BST / 2:30pm ET / 11:30am PT / 8:30am in Hawaii. Sign up here to get the link delivered to your inbox. https://creativesignite.com/signup
Imaginember starts on Friday!!! Sign up! https://creativesignite.com/imaginember-2024/
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Questions
Tim, can you give everybody a little background about how you started your business and essentially got into product design?
Tim what is your process? Do you start on paper and traditional analog materials, then your clean them up in the computer? Do you use Photoshop, Illustrator, Procreate?
Do you ever start on the iPad? Why is that not as much fun or as fulfilling?
How do you define what you do as a Product Designer?
Where do you sell your work? How do you get your name out there?
How have you made connections in the skateboard industry? Can you talk about your work with Tony Hawk?
How many years did you work on this as a side hustle before you went full time?
What is the biggest mindset hurdle you had to overcome when deciding to go all in and do this full time?
Do you have certain times of the year you do more retail sales?
How do you measure quality in a product? How have you tested products? What do you use to value quality? (No need to name any vendors just helpful to know what things to look out for.)
What has been the favorite product you have created so far?
Are there anythings to look for when deciding what to sell or not sell online? Are you running any ads or will you for Black Friday?
How do you decide what art to create new products? Or do you create the art and then see how it performs and then make it into a product?
What type of person is your best customer?
Tim how much time per week do you create art just for you?
What’s next for you? Any big plans for the business or an upcoming new product?
Connect with Tim
Transcript
[00:00:00] diane: Hey everybody. Welcome to another episode on the Product Design series of Creatives Ignite. And I am psyched to introduce to you and new to the show. Um, I know we have lots of people. We’ve gone for 12 years, but I have never had Tim on, and Tim, I now I’m like looking at how Joe says his last name, um, which is the same last name as yours, but you don’t know each other yet.
[00:00:29] [00:00:30] Um, but Baron, right, right. Like the Red Baron. Yeah, like the Red Baron, Tim Baron. So you probably have seen some of Tim’s work and just in case you don’t know, like I am not really a a, a skeleton girl, but I have another skeleton poster underneath this. I have to rotate, you know, but I got two posters and an action figure w.
[00:00:56] Um, from Tim and I, these are awesome and you [00:01:00] can’t really see them because they’re so far away. But I put them up this morning. I got them, I think, while I was at this conference. And I had a kid who was sitting in here waiting for advising. He’s like, man, I was looking at those, those are awesome. And Tim also gave me some stickers and he gave me three.
[00:01:18] And I gave that kid one and I said, don’t tell anybody because I don’t wanna be like, I’m favoritism, you know, of any student, but these are awesome. And I know, I was like, oh my gosh, Tim, this is [00:01:30] perfect. Right before, um, Halloween. This is awesome. So Tim, um, was just like us. We were just you. You’re gonna give us this background, but you were just a regular designer with these awesome skills, but you were working just corporate design for a long time.
[00:01:48] Yes. A long
[00:01:49] Tim Baron: time, right? Oh, so long. So very long. Seemingly endless time one.
[00:01:54] diane: So I think we love, um, this is, this [00:02:00] is a hope story. This is also like, just trust your gut. Like you have these mad skills, you gotta lean in and then you go all in, right? Yeah. And that’s really what you did. You’d kind of, for, I don’t know how many years you’re gonna tell us, but you kind of straddled the, uh, both worlds.
[00:02:17] You were doing the nine to five. Yeah. And then you were having this side hustle or side gig that you were doing where it really was your passion.
[00:02:25] Tim Baron: Yeah. I stayed up way too late past my bedtime every single night. Right. [00:02:30] Because it was fun, right? It was fun. And I had to have something to carry me into that next day.
[00:02:35] Like, yeah, you know, I’m about to go design insurance forms for seven hours a day. I need to draw monsters until 2:30 AM
[00:02:45] diane: Absolutely, of course. And, and, um, mark Bones here, he’s in Bermuda, so it’s always good. And Maura is here in Carrie, North Carolina. I’m glad everybody’s here. So, Tim, give everybody a little bit of your background about maybe if [00:03:00] you were always an artsy kid, if you always liked skulls, and I mean, you are really good at drawing.
[00:03:07] And then we’ll get into some of these questions about how your process is, and then also just how you come up with new products since you’re in the product design series. Okay.
[00:03:17] Tim Baron: Absolutely. And thanks again for having me on, Diane. I appreciate it. So I’m Tim Baron. I am an illustrator, uh, designer. I work primarily in the skateboarding and toy industries, though I’ve, you know, I do stuff in [00:03:30] snowboarding.
[00:03:30] I do stuff with tattoo, um, conventions and anything in between. But the, the two primary industries that I work in are skateboarding and toys. And, um, so I’ve been drawing since I was, I just pulled out some drawings that I did that my mom kept, uh, when I was like three years old. And then at like four or five.
[00:03:51] She had some superhero drawings that I did. ’cause every morning before I’d go to school, I would watch the Bozo show and on WGNI think it [00:04:00] was, and they would show superhero cartoons. They would show like Superman or Batman. And I did these, I did these like series of like five or six drawings of all these superheroes when I was like four or five.
[00:04:10] And I’ve still, my mom saved him. I’ve still got ’em. So it was pretty awesome. Yeah. That is super awesome. So I’ve been drawing since I could pick up a pen. Yeah.
[00:04:17] diane: At three. Was it like what I would draw now? Like is it, um, I’m, I’m scared a little bit to see how good the 3-year-old drawing was, but I, um, I would love to know.
[00:04:29] [00:04:30] So, so then did you draw in high school?
[00:04:33] Tim Baron: Oh yeah.
[00:04:34] diane: Did you skate in high school? ’cause I know skateboarding still, one of the, one of the images I used was you doing this. I mean, I don’t know how you got the shot unless you were going in the air over somebody. Right.
[00:04:45] Tim Baron: Yeah, my buddy John Wagner, who’s an amazing photographer, we did a barter and I did a illustrate a t-shirt illustration design for him, and then he did some photos and that was one of them.
[00:04:55] He got me in mid-flight or whatever you’d say. It was
[00:04:58] diane: awesome. Yeah. So [00:05:00] you, you started skating? Uh, yeah, I
[00:05:02] Tim Baron: started skating in fifth grade. Like I was one of those, I was just kind of like a, I was a slender kid and like. All the dudes wanted to play football at recess. And I’m like, uh, this is like, not only is this not fun, like it’s just not interesting to me.
[00:05:18] And so like, I just didn’t have a strong pull towards sports. Um, but I was over at my neighbor’s house, like my best buddy Jason next door. And I didn’t know. I, you know, I think the only [00:05:30] exposure I had really had to skateboarding was from seeing, maybe seeing, like from seeing back to the future. And I think that came out when I was like in fourth.
[00:05:37] Grade or something like that. And so I remember that scene where, uh, you know, he had a skateboard and he did a jump over a, a thing. And I, you know, everybody thought that was pretty awesome. Yeah. So that’s all I knew. And then my neighbor had one in his garage and it was like, it almost like I had been over there so many times, but I had never noticed it.
[00:05:55] And I was just almost like a, a, you know, the heavens O opened up and a light shone [00:06:00] down. And I was like, what’s that? And they were like, oh, it’s a skateboard. And I was like, can I try it? And he showed me how to write it. And um, then every time I’d go over there after that, I would, I would write it. So.
[00:06:11] diane: That’s awesome. So this is no helmet zone right? At this point? Nobody has any kind of pad. What’s a helmet? Yeah. What’s a helmet? Right. I need helmet. Um, but so then when um, in your life did you [00:06:30] stop, right? Did you stop skating? And then when did you pick it back up? ’cause you’re back to skating.
[00:06:35] Tim Baron: Sure. Um, so from fifth grade all the way up through, uh, let’s see, probably like 23, I skated a lot through high school and college and then, you know, got married in my early slash mid twenties and then started having kids.
[00:06:53] And so I just kind of, and then working full-time and stuff like that and just kinda lost that. And every once in a while I would, [00:07:00] would play around with it, but, um, it wasn’t until age 36, I think it was. So it laid dormant for a good decade and a half. And it was age 36. Like the guys at the break table at work got so tired of hearing me talk about like, these skateboarding glory stories.
[00:07:16] They were like, you should just start skating again. So special thanks to my friend Mike for recommending I start skating again. So I did, I bought a board from a friend and I started up, and then I. Like within a year I reconnected with some old, like, [00:07:30] skate bros that I knew from the early nineties, and they were doing some cool stuff.
[00:07:34] One of ’em was running a skate park. One of ’em was, had worked with, um, you know, uh, skateboard company out in California. And so had friends and connections and so it was like, it just slowly, it just, it was a very natural evolution back into that world, a very joyful, and it was like, life was not really great at that time.
[00:07:53] So it came in at, at literally, like, it couldn’t have come in at more of a perfect time for me. Just, all right.
[00:07:59] diane: So [00:08:00] skating was, um, in and out in now in it came back in, yeah. Yeah. And then what about drawing? So, ’cause sometimes drawing we can get sucked into all the whirlwind of our life as well. Is that something that also happened or were you always drawing?
[00:08:17] Tim Baron: I was always drawing. I, I’d say I. For a short period of time, it was kind of directionless and that I was out of college and I wasn’t, you know what I’m saying? I, I had started working this design. I had taken like two [00:08:30] design classes at the end of my, like, senior year. I didn’t know anything. What did
[00:08:34] diane: you study?
[00:08:35] Tim Baron: I was a fine arts, uh, major with a focus and drawing, so, okay. So, uh, yeah, so it, but it wasn’t until I would say, um, like the late two thousands, maybe 2000 and uh, I’d say like 2006 is when I first started doing like freelance work. There was a couple small book companies that had contacted me, uh, to [00:09:00] do some illustrations and that’s, uh, that’s when I just started getting my feet wet with some freelance work.
[00:09:05] And, um, and then I also just, I was always, as a kid, I was always obsessed with comic books and I had sort of gone through this. I. Rediscovery of comics again also. And I, I was like, I really want to do this. I really wanna make a comic, you know, some comic book stuff. And, uh, so that got me started on my first graphic novel.
[00:09:28] diane: So writing also, ’cause that’s, I. [00:09:30] Not sucky writer, somebody, somebody else was gonna write it and you were gonna Yes. Okay. That’s how I, I’m, I’m with you. That’s how I did my book. Yeah. Like
[00:09:38] Tim Baron: all the art, when I, when I did it, like I did pretty much all the art and then just handed him the pages and he kind of scripted it backwards.
[00:09:45] And he did a beautiful, my buddy Ben Avery, and he did a beautiful job. Um, and him and I ended up going on to do several things together. And he, like, we worked really good together. And so the, the comic stuff really boosted, boosted me because you just get so much [00:10:00] drawing practice when you’re doing comics.
[00:10:02] ’cause it’s like you gotta draw several panels on a page. And so you just get used to drawing anything and everything and whatever. And so, uh, so that really, I think, pushed me forward into the next phase of my creative career.
[00:10:14] diane: But you really did come up with then with the, you wrote in your head, you wrote it with images.
[00:10:20] Oh, absolutely. Yeah. You knew what the story was and then somebody just wrote the script, right? Absolutely.
[00:10:25] Tim Baron: Yeah. Okay. Because
[00:10:27] diane: you’re not, like, you’re there at the grocery store and [00:10:30] here they’re fighting, um, evil apples. I don’t know. You, you had a, you had a story in mind. You put the story out and then you talked to your friend and then he wrote the script for that same story.
[00:10:42] Tim Baron: Yeah. The narrative was completely there. Like, and it was a cool process too, because it didn’t come to me all at one time. It was a very sort of David Lynchian style. Yeah. Process where like little bits came sliding underneath my door. And, um, and then so I like, and I thought, I initially thought it was two stories, and then I was [00:11:00] like, oh my gosh, this is part of the same story.
[00:11:02] And, uh, and so the first graphic novel is called The Life and Times of Julius Destruct Us, and I’m still like super proud of it. Um, I needed back. And when did you do that one? Uh, that would’ve been, it came out in 2012. And so this was before like Instagram, at least, I don’t think, I wasn’t on Instagram until 20 15, 20 14, 20 15.
[00:11:24] And so, like, you know, I pub I self-published it and then, you know, sold it at a couple like Comic [00:11:30] Cons online a little bit, but other than that, like didn’t do a whole lot with it. But now there’s so many different be, you know, avenues to take with something like that.
[00:11:40] diane: Yeah. And much cheaper printing
[00:11:42] Tim Baron: than, than it was in
[00:11:43] diane: 2012.
[00:11:44] Yes, for sure. Yep. Okay. So, um. Let’s talk a little, so you get outta college, you just work in design and you are, it maybe is paying the bills, but it isn’t, [00:12:00] um, uh, reaching you. It’s not scratching that it’s, you’re still drawing. But when do you decide, Hey, I’m gonna, was the first thing the comic book, or were you making drawings and selling them?
[00:12:14] Like, uh, or making products, uh, and selling them before that? So which came first? Comic book or like the posters and the
[00:12:24] Tim Baron: Yeah, no, the comic, the comic is what started it basically for me. Okay. And there was like a couple of small, like t-shirt jobs, [00:12:30] but I wasn’t actually doing my own stuff at that time. It was mostly like shirts for the skate park or shirts for a friend’s band, that sort of thing.
[00:12:36] But it was, it was like the, the comics, the graphic novels that I made was, was, that was the first like sort of thing that I endeavored in on from your head. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. And that’s kind of what started me in that direction. Yeah, very much so.
[00:12:53] diane: So then, how long did it take to finish? Like you had never done that before, so I’m sure the first one [00:13:00] maybe took longer than the next one, but how long was that process for you?
[00:13:04] Was it two years? Was it six months?
[00:13:09] Tim Baron: Yeah. Do you remember? I think, oh, that first one, it was about five years because I would work, like, I would have like kind of, you know, an an image of a scene and then I would do the scene, but like nothing was connecting yet. And then suddenly, like, I laid it all out on the floor one night and I’m like, oh my gosh, I totally see it coming together.
[00:13:28] And it was like, I just, I still remember [00:13:30] that sort of like epiphany style moment. And then it was just like. I was back and I, ’cause I would shelf it for like months at a time and then suddenly for some reason it like grew legs and told me exactly what it wanted to be. And uh, so like
[00:13:45] diane: a normal rider sometimes they take a long time to
[00:13:48] Tim Baron: they got ’em incubate, come up with
[00:13:49] diane: that.
[00:13:50] Yeah. So I think that’s probably good that you weren’t so rushed. Um, and then you launch it with kind of the limited social media [00:14:00] that was at the time. Yeah. I mean it was
[00:14:02] Tim Baron: Facebook is what pretty much all there was, right? Yeah.
[00:14:06] diane: Okay. So, so after that, um, did you, at that point you have a product, did you go to Comic-Cons?
[00:14:13] Did you go, I mean, did you, were you just selling it to people you knew or the followers that you had on? Um, like Facebook and things like that? Or were these you were going to local things or,
[00:14:28] Tim Baron: uh, both. I mean, it was, [00:14:30] it was like local Midwest comic cons that I would set up at, which was a really good start.
[00:14:34] I mean, it was a comic book style product. You’ve got a comic book loving audience overlapping with people who love different pop culture things and monsters. Right? And so that was, that was primarily the outlet for that and that it worked good. Um, but you
[00:14:51] diane: went with one product, which was multiple pages, obviously, but even went with, I forget.
[00:14:55] Tim Baron: I did. I actually published, the very first thing, even before the graphic [00:15:00] novel was a sketchbook. Like I had so many, and this, this was a, and this might be a good idea for somebody out there who’s an artist, that they just have an abundance of. Sketches that are solid and really good, it’s so easy to be able to put those in.
[00:15:15] Just like a, like even if you wanna just make a PDF out of it and make it a free download or something like that, super easy. But that’s what I did with my very first. Um, I was gonna see if I had it a copy of, I may have a copy of it back there. I’ll look a little bit. But, um, but yeah, the very [00:15:30] first thing was just this, this like, I dunno, it was probably like a hundred pages of just sketches and it was kind of broken down into different sections and um, and I was really surprised.
[00:15:39] The first comic con that I set up at, people really bought it.
[00:15:42] diane: Oh yeah. I bet. If you’re drawing since you’re three I bet your sketchbooks are amazing. So, so let’s talk about your process a little bit. The actual process of you coming up with ideas or you actually drawing out things. Mm-hmm. What is your preferential, [00:16:00] um, way to work?
[00:16:02] Tim Baron: Yeah, absolutely. So a lot of times. You know, sometimes a client will come to me and they’ll have an idea that’s already baked and ready to go and, um, you know, that can make it so much easier. But most of the time it’s sort of like the existential wandering through the desert of, of trying to find what this project wants to be.
[00:16:22] And so for me, and I brought an example, like everything starts with like a red ball point pen on sketch paper.
[00:16:29] diane: [00:16:30] Like a bick pen.
[00:16:31] Tim Baron: Like a bick pen except for red. There’s something about the color red. I
[00:16:34] diane: have red one right over there, I think.
[00:16:36] Tim Baron: Yeah. So everything starts out like this. Like for me, you can just, wow.
[00:16:41] Yeah, and it’s just, I’ll write down key words and ideas and um, you know, and then I’ll start with like. A generic concept and then I’ll kind of start inking it in with like a black pen just to make, and it’s just so bare bones. They’re thumbnail sketches is all they are, but there’s something [00:17:00] about the non-permanent, um mm-hmm.
[00:17:03] Something about the non-permanent, non-committal nature of red ballpoint pen on sketch paper. That just frees my mind up in those initial phases. ’cause I find that, like, that, those initial, that’s like for me it’s the, sometimes it can be the most joyful part, but sometimes it can be the most difficult part is coming up with the concept, coming up with the idea.
[00:17:23] And so as like limber and easygoing as your brain can be and no, you know, the [00:17:30] least amount of stress. If possible, like that’s kind of where the idea is this, the, the fertile seed bed of inspiration or whatever. Um,
[00:17:39] diane: well you seem super prolific, so it seems funny that you have proms coming up with that initial idea.
[00:17:46] Um, because I mean, your characters have wide range and they are, I mean, there’s a lot of differences within them, and there you’re creating kind of scenes and, I mean, there’s a lot [00:18:00] going on. So it, it’s good to know that it’s, there’s a lot of practice. So how often per week are you sitting down to just sketch?
[00:18:09] Um, like, and I don’t know what you’re sketching if it’s not for a client project. Yeah. Or, or even if it’s something that maybe is an idea for something that you are gonna be doing as a product or, we don’t know if it’s a product yet, but it’s a idea.
[00:18:26] Tim Baron: No, that’s an awesome question. And like a couple months ago, [00:18:30] uh, I, I realized that I was, I was really struggling with like, my figure drawing skills.
[00:18:34] I was like so rusty. And so I just started as a general, um, kind of a discipline to start my day with just some quick gestural sketches, and I can find a couple here to show you. But, um,
[00:18:49] diane: so this is always like, you do this now.
[00:18:51] Tim Baron: So I do this now and this is before I get into any work. Wow. I’ll just, I get on Pinterest and I’ve got these pages that I’ve created where I just [00:19:00] have like, I.
[00:19:01] Pins of like models and whatnot, and you still start
[00:19:04] diane: with the red pen first. It looks like I still
[00:19:06] Tim Baron: start with the dang red pen. I love that
[00:19:09] diane: idea.
[00:19:10] Tim Baron: And what that does is, um, first off, it gives me something really easy to cross off my list of something that I’ve accomplished for the day because I’m like that An early wind crossing.
[00:19:21] Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And then it’s also, it’s it’s drawing practices, figure, drawing practice. And it’s also like an [00:19:30] a way to ease into my projects. Like sometimes it’s kind of clunky if I just go from zero to 80, you know? Yes. And into something. So it’s just, it’s, it’s a way to ease the brain back into the creative space.
[00:19:42] Um, and I found it’s like, and it really has also helped me to enjoy just drawing for the sake of drawing again.
[00:19:49] diane: So how long has that been part of your process? I.
[00:19:54] Tim Baron: Uh, I’ve been doing it for about two, three months now.
[00:19:58] diane: Oh, okay.
[00:19:59] Tim Baron: Pretty much [00:20:00] daily. Like, like, uh, probably about five times a week because I’ll go to a coffee shop and where I’ll do my, you know, work on my stuff, but I’ll always start with those sketches and, you know, sometimes I would do that, but it was very, um, you know, sometimes I, sometimes I would just sit down and draw like monsters or whatever, but I found that I, like, I was so focused in on client work that I didn’t have a lot of bandwidth for my own things.
[00:20:25] And so, um, and so this was just a way for me to [00:20:30] stay active just for the sake of drawing. And like, again, just exploring, drawing the, the, the figure and poses because, which is always relevant to an illustrator. ’cause you’re always drawing people, you’re always drawing poses. And, uh, so it’s been, it’s been, it’s been very rewarding.
[00:20:47] Like I really love doing it.
[00:20:49] diane: I love that. So over in the chat, people are saying first the red pen gives Kevin, uh, PTSD from high school, um, papers, I think. But, um, [00:21:00]
[00:21:00] Tim Baron: this is his, this is his chance to do exposure. I know. Therapy and Response. Therapy. Therapy. That’s right, that’s right.
[00:21:05] diane: Um, so, uh, Hannah Ann, um, Paul we’re like, yeah, red Pen is a really good idea.
[00:21:11] And Paul, I don’t know what
[00:21:12] Tim Baron: it is either. Something about the red,
[00:21:14] diane: well, I think it’s, uh, Paul says it pretty good. He says, red pen is brilliant, like inking over a pencil sketch, but with the permanence of ink, no, undos just keep moving forward. Yeah. But it’s also lighter so that we don’t, the value isn’t, is kind of really soft.
[00:21:29] Yes. [00:21:30] But with pencil, it’s kind of the same, uh, tone or mm-hmm. Same pigment. Mm-hmm. I guess. Mm-hmm. You know, you can go really, uh, dark, but I think with the red you can only go like, you can’t photocopy red like you can black or true pencil. Right? Yep. Yeah. I love that idea. It’s a nice little hack. Mm-hmm. On um, working.
[00:21:51] So you get better with, um, everything. You get better with your, just the quickness of mm-hmm. Working. Mm-hmm. [00:22:00] So, but you mentioned something that wasn’t in my questions, but So again, the safe word always, I don’t know if I told you this before, it’s rooster, if I ever ask you a question, you’re like, I do not wanna answer that.
[00:22:08] Just say, rooster and then I will just move on. That’s our safe word. So if you have, um, and I think a lot of people deal with this, so they have ideas of products maybe they want to make
[00:22:20] Tim Baron: mm-hmm.
[00:22:21] diane: But they have a lot of client work. It’s hard to balance how much client work do I put in my week, and how much of [00:22:30] my work do I put in my week?
[00:22:31] Right. Um, yeah. So how do you make time or how do you break that up so that you’re still. Because as you build a business that’s based on your artwork, not just doing client work, right. Um, because that’s really, you’re building a brand. Yeah. Um, how do you, but if you never spend time or you only spend five hours a week drawing for the, your brand, it can, [00:23:00] it, it may pay the bills, but you’re not, this isn’t an, this isn’t investing in what you really want to be doing.
[00:23:08] Right.
[00:23:08] Tim Baron: Yeah. Yeah. I think I understand your question basically, like, how much time do you know how to devote to this sort of thing? Yes. So I don’t know if I have the, I don’t know if I have, I probably don’t have like the definitive answer, but what I, here’s how I, here’s how I do it, and this is my, my buddy Aaron, who’s an amazing illustrator, he, um, kind of does the same thing, is like, you know, I’ve got, got the client work.[00:23:30]
[00:23:30] Um, but as we all know, uh, if you’re independently employed as a, as a freelancer, like that, you know, undulates and so. The, and I try to keep things full. Um, but on those weeks where it’s getting slim, I try to focus in on, okay, I wanna, I wanna work on my Etsy. Like, so for instance, a couple weeks ago things I had, I had some time I was like waiting on some responses from some clients.
[00:23:59] [00:24:00] And, uh, so I had some time and I’m, and I, and I’ve been trying to think about how to scale the Etsy stuff. Like I’ve done a lot of stuff and it’s like, okay, I’ve had reasonable amount of success. It’s done, it’s done good, but like, how do you take it to the next level? And so I was exploring print on demand services and I discovered Printful and how you can integrate that into your Etsy.
[00:24:20] And so I spent a whole day doing that. And then I spent a couple days, you know, creating designs that I could use on t-shirts that I could use on blankets, that I could use on. [00:24:30] I haven’t created these little plush, um, characters that are like two feet tall. Um, and it’s a, it’s time. That I’ve spent or invested doing that so that I have more things available in the Etsy store.
[00:24:43] Now, will, will those sell? I have no idea. Like the shirts have sold. Okay. I’ve sold a blanket, you know, but it’s, it’s, so much of it is just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks
[00:24:55] diane: well and there’s less of a, um, hurt on your pocket. It’s just a time hurt. Yeah. [00:25:00] If you’re trying to do things that are print on demand.
[00:25:03] Yeah. But I didn’t know there was a print on demand Plushy option.
[00:25:07] Tim Baron: Yeah. And Printful. Um, and I think there’s another service called Print Deify, which I’m sure has very similar mm-hmm. Items, but yeah, it’s, they’re pillows. You can get ’em in like 22 inches, 16 inches and like 10 inches. And so I designed some big monster ones.
[00:25:21] I just put those up the other day and um Oh cool. I ordered one for a sample, so we’ll see how they look.
[00:25:27] diane: Yeah, I think that’s always helpful to order [00:25:30] to see what the material are getting, getting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:25:34] Tim Baron: Totally. So that’s basically how I approach it. And then also I have sort of anchoring projects where every, like, every single Halloween, I do a Halloween poster.
[00:25:44] Um, whether it sells well or not, it’s sort of my thing. I just, I do it and I try to make it sort of like my magnum opus for the year because that’s, you know, Halloween stuff is very much part of my brand, if you will. Mm-hmm. And so I’ll do that. And then [00:26:00] also, like, if I go to like a Comic-Con, like I went to San Diego Comic-Con, uh, this summer and I went, I’m going to Designer Con and Vegas next month.
[00:26:09] And so what I’ll do for that, and this is. Um, is I, I, I repurposed certain posters that do really, really well and make them specific to the location. So I did a San Diego, oh, um, poster. You know, I put like a San Diego skyscraper at the top, or you know, city skyline at the top. And then some, some like. You know, a giant [00:26:30] monster fighting a giant like hero guy.
[00:26:32] And then, you know, I put the outside of the uh, uh, whatever the, the San Diego stadium thing where the Comic Con is on the bottom and put a bunch of characters in front of it and just made it very unique. Can’t put San Diego Comic Con on there, but you can put San Diego. Yeah. Yeah. The same thing with like Designer Con.
[00:26:49] I did one because it’s in Vegas. I made it all vegasy and put all like Vegas stuff on it. And so we’ll have that available at the table. So it’s also a matter of repurposing, you know, looking at what you’ve [00:27:00] done already that you have, that you’re sitting on, like you’re sitting on money essentially.
[00:27:05] ’cause you’ve got designs you’ve already done. How can you use those, you know, and then how can you reuse them if people like them? Um,
[00:27:12] diane: I love that idea. And just have, uh, having a spot where you could change out. Yeah. Either the venue or the city name I think is brilliant for something like that. That is awesome.
[00:27:27] Tim Baron: Yeah, you just get tired of recreating the [00:27:30] wheel, uh, and, and you’re like, what can I reuse and save some brain cells, you know? And time.
[00:27:37] diane: Alright, so when you’re doing something like the poster, so one poster is, um, it, look, it’s just, it looks like it’s a two color. It’s, uh, on maybe a cream, and then it’s orange and blue, right?
[00:27:51] Yeah. This one that I got that I love. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, so then for something like that, are you, [00:28:00] um, are those printed and you have those at your house and that’s, that’s you fulfilling, you are the fulfillment mm-hmm. Spot, right?
[00:28:08] Tim Baron: Yes. All the posters that are on my Etsy, I, um, have those printed and fulfilled myself.
[00:28:14] I keep most of those on hand locally for you.
[00:28:16] diane: Yeah. Where you are. Okay.
[00:28:18] Tim Baron: Yep. Yeah, I work with a printer here in town. Uh, my buddy Corey over at Fan Gear Prints, he does a phenomenal job and prints these high end G clay prints that the colors [00:28:30] just burst with.
[00:28:32] diane: Oh, yeah. You
[00:28:32] Tim Baron: know, um, and he, so he does a really great job.
[00:28:35] He uses great paper and I’ve used him, I’ve outsourced him to, or recommended him to clients for big jobs also. He does such a good job. So having him and having him being my friend and working very closely with him, I just did an event with him this past weekend, um, at his studio where we had, we did, it was like a pop-up event, and so I had all my prints and some toys and some, uh, skateboard decks, [00:29:00] uh, for sale.
[00:29:00] And so it was like a big, it was a big event in, in Fort Wayne. It was really cool. So, um, it’s be, it’s great to be able to team up with vendors that you trust and that you work closely with to achieve common. Uh, goals and, you know, uh, in promoting each other essentially. Yeah. Well, so,
[00:29:18] diane: so one thing I hear is one, we just need to keep practicing, do whatever it takes, even if it’s just 15 minutes or three minutes in the morning every day.
[00:29:28] Keep that. Um, yes. [00:29:30] Habit going. Yeah. But then also finding, um, avenues that you can sell your work at, repurposing some of the products that have done well, so that you can customize ’em for those venues. Mm-hmm. And then also, um, partnering up and having ideas with other people. Um, uh, Matt says that that’s in his neck of the woods and he’s in Oh, right.
[00:29:52] On or outside of Indianapolis. Awesome. Um, so I think that those are awesome. Uh, just I got
[00:29:58] Tim Baron: another one too.
[00:29:59] diane: Okay. [00:30:00] Tell me.
[00:30:00] Tim Baron: I think this is a good one. ’cause a lot of people will, you know, uh, DM me or, or email me and ask me how do I get started skate, you know, working on skateboards or how do I get started designing toy packaging or whatever.
[00:30:13] And so my advice always to them is like, start where you’re at. Like, figure out what the needs are around you. So for instance, when, you know, when I first started getting back into skateboarding, I had buddies that I knew for [00:30:30] 25 years that were doing stuff within the skateboarding industry. Like, you know, like I said, one of ’em ran a skate shop.
[00:30:36] Another one ran a, uh, you know, a, an indoor skate park. Well, I, you know, they contacted me if I could help them. I’m like, absolutely. Like I was so stoked to get my board. It was the first time I had my board. Or my artwork on a skateboard. It was for, this is shop local. Shop ride skateboards. And I knew the owner, uh, Nick from my, you know, from my teenage years grew up with him.
[00:30:57] And so it was a really cool way of [00:31:00] reconnecting with old friends, with a common love of, of skateboarding. And my buddy Dan, who ran this, the indoor skate park and still does, um, working on him with, uh, like posters and, and then him printing his own boards and um, uh, you know, things like that. Like, look for the needs that are around you.
[00:31:18] And, and there’ll be times where you just, in order to get started, you just volunteer your services. Like if it, if it’s, you know, I don’t wanna say for, uh, what’s, what’s the old [00:31:30] saying? Pro bono. Probiotics. Yeah. I mean, for exposure. Oh, right. That old, that horrific statement that we all know so, so well. But I’d say when you’re working with somebody, like who has a, uh, shares a common cause.
[00:31:43] Like for me it was skateboarding. You know, I traded my art for in-store, gimme some in-store credit and some boards. And, uh, you know, it was, it worked out really, really well. So if you can strike up like a bartering deal or if you’re just, if you’re just, you know, [00:32:00] if you just really want to get into something, you know, sometimes you just, you, you lob a, a freebie and Yeah.
[00:32:07] In the direction of a potential client. That’s just, yeah. Well, and
[00:32:11] diane: there’s, there is a, with good partnerships, there is, I’ll do this and I hope your business goes, and then we can figure out what to, to do. Yeah. You know, then they wanna help you. It’s not like you have anything written down, but it’s just kind of in that vein.
[00:32:27] So, for people starting for sure. Yeah. But [00:32:30] you had. You’ve, you’ve done. Um, so let’s talk about the action figures a little bit. Mm-hmm. So how did these come about? Like, I think Richard told me the story, but I want you to tell the story. So you draw all these creepy creatures, right? Uh
[00:32:45] Tim Baron: mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:32:46] diane: So how did they become action?
[00:32:48] Tim Baron: Okay, so that was a really cool scenario right there. And that’s an example of like how one small step leads to infinite opportunities. So basically, [00:33:00] I think it was 2014 or 2015 when I got on Instagram and I was, um, I discovered what they called the bootleg toy community on Instagram. And it was these, this group of creatives that would take preexisting like Kenner Star Wars figures from when we grew up.
[00:33:17] And they would, you know, swap the head out for something else or do a mashup. You know, they’re like, one guy did a, a mashup of Walter White from Breaking Bad. With Luke Skywalker and um, [00:33:30] you know, so I had the Luke Skywalker body, but like a Walter Whitehead. So, um, and then, so what I ended up doing is I ended up connecting with a lot of these guys.
[00:33:38] And these, these were my very first opportunities in working with, with toys and they were, um, and a lot of times I, what do you
[00:33:45] diane: mean when you say connected? Because like
[00:33:47] Tim Baron: Yeah,
[00:33:48] diane: what does that mean?
[00:33:49] Tim Baron: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So for me it was, um, posting my own stuff of what I was doing. And then also when I’d see somebody who is doing what [00:34:00] I would love to be doing, I’ll comment, I’ll reach out and I will let them know, Hey, if you ever want to do a barter, I could do some card art for you in exchange for fill in the blanks.
[00:34:13] And that worked really, really well. Again, ’cause you’re dealing with. Um, you’ve got somebody who has one skillset like molding and casting, but they might not be a very good illustrator and they might not know anything about, or the
[00:34:25] diane: concept artist, right? Because you’re not just a great illustrator, you’re coming up with concepts [00:34:30] on your own.
[00:34:30] Yeah.
[00:34:30] Tim Baron: And so I did a lot of, and I, I brought some of them here. I’ve got some, so I did several and people would call these art toys. Um, so it’s, it’s, uh. It’s things I, I pretty much did myself. I outsourced the molding and the casting. ’cause that’s not a good idea for me to be doing, being super A-D-H-D-I found.
[00:34:50] But these are just some of the early ones that I did. And then also another idea is, and guys, my, but I found these skeletons at the Dollar store and I just repackaged [00:35:00] them. Like with my own branding. I’ve done that several times with different things. Oh,
[00:35:04] diane: that Jason Craig does that. You should, I’ll connect you with him.
[00:35:07] He will think he is.
[00:35:08] Tim Baron: Yeah. Oh, that’s awesome. That’s hilarious. Um, so anyway, so I, I just did a lot of these projects. I did a several of my own and then I did several with other guys that were doing this. And then my name kind of got out there in terms of like. Tim’s part, you know, it was established within the art and toys community, and then it was a matter of connecting with an actual toy [00:35:30] company.
[00:35:30] And, um, in this case with the Astro Zombies, it was a company called Super seven, which, you know, their work I had long admired and sort of like dreamed to work with them. And, um, this is a pretty cool story. Uh, so, um, and I had reached out to Brian Flynn, who’s like the, the head at super of super seven, super, super great guy.
[00:35:53] Um, you know, a couple times. And I had just sent him some stuff and, uh, like up a
[00:35:59] diane: [00:36:00] portfolio or like just a PDF with some work. Like what were you sending stuff sending.
[00:36:04] Tim Baron: Oh, I sent him some free stuff. Free stuff. Okay. I sent him some, I, I, I had printed some, some shirts and I had printed, uh, uh, I had done some boards and I, I just, you know, I think part of it is like, um, because I knew he collected, I knew he collected boards.
[00:36:19] I knew he was a fan of, and, and, uh, so I was just like, you know what, I’m just gonna send this. And if somewhere down the road. We get to work together. Great. Um, [00:36:30] if not, that’s okay too. So you just detach from outcomes, you know? Right, right. And um, and one of the shirts I had sent him was a They Live shirt.
[00:36:38] Not if you’ve ever seen that movie. They live, it’s a John Carpenter film. If it’s scary,
[00:36:42] diane: I don’t watch scary movies. They give bad’s actually dreams. It’s actually
[00:36:45] Tim Baron: not, it’s, no, it’s not very scary. Okay. It’s a, it’s a great movie, but it was a they live shirt and, um, it just had the face of the creature on there and Yes.
[00:36:55] Came here to chew bubble gum. Exactly, Joe. Um, and so [00:37:00] I had sent him that and then like a, a few months later, and it was, this was awesome too because I was in the middle of a, um, and it was, things were not going well at the day job and my morale was quite low and, um, just wasn’t going real well. And I just remember in the middle of this, um, like very, I.
[00:37:21] Down trodden meeting I was in where I was not feeling good about myself. I got a dm, uh, over Instagram from Brian [00:37:30] Flynn asking, uh, would you be up for some freelance? And I was just like, oh yeah, I gotta go to the
[00:37:36] diane: bathroom.
[00:37:38] Tim Baron: Yes. And so one of the very first, actually the very first project I worked on for, uh, super seven.
[00:37:44] Was these day live figures. Oh, awesome. So it was cool. I sent him the day live shirt and you know, he thought of me when they got the license to do the day live figures and shout out to Jason Edmondson who did the card art on that. This is absolutely gorgeous. But, um, oh [00:38:00] wow. So, yeah, so these are the very first like figures that I helped design that got made into actual, you know, toys that are produced in a factory.
[00:38:08] But you had, so what I did with those, you had to, is I did the turnarounds is what they call the turnarounds. Okay. Which is like the basic drawings that the sculptor then looks at to sculpt the figure. So,
[00:38:19] diane: but you had proof that you could do this because you had already done it, right? Yeah,
[00:38:24] Tim Baron: yeah, yeah.
[00:38:24] diane: Right. Then uh, why wouldn’t they have just done the somebody else? Right. But [00:38:30] the thing was that you tested it, you said, I’m gonna, I have this fig, I have this idea. I wanna see if I can pay somebody to mold this. And create this in three, 3D. Yeah. I think that’s really cool. So sometimes we have to put some stuff out.
[00:38:47] I also love the, the quote, detach from outcome. I Oh, absolutely. Think that is your advertising, that’s your advertising budget is your shipping or your printing and sending. Mm-hmm. Um, you’re [00:39:00] giving somebody something that you know they’ll like. Mm-hmm. Um, because you’ve been following them. You’re not just randomly sending hundreds of these things out to different, you’re being very strategic.
[00:39:12] Yep. So it’s probably as much as an advertising budget with something else. But that, that, so it’s, uh, that particular type of art is called, what is it again? The kind that super seven. They said you, it, the process you were drawing. [00:39:30] Uh, you just said it and I just can’t, the
[00:39:32] Tim Baron: turnaround drawings,
[00:39:33] diane: was that what it’s called?
[00:39:34] Turnaround
[00:39:35] Tim Baron: the concept turns turnaround drawings. Yeah. Okay. It’s basically, it’s a front back and side side view of what the figure should look like. And then the sculptor will take that, they send that to the sculptor, and then the sculptor looks at that and they base the sculpture, the, the sculpting of the figure off of those turnarounds.
[00:39:55] And they might adapt it a little bit here and there, but the basic look and feel is, [00:40:00] is what they, they go after there. So, and so I, and I’ve done several for them. I did, um, I did this anthrax one, um, which this was crazy because the very first issue of Thrasher Magazine that I got in fifth grade had an ad for this album.
[00:40:15] And so to be able to work on this, um, action figure was like super dream come true. So,
[00:40:20] diane: oh my gosh. That’s awesome.
[00:40:22] Tim Baron: Yeah. What’s
[00:40:22] diane: the timeline for these? Where they, are they two years, typically? Two years. So you do this, um, [00:40:30] you do this con the turnaround drawing, then they send you, and then do they send you like a.
[00:40:37] Like, uh, something to look at to see if it’s right and then you edit. You say, Nope, you gotta add this, let’s make this deeper or this color, or
[00:40:46] Tim Baron: Yeah. Typically all of those things are, have been, are worked out during the, like, the turnaround process. Like, I’ll, I’ll keep ’em really rough at first. Like I said, just keeping things rough.
[00:40:56] And then basically, typically with any [00:41:00] toy like action figure company that I’ve worked with, I’ve, it’s basically like three rounds of, um, of the turnarounds where it’s like, okay, this is what I’m thinking. This is very rough. And then you get, you know, somewhat more polished. And then once you get the bugs worked out, you know, you’re pretty much there.
[00:41:17] And then you might have some smaller edits there at the very end.
[00:41:19] diane: Is it coming back to you after they’ve made the mold, like first round of mold and then you’re helping them get it? Cleaned up
[00:41:28] Tim Baron: doesn’t come back to me. Okay. No, it goes [00:41:30] right to the sculptor and then they deal with the cul, the sculptor on the different, any edits that they need to make on their end.
[00:41:36] And then, um, a lot of times I’ll get like a sample of the final product, um, which is really cool. With the astro zombies, they actually sent me a, like a prototype figure and unpainted prototype first pull a figure, which was really cool. I’ve got that on display in my, my toy, my, my toy display back in my bedroom.
[00:41:53] diane: Oh, that’s cool. Yeah. Okay. So Kevin asked what are the initial sculpts made from that your drawings are sculpted [00:42:00] out of? Or are they digitally 3D modeled, do you know?
[00:42:03] Tim Baron: Oh, awesome question. Um, I think that a lot of the ones that I do, uh. For, there’s a company I work for called Plastic Meatball, and then I’ve done stuff for Super Seven, and I think that they do both.
[00:42:15] I think that Plastic Meatball is a, um, both are great companies. Plastic Meat Meatball. I think they try to use, um, exclusively like just hands sculpted stuff instead of like a digital Right. [00:42:30] Sculptor. And I’m, and I’m, I’m, I’m not, I can’t say for sure, but I think Super Seven probably uses a, a mixture of both.
[00:42:36] Just, you know, depending on the sculptor and what they do and how they do it. So, um, so it’s, it’s, I’d say it’s both, but I think that there’s still, it’s almost like screen printing where it’s. You know, pe not a lot of people do it anymore, but the people that do it are like masters at their trade and it’s like much respect, um, for them.
[00:42:57] So it’s the same, I I, I’d say it’s the same with people who do [00:43:00] physical that sculpt the action figures right? To size with tools and whatnot. And I think they do it a lot of times either out of maybe wax or clay, I’m not sure. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay.
[00:43:09] diane: So, um, I’m gonna come back to, uh, another question. Um, so going back to process.
[00:43:16] So you start on, you, you start your, you, like you were saying, in a sketchbook red line. Yeah. Then you go black line, and then what, how does it get to be that, [00:43:30] you know, like how does it get to be so tight and polished? Is it tight and polished? Are you using, you do it all by hand and it’s there, or you do the figure and then you do the background and Photoshop or procreate, or how, what is the rest of the process look like?
[00:43:46] Tim Baron: Yeah, so I, I typically mess with the little thumbnail sketch until I have it,
[00:43:51] diane: the whole thing, the whole, the, like the full poster layout.
[00:43:57] Tim Baron: Um, I design it really tiny, like [00:44:00] I, I showed you earlier and, um, if I can find, find it again here. But, um, I’ll mess around with the thumbnail sketch until I have it pretty much exactly how I want it.
[00:44:10] Um, hold on. Lemme find it again. Do
[00:44:13] diane: you like those wro ones for this? I do.
[00:44:16] Tim Baron: Yeah. That’s
[00:44:17] diane: your, uh, go-to sketchbook.
[00:44:20] Tim Baron: Here’s another example where I just kept things really, really small. Yeah. And, um. Darn it. I lost the one. Um,
[00:44:29] diane: you [00:44:30] needed flags. I always have the little plastic green flag. I’m not an organized
[00:44:34] Tim Baron: person at all.
[00:44:35] I’m, you seem
[00:44:35] diane: organized. Everything behind you is really organized. So
[00:44:38] Tim Baron: I can be organized with my toys, but that’s about all. Um, but yeah, basically just like I said, it starts with the thumbnails and then I’ll just, you know, maybe I’ll do up to seven to 10 on a page, even if, if I need to. And then typically one of them, one version starts.
[00:44:54] Shaping up, shaping as the very specific direction and feel it’s very organic and [00:45:00] pliable. Mm-hmm. You know what I’m saying? Following the muse sort of a thing. Yeah. Uh, flow. And one of ’em starts shaping up to, to look how I want it to look and have the feel that I, that I want it to look, uh, look like. So, um, and then from that, once I get to that, hold on, I just gotta find it.
[00:45:17] Um, once I get to that phase, then it goes, um, it’s just not gonna happen. Um,
[00:45:23] diane: it is just take your time. So I, so some people like take a picture of it and then they put it on the computer and they Yeah, that’s [00:45:30] Take it in
[00:45:30] Tim Baron: procreate. Yeah. I, I’ll take a photo of it with just
[00:45:33] diane: a photo. Okay.
[00:45:34] Tim Baron: Yep. I’ll just take my iPad and then just open up procreate.
[00:45:38] That’s my, once I discovered that, um, and I discovered that at Creative South actually. ’cause I went in 2019 and every single human being I talked to was just like, oh, procreate iPad Pro. And I didn’t have either, and I was still working on, uh, like, like a que and manga studio, an app called Manga Studio, which was [00:46:00] great for digital inking.
[00:46:01] Um, but once I discovered the iPad and that I could take it different places. Yeah. And like the pen, the pencil was like smaller, like an actual pencil and you could zoom way in and you weren’t chained to a desk. Mm-hmm. You know, I was sold, I was absolutely sold on it, and it just revolutionized my workflow entirely.
[00:46:21] So. So then
[00:46:21] diane: do you finish up these in procreate?
[00:46:25] Tim Baron: Colored and everything. Yeah. Typically what I’ll do is I will, um, I will do a, I’ll [00:46:30] take the thumbnail and I’ll blow it up to the size I need it and procreate. And then I will do a tight pencil sketch over the top of it where I clean things up. Mm-hmm. And, um, get things in nice shape and work things out to the point that I feel comfortable with them.
[00:46:45] Because there’s a lot, it’s like at every stage there needs to be a little bit of ma room for magic to happen in the next stage. Yes. And so, and I’ve found that if I don’t get, at the same time, if I don’t get the bugs worked out in those early [00:47:00] stages, things will fall apart in the inking stage. And it’s like total existential crisis.
[00:47:04] Like it’s, and I, I gotta go back and figure out where I messed up. Um, and it still happens to me, um, all the time. So, so
[00:47:12] diane: I have to show, I’m gonna, you keep talking, I’m gonna show, this was my other one. I was like, I love this one. I may just have to get it after, after Christmas. This will be my Christmas present.
[00:47:22] But I, um, I so. I think that, um, you guys can see, so there’s a lot of detail. So like he’s [00:47:30] talking about these tiny little, um, thumbnails. I know when I do, even if it’s detailed, it’s not gonna be amazing, like what you’re seeing here, right? Like there is a ton of detail in Oh yeah, this, in these pieces that you’re working on, these are, um, I mean, you’re not doing that in that tiny, you know, it’s coming, right?
[00:47:55] Yeah. But, um, yep.
[00:47:57] Tim Baron: Yeah. The sta rad cat.
[00:47:59] diane: I [00:48:00] love this guy. I’m gonna just ke I’m gonna flip through so you keep talking, so.
[00:48:06] Tim Baron: Sure. Um, so yeah, so basically it’s, I will take the, I will take the, the, the thumbnail sketch to the next phase, which is a really tight pencil drawing. And then after I get the pencil drawing to where I feel comfortable enough that I’ve worked the, you know, compositional bugs out mm-hmm.
[00:48:23] Um, I’ll take it to, you know, I’ll start inking it. And I, I’m very, I work very simply with, um, with procreate. Like, I [00:48:30] basically almost only use like a couple of the pencils that I think of it, it act, the, the pen or the, you know, right. That
[00:48:36] diane: comes with, right.
[00:48:37] Tim Baron: That comes with the app. Like, I’m not super, uh, you know, I, I’ve, you know, I’ve, I’ve got a couple extra, you know, purchases of like brushes from different companies that I use from time to time.
[00:48:49] Um, but yeah, I use the studio pen all the time with inking ’cause it just provides this, I. You know, now these are actually inked traditionally, um, wow. [00:49:00] And then scanned, and then colored in Photoshop. These, this is pre, pre iPad pro procreate. Um, and this is totally different style inking too. Your color,
[00:49:08] diane: your color is amazing, and how you’re using it and thinking about color.
[00:49:13] I love the CMYK in this one. I just think it’s awesome. Um,
[00:49:19] Tim Baron: yeah, there’s something about drawing, like scary things, but with fun, bright colors. Yes.
[00:49:24] diane: Yeah. Oh my gosh, I love this. And I, that maybe that is the, um, but the [00:49:30] detail is so good.
[00:49:32] Tim Baron: Yeah. That was all, um, inked traditionally with an actual brush, um, and then scanned on a large,
[00:49:38] diane: so what size were you having to work on something like that?
[00:49:41] Those,
[00:49:42] Tim Baron: yeah. I believe those were 11 by 17. The original drawings were, and um, and then just scanned at a very high resolution.
[00:49:51] diane: I wanna, I wanna talk about the skate deck. So, um, again, detail is incredible. Um, and one [00:50:00] of the questions that I had was, okay, so you’re a, you’re this fifth grader, you know, inside of your man body.
[00:50:08] I still feel like we are that little kid inside of us. Yeah. Um, and, and you get to work with Tony Hawk, like how did that happen? And, um, I mean, your work is amazing.
[00:50:21] Tim Baron: Thank you. But
[00:50:22] diane: like, just making the connections to some, I can imagine that that is just an incredible
[00:50:29] Tim Baron: Oh yeah. [00:50:30] I don’t know. True. It was a bucket list item for sure.
[00:50:32] Yes. Yeah, totally. A bucket list item. Um, if you get a chance, uh, and you can pull up the, the plague, Dr. Graphic, I, hopefully I sent that to you. Um, the Tony Hawk graphic. Yes, I have it.
[00:50:43] diane: Yep.
[00:50:44] Tim Baron: Okay, awesome. Um, if you pull that up, I’m happy to tell the story of, uh, okay. Let me
[00:50:49] diane: find it and then I’m gonna, I’ll be, ’cause everything’s on that computer, but I can it get it to this computer?
[00:50:56] Tim Baron: It did is on my website if you need to go there.
[00:50:58] diane: Okay. Yes. Great.
[00:50:59] Tim Baron: [00:51:00] So, um, so just to start the story out, um, I had done a, uh, a drawing. I, I was kind of, I was kind of in this phase, right? I find these old drawings and skateboard magazines that are, that really, like, they were kind of from the era that I grew up in and I would redraw them, but make them, yeah.
[00:51:17] There it is. Far left there at the very top.
[00:51:19] diane: This one? Yes.
[00:51:20] Tim Baron: Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, um. So, and I did this one of Tony Hawk, it was this ad, I think it was from like 1988 with him leaning on a [00:51:30] skateboard and I just redrew it. But like I made him a skeleton, like kind of in the style of the artist puss head. And I had just posted it to Instagram, not thinking anything of it, got got, got some likes, but then somebody tagged Tony Hawk on it.
[00:51:43] And, uh. He responded, which blew my mind. He responded something. It was something like, this is cool, let’s make this happen. And I was just like, oh my gosh. Like, and because you can’t just slide into Tony Hawk’s dms, you know? Uh, and so I had to figure out a way [00:52:00] to make contact with somebody from. Birdhouse or one of the companies that he works with and be like, Hey, uh, you know, Tony wanted to use this art.
[00:52:08] And, uh, and so I finally got through to like a, like an art director and um, they had me pitch some, they liked it and they had me pitch some skateboard deck ideas. And this is the one that won out right here. The, the plague doctor deck. And, which is ironic too, because it like came out during covid like.
[00:52:26] During covid, so 2021, I [00:52:30] designed it in 2020 and it, it hit the stores in 2021. And, um, this is like one of the proudest accomplishments of my entire life. Like I just love the design. It was, um, and it’s funny, I’ve got a bunch of, um, photos on my phone of me posing for the image because a lot of times I’ll use photo reference.
[00:52:47] And so I’ve got these really dorky photos of me, like standing profile, holding like a broom, right? And um, you know, just so I get the fabric folds just right and whatnot. Uh, but, um, yeah, super [00:53:00] proud of this. And so is
[00:53:01] diane: this like your most proudest product that you’ve made because this, you made it on your own, um, and then they just saw it and then you tweaked.
[00:53:11] Maybe,
[00:53:12] Tim Baron: yeah. Well this isn’t what they saw. They saw something else. Okay. But then had me design, throw, pitch them some ideas and this was one of the ideas that they really liked. So we went with it. So yeah, this is, I mean, this was a massive threshold project, uh, for me to be able to do. ’cause Tony Hawk was like, he was, you know, he, like, when [00:53:30] I was in fifth grade, um, I remember the first time I saw a Tony Hawk graphic on the bottom of a skateboard.
[00:53:35] Like I still had like a junkie, target board, right. Um, and like the cool kids in my neighborhood had like what they called pro boards, which like was like a Tony Hawk or a Lance Mountain, or a Mike McGill. And this one kid, I. Named Matt had a Tony Hawk board. And first of all, I was like amazed that somebody had a name that, that was that cool.
[00:53:55] I know Hawk. And then the, the graphic on the board was this, this [00:54:00] hawk was like this chicken skull and like these, all these design patterns in the back. I was just absolutely throttle by it. And the artist that did it was, his name is VC Johnson. Um, and tho those images that he did, um, like those are permanently embedded in my creative DNA.
[00:54:17] Like that’s part of me. And um, so I was just, immediately when I saw that Tony Hawk graphic, I was just absolutely seized by, um, the coolness of it. And like, it was just something other [00:54:30] that I hadn’t experienced before. Like I, it kind of
[00:54:32] diane: brought your two worlds together, it seems like It really
[00:54:34] Tim Baron: did. That’s a good way to put it.
[00:54:36] Yeah. Because I was like, you know, months prior I was still like secretly buying transformers and playing with them in secret and then, you know, started skateboarding and then connecting with these like. Older cool kids and then discovered the skateboarding subculture that it is this like crazy creative subversive world of music, [00:55:00] art, graffiti attitude, punk rock, like DIY.
[00:55:06] Um, it just, it’s just, it was just an awesome, it’s just an awesome subculture and it really, like, I really connected with it because I wasn’t like football kid. Yeah. I wasn’t baseball kid. I was like, oh man. And ’cause I was like, naturally I was, I was pretty good at it. Like it was like my build was perfect for it.
[00:55:24] Um, and I had a, I still have a pretty sick Ollie, like my Ollie still has some pop to it at [00:55:30] age 48. I’m proud to say That’s
[00:55:32] diane: awesome.
[00:55:33] Tim Baron: So, but I was like really good with like air. And that’s right there, that photo that you’re looking at right there mm-hmm. Was from the Tony Hawk Jason Ellis podcast. I, um,
[00:55:40] diane: you did this.
[00:55:42] Tim Baron: Yeah, I got asked to do the Hawk versus Wolf podcast board, which, um, was a huge honor also. So, and they, and sold out and they actually reprinted it also. So
[00:55:55] diane: that’s also a huge accomplishment as well of, so being asked to do that, but [00:56:00] also having a board that you’ve created, sell out and,
[00:56:04] Tim Baron: yeah,
[00:56:04] diane: I mean that again, so this happened after your first board?
[00:56:11] Tim Baron: Mm-hmm.
[00:56:11] diane: Right?
[00:56:12] Tim Baron: Yep.
[00:56:12] diane: So was the same kind of like, Hey, we, did they get back to you or did you know, uh, Jason or,
[00:56:21] Tim Baron: yeah, I, well, I did some projects for Jason and I had pitched the in, uh. Yeah. Uh, my buddy, mark Koal, Chuck, uh, an [00:56:30] amazing illustrator, had put me in touch with another company called Red Dragon, and Jason is part of Red Dragon.
[00:56:36] Jason liked what I did for Red Dragon and then he reached out to me and, uh, and I had suggested doing a, like a podcast board and he liked the idea and then we went ahead and did it. And, uh, they ended up using it and they ended up, I, I believe they sold out the first run and I think they sold out of the second run too.
[00:56:53] They reprinted it with like a gold background. Oh, cool. And, um, very cool. Yeah.
[00:56:59] diane: So [00:57:00] like for me, looking at styles mm-hmm. Your use of just two color is powerful. Yeah. Um, I think that’s why I ended up going with the, um, I don’t know what you call that guy, um, the skater
[00:57:12] Tim Baron: die guy.
[00:57:13] diane: Skater. Yeah. Skater dye guy. Um, but I really like the two color work, but this even has like printmaking, feel etching.
[00:57:20] Yeah. And yep. Again, is such. Craftsmanship. There’s huge craftsmanship here, but also just compositionally, [00:57:30] you are keeping us, I mean, just the angle or, I mean, it’s just. Beautiful. Like this is, thank you. Just gorgeous of a piece. Um, and I think sometimes it’s hard for people to do something in, uh, one color or two color or
[00:57:44] Tim Baron: Yeah.
[00:57:45] diane: Mainly with lines or something. I just kinda wanted to flip through some Sure. For people.
[00:57:49] Tim Baron: Yeah. It’s hard to know when to stop sometimes with color. And then sometimes I’ve noticed, especially with like gig posters mm-hmm. Like limited color palettes seem to be really huge with like gig concert [00:58:00] posters for bands and stuff.
[00:58:01] Like very specific intentional use of color, um, which is really cool. So then you, but yeah, that last image that you looked at, the black and red image Uhhuh, the Clive Dixon board mm-hmm. That was very much pulling inspiration from old like printmakers, like gusav dore and Alre deur for this piece. Mm-hmm.
[00:58:19] Um, if you look at the lines, like they’re all kind of facing, running in the same direction. Yes. And very, very wood cut esque.
[00:58:27] diane: Yeah, it is beautiful. Thank [00:58:30] you. It, it feels like I know woodcut, um, it actually feels etching to me. So etching is, um, finer grain. You’re on the fine, I don’t know how much you know about printmaking, but etching is that finer grain part, and then woodcut could be just the regular part of the wood that Yeah.
[00:58:48] Thicker
[00:58:48] Tim Baron: lines and
[00:58:49] diane: Yeah. And, but I mean, it is, it’s gorgeous. Thank you. So then I’ve seen this with yours that I remember Halloween. Mm-hmm. So is this the Halloween, like the yearly kind of [00:59:00] Halloween? Um,
[00:59:01] Tim Baron: yeah. I try to do one of those every year and, and it always
[00:59:04] diane: says I remember Halloween.
[00:59:06] Tim Baron: Yeah. And it’s a reference to, um, it’s a reference to a lyric in a misfits song.
[00:59:11] Okay. Called Halloween Misfits, my all time favorite band. Um, like a horror punk band. And they’ve just provided me so much inspiration over the years. Just it’s always like a go-to.
[00:59:22] diane: Oh, cool.
[00:59:23] Tim Baron: Um. So, yeah, some of these images are, uh, there’s the Obey. Um, that was the, uh, [00:59:30] I had sent a black and white shirt of that to, uh, oh.
[00:59:32] Brian from Super seven.
[00:59:33] diane: Cool.
[00:59:34] Tim Baron: Yeah.
[00:59:35] diane: Okay. So I, I wanna ask about this. So this shows a lot of your characters. Yeah. And I know we’re outta time. I just realized, I just looked at the time. So I, I don’t know how you come up with all of these. Like, to me, like I get Frankenstein and Dracula, but I don’t, I don’t know if all, um, mutant guy, he’s new to me and um mm-hmm.
[00:59:56] The MEUs, I don’t know what that guy’s name is, but like, [01:00:00] they are, these are creepy and awesome. And again, color work is so great. Um, thank you. But how do you come up with. Of these?
[01:00:11] Tim Baron: Well, there’s a cool story behind this one. Okay. In that, um, so when I was a little kid, and like so much of my art is very, like, I had a super joyful childhood.
[01:00:20] Like I had the coolest childhood ever. Like it was just, you know, filled with toys and cartoons and, you know, comic books and garbage pail kids and mm-hmm. [01:00:30] Just everything cool that a kid growing up in the eighties could, you know what I’m, uh. You could experience. It was just a fun, creative childhood. And so when I was really little, like kindergarten, little, um, every time my mom would go, my mom would take me to the store.
[01:00:44] She’d always get me these. Um, and ’cause I’d always po post them on some, you know, stick them on something. But she’d always gimme these monster stickers. They were puffy. Oh, Uhhuh. And that, like, the, the Dracula, like these are, like, most of these are just, um, redraws of those [01:01:00] monster stickers, which I believe the original ones were pretty poorly drawn.
[01:01:04] Um, and, uh, several companies had done them. And so you’ll find them on eBay in various levels of like, good to bad art. But I was just, I was so, I’ve always been so enamored and sometimes if, like something like that from way back then affected me in such a way that I, it’s like, it’s just, it’s like eating away at me in like a really good way and I have to like, get it out of my system mm-hmm.
[01:01:28] And kind of do an [01:01:30] homage to it. Um, like that’s what this is. Like, I basically redrew all those, uh, puffy monster stickers and then added a few extras from like, some old, like monster magazines and, uh, and just made a poster out of it. And, um, yeah. So that’s, that’s where that comes from. Like a li like I said, a lot of times there is things from my childhood that really stuck in my brain.
[01:01:54] Mm-hmm. And, um, yeah, as an adult and just [01:02:00] still have to, um, it almost like a celebration of the thing. Yeah. That, uh, a way of processing it and, and just loving it and appreciating it, making a piece of art as an homage to it. If you’ll, I
[01:02:12] diane: love this age 35 and up, uh, like anybody in their twenties. I’m sorry, you aren’t able to buy this.
[01:02:18] Like, we need to card you before. I think that’s great. Yep. Um, all right. So Chewy’s my favorite. Okay. So I’m, I’m gonna stop share ’cause I wanna just drill down just a second. [01:02:30] Sure. Um, what do you think going out on your own, um, leaving the day job behind and saying, I’m going all in, all the water’s gonna be from this bucket.
[01:02:42] Um, what kind of mindset hurdle did do you or did you have to get over, um, to be able to just make that commitment?
[01:02:52] Tim Baron: That’s an awesome question. And so I would say, okay, I’ll try to make this quick, but, um, [01:03:00] right after I turned 40, I think it was like the week I turned 40, uh, 40th birthday. I watched the movie Fight Club for the first time.
[01:03:06] Oh yeah. And I had never watched it, didn’t know anything about it. Um, for anybody who’s, who’s hasn’t, well, you know, uh, what do you call it? Um. Uh, midlife crisis. We give the plot, plot twist here.
[01:03:19] diane: Oh, okay. Yeah.
[01:03:19] Tim Baron: But the idea in that movie, spoiler, thank you. Um, but the spoiler there is that the, this, this antagonist, Tyler Durden, who did everything that the [01:03:30] main character couldn’t do, ends up being the same character.
[01:03:33] They’re one in the same, but the, um, the main character just didn’t know that he could do these things that Tyler Durden did until he was, so, it was almost a matter of tapping into an alter ego. And for me, I I, because my adult life was filled with, uh, complete and utter risk aversion, right on down to the fact that I worked at an insurance company, ironically enough, which is a complete opposite of how I grew up as a [01:04:00] skateboarder.
[01:04:00] And I was like all in downstairs, like, you know, seven, eight stairs and doing handrails and things I could have died doing. And, um, I. Uh, I literally, and, and so, and my, like I said, my Ollie was super high and there was this kid, Kurt Shively, who called me Dragon Wings because my Ollie were so high. And, uh, like I literally had to make dragon wings into an alter ego and be asking myself, what would dragon wings do?
[01:04:26] Like you literally have to, and I know that there’s a lot of like, [01:04:30] um, like pop stars and stuff like that, that, that have altered egos that they tap into too. And I, and that fascinated me. And I think that there’s something to that because it provides another way of seeing yourself and operating outside of the comfort zone that you’re used to.
[01:04:45] Hmm. And um, it is, it is, and it helped with a seismic mind mindset shift, but I’d also say that a key component of that was hanging around like-minded people. Mm. Uh, so like total shout out to my buddy Henry and Chad [01:05:00] and Ben, and these super encouraging people, and Chad’s wife, Lisa. That we’re doing and working on the same and working towards similar goals.
[01:05:10] Like, you wanna get around people who have similar goals and passions and visions as you. ’cause if you’re just hanging around people that want to sit in a cubicle for 35 years and then die, right? Like, it’s kind of the mindset you’re probably gonna adapt. So get around people who you thrive around [01:05:30] creatively and, um, and, and like, and read, you know, I, I had to do a lot of like YouTube videos.
[01:05:37] I even hired a career coach at one time, like I did. Oh, I spent so much money like doing these like programs and stuff. And I think the last one I did was Kathy. Kathy Hellers, don’t keep your day job or something like that. Yeah. And like, it’s been a good chunk on that. And I’m like, damnit, if I don’t quit my job after, sorry I used a cuss word, but I was like, if I don’t quit my job.
[01:05:58] After spending this [01:06:00] much money, like you’re just doomed. You just need to accept your faith that you’re gonna die in slow motion in a beige cubicle, in a corporate environment. And so like that, and then a number of other life circumstances converged, and I literally, like, I had to get out of there, like mm-hmm.
[01:06:16] There was no choice like that. I was going to be vomited out of that place one way or another. And so I willingly chose to ex to, to, to remove myself before that happened. So.
[01:06:28] diane: Well, Jared also [01:06:30] said he took your course with Gar, the co-create
[01:06:34] Tim Baron: course.
[01:06:34] diane: Yeah. And he loved it. I don’t know what he just said. Your course.
[01:06:38] He said, um,
[01:06:39] Tim Baron: that was the one I did with Gar and um Yes, yes. Yep, yep. That’s what he said. Yeah,
[01:06:44] diane: so he said that, so you’ve really done in this one big bucket, you’ve actually done it lots of, there’s products, physical products. There are, the course is a digital product, right? Yep. You’re not sitting in somebody’s, you’re not going to Jared’s house and [01:07:00] teaching him procreate, right?
[01:07:01] Tim Baron: Yeah.
[01:07:02] diane: So, so you, you’ve made product design, um, for you be something that’s worth, uh, that really works. So when is because, so Halloween, is that your big time a year? Do you see others pops up? Um, or like, is Christmas big because people are buying presents or boards or something for people?
[01:07:24] Tim Baron: Yeah, no, uh, like, like October through December, typically it’s like you kind of be [01:07:30] gotta be, um, gotta be ready, you know?
[01:07:32] Yeah. And um, one last thing about that course, that’s actually what led to. The Astro Zombie being produced as an action figure. Mm-hmm. Because I did that course and I designed the Astro Zombie character. Yep. Mm-hmm. And then some guy, uh, this guy, Alex Nito, I think his name is, I didn’t know him, never met him.
[01:07:53] He went ahead and sculpted a figure digitally and sent me like these mockups and like I was so [01:08:00] blown away by them. And then I posted it to Instagram and then everybody kept tagging Super seven, the company in it. And they were like, Hey, we’d like to do an action figure of this. Are you up for that? And I was like, absolutely.
[01:08:10] So like, I. You know, it’s just awesome to see how little opportunities can just snowball into big opportunities. So super grateful for that. But yes, uh, concerning, uh, October through December. Those you kind of want to be ready for. And this is, and where I’m [01:08:30] at right now is that I’m trying to figure out how to scale what I’m doing because I’m one guy and I don’t have a whole lot of bandwidth.
[01:08:38] And so I am trying to, I’m trying to strategically bring in people who can help me. Like I’ve got a friend who’s helping me on the website of things. Um, super grateful for Seth transferring all my domains and doing all this stuff that I, I have no concept of how it works. Um, and then, you know, I’ve talked to, uh, you know, several [01:09:00] friends that have interest in helping me kind of plan out a year at a time.
[01:09:04] Mm-hmm. Like, I’m just not a good planner. I’m not good administratively in any way. So you
[01:09:10] diane: gotta have people to do that stuff for you so that you can be focused in on the things, the creation and the development of those things that you are
[01:09:19] Tim Baron: really
[01:09:19] diane: good.
[01:09:20] Tim Baron: And that’s the artist’s sweet spot. And that’s why I think a lot of.
[01:09:23] Artists don’t make it as full-time artists is because it requires some level of [01:09:30] being willing to do the things that no artist wants to do,
[01:09:32] diane: or, uh, taking the chance and hiring other people who can, which will actually yes. Be less painful for you. And, um, yes, give you more time. So in October through December, are you doing much creation or is it mostly just kind of, um, you’re getting ready for the next thing and you’ve, you’ve had to do that creation January through September.
[01:09:55] Tim Baron: Yeah, so what I ended up doing, um, is like planning for big sales, like [01:10:00] planning the Black Friday sale. What I’m gonna do for that last, last year, I, I had some discussions with my buddy Ben, and he, I think he’s really good at coming up with ideas and for, you know, um, for deals and offerings and offer this with that and, and whatnot.
[01:10:15] And again, just my mind doesn’t work that way. Um, and so, like I said, I’m slowly warming up to the idea, the ne the necessity at this point of bringing in other people to help me and being willing to pay people for, [01:10:30] um, for what they’re doing for me. And, uh. So that’s kind of where I’m at and I’m trying to figure that out right now.
[01:10:37] diane: And that’s a big step. I think that’s, um, awesome. I have so enjoyed our talk, Tim. I want everybody to be able to make sure that you can go and get your awesome posters like I did. Ann, maybe I’ll give you a sticker. Yeah. Um, I can’t wait to put this one on my, um, next sketchbook. I go through a lot of sketchbooks too, but I don’t draw as good as you, but it’s, we need people [01:11:00] to draw like me.
[01:11:00] I think, you know, there’s a place for everybody. Um, but I wanna make sure everybody knows if, if you’re listening to this podcast or you’re, um, watching it on YouTube, all of Tim’s links are gonna be right at the top if you just go down to the note section. And then there’s a page on my site for this as well, so you can, um, I’m putting it in the chat for everybody, but Tim Baron, T-I-M-B-A-R-O n.com.
[01:11:25] Um, and then you can follow him on Instagram at Tim Baron [01:11:30] Art. T-I-M-B-A-R-O-N? No. BAR. Yeah. B-A-R-O-N. Yeah. Mm. A RT. And then on LinkedIn, same thing. Tim Baron. No art on that one. And then Etsy is etsy.com/shop/tim Baron Art. And I hope you guys will go and get I super. They, they are really nice posters.
[01:11:53] They’re good thick. I actually was like, are these screen printed? Um, they look the, but the [01:12:00] color-wise, your color work is amazing. Your line work is amazing. Um, thank you. I’m glad you’ve done a course. You need to do some more. Um, but thank you so much for giving so much of your time and I’m so glad we got the audio to work.
[01:12:13] Tim Baron: My pleasure. Thanks for having me, Diane. I appreciate it.
[01:12:15] diane: And um, I’m gonna hang on just a second. I’m gonna say goodbye. Um, we’ll see you guys this week. The reason I got in touch with Tim was because my friend Richard, um, Longie, he is gonna be on on Saturday. He can’t do a Wednesday [01:12:30] show, so he is gonna be on this Saturday, but he’s like, oh Diane, you need to do, have Tim on.
[01:12:36] And he’s like, I was like, okay, let’s do both of you. Um, so I am excited to have Tim this Saturday and we have more product designers, um, for the rest of November as well. We have one, um, next Wednesday is not product designer, but it is about how Art heals. And I can’t wait for you to come next Wednesday and see [01:13:00] that, but I’m gonna read John Ingalls, uh, thing.
[01:13:03] I guess I’ll just read it to everybody. John says, love your style. A friend of ours, Jeff Carlson does similar. Maniac a monster Art, you two are like-minded and maybe worth connecting with him. And then, um, he put the link in there. So I’ll try to put the link in the show notes, which will be on the creatives Ignite site.
[01:13:23] Tim, you were awesome. I can’t wait to get more, uh, creepy skate, uh, [01:13:30] skeleton people, man skate or die. And I, I think I’ll get the, the cat one. Uh, that’ll be, I’ll ask for that. My husband will have to get that for me for Christmas, so. Awesome. Thank you so much.
[01:13:42] Tim Baron: Thank you again for having me, Diane. I appreciate it.
[01:13:44] And thanks everybody who tuned in also.
[01:13:46] diane: [01:14:00] Absolutely.