Senior Sarah Lasater knew she wanted to do something creative in college outside of her work in the art and design school. Studying landscape architecture gave her the tools and creativity to start her own business selling her graphic designs.
“All of the design programs utilize graphic design because we all have to present our ideas somehow,” Lasater said. “We learn how to visually communicate an idea, we design something and we have to tell people why it’s good.”
Under the name “Sarlis,” Lasater combined her graphic design knowledge with her interests in character design, anime and storytelling to create and sell T-shirts, stationery and prints online at sarlisart.com.
She first began selling her designs on sites like Society6 and Redbubble. Artists send in their designs, and these companies put the art on various products like clothing, phone cases and stickers.
Lasater said she did not like this method because there was little profit, and she wanted to be more involved. She then went to Raleigh Screen Print, who would print her designs, sell her the merchandise and then she would ship them out herself. Lasater didn’t like this either because screen-printing is very limited.
She is now using sublimation printing and selling her products online under her own domain name. She is also showing her designs to niche stores in Los Angeles and New York in hopes that she can sell her products in stores and across states.
“Making enough money to support what I’m doing, even making a profit at all, is really hard to do sometimes when you start out,” Lasater said. “Probably the hardest thing is getting my stuff seen by enough people.”
By posting her art on Tumblr and Instagram, Lasater already had a group of people who were interested in her designs.
“Followers are exposed to everything that I put out there,” Lasater said. “If I ever posted about my store or that I’m making new designs, people were interested to check it out.”
Through Instagram, Lasater found a model for her clothing line. She also reached out to Monika Ottehenning, an old friend and fashion and lifestyle photographer, to do a photo shoot for the website.
“My mind always goes to [Monika] when I think of anybody in photography,” Lasater said.
Lasater and Ottehenning met in high school and bonded over their artistic interests. Ottehenning moved out west for college and often visits Los Angeles for work, which was convenient because Lasater’s model lives in California. They met up in Pasadena for a photo shoot.
“I love contributing to friend’s projects, it’s definitely a lot more fulfilling,” Ottehenning said. “It’s not what I usually shoot and I wanted it to be simple but interesting.”
Ottehenning said she believes that even though Lasater’s designs are part of a popular anime culture, she stands out with her skill and creativity.
“There are lots of people trying to do what Sarah’s doing, but they’re not doing it nearly as well as she does it,” Ottehenning said.
Lasater said her experience in the Art and Design program has not only helped her with her online business, but it also gave her the leeway she needed to plan for the future.
“Being able to think about how to create a solution and convincing people that it’s awesome through graphic design, I wouldn’t have any idea how to do that if I wasn’t in the design school,” Lasater said. “If I had graduated a year ago, I don’t think I would have known where to go or what to do, so it’s kind of nice that I have little bit of extra time.”
Lasater plans on moving to Brooklyn, New York after graduation and hopes to get a job involving marketing, product design and social media. She likes the idea of living in an artistic community with people who share her interests as well as continuing to make and sell art.
“People say that they’ve been inspired by what I do, and I feel that way about so many other artists,” Lasater said. “I’m so inspired by them, and it’s crazy to think that somebody could think that about what I do.”
Ottehenning believes that Lasater should follow her artistic goals and gives her support, even from across the country.
“What you end up working in is totally up to you,” Ottehenning said. “If [Sarah] really wants to do it, she should do it. Take the plunge and be the artist that she’s trying to be.”
Sarah Lasater started out by locally screen-printing the T-shirts, but she eventually switched to sublimation printing for more options for print possibilities.
