I Need Ideas

 I'm still trying to come up with new designs for my Etsy shop. 

I can think of a lot of designs for cats. My problem is finding unique Japanese-themed designs.

Mikey suggested using Japanese idioms, which is a good idea, but they can be very wordy. 

These are a few of the Japanese designs I've come up with so far.

I like this as it's very simple. Just two koi fish.

Cat eating ramen is a very popular design; this is a bit more playful than other designs I've seen.

Again, nice and simple.

One problem I'm having is that every time I search for ideas for Japanese-inspired designs, almost everything has cats on it! I want only Japanese ideas!

I'm trying to study design and drawing. I never realised how much thought goes into designing clothes. Everything from the fabric to the colours to the logos or prints has to be thought out. Even though I'm cheating by using AI, there is still a lot of thought that goes into it. How to make the image look natural on the T-shirt, not like a picture just ironed on the front. What colours to use, what fonts to use for the lettering. Then there are copyright issues. I search for what is popular on Etsy, but of course I can't just copy and paste another person's ideas. I have to give everything my personal twist. Also, copyright can be a problem when using pop culture icons. One of the first T-shirts I tried to design had a picture of Godzilla on it. I thought it was alright, but apparently the owner of the Godzilla brand is very strict about using the image.

This really is a learning curve. I haven't made any sales yet; that will be another learning curve. I think that even if I don't make a lot of money just the experience has been worth it!

If anyone has any ideas, drop me a comment. What I've found is that an idea spurs another one. From one idea that Hannah had- cats in Halloween costumes- I came up with 4 different designs!