My Design Process, New Dala Horse Head Designs

 

When I'm designing dala horses I just work my Ideas out as I paint. This first piece often ends up different on each side as I continue to change my mind as I design the horse. This was one of the first that I sanded off to paint another design on.

Once I've decided on the parts that I like best, I'll make the final design and then start preparing tp market it. There are several ways to  go about doing that. You can either paint copies by hand and sell them or you can submit your design to print on demand companies and have your designs printed on a wide variety of projects for sale on the internet.

In the case of this horse head I would have used the area in the yellow from the second photo and the other brushstrokes from the first photo. And that would have become my final design. After that I would have gone on to color choices and variations. sometimes that will mean 3 or 4 additional horses before I develop a complete line of that design.

It's not as easy as people think it is but I find it really satisfying. 

I decided that I can do much better than this one so I sanded and gessoed it so that i could start over. I was much happier with this blue one and am putting several layers of clear coat on it now.

After that I will return to sanding and painting the last 3 horses in this shape and style which I hope will sell well. Wish Me Luck!

These wooden cut outs were originally unicorns purchased at the Dollar Tree Store. I was so happy to get them at just a dollar each that the extra work didn't matter.

There are only 4 horses but up to 8 new designs because I often paint each side a bit differently.

I may pursue some of these designs further but haven't decided yet.

This one is the favorite so far:

Keep practicing to keep your skills ready. You never know when you will want to use them again.

Here are some of the finished pieces:

These obviously is not part of this project. The photos are included here because i designed and then painted this at the same time that i did the other ones.