handle pictures refer to the patterns and patterns on Lolita clothing fabrics. As an important part of the two-dimensional clothing culture, Lolita clothing has formed a full-process industrial chain from design, production to sales and communication. The resulting subdivided profession "hand pattern designer" has also become the employment choice of many young illustrators.
Jiupai Finance has learned that most of the artists currently doing handle design are Lolita clothing enthusiasts, mostly young girls born in the 90s and 00s. They mainly obtain business orders through social platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo. Since three years ago, the licensing method of Shantu has gradually changed from high-priced to buy out , to multi-field licensing. The licensing areas include ready-made clothing, children's clothing, cultural and creative products, airplane boxes, etc.
Starting in 2018, Xiaojiu has been doing handle design full-time at home. She believes that as a source of income, handle design is a tiring and not very cost-effective business. It takes three to four months to draw a picture, and the income after licensing in multiple fields is about 10,000 to 15,000.
Tong Qianqian, another handle design designer, believes that the entry barrier for handle design is very low, “because no matter what you draw, it can be said to be a print.” She started taking orders in March this year, and her current business orders have been scheduled until March next year, with the highest order price reaching thousands of yuan.
Handle Picture Works/Moony
The following are the narratives of three handle picture designers:
[1] Moony: The circle is very inclusive.
Generally, women's clothing has more diverse and simpler pattern requirements, but the patterns used in Lolita and Hanfu are more illustration-oriented, and the requirements for painting are higher. If the painting foundation is not very solid, it is difficult to draw handle pictures.
I have been involved in Lolita clothing for six or seven years, but I started making handle designs this year. My main business is also the design of fabric patterns for the "three pits" (referring to Hanfu, Lolita, and JK uniforms). In the final analysis, it is because of love.
Lolita is a clothing with strong fusion and inclusiveness. All elements can be put into it. In recent years, the Chinese trend has become more popular among young people. Everyone will innovate in the design of handles and make some Chinese-style skirts, which are also very beautiful.
Generally speaking, the circle of handle design is quite inclusive, and the market is in great need of freelance illustrators who can draw well. The Internet is very convenient, and you can receive business orders on various platforms. As long as everyone likes your paintings, you don’t have to worry about losing income.
is now looking for me to design some old shops that have been open for several years, and I prefer to sell my manuscripts to them because they are more stable. But it still mainly depends on the ability of the boss.
has some design drafts. The artist painted the clothes very beautifully. Customers are also looking forward to seeing the design drawings. They hope that the merchants can make them look better. The result is a "dimensional wall" feeling, which looks very strange. The design drawings are not restored. There are also some colors that are wrong, chromatic aberration, or the accessories and fabrics are relatively cheap - every aspect of making clothes is easy to "overturn", especially skirts like Lolita, which have many parts and are very troublesome to splice.
handle picture works/Moony
[2] Xiaojiu: As a source of income, it is a tiring and not very cost-effective business.
Around 2018, I went home to do Lolita handle design full-time, as well as style design. I used to work in game art and other types of work.
handle pictures are different from ordinary illustrations. Its difficulty is reflected in the large format. It is used on the hem of the skirt. Generally, the hem of a skirt is more than one meter long, and sometimes it is even three meters long. You have to draw it on. When making such a large image, you have to ensure that every part of the image is flawless. The screens of our mobile phones and computers are actually very small. On these screens, this picture seems to be fine, but if it is printed on a skirt, you may find that the picture is very rough.
Therefore, when making a formal business order, the accuracy of the drawings is very high. Most of the time will be spent on drawing such large-format details, and the design cycle will be very long. One draft often takes two to three months.Now there is a relatively new licensing model in the Lolita circle, that is, one handle picture can be licensed in multiple different fields. If all fields are licensed, one handle picture may earn about 10,000 to 15,000 yuan.
But overall, as a source of income, handle design is a tiring and not very cost-effective business, so I will increase the price to control the number of handle orders. For formal handle business, I may only have three or four orders a year. I usually have many small and quick orders.
I have observed that there are actually many freelance artists doing handle design, probably more people born in 1995, and maybe even faster after 2000. But I am older, I am born in the 90s. Nowadays, there seems to be a higher acceptance of freelancing, and more and smaller people will enter this industry.
Hand drawing works/screenshots on social platforms
Like the multi-field licensing just mentioned, it only became popular in 19 or 20 years. After that, the income of handle drawing artists and cultural and creative painters improved. At that time, several painters jointly proposed this matter. That is to say, because there is no buyout or anything in the contract, the copyright of my drawings is in my own hands, and I can definitely seek cooperation from multiple companies.
In fact, many merchants are also very small shops. If a picture costs tens of thousands for them to buy, they cannot afford it, so merchants have also accepted this method of multiple stores purchasing a picture at the same time. In this case, the income of the painter will be more fair, and the financial burden on the store will be relatively small.
There are many businesses entering the Lolita clothing industry, but they are actually quite scattered. Each store is very small, and they can enter this industry with hundreds of thousands of dollars. Generally speaking, if you start a business with hundreds of thousands, it is actually very difficult to start a business. Therefore, for many new stores, they do not have the technology or a lot of money, and their development capabilities are not very good.
And unlike some popular fields, investors are willing to invest because they think this circle is too niche. Therefore, Lolita has never had any capital injection. It relies entirely on everyone’s love to generate electricity. I know that some stores do not make money doing this, or they have other income to support this.
And if you really make it a large-scale, commercial industry, it will lose the meaning of this circle. Because people in the Lolita circle like to pursue different and changing styles, very niche things. If you turn it into something specially produced by an assembly line, it doesn’t seem to have the same taste? It's still half craftsmanlike.
[3] Copper coins: In order to prevent theft, I have registered the copyright of my work .
Handle picture design is now my main business. Because I have to take care of my children, I usually draw pictures when the children are sleeping.
In 2019, I drew skirts as a side job for a while. The opportunity was because I also wore Lolita. For me, the skirt design is to have beautiful prints on the skirt. Later, I stopped painting because of my busy schedule and some family reasons. It didn't start again until March this year.
I remember that the first business order I received was a completed draft. At that time, I just wanted to draw pictures myself, and when I put them on the platform, merchants came to accept them. However, the handle picture did not succeed in selling ready-made clothes, because the merchant should have closed the store later. This is also normal. The merchants have a lot of drawings and manuscripts in their hands, and they have to queue up to make them. It takes a long time to select a Lolita skirt from material selection to proofing to distribution and production.
handle picture work/copper coin
handle picture is actually quite complicated, with many small elements and needs typesetting. As for myself, I used to do graphic design, and it would take more than 10 days to finish a single drawing - but I like to dig into details, so it’s understandable that I draw slowly.
But the threshold for entry into the handle design industry is relatively low, because no matter what you draw, it can be said to be a print. It just needs someone to like it and be willing to buy it, and it can’t be painted too poorly. If it’s not cute enough or refined enough, it won’t sell.
"99lo" was popular in the past two years, which means you can buy Lolita skirts at low prices.But the low price will lead to poor quality and design of the skirt, and the handle pattern is childish and rough. And doesn’t Lolita represent exquisite skirts? It makes sense that the price is higher than ordinary clothing. The exclusive printed fabrics, exquisite lace and complex craftsmanship all show the high cost.
There are some pirates who only want pictures and don't want to pay for them, so they steal pictures. Many painters, including myself, have had their paintings stolen. Even if the artist adds a watermark when publishing on the platform, or deliberately does not post high-definition pictures, pirates can still trace the picture, that is, re-tracing according to the picture. Although it is not exquisite, the picture will be clear.
In order to protect my works, I have registered the copyright of handle pictures since this year. So far, I have registered more than a dozen, and some are still under review. It’s quite convenient now. Generally, you can just pay and register on the province’s copyright registration website.
Jiupai Finance Intern Reporter Huang Yiting
[Source: Jiupai Finance]
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