As simple as it was for Kim Niles to draw caricatures, the hard part was finding the right marketplace to sell them.

Like many budding online entrepeneurs, she started out selling some of her art on Ebay before further research and experimentation opened up a whole new world to what the Internet had to offer.

Nowadays, Niles doodles full time from her Oak Harbor home, turning cartoon illustrations of dogs, cats and other creatures into dependable income.

Niles, 47, has created her own licensed brand known as KiniArt, which features her signature “Westie” breed of dog.

If you Google “KiniArt” and want to view every page of the Internet search, plan to crane your neck for a while and gain a deeper appreciation of the West Highland White Terrier.

Niles’ designs are featured all over the Web and can be purchased on a variety of artist-friendly, print-on-demand sites in the form of greeting cards, apparel, hand bags, dog beds, prints or original works.

Her licensed art is even used on a line of checks.

“I would still have a 9-to-5 job if it wasn’t for the Internet and the opportunities it’s provided,” said Niles, a former pharmacy clerk from Yakima.

The evolution didn’t happen overnight or without acquiring a certain business savvy.

Niles has been a full time artist for about 10 years, which started soon after she began drawing caricatures of Westies and was hired to illustrate a children’s book titled “Westie the Dog.”

She’s since self-published her own book, “Muggle’s New Home,” and is working on a third.

Niles has learned to not rely on one source to sell her artwork. Her brand appears on websites such as Etsy.com, Zazzle.com, Cafepress.com and Spoonflower.com, among others.

Her own website, KiniArt.com, offers links to all of these sites.

“A huge chunk of my regular income comes in the form of print-on-demand product sales,” Niles said. “They (the websites) sell the products. They manufacture. They ship. They handle everything. They just send me a check every month.”

(Left: Keeping up with the times, Niles has produced a drawing of 12 dogs to symbolize the Seahawks’ 12th Man. Prints may be ordered at Garry Oak Gallery in downtown Oak Harbor.)

Niles has grown wise not to sit still too long. She keeps busy drawing and pitching new products and using social media to build on her following.

She also makes appearances at the Garry Oak Gallery, an Oak Harbor cooperative.

Niles uses all the tools she can think of as a marketer aside from the colored pencils and India ink she uses on her drawings, which are often created initially about the size of a baseball card before being enlarged.

“Kim’s wonderful,” said Margaret Livermore, an Oak Harbor painter and president of the Garry Oak cooperative gallery. “She brings a different product that we don’t have. It’s cartoonish, but it’s classy. She is really good at it. She’s an excellent marketer. She promotes herself all over the place. She’s a hard worker. She’s just a good asset to have in our gallery.”

With the bustling holiday season over, Niles is looking to add new products and new fabric designs. She also has started to commission custom portraits of pets that can be placed on products and recently got such an order from Hong Kong.

Niles has learned that she must adapt to a constantly evolving Internet marketplace and not depend on just one company to sell products.

She tried that in the beginning and watched income  that came in as high at $3,000 some months plummet to about $300 based on changes from the company that were beyond her control and she couldn’t see coming.

“I had to learn the hard way to diversify,” Niles said. “That was very painful. I decided not to just depend on one company again for my sole income, so now I have several.”

When a product using one of Niles’ designs is purchased, she receives an email from each print-on-demand website. She makes a commission on each sale and gets paid once a month.

Her artwork hasn’t brought her riches, but it is has been her sole income since 2005, and it’s been dependable. She and her husband have purchased a home in Oak Harbor and settled into Whidbey life.

“We knew we wanted to be on Whidbey as soon as we got here,” she said.