Art Print Issues by Barney Davey

Easy Way to Put Your Website on Mobile Devices with .Mobi

Read Art Print Issues formatted for your mobile phone at:

www.artprintissues.mobi

If you don't have an iPhone, you surely know someone who does. The statistics for percentage growth of those using mobile devices to connect to the Internet are growing rapidly. Here is part of a recent comScore press release:

comScore: Mobile Internet Becoming A Daily Activity For Many

Number of people accessing news and information on their mobile device more than doubles in a year

Reston, VA. March 16, 2009 –comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today reported that the number of people using their mobile device to access news and information on the Internet more than doubled from January 2008 to January 2009. Among the audience of 63.2 million people who accessed news and information on their mobile devices in January 2009, 22.4 million (35 percent) did so daily; more than double the size of the audience last year.

Now, if you have a blog or Website and can afford $4.99 a year, you can get your website formatted for mobile phones, or Mobilized, using GoDaddy.com's free Mobilizer software.(For full disclosure, I work there for GoDaddy. However, there is no monetary gain for my mention here. And, all ideas and opinions expressed here are mine and do not represent the company in anyway.) Follow this Mobilizer link to test the software. It will let you see how your site will look using it. It's a free look and if you want to buy the .mobi domain, you can get it on sale for $4.99 a year. That's $10 off the list price of $14.99.

Notice the new formatting for Art Print Issues?

I have moved the left column to the right side of the page. That allows the blog posts to download first. This better accommodates mobile device users. Also, it helps those with slower Internet connections be able to start reading the blog post without having to wait for the left column content to load. I already had been contemplating doing this for the latter reason, the addition of .mobi to my communication arsenal sealed the deal for me.

Five Opposing Thoughts on an Art Career

The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless yet be determined to make them otherwise.
~ F. Scott Fitzgerald

With apologies to F. Scott Fitzgerald, I offer this set of five opposing ideas for your perusal and contemplation:

1. It's Never Too Late - don't let your age or any other potential drawback mess with your mind. Get started today.
2. It's Never Too Soon - if you are lucky enough to see your future and desire it; don't let anything get in your way of getting there.

1. You're Not As Good As You Think - no matter how smug you feel, or how much praise you reap, you are not near your potential. Coasting is the best way to get passed and become unintentionally marginalized.
2. You're Not As Bad As You Think - on the days when it seems like you chose the wrong profession, take a break, take a walk, drive, hike or mini-vacation, even if just in the backyard. Relaxation helps lower the anxiety that creates negative feelings.

1. There Will Always Be Somebody Better Than You - the nature of people is to create competition and a pecking order around it. Keep in mind no matter how good you get there are others already poised to surpass your deeds. Learn to cheer them on.
2. It Will Surprise You Sometimes How Much Better You Are Than Some Established Artists - there is an observable correlation between luck and charisma having as much a profound effect on some successful artists' careers as pure talent. Sure, most aren't going to be Chuck Close, Picasso, Michaelangelo or the best selling artist in your local art guild. But, there will be times when you extend your reach and create something supremely compelling and profound. Learn to be rightly proud of those works. Learn to capitalize upon them too!

1. There Will Be Art You Are Sure Will Sell Well That Doesn't - while you might have a feel for what your collectors want, there will be some pieces you would bet the ranch on that just don't live up to your expectations.
2. There Will Be Art You Are Ambivalent About That Draws Great Interest - Trace Adkins, the country music star, had an emotional tribute to his daughter, You're Gonna Miss This. He didn't even put it on an album made at the same time. He thought it was too personal. Instead it became a huge crossover hit.

1. You Will Make Money In Places You Didn't Think Possible - the first wave of alternative marketing and distribution has come about courtesy of the Internet. What happens next is sure to make those changes seem minimal.
2. You Will Lose Money Trying To Make Traditional Marketing Pay - sometimes it's really hard to let go of the things we have held dear and believed in for years. Your traditional marketing plans already have undoubtedly been altered by circumstances. While the old ways are not yet moribund, they for sure aren't the basket to carry all your marketing eggs.

How to Promote Artwork

I met Contemporary Folk and Urban Pop artist Anne Leuck Feldhaus on Facebook and am glad I did. Shortly after that encounter, I saw a mention from her about her first billboard.

Immediately, there were two things about the notice that impressed me. To begin, the implied confidence when one reads, "My First Billboard" is great! It says the artist is already thinking there are more in the future.

Confidence is contagious folks, let yours out of the bag. And, if you have to, fake it until you make it. Outsiders can't see you shaking on the inside. You will always be your own best promoter. No one can ever explain what is going on with your art or your career they way you can. Just don't let yourself get in the way.

The second thing I like about Anne's billboard is that it is striking and unusual. I realize if you are a landscape or portrait artist, you may have less opportunity for landing a billboard like Anne, but that should not stop you from seeking unique ways to get your art into the public eye. If you are a sports artist, can you find posters, programs or promotional literature in your area to vie for? If you are a pet artist, how about finding the local Humane Society, a large vet practice or an animal shelter group to work with?

There are synergies and opportunities just waiting for you to find them and to do something about them once you do. Get the idea for the connection first, think it through how your art can make a difference to the group you want to pitch. Don't think that because you don't know anyone that you are stuck. Last August, I published a post, Six Degrees of You. It offers lots of suggestions on how you can use your current relationships to reach out far beyond what you might consider possible.

Start to train yourself to think about ways to get noticed that are out of the mainstream. There is nothing wrong with pursuing galleries, building a following on Facebook or Twitter, or having an online presence on any of the myriad art sites aimed at collectors and consumers. Working at those activities is advisable, especially when one sees what have been traditionally reliable venues slipping closer to obsolescence than ever.

The reports from attendees and exhibitors at tradeshows this year have not been optimistic. One can count see the size of the venues dropping and feel the attendance has grown smaller. The trade magazines in their current slim sizes bear witness to their own lessened importance and impact in the market place. While they are not moribund, they are far from the peaks when a consistent program with them would reliably drive traffic.

While in the past it has been important to promote your art in creative ways. Now, it is critical. The attention span of consumers is fractured more than ever. The readership of newspapers and magazines is dwindling. Network audiences are growing smaller while online video viewing is increasing along with time spent on social media sites. Many expect to get breaking news on Twitter, not CNN and that trend is growing.

Thinking about and acting upon how to get your most striking compelling image or images placed or used in unusual ways ought to be moved to the top of your art business promotion criteria. It is okay to feel nostalgic for what was, but don't let it stop you from moving forward on what is. People are always going to want to own art. That is no different from the past. What is different is how they will first encounter art and artists. Seek ways to uniquely promote your art, you will be glad you did. 

Making Fine Art Prints - Perspective from a Photographer

Whether you are making digital fine art prints from photographs shot with the intention of recreating them as prints, photographs or scans of original 2D flat art, or creating something wholly digital through the array of tools for such purposes, you still need a way to get the product of your creativity on some substrate, usually paper or canvas.

There are different paths depending on where you start in the creative process. For photographers, it's going to be different from painters. This post is to alert you to a series of blog posts on fine art printing from Brian Auer, a San Diego based photographer. This description is taken from his website:

Brian Auer is a photography enthusiast from San Diego, California. He's also the guy behind the Epic Edits Weblog. As a hobbyist photographer since 2003, his passion has been to constantly improve his photography skill set, to share his own knowledge with others, and to become an integral part of the photographic community.

Brian is proof positive that one turned on person can make a difference. His Feedburner subscriber shows nearly 6,500 other enthusiasts share his passion for photography. To get that many subscribers, it takes more than passion. One has to impart knowledge, wisdom and insight in such a way that others want to tap into it. He serves a great role model for anyone looking to build a following, a Tribe, as Seth Godin accurately calls them in his bestselling book, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us.

To give his readers easily digestible amounts of information, Brian has broken his article on Making Fine Art Prints into four parts. I am sure you will find it worth the time to review his thoughts on this subject. While you are on his site, check out the rest of what he offers his readers. There is a reason he has a large following.

While what he offers in the way of advice and insight is solid, it won't apply across the board to every artist. Nevertheless, there is useful information in his series of posts on making fine art prints. Perhaps just as importantly, there is much to be gained from studying how an self-proclaimed amateur photographer can carve out a meaningful place against the Internet's constantly changing means of putting together like minded folks. Bravo to Brian!

Milton Glaser Raffle Winners Announced

Thanks to all who responded to the offer to my blog post offering to register for the drawing to win a free poster signed by Milton Glaser promoting the new documentary about him: To Inform & Delight

I took all the names and put them in a spread sheet then used a random number generator to come up with three winners. Congratulations to David Morrell, Charlie Osborn and Maya Vivian. Maya won the Drawing is Thinking book, the posters go to the other names. Winners can look for their prize coming via USPS in the next two weeks.

Thanks again and regardless be on the lookout for this documentary coming to an art house near you. I heard from an AIGA member in Tucson. That chapter has arranged its own showing of the film. What a great way to get the folks out and maybe raise some money at the same time.

Artist Drew Friedman Launches Fine Art Print Publishing Company

Dean Martin - by Drew Friedman 

Renowned illustrator Drew Friedman, in collaboration with Irwin Chusid and Barbara Economon, has launched a new Web site at: DrewFriedman.net. The site is the exclusive source of fine art prints featuring new works by the iconic illustrator.

The art, much like the artist's career, is exceptional and eclectic. In our age of celebrity worship, e.g., 3 million Twitter followers for Ashton Kutcher, (no offense AK, I get you are riding the wave, but really, who cares and who are those people?), it's refreshing to find an artist who chooses mostly offbeat, anti-celebrity subjects to immortalize in his unique style.

Many who have followed this blog for the past three years know I am not a fan of limited editions for digitally printed art. That is, with the exception of very low numbers. It's arbitrary, but I have put the number at 100. Otherwise, it's just a marketing gimmick in my humble opinion.

Friedman and his experienced art professional partners have launched the site and the publishing business on a model of using the extremely low number of 30 in their editions. Now, if you are an artist who creates slowly, this can be a financial problem. On the other hand, if you can turn out the work quickly enough, a low-numbered edition model puts you in a league of your own. Friedman's achievements and oeuvre already put him in such a league. Following up with this daring and unique idea of very small edition sizes is sure to create devoted collectors for his work.

The flip side of low numbers is unlimited numbers. I'm not necessarily suggesting the idea for Drew Friedman and company, although I think it could work for them with the right image. As always, I feel the way to make unlimited editions have value is to number them sequentially. If the artist sells thousands of an image, everyone in the distribution channel, including buyers, gets to enjoy the art.

With nothing but brave conjecture to back up the theory, I go out on limb to say the low numbers of a sequentially numbered edition would have more value than higher numbers. In other words, they would be collectible despite freshly minted reproductions being available. Perhaps some other numbers would be valuable as well. If a date was painted in the picture, or perhaps the number correlating with subject's birth, death or debut date would have more value. Collectors tend to make up their own rules about what aspects make an item dear to them.

Best wishes to Drew, Irwin and Barbara for tremendous success in their new art publishing venture!