Stand Out On Society6: A Roadmap to Creating Art that Sells
Charly Clements · Greeting Card Designer and Illustrator
A concise five-step system for print-on-demand success, though it leans on Society6-specific screen tours that date quickly.
A five-step system, not a design tutorial
Charly Clements structures this class around a simple roadmap: spot trends, plan seasonally, create, optimize the shop, then market. That structure is the course's real strength. Rather than a loose grab-bag of tips, each lesson builds on the last, moving from research to a finished, listed product. Clements frames the whole thing around her own shift from handling fulfillment herself to licensing work through print-on-demand, and that context grounds the advice in a specific business model rather than generic "sell your art" platitudes.
The trend-spotting method is the most transferable piece of the course. Clements breaks trends into subject, color, and style, then walks through a Pinterest exercise where students build two boards, pin without curating from the algorithmic homepage, and then manually tally recurring words onto a worksheet. It is a slow, manual process, closer to qualitative research than a shortcut, but it gives students an actual repeatable habit rather than a one-off tip. The companion exercise, where she asks students to answer three questions about what they love to create and how they would describe their own work in three words, ties the trend research back to a personal "sweet spot" between what sells and what feels authentic. This pairing of outward market research with inward self-assessment is a smarter framing than most trend-chasing advice offers.
Where it gets platform-specific
The back half of the course narrows sharply into a screen-recorded tour of Society6's own dashboard: banner and avatar setup, shop category filters, the tag search tool, and the royalty markup slider. This is useful for someone actively building a Society6 shop right now, but it dates the course and limits its audience. Anyone selling on Redbubble, Spoonflower, or their own storefront will find little here beyond the general principle of relevant tagging. The pricing lesson, in particular, is really a walkthrough of one slider inside Society6's seller dashboard rather than a broader pricing philosophy, though Clements does contextualize her royalty percentages against licensing deals she has done elsewhere, which adds useful perspective for a first-time seller wondering if 10 to 13 percent commission is reasonable.
The marketing lesson is the most generic section, listing five tactics such as using mockups, cross-posting to Pinterest, an 80-20 value-to-promotion ratio, starting a newsletter, and joining the affiliate program. None of these are wrong, but none are unique to Charly Clements or to art licensing either. The lesson's real value is reassurance more than instruction, aimed at students worried they need a large social following before they can sell anything.
At 60 minutes across eleven short lessons, the course moves fast and covers a full business cycle without padding. Two structured worksheets give it a workshop feel rather than a passive watch, which raises its practical value considerably. Anyone expecting deep instruction in drawing, illustration technique, or software skill will not find it here. This is a business and merchandising class wearing an art class label, and it delivers well on that narrower promise.
The standout
The Pinterest formula exercise, where students build two mood boards and then manually log recurring subjects, colors, and styles to convert raw inspiration into usable trend data.
What you will learn
- How to categorize and track visual trends across subject, color, and style using a Pinterest research method
- A seasonal product-planning workflow that maps holidays and events to specific product types months in advance
- How to configure a Society6 shop's banner, avatar, bio, and product display settings for clarity
- A keyword and tag research process for titling and tagging artwork to improve search visibility
- How to adjust royalty markup percentages in response to sales demand and audience
- Five concrete marketing tactics including mockups, Pinterest reposting, an 80-20 content rule, and affiliate links
Best for: Illustrators and pattern designers already selling or about to sell on Society6 who want a repeatable system for research, planning, and shop optimization.
Skip it if: Complete beginners with no art practice yet, or sellers on other print-on-demand platforms since several lessons are tied specifically to Society6's interface and creative briefs.