Archive for June, 2009
With any art medium you are using your goals are to express yourself, make an impact, trigger an emotion, or perhaps tell a story.
There are many ways to do this but the main solution still has to come from you. It is important to try different techniques to find those that you enjoy, work well for you and help you to reach your artistic goals with each piece. There are many to choose from and not all of them will be for you. But experiment and you will find those that suit you and your artistic style.
Try these:
Dry Brush
This is a painting technique that uses more pigment than water
Impasto
A painting techniques where the paint is laid on thickly to create a texture that will stand out as a relief
Lifting out
A technique that removes color from a canvas or sheet of paper to create highlights. This can be done with a sponge or your brush.
Pointillism
A painting or drawing technique that uses dots that are unmixed and juxtaposed next to each other. The dots will work together to create different tones when you look at the piece. Also referred to as stipple.
Scumbling
A technique where a thin or broken layer is laid over the top to show patches of color underneath. Very often used with dry brush and with pastels.
Scraffito
To scratch the top layer to reveal the color beneath. This can be done with the with the opposite end of a brush or a knife.
Spattering
A technique used to create small dots of paint randomly. This can be done by filling your brush with paint or using a toothbrush and flicking paint towards the paper.
Vignettes
This is a painting technique where the edge fades into the white of the paper using the paper to create a border around painting.
Wet on Wet
This is done by painting fresh paint onto wet paints. Most often used i watercolor this technique can create some interesting effects and is great for skies and fabrics.
Burnishing
This can be used in drawing by applying heavy layers of your medium until the tooth of the paper is completely filled in. Burnishing with colored pencil will leave a painterly effect.
Crosshatching
This is a drawing technique that uses fine parallel lines drawn closely together to give the effect of shade or tone.
Juxtaposition
Placing different elements next to each other to show their different qualities and contrasts.
Resist
Using any material that will repel paint to leave the white surface or color beneath. Can be done with wax, crayon, rubber cement or masking tape.
Glaze wash
A transparent wash of color laid over the dried paint to adjust the tone
One of the main reasons that a dentist, lawyer, bank or insurance agent wants to hang art on their walls is because it helps their client to feel more comfortable by giving them a friendly environment to do business in. It also helps the relationship between them and the client become more personal by giving them a warmer image. Very often they would rather have the art from a local artist because it shows that they are active in the community and that they support the arts in that area.
These types of business that are already established will most likely already have art on their walls. But how often do you drive by a bank or office building that is in the construction phase?
Construction doesn’t take long. The building will most likely be up and ready for business within the year. These businesses already know that they will need art on their walls- that phase just hasn’t come up yet. If you approach these businesses before they are fully constructed you have a good chance of placing yourself and your work at the top of the list.
Before said business is left to their own devices and decides to go with Wal-Mart home decor for their walls, remind them that it will help strengthen their client relationships by having the work of a local artist on their walls.
These business and the president or CEO are public info and contact information is easy to find. Make them a good presentation. They will probably need more than one piece so this could result in the sales of prints, originals and commissions- possibly a combination of all three.
Approaching them early saves them the hassle of having to look for work later. Save them time and take the opportunity to make sales by being the first to approach.
They are going to have work on their walls- it might as well be yours.
Landscapes of the town that the business will operate in are always winners. And don’t forget to suggest a finished piece of the business itself.
Consider the new wings being added to hospitals and libraries as well.
There are a number of artist competitions year round. Many sites will charge you for an on going list of these competitions. There is no need to pay for these lists. If you subscribe to the following RSS Feeds you will receive more than enough competition information.
http://www.trumba.com/calendars/asingularcreation.xml
http://artcompetitionslist.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss
I just recently updated the TAG website (Topeka Art Guild – of which I am a member) with information on the annual “Kansans Paint Kansas” Competition and Juried Exhibition.
The annual event is open to all artists residing in Kansas. There will be cash awards and paintings will be on exhibit and for sale for 2 months commencing October4, 2009.
There are three categories; Professional, Non-Professional, and Student.
This competition is open to all 2-D media including oils, acrylics, watercolor, photography, and dyed or woven fabrics. Subject matter must be of a Kansas landscape, activity, or scene solely of Kansas locale or heritage. Entries submitted not to exceed 48 inches in any direction nor less than 5×7.
Entry deadline: Sunday, September 27, 2009
Exhibition opens: October 4, 2009
You can download complete details and an entry form from the TAG website:
I have been building a Web application for artists. My idea is to create a social community that will share Flickr photos of an artistic collaboration. All artists will be search-able on a Google map. We will stumble from image to image as we follow the updates of other artists and create bookmarks that we vote up or down of the images we feel are worth sharing. We will discuss the progress on a blog, share the updates through an RSS feed, and display the results in the form of videos that we upload and share with other artists that are looking for events to attend in their own town.
I have narrowed the name down to one of these possibilities: MyRssFlogger, DiggerArtFull, ArtQuesteo, or MappleUponArto.
Just kidding!
Welcome to my Mashup nightmare.
There have been some ridiculous concepts in the past several years. But if you have the stamina to wade through the crap, there are some great sites also.
There are well over 100 video sharing sites, three times as many book marking sites, and social communities in numbers to high to count. Although many of the social community sites have large groups of artist coming together; the sites that are specifically art focused are much lower in number. But there are some great art related sites that have great staying power:
MillionMasterpiece
This sites boasts to be the largest artistic collaboration in the world,. No doubt it is. The idea is to allow each artist a square that they create themselves and piece it together to form one work of art. They will not finish until they have reached 1 million. They have made a large dent.
http://www.millionmasterpiece.com
Red Bubble
Another great site for artists that is community bases. You can create a profile and share your images and discuss them with other artists. They also have an option to sell work.
http://www.redbubble.com
MyArtSpace
This is a really great site that allows you to create a profile and share your images and videos with other artists. They give interviews and sponsor competitions.
http://www.myartspace.com
Deviant Art
Can’t leave out the largest artist community in the worlds. Sign up is free and you will be provided with your own URL to display works, create a profile, and share thoughts. You can also sell your prints.
http://deviantart.com
ZeWall
This is a really fun site. it allows you to paint online and place your art in as virtual cut.
http://www.zewall.com
That is a great start. I’ll add to this list a little at a time- there are many others!
I had intended to take the time to create a Photo Shop tutorial using a simple layer trick I use often. I will later. But for now I thought it would be just as beneficial to share my favorite Tutorials from the web. New tutorials are always a good idea to help learn Photo Shop from some one else’s perspective as well as through Adobe. But it will be challenging to come up with a unique tutorial or new approach. This subject has been covered very well. Don’t worry I will come up with something!
I am particularly impressed with the following list. They are very easy to follow. Each tutorial on these sites include step by step instructions and visual aids as every great tutorial should.
These tutorials include logo design, drawing, web graphics, photo retouching, layer effects, photo manipulation and even surealist effects for photos.
If you are looking to learn Photo Shop techniques or just need to brush up, check out the following sites:
Needles to say the tentative release date for the Art Leads Application was missed.
It is a very cumbersome task to update the database. But I really want to makes sure that the database is completely up to date as much as possible. The database has also gotten larger! Here is an approximation of the database:
- 30,000 Advertising Agencies
- 800 Art Appraisers
- 300 College Art Departments
- 150 Art Fairs and Festivals
- 300 Creative Attorneys
- 2,500 Art Schools and Classes
- 24,000 Artist, Graphic Design and Illustration Studios
- 300 Artist Societies
- 6000 Artist Associations
- 7,000 Auction Houses
- 140 Art Consultants
- 150 Copy Righters
- 80 Arts Editors
- 12,000 Framing Shops
- 24,000 Art Galleries
- 300 Artist Guilds
- 15,000 Interior Designers (Art Buyers for Spaces)
- 200 Creative , Arts Magazines
- 500 Arts Managers
- 300 Art Museums
- 200 Native American Art Galleries and Museums
- 9,000 US News Papers
- 14,000 Photography Studios
- 60 PR Representatives
- 18,000 Printers
- 9,000 Book Publishers
- 10,000 US Radio Stations
- 1,000 Art Restorers
- 16,000 Art Supply Retailers
- 1,500 US Television Stations
- 600 Corporate Art Buyers
Before the application is finished we will be adding:
- Scholarship Providers
- Grant Providers
- Artist Competitions
- Art Opportunities/ Job Boards
- A way to include your own contacts
- Where to Find Local Art Buyers and Add Them
The coding of the program is moving forward in a productive manner. The application will allow you to view each record and visit the website or email the individual contact (where applicable) in each record. You will also be able to compile a grouping of contacts ( by state, city, or profession) that will most suit your needs. (event announcements, press releases, approaching an art gallery, sending catalogs or post cards etc.) This will allow you to print mailing labels from within the program or export in a mailing list format as needed. You will be able to do this as often as you need as the software will hold no limitations.
My hope is that this software will help you find representatives, collaborators, help you get published, find a printer for Giclees or other promotional materials, sell more art, and so on and so forth.
Please stay tuned…
No related posts.
The internet is a big place and it takes time to build up traffic. The Social Networking and 2.0 sites are generally pretty good for big bursts of visitors. And it is very easy to find artist discussion lists and forums to advertise your signature file. But those outlets may not be enough to capture the targeted traffic you need to make sales.
You need art buying traffic. It is not easy to find a large group of art buyers in one spot- although there are a few forums for this. it can be difficult to harness art buyers from the internet since art buyers come from all walks of life and professions. There art buyers in almost every internet niche which makes it hard to target these individuals.
Where then does the art buying traffic come from?
There are numerous ways to grow traffic to your site. There are search engines, forums, commenting, etcetera, so on and so forth. The competition is stiff as you have to make yourself stand out from other artists. What happens when these methods fail you?
The is but one avenue for exposure that will continue to work for you even when other methods don’t.
Your exposure and your money are in your list.
Do you have a mailing list of those who have purchased art from you before? If you don’t- you should. This alone can increase sales and encourage return art buying traffic. Make sure you keep your list clean by consistently adding new names and removing names that are no longer deliverable. One of the worst things you can do to your professional career is fail to keep up your list.
And then…
When you are ready- jump directly into the belly of the beast! It doesn’t matter if your list is large or small. You can increase exposure by adding these professional to your contact list:
- Local and surrounding Interior Designers
- Local and surrounding Members of The Chamber of Commerce
- Local Government Officials
Many members of each of these groups spend time in Galleries. Interior designers sometimes need to purchase art for client spaces and the Government officials and Chambers members are educated and respected individuals who understand and appreciate the value of art expecially from a local artist. I am not telling you to load their inboxes with tons of marketing stuff. But it is perfectly acceptable and professional to send them a snail mail catalog. postcard, or presentation CD.
These individuals buy art. How will they buy your art unless you introduce yourself and your work to them?
The contact information for these groups is public information and is easily found by searching through Super Pages
or for contact information for members of your local Chamber of Commerce Look Here: 2Chambers
and for Interior Designers Look here: Interior Designer Dierectory
As more prominent business owners begin to collect your work you will gain exposure from the art buying public and art world professional whose art oppinions matter. This is a really good start to increasing your exposure and making more art sales.
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