Speaking Of Fame And Art | Skull-A-Day

October 2nd, 2008 Daryle Dickens

Have you dreamed of being a famous artist? While your alive? It has been done. And it can be a good way to make a living. This post is part of a series of posts discussing artists and fame. What defines fame for the artist living in 2008? Is fame a good goal? How can an artist become famous? Please join the conversation as we discuss fame for the 21st Century artist.

My last post in this series mentioned how a blog can be a tool for internet fame. One of the blog examples that I cited was Skull-A-Day, which is written by Noah Scalin. It is a blog that is just what the title suggests. Starting in June 2007 Noah began posting a skull he had made each day, he did this for one year. Now the blog posts skulls made by its readers. Simple. And it is a subject that some might find strange. But it is working for Mr. Scalin.

Skull-A-Day got a book deal. The blog to book is happening more and more these days. The book has gotten Scalin even more attention, including an article in The New Yorker. Which I am sure helped him pick up a few more fans.

His blog also won a Webby this past year. A Webby is a lot like the Academy Awards for the internet. Skull-A-Day won People’s Voice Award for Best Personal Web Site. The fact that Skull-A-Day won the award based on the People’s Voice demonstrates that Noah has built quite a fan base from his simple blog.

And oddly enough an artist who used a blog to publish a skull he made each day for a year is finding himself on the Martha Stewart Show. You read that right. No matter what you think of her Martha Stewart has a huge following and I am sure Noah is going to pick up some more fans after his show airs. Further building on his fame as an artist. (By the way the episode with Mr. Scalin airs October 10th if you want to tune in.)

The root of all this is a blog. A free blog at that. Noah uses Blogger which is completely free. And based on his web address Noah has kept using the free version even though he has gotten all this attention. So you can throw the excuse of cost out the window if that has been holding you back. If a guy using a free blog platform to post a skull a day can land himself an appearance on the Martha Stewart show I am sure there is hope for the rest of us.

Check out this video of Mr. Noah Scalin:

• Post One in this series: Do You Want To Be Famous?
• Post Two in this series: The Internet Famous Artist

Posted in Artist Life, Business of Art, Resources for Artists | No Comments »

The Internet Famous Artist

September 29th, 2008 Daryle Dickens

 
Have you dreamed of being a famous artist? While your alive? It has been done. And it can be a good way to make a living. This post is part of a series of posts discussing artists and fame. What defines fame for the artist living in 2008? Is fame a good goal? How can an artist become famous? Please join the conversation as we discuss fame for the 21st Century artist.

When talking about internet fame the first thing an artist must do is change how they think about "fame." Throw that word out and most people will jump right to globally known actors and musicians. Fame like most things has a various levels. An artist might want to think of it terms of fans. Fans being people who always want to know what your doing and are always interested in new work from you. An artist’s first fans are usually their parents or significant other. The people close to you who have an interest in you and your work. But as you create and show your work you begin to build you fan base. The more fans you have the more famous you are.

How many fans do you need to make a living as an artist? One thousand seems to be the magic number. If an artist has at least 1000 loyal fans they will be able to make a living as an artist. One thousand is not a big number, it is a very reasonable and reachable goal. But how do you make it happen? Let me introduce you to Web 2.0.

Web 2.0 is a relatively new term that is used to describe how people are using the internet to create, connect, share, and enhance their lives. The term is credited to Tim O’Reilly, a huge supporter of open source and free software. Though the term is relatively new many aspects and web sites that are considered part of Web 2.0 have been around since the early days of the internet. Web 2.0 has more do with how you think about and how you use the internet than any technology or web site.

A blog and blogging is one of the more dominate aspects of Web 2.0. A blog is a tool an artist can use to connect with people all over the world. A blog is a way for artists to earn fans. Many artists have already done this with such blog as the popular "a day" sites. The many painting a day blogs artists have created are a great example. Though there are many more such as Skull-A-Day, Photo-A-Day, and 365 Masks.

I’ve also come across artist’s blogs that contain constant updates of their work in progress either through photos or video. Through comments and emails readers discuss and help the artist work through their piece. This adds interest because everyone benefits and that interest creates fans, and those fans create demand. And demand is what creates cash flow and continued work. Web 2.0 has been very good for musicians. YouTube especially. Guitarist Trace Bundy has developed quite a following based on his YouTube videos. Any artist working in any medium can follow his example.

YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and countless other avenues of social media are all part of Web 2.0 and all available tools for an artist to use in developing a career. And we will get to those. But for now we are going to stick with blogs and blogging. The next post in this series will continue to the exploration of how an artist can using blogging to further their artistic career.

Until then feel free to leave a comment on your experience as an artist working in a Web 2.0 world. Or any questions you have in regards to it.

• Post 1 is this series: Do You Want To Be Famous?

Posted in Artist Life, Business of Art, Resources for Artists | 2 Comments »

Have You Met Etsy?

July 9th, 2008 Daryle Dickens

If you make things by hand you may want to introduce yourself to Etsy. (Rhymes with Betsy.) Etsy.com is an online store for buying and selling handmade items as well as some of the supplies needed to make them. 

I am starting to see Etsy pop up in more and more places. And more and more artists are using it as their online store. And I can understand why. Etsy is more than just an online marketplace, it is a community. A place where the things you buy have people behind them. And a buyer and seller can make a connection.

The idea of bringing more handmade items into our lives is something I can appreciate. We live in a culture of manufactured products. Cheap disposable things made in far away places by people we will never know. Through a place like Etsy we can put a face on what we buy, make a connection that will stay with the item for as long as you use it. And also request custom made products if that is what you need.

You can be that face, that person making the sale. Many artists are making their living by being an Etsy seller. It cost only 20 cents to list an item for up to 4 months. And when the item sell Etsy takes only 3.5% of the sale. Not bad. At those rates the cost of taking Etsy for a test drive is very low.

Maybe this where I should let Etsy explain itself to you via this video:

I have not set up my Etsy account yet but I plan to. How about you? Is it a place to sell your art? If you have a set up a shop or have a shop let me know how it is working out for you.

Posted in Art on the Web, Business of Art, Resources for Artists | 2 Comments »

Mysterious Flame On Goal Setting For Artists

July 7th, 2008 Daryle Dickens

Brad Blackman over at Mysterious Flame has some great advice for artists on setting goals. To get you started here is a very easy goal:

"I will click on this link right now and read the article on goal setting."

Say those words to yourself, click the link, and bam! you’ve accomplished a goal. Doesn’t it feel good?

And while your there take a look around Mysterious Flame. Mr. Blackman has a lot of good things to say.

Posted in Resources for Artists, The Process | 1 Comment »

Free 278 Page Photoshop Book

May 19th, 2008 Daryle Dickens

One of the greatest tools being used today is Photoshop. A complex and rich visual editing software that can be used for way more than photography. Photoshop has pretty much become a medium in and of itself. But like I said it is rich and complex. So we need all the help we can get in using it to make those pixels dance to our tune.

The web site www.sitepoint.com is offering a little of that help. For a limited The Photoshop Anthology is available for free download. The ebook is a tutorial on Photoshop for web designers but even if your not a web designing Photoshop user the book is worth the price for any Photoshop user.

According to Sitepoint we have 99designs to thank for the book.

So "Thank You" 99designs.

Posted in Resources for Artists | 1 Comment »