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Frederico Rogeiro
08-20-2010, 08:34 AM
Hi, Friends!

I've been working on a collection of caricatures of great historical figures.
Now, I need some feedback about the drawings and some advice about some options of the business that are still open. So, I prepared a brief presentation of the ideia, with some few direct questions about it.
For those of you who are willing to help me, here it is my caricatures presentation (http://www.fighum.com). It will take you just 2 or 3 minutes.

I would be most appreciated if you give me your advice! :)
Thank you!

Harold Mansfield
08-20-2010, 11:59 AM
First let me say that presentation of your idea is very professional and the drawings are to say the least interesting and very well done. It's very nice work. I did fill out the questionnaire. Not sure what other questions you had where I may be able to offer an opinion.

I would like to ask about the poll/survey... Is it a commercial script or did you have it custom coded? I really like the way it is configured.

Frederico Rogeiro
08-20-2010, 04:48 PM
Eborg, thanks for your opinion!
The questionnaire is custom. We first thought to do it with the Google forms, but we wanted to have six languages directing to an only results sheet. I'm glad you liked it too!

Evan
08-20-2010, 11:49 PM
I also responded to the survey and viewed the art. It's not my type of thing, and the modifications are unique. I do think the artistic ability is quite good... I've always wondered what I'd look like as a caricature. Then anytime I see people offer those drawings, no matter where the artist is -- I can always imagine how goofy I'd end up looking... :)

Anyways, best of luck with your business. Unfortunately, I am one who is ashamed to say I don't appreciate art as much as I should, but do support artists... It's never easy!

Frederico Rogeiro
08-21-2010, 01:19 AM
Evan, I thank you for answering and for your honesty.
Nobody's obliged to like nothing, I think as one of my portrayed Jean-jacques Rousseau in that: we're intitled to our absolut free will, at least in our thoughts.
Let me confess: I didn't show this survey to any of my friends. In this particular case, their opinion is the least interesting!

huggytree
08-21-2010, 07:58 AM
you do a very good job and im sure there a market for it.....that market is very small, but its there..

do you know who your typical customer is and how to find him?

Frederico Rogeiro
08-21-2010, 09:52 AM
Hi, Huggytree, and thank you for your comment!
I agree with you about my small market, that's what I believe in too. Possibly a market of more educated people, who are admirers of some of the people I draw, or use them for gifts.
For now, I still don't know exactly who my typical costumer is and how to find him... maybe this questionnaire can give some help answering that.

huggytree
08-21-2010, 10:11 PM
maybe your customer could be a person who wants a drawing of a loved one for a birthday gift?

at fairs i see people drawing cartoon pictures for $25....i assume you would have to be much more expensive

how long does it take you to do a drawing?

can you have different levels of quality? this would allow you to have different package prices.

maybe a low end /cheap price and you could hire someone else to do the low end ones for you.

in my business i try to give a couple of quality options when i can...this makes a customer realize that there are actually differences in products i sell.....also helps it fit into their budget at this time.....i think having different price levels may be important....or maybe not...

is your customer typically rich, middle class, or poor
what do they all have in common?

you have to find your customers and target things they all have in common....be efficient w/ your advertising....is there a magazine they all read?

greenoak
08-22-2010, 06:50 AM
wonderful work..
..i wouldnt pay much for digital art tho..i like the real thing and adding plastic or laminate would look cheap to me...sorry, im an antique dealer and like real paper and almost feeling the ink...so maybe im far from typical....
. but i could imagine it being a great thing in the right place...
. i made a suggestion about the use of the word product in one of the last questions....it didnt quite make sense...i think you might have meant place... and also suggested not using reproduction so much...it has slightly bad connotations here, it sounds cheap compared to the real thing... imho.... art print or print might sound better...
marketing seems hard since the fans of one figure wouldnt be fans of another...so you would almost have to market to each figures fan base....
for example they would be great at a lincoln festival, or be good at a classical music thing...but maybe on the internet that would work....
... another problem i see is they are so different and extreme , which is great if the customer is picking out something for himself......but if one were buying it as a gift you would have to wonder if the person would actually like it...for example i'm a big lincoln fan and his picture didnt appeal to me very much....
your skill is amazing...best of luck...

Frederico Rogeiro
08-22-2010, 12:31 PM
Huggytree,
The drawings are really slow, thay take 15 to 25 hours plus sketches, reading, writing biographies, scaning, arranging...
That's why I never thought about personalized drawings, but just in prints.
It might be easier with less quality, but it would hurt me to do something bad if I can do something good.
I think my way is to reach the right people and for that I must get the answers for those questions you made. I hope this survey will help me in that.
You mention some ideias that got my attention, like what people have in common, and giving options to people. Maybe I can do it with the higher quality of drawings, but with different level products.

Frederico Rogeiro
08-22-2010, 12:39 PM
Greenoak, thanks for the suggestions you gave. I still have no access to them but I will read them with my best attention.
I thought about sending samples to institutions or groups who are associated to the memory of these historical figures. That way I might do that marketing of each figure at the time. So I agree with that strategy, and will implement it as soon as possible.
For that problem for those who give gifts I don't see a solution, really. I think the mistery and the expectation of the reaction from those who receive is the magical element that make people love gifts. Or hate them, too. That is the power of surprise itself, that is very hard to control!

KarenB
09-09-2010, 12:18 PM
Hello Frederico,

I also took your survey and viewed your wonderful drawings. Wow! They are incredible and truly seem to capture the essence of the subjects' personalities, which is what a good caricature is all about.

I could see you as a book illustrator for sure. (You would definitely need to copyright your images.) I could see a market in providing images to authors, historians, even television / movie documentary creators and that sort of thing.

You provide a tantalizing sample of your work on this sales page. Now it's a matter of pointing the right market to it.

The other cool thing is that you have the entire world to capture your images from. You don't have to be limited to political figures. You can do any inspirational or intriguing figure from history from Mother Teresa to Marilyn Monroe, for example. The sky is the limit with your artistic talent, I believe.

There is a lucrative commercial market for your drawings. Of that, I am sure. Now it's just a matter of targeting them.

Karen

Frederico Rogeiro
09-10-2010, 02:23 PM
Hello, Karen.

Motivating comments like yours provide the energy and motivation I need to continue, so I see people who make them as they were my partners. For that, I'm most gratefull to you, it's worth to work hard if we feel we're actually giving something valuable, and that was the effect of your message.
Targeting this collection is my actual concern. The survey provides some information, but there's still a lot to do in that field.

Thank you also for filling it out, :)
Frederico