Wednesday, May 14, 2014

East Coast Black Age of Comics Countdown!!




Man Does time fly! Will see you there!!!

The Art and Business Battle

And when I say battle I do mean battle!!!

I have been spending a lot of time lately trying to balance being creative and being a business person, or should I say learning to be a business person.

These 2 things, at a first glance, just don’t seem to go together well, being a artist and being a business person. I think its cause there has been a huge disconnect create in our society that says if you are an artist you have to be a starving artist and if you make money doing art then you aren’t really a artist cause your work is commercial.

But, when I look back on even some of the great fine artists of the day like Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollack, Leonardo De Vinci, or Michelangelo, I recognize they must have been doing something pretty big to get there work seen by the public. After all the 16 chapel was a co
mmissioned by the Pope. Doesn’t that make Michealangelo a artist for hire (a commercial artist) so to speak.

It also makes him a business man.

In some of my research I have been finding that being a good artist is only 20 – 30% of what it takes to be a successful artist. The other half is Hype! 

Marketing and getting your work in front of the eyes of the many individuals out in the world that might actually like what you do. It takes a great deal of time and effort because you aren’t just selling your art you are selling yourself.

I always felt like even when I do a caricature I am giving a little piece of myself away to the world. Some people appreciate it and some people don't, but I always want to give whoever I draw for my best. Even when it seems to take me forever to complete.

In the end creating content is important, but sharing the content is even more important, and making a living from your content is the most important. To me being a starving artist is not noble, it's just an excuse to not work hard for yourself. People that don't see the value in what we do or that want us to sell ourselves cheap lack respect and understanding of how art truly effect our society. 

So you have to step up to the plate, set the value for your work you feel you deserve and push you work out into the market place. In other words learn how to control your business life and create opportunities that will allow you to be a thriving artist.

Its ok to be a hobbyist, as well, but if you are trying to make a living as an artist you have to learn a lot more than just how to draw pretty pictures. It has been a long road and a difficult lesson to learn but a valuable one non the less.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Who's top are you reaching for?

I came across this video today and I was loving it. Made me think of that question.  Who's top are you reaching for? Is it yours? Are you making someone else reach there top? vWhat do you expect to see when you get up there?

"If you create the game then you create the rules"





Saturday, April 12, 2014

A few more resources

I have really been thinking hard on things in my career and life and I realized that a lot of my interested and passions have changed or evolved. Sometimes I wish instead of going to  college I worked right out of highschool and saved more and researched more. Of course not all the same tools and resources were available 15  years ago. But then again, why cry over spilled milk.

I always felt like I had an idea of what I wanted in life, but now that i am older I feel like I really know. Like all those years I was wandering in the desert trying to figure it out.

I have friends that are my age that have been to college and gotten the jobs and so on so forth american dream stuff and yet they are still trying to figure out what they want out of this crazy existance.

At the end of the day its most important to live and be yourself. Figure out what is right for yourself and ignore the things  people try to tell you is right for you because in the end no one really knows anything at all. Most importantly, no one can tell you who you should be, especially when they cant even figure out there own issues.

Anyway, I am going to post this here as a resource. its mostly for me but I figure if it can benifit anyone else they are welcome to it.

http://www.laurbits.com/category/self-publishing

http://www.laurbits.com/category/press

http://www.laurbits.com/category/processes

http://www.laurbits.com/category/resources-2

http://www.laurbits.com/category/tipshttp://www.laurbits.com/




Arie's Sketch Dump