Marketplace Success Story: Madeleine Bellwoar
Earlier this month, Madeleine Bellwoar put her first product on the ArtStation Marketplace and has since become one of the season’s top sellers.
Like many young artists fresh out of college, she had a hard time finding work full-time right away and worked various service-industry jobs while continuing to pursue art. Her first art-related jobs included photo retouching and designing themed environments for large scale aquarium interiors.
Over the past 5 years, Bellwoar has been working as a freelance digital illustrator and started live-streaming her art process 3 years ago. She now works full-time as a creative live-streamer and painter, regularly sharing her processes and hosting group study sessions.
Skyrocketing Visibility
During her live sessions, Bellwoar often gets asked about the tools and resources she uses. (Would a live stream be complete without someone asking “what brushes do you use?”)
Initially, she started creating custom brushes just for her personal use. However, with all the questions she received, she wanted to make them available for her viewers to try too. After prepping her brush pack and tutorial along with it, she put it up as her first product on the ArtStation Marketplace.
“I expected a small group of people to be interested in my brushes but didn’t expect the sales to go beyond my live-stream community. I never expected them to get that much visibility!”
The response to her brushes both on ArtStation and on other social media was outstanding. Bellwoar, who says she tries to stay up to date on social media by posting often, was especially surprised by how many shares her brushes got on Twitter. The boost helped her reach far beyond her following and helped make a lot of new friends who reached out to give feedback and encouragement on creating more content in the future.
Since the Ghibli-inspired brushes for Photoshop/Procreate went live, they’ve climbed to the top of the Trending and Best Selling tabs on the Marketplace.
“It has been a great experience! The process to upload and update products is very user-friendly. The way the products are displayed is clean and professional. I’m happy with the visibility my brushes received thanks to the Trending page.”
Do it for you
For those of you considering whether you should start selling too, heed this advice. Our artist made sure to put the emphasis where it matters – on creating tools with the right intentions. “Don’t go into it with the expectation or intention of making a lot of money, but of making a useful asset. Create a product you would be happy to use yourself.”
Follow Madeleine Bellwoar on ArtStation for updates on her work, projects, and products.
Sell on the ArtStation Marketplace
Upload your products onto the ArtStation Marketplace and start selling today! Join the largest community of artists in the industry and set up your shop in just a few clicks.
For more information on the ArtStation Marketplace, check out the FAQ here.
