Thank you all for the enormous outpouring of input on the first poll and discussion about what items and type of merchandise we should look into! You all are great, and we want to provide things you’ll love.
The Objective:
This discussion is for us to share ideas for exactly what will go on our merch - art, quotes, characters, magical creatures, etc, and what items the art or quotes would look good on.
In the previous poll, there were some options that clearly had more interest than others: apparel, figurines, notebooks or journals, stickers, tarot cards, mugs, and totes. Magnets, bookmarks, sticky notes, and junk journals seemed less popular.
Right now, I’m looking for your favorite short(ish) quotes from the book that can be used on merchandise, and scenes or things/creatures you’d like to see as artwork on merchandise.
Examples of the type of suggestions we’re looking for would include: Sky Kraken pins and bookmarks, a mug with “quid pro crow” and a picture of a corvid (thank you @shadow-of-doubt), or apparel with “I’m not broke. I’m merely experiencing a temporary inversion in my ratio of income versus expenses" and lineart of a raven.
We created some mock-ups to give everyone an idea of what the products would look like, although we will be offering more (and more high quality and detailed) art options. If you really like a design and would like it to be offered, please tell us which one - and feel free to tell us what kind of styles you like for your art, too.
While i do like crows as a general aesthetic, i think it’d be more fun to have merch that’s specific to PGTS. Distinct emblems such as the secret society star or Siobhans personal symbol would be cool.
For smaller things like pins and stickers, character and creature portraits would also work well. I’m personally a fan of the shadow-familiar, but sky krakens or abberants would also be pretty funky.
My biggest thing is please please please no AI art.
You could have contest for fans to submit art, and let there be a vote, fan favorite and her choice.
You know, like how the name was chosen.
When it comes to paying for the art, there is a lot of ways to approach, none of which I know of the top of my head, I don’t draw or design my own stuff
I pay others for the pictures or instructions and then make it.
I’m about to have some free time at the ren fair, I might try drawing stuff
But honestly, the art I draw when I’m doodling is more akin to what she made for her symbol than anything else.
Ravens are cool and all (and definitely make the most sense considering the series lol), but how about using the thirteen-pointed star symbol instead? I like simple designs better, personally, and I think it would work really well on a dark background. Might look great on a black phone case.
Also, my quick search didn’t give me any results, but maybe one of you might be able to help me regarding a quote. I’m not 100% sure about the exact wording, but it was something along the lines of, “It would result in the end of the person I care about the most: myself.”
A bit egocentric, maybe, but I really like it lmao
Going against the grain here but I love the ambiguity of having ravens. That raven scoop neck tank looks like something I would actually wear a lot (though having options with a lower neckline and sleeves would be great).
I absolutely adore the temporary inversion quote.
I humbly submit having a raven with a gold coin in its beak flying off as a possible symbol. Maybe with a little message relating to collecting tribute - either a quote from the book where Siobhan was musing about it or just something like “Tribute collected”.
That mug with something like that crow picture with Quid Quo Crow on it? I could give that away as a Christmas present to people who don’t know the series.
That black and white with the kraken and moon? Something like that can go with:
I am a changeling like the seasons,
A daughter of shadow and light,
Of Charybdis mists and raven’s flight,
And always I seek after mysteries.
Which, of course, is part of the chant behind Siobhan’s symbol. (See What will Siobhan's symbol be able to do? for the rest of the chant, and some light speculation about it.)
There is some wonderful writing in the next chapter to go on RR. Full of good quotes. That might be a great source of ideas for the next poll. (I hope it isn’t a spoiler to say that Azalea’s future writing is really good. I mean, that’s kind of a baseline expectation given her existing writing…)
What if you had a phone case with a spell array on it? Or what if we can buy our own grimoire? It would be super cute shirt or coffee mug idea with the quote “I’m surrounded by imbeciles.”
Phone cases are a bad idea. There are a million phone designs out there, and each needs a case fitted to that exact phone.
It’s only workable if you found an arrangement with a company that sells them. And even so, they’re going to need your exact phone model, different phones will get different pricing, and a lot of people will have phones that can’t get them.
That phine cases probsbly won’t scale is a shame because I love them and would totally get the coloured crow one.
I’d love something with shadow-puppets and the shadow familliar, like a campfire and the aforementioned on a wall! Or some other idea with the shadow familliar. He’s my favourite!
I think having some spell circle designs (especially illustrated ones with components and Sacrifices in them) would be pretty cool for stickers and t-shirts.
I’m a fan of both 13-point star coasters and sky kraken student token coasters and stickers.
And of course, several of the insults in chapter 181 (i think; where everyone including Nat is making up Sebastianisms) could make good shirts. You could even word art them a little to go with a raven, sky kraken, or character illustration.
“I can explain it to you, but I cannot understand it for you”
“I didn’t mean to offend you. My intention was to insult you without you noticing”
Both from Book 1 Chapter 27 (Study Group)
“Are we to play a guessing game, then, Queen of Ravens?”
Book 4 Chapter 60 (Icarus Rising)
As a secondary idea, I think some artistic representation of the core parts of a spell (Circle, Sacrifice, Word, Will) could be pretty neat.
I think having spell circle designs on notebooks would be cool. I’m a fan of more subtle merch. Something like this, fineline spell circles. I also think they would look good on linen totes.
