Anyone who has followed my blog or social media pages knows that I have largely eschewed the too prevalent “buy my stuff” postings. I want an audience, not customers.
Showing what I do is easier with my visual work than my writing. With that, I do once or twice a year call attention to a new release. Not a bad average in trying not to annoy or pressure for those who take the time to follow me.
My latest release is just out. It is available for Kindle & paperback on amazon Most likely I have said this with the last three releases, truly, this is a personal favorite.
When I first started seriously doing visual work I saved every little piece of sketch ephemera. As I became more serious about it all, I began to woodshed every night no matter where in the world I was or what else was going on.
From a practical point of view, I could not possible save every sketchbook. Philosophically, I have sea changed. Now it is about serving the process and the joy in doing so. I need not save every hand or body part achieved during a session. In some ways I have always seen myself as a musician. A sax player has their horn but what they play is an intangible. The power of their art is bolstered by the freedom of knowing that they (and the audience) can maintain the memory and emotion of a solo but it also is ever dissolving. I started to approach my woodshedding pieces akin to this. The memories, pleasures and process stack up and become an integral part of me.
I work hard to make it easy. few hours every day drawing so that I can peel things off when I want to or when I slow my roll to do a painting, it’s easier.
There is always a pocket pad on me or scrap paper. I also utilize more formal sketchpads of higher quality paper. These I tend to hold on to and will put in drawings that are more than woodshedding. Often, especially when on the road, I combine text (by me) with drawings. These are my jazz, my bop, spontaneous and in reaction to what is going on around me.
Here is a quick sketch I peel off using a lead holder. Immediately upon finishing came text. 5×7 Hardbound French paper. Not for use without permission.
There’s a cottage industry devoted to helping people to pursue the dream of becoming a working artists. There is a lot of advice, some contradictory and other things just not how it works in the real world. Or, if it works that way, it is far slower going and heavily sprinkled with rejections and other unavoidable negative aspects.
The one commonality though is that one must have an online presence. Starting with a personal page which should not look as if only free sample software was utilized. There is also the need to have a social media presence. This is the thing so many get wrong.
Have updates of what you are doing in regards to new releases, shows, concerts etc. (It is strange though to keep up a steady stream all day long on twitter et al. When are you working? )
The biggest mistake with social media is the machine gun approach. The theory being if you have something you want people to buy/see just send a deluge out onto social media non-stop. Ten, fifty, one hundred thousand people see it and then if only “X” percent act….
Rarely does it work this way, to a higher percentage of people you are being an annoyance or another thing to mark future communications to go directly to spam folder.
Of course all artists want their work to be seen, myself included. But you should want an audience, not customers. Social media has definitely made it so that there is potential to reach many people with the press of the button, but done too often or two impersonally the only thing achieved is adding to the volume of cacophony of voices yelling “look at me, buy my stuff”.
I have several pages which have been around at this point for years. Anyone familiar with them sees that I rarely steer people towards commerce side of my artistic life. Exceptions being mainly when i have a new book out.
My newest collection is just out and you can find it at amazon in Paperback & kindle versions.
For artists in any medium an online presence is now necessary regardless of how one’s methodology used to be. Connected to this online life for amateurs (even if they are not aware of being so) is the myth of the numbers game with its implied short cut to money and visibility/site numbers.
The basic premise, which has a myriad of variations depending upon who is explaining it, can be parred down to a basic concept of the greater amount of times one puts out there a work they have for sale or perhaps an appearance/show, then the better chance there is of achieving satisfying sales/head count. The true believers explain it thus:
“If you have one hundred thousand views of your post and only five percent of people buy your thing, well that still works out to be…”
Aside from the fact I think machine gun firing (this is making constant mention everywhere) what one has to offer out onto the net is uncouth, it also is naively optimistic. It’s one thing to look at a posting, it’s another to purchase something. Regardless of how inexpensive it is, most people follow at least a few hundred people and it can easily add up fast.
All that aside, I personally want an audience, not customers and this is the great disconnect often now occurring between artist and public. I dont want to hustle for sales etc. If I were going to do that, then I would just have a straight job where sales would equate to large commissions and expense lunches.
It’s all right to mention something available to the public when pertinent. As an artist you hope your work gets seen. Anyone who reads my blogs knows that I rarely make mention of for sale things except for when they are brand new.
I am proud to say that my latest collection has just came out. It’s available now for kindle & Paperback on amazon.
Paper Life Painting 