The Art of Self Promotion for Artists

Another Great Article from Barney Davey's blog. Here's an excerpt:

Here then are some things that all fall under the area of art marketing that you can begin to do to self-promote your art and your career:

Comment on designer's or galleries blogs, or other important folks who can influence your careeer. Making nice with other artists and commenting on their blog and Facebook is great for your ego, but it is not nearly as important as making nice with people who can buy your work or help your career. Find influential people and comment on their blogs or write them personal notes congratulating them or offering meaningful tips, insights or ideas. Lather, rinse and repeat.

Do something outrageous that you would never do. A great brainstorming technique is to take a large piece of paper and write as many ideas as you and your family and friends can think of to do. I guarantee you will come up with some good ideas to promote yourself.

Start an art event for charity. It does not have to be elaborate. It can be in your living room, or at a local coffee shop. All you need is an idea, a few fliers and a little gumption.
Print your art large on some unusual substrate such as metal or wood, clothing. Make it twice as large or twice as small as you have ever made. Then challenge yourself to find a way to promote what you have done.

Seek help in high places. I wrote a post titled Six Degrees of You. Think about someone who, if they took an interest, could seriously help your art career. A museum curator, a top interior designer, a magazine editor, the head of your state cultural organization. If you can’t think of someone like this, especially after getting clues offered, then question yourself about how much being successful really means to you.

Collaborate with another artist. Lori and I collaborated on this blog post series. Yes, we know many of the same folks, but there were many others who came to know more about us by doing the series. There is no reason you can’t do the same with other visual artists, or performing artists, poets or musicians. Learn to be inspired by someone and do likewise and look for ways to explore how to channel that inspiration to new work and new vistas for your art marketing efforts.



Read entire article...

How to Use Photoshop Brush Settings

Saw this tip on Escape from Illustration Island blog.

Also check out the tutorial here: http://www.freshdesigner.com/how-to-use-photoshop-brush-settings/

New Plaque

It's Friday again!

On Friday I like to I like to post something I recently designed. Here's plaque just released by Signals Catalog. The quote is "Faith Makes Things Possible, Not easy."

Sign up on my business facebook page to see other releases.

I encourage all artists to get a business facebook page (different than personal profile page). The business page allow anyone to get updates (not just friends you approve).

Not only can you have your own business page, but you can also keep up daily events at local businesses you support. How else would I know that Local123 Cafe is having mimosas this Sunday? Or that the Berkeley Cupcake truck is going to be in my neighborhood at 3:00?

New Design Books

Freelance Review Offers their suggestion on 10 new design books. I've picked a few to include here that sounded interesting. Comments and reviews are by Freelance Review. Read entire article...


Gregor Stawinski has compiled over 400 classic 19th- and 20th-century fonts, presenting them in the style of old type specimen books. Arranged chronologically into eight sections that cover stylistic eras like Art Deco, Bauhaus, Sixties, Disco and Punk, every example is displayed with famous applications that these fonts received, from movie posters to product packaging.




This amazing new book is packed with examples of the ingenious ways architects, designers, artists, and craftspeople have put cardboard to the test and successfully harnessed its amazing qualities of strength and sound absorption. Projects featured include the conversion of a Paris industrial space into a youthful and dynamic office; a collection of do-it-yourself cardboard furniture for kids; and, a flat packed recyclable Christmas tree that comes with an assortment of cardboard decorations.



A second edition of the successful “Sign Graphics”, this book features sections on Graphic Identity, which explores visual representations of companies and their corporate image; Interior Artworks, which examines beautifully designed signs, murals, and posters in interior spaces; and, finally Environmental Signs, which presents eye-catching signage applied to outdoor landscapes, creating a powerful visual presence. Complete with an extensive array of beautiful, colour images, “Walk This Way” is a detailed look at cutting-edge sign and wayfinding designs from top creators and sites around the world.

120 Ways for Artists to Build an Online Presence

A MUST READ by Moshe Mikanovsky. 

He continues to update this great resource!  Check it out.  Here's an excerpt:





Any artist who wants to establish some online presence has gone through some of these questions:

• How do I build my own website? Do I really need one?
• Should I have a dedicated site? a Blog? or just photos on some photo-sharing website?
• How can I sell my art online? It needs to be safe, and I need to accept credit card, and handle shipping, and what else?
• How will anyone find me? There are so many artists out there…
• I am not technical person, I am an artists, so can I really do it?
• How much all of this will cost me?

There are many answers to these questions, specific for each individual. But the bottom line in today’s world is that “if you are not there, you don’t really exist”, where there is the Internet. So, how do you do it? There are many resources out there, and it could be quite overwhelming. In this post I wanted to list many of the already existing sites that artists can use to build their online presence. In more places they are, better their chances to be found, as simple as that.

Artists Online Communities (Social Networking sites geared for artists)

• ArtistSites.org
• My Art Profile (About)
• MyArtPlot.com
• my best canvas (also have a free link exchange directory Art-2k)
• b-uncut.net (there are also galleries and a store through CafePress, but I couldn’t find any information on pricing or setup)
• Meet-the-Artist
• Art+Culture (site for all art disciplines, not just visual artists. Information in the User Guide)

...see all 120 resources...

8 Reasons to Start a Design Blog

Here's an interesting article by Underworld Magazines. Here's an excerpt:

I know it’s been about a week since I last posted, but I have a great post to make up for it. It’s for designers looking to start a design blog. I have 8 Reasons to Start a Design Blog. A design blog may not be for you, but it’s good to know what to expect when you’re thinking about starting one. These are just my reasons and there are many other ones out there. I am showing you how I did it when I first started out. Thank you for reading and I look forward to your feedback on this post.

Exposure.

Exposure to the internet world. If your blog content is good quality, you will always have plenty of readers wanting to read and come back to your blog. A lot of the times, readers pass on the post to more people. Putting in the time to make quality posts can help you out with getting future freelance work. When potential clients see you as the author of the article in a topic that shows you’re an expert on the subject, you’ll be the first person they’ll approach.

Great friendship with designers from all fields.

Building friendships with other bloggers is key. If designers like your content, they will promote it on websites like thewebblend.com, twitter.com, delicious.com, designbump.com, and a lot more. Also, it’s a great way to exchange links with them. Exchange emails and help out by promoting each other’s posts. It’s a win-win situation.


Article continued...

Amazon Freebie for Students

For Amazon fans, I just learned about this in my Dreamweaver class:

Amazon is offering free shipping for a year (Amazon Prime) for students. This is valid even if you are only taking one class. Normally this costs $80. It's a good deal for holidays because you can ship gifts to various address and there is no shipping charge.
Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/student/signup/info