I was quoted in an article over at CreativeBloq, “Does it pay to specialise as an artist?”
Featuring some familiar faces and some of my own art and thoughts as well! I’ve struggled for years to find my artistic voice and sort out my passions from my wide array of interests. Hopefully these words of wisdom help others figure things out for themselves as well!
My reading of Greg Spalenka’s Artist As Brand continues with section VII. Brand Promotion – The Art of Social Media.
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I found the book for a great deal on the Nook.
Or you can buy it via my Amazon referral link
and give me a little kickback!
You can also buy direct from the author!
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This section provides a detailed list of forums and communities for networking, many of which I hadn’t heard of before. There are a lot of sites dedicated specifically to networking ‘tribes’ (ie. Ryze.net and Tribe.net) that I have yet to tap! I’ll have to post later over at The Muse’s Library with some thoughts on these sites and their usefulness for artists once I’ve had a chance to properly assess them.
Spalenka also makes a strong argument for having a shop on your website instead of using a portal shop like the many POD sites (Zazzle, Fine Art America, etc.) or markets like Etsy. I’ve been back and forth on this issue for years now. Running a shop on Etsy, for instance, gives me a shop front that’s easily accessible and discoverable by a public market and is supported by the marketplace. Etsy does take a percentage, but the setup provides a nice backbone for a shop that I didn’t have to build myself.
I’ve built shops from the ground up, spending hours upon hours perfecting it, only to have something go wrong on the technical side of things. Not to mention the fact my website alone simply does not get the traffic of eBay or Etsy, no matter how much I promote it. Even still, Spalenka argues that marketplace trends are always changing while your website will always be the same central location and this is very true.
Etsy, for instance, is battling with changes at a corporate level with many artists left disgruntled by the flood of wholesalers taking over the market. Your central website, however, will never go out of style and a shop would be easy to find if it were located there.
Bearing this in mind, I aspire to create a shop front on my site using WooCommerce, which I hope will be an easy to implement plugin for this WordPress based site. I’ll probably still use Etsy during high traffic seasons and to sell quirky cute handmade things featuring my art, but it will probably not be my main shop front anymore, granted I can get WooCommerce working! Adding one more thing to my business re-organization to-do list.
This section also features some fantastic tips on publicity, such as ideas for blog events and links to press kit tutorials. It’s a bit overwhelming! I know I need to hit publicity harder, as it’s something I really haven’t relied upon. I’m just never sure where genre art like mine can find an audience and partner site to be featured on, since I don’t work with well known IP’s, nor do I have a really recognizable body of work, just yet.
Putting a pin on this section to come back later when I feel I’m finally ready with a decently sized body of consistent (theme and skillwise) work!
I’ve left out SO much concerning all the various resources Spalenka mentioned, so definitely go support Spalenka’s book/workshop if you are finding this blog series helpful!
My reading of Greg Spalenka’s Artist As Brand continues with section VI. Creating Your Market Niche.
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I found the book for a great deal on the Nook.
Or you can buy it via my Amazon referral link
and give me a little kickback!
You can also buy direct from the author!
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This section covers a lot of ground concerning how to establish a connection with your target market and present yourself in such a way that you can find and appeal to your audience while preserving their loyalty and encouraging them to invest in you as a business. This is particularly relevant to artists who rely on a symbiotic relationship between themselves and collectors to maintain their income.
This section reinforces the advice I’ve been hearing from other successful artists I know that having great art is the best starting point, but selling your passion and your story is where the magic happens.
But who is my audience? I’ve struggled with this for years because I started out wanting to go one direction (concept art and book covers) and being drawn towards another (angelic art, Art Nouveau, and mask-making). In the end, I just did everything, burned myself out big time, and realized I was not really making the kind of advancement in my career that I wanted.
My artistic identity was like someone changing the channel back and forth and never deciding on something to watch. I’ve had some folks interested in my work, but I’m pretty sure if I had a more unified identity that I would be more successful than I am now.
This has been the reason for me splitting up my current identity into several faces. I hope this will help my audience more easily identify with my work and locate what they’re interested in. For those who have been asking how the heck I handle it all, truth is, I haven’t really been doing it well in the past!
All of these ‘brands’ used to be thrown together under the umbrella of Angelic Shades Studio. Now, they’ve each been given their own real estate completely separate from one another. Cover art is going to be my focus from now on, while the rest will be side projects I attend to when I have the time outside of this endeavor.
What do they do? What do they love? What do they spend money on? I did the initial brainstorming for this in my Vision Board.
For Art by Angela Sasser (Fantasy book covers and character driven art)
Audience – Usually readers and/or writers, Magic the Gathering fans, Kushiel’s Dart fans (thanks to my Kushiel cover project), Game of Thrones quiz, folklore enthusiasts, 18+ and up demographic, both male and female. May be able to expand into a fine art gallery audience if the topics are more surreal or based on mythology (ie. Flowery Mythology series).
Current experience shows most of my customers who buy my character-driven fantasy work are interested in buying prints and books with a more specific narrative, bookmarks, or other book-related things.
For Angelic Shades Studio (Angelic art and Art Nouveau)
Audience – New Age enthusiasts, Angel therapists, decorative art enthusiasts, generally female, 18 years old and up. Current experience shows most customers seem to be buying gifts for others, usually for moms or wives.
May expand out into fine art gallery audience with the Art Nouveau pieces and to a younger demographic with more fun series (ie. Cake Dresses and Butterfly Masque). My Angelic Visions art instruction book appeals to art students, but not necessarily to my main buyers.
For Angelic Artisan (Masks and custom accessories)
Audience – Cosplayers, Renaissance festival attendees, mask lovers. Generally an older demographic with expendable income and a passion for costuming. Most are interested in buying cosplay masks or other accessories to help them channel their favorite fandoms and original charaters.
For The Muse’s Library (Art-related book/product reviews, art marketing articles, and stock art resources)
Audience – Art students, working artists, game artists, and art educators, creative professionals, art entrepreneurs, usually 18+ up demographic. Best-sellers so far have been the stock art, since these resources can be used directly in artists’ personal projects for free with a fee for commercial use. Most of my target audience for this brand are passionate about art, mastering their skills, promoting their creative businesses, and saving money.
Writing this all out really helps me focus on purposefully targeting people rather than accidentally stumbling upon fans. As ever, this doesn’t cover half the info provided in the book! Go support Spalenka if you’ve found the information I’ve been writing about useful.
My reading of Greg Spalenka’s Artist As Brand continues with section III. Your Vision Board.
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I found the book for a great deal on the Nook.
Or you can buy it via my Amazon referral link
and give me a little kickback!
You can also buy direct from the author!
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This section focused on another visual brainstorming exercise meant to help you visually map your passions and interests and connect them with products, people, and places. I found a lot of value in doing this because I have a lot of interests, from video games to art marketing to folklore and beyond! It’s always so difficult for me to narrow down my projects and focus, which has been a constant challenge for me over the years.
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| View a larger version of my map here. |
I went a little insane and fit as much on the board as I could. What a crazy web I wove! The text at the bottom represents the connections I drew with colored lines between my top three activities from the first circle, the products I can produce, and the people and venues I could reach those people through.
That’s a pretty powerful thing to figure out for yourself! So many of us just throw art out there with no thought put into who that art is meant to resonate with. Creating with purpose seems a valuable way to focus your time and energies and make your brand more consistent, which is something a lot of novice artists don’t do when they’re first starting out (I’m guilty of it, myself!).
I also made a .psd template, since one wasn’t provided in the book. Feel free to download it here for your own use.
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| Download the blank template I made here. |
As ever, I have left some details of this exercise (such as the explanation of Mind, Body, and Spirit and other instruction) vague on purpose to encourage you to purchase the book. It’s a really worthwhile read thus far and I would recommend it based on the helpfulness of the exercises I’ve already completed!
So, you like drawing, but also painting, writing, candle-making, and beading? I know how you feel! Being multipassionate seems to be a habit of most of the creative people I know. Our minds like to wander and play and that’s part of how we keep ourselves creative!
However, this characteristic usually leaves most of us with a huge problem – an unclear sense of artistic identity and, therefore, an unclear brand.
I’ve had this problem for years and it’s only been until recently I’ve sat down and put a magnifying glass to my brand. For example, just look at the mess that was my website last year. I had masks, Art Nouveau, surreal work, miniature work, sculpture, anything and everything all thrown together on my site:
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| My Angelic Shades site back in 2013. |
After discussing my fractured identity with fellow artists and a friendly Art Director, I realize that this Anything and Everything approach was really killing my sales and my presentation.
What an AD might think:
“She has so many styles! She must still be a student and probably isn’t very reliable. She hasn’t quite mastered anything.”
What an average person might think:
“Wow, this is all really cool! But later on, I probably won’t remember what it is exactly she’s selling.”
Echo this sentiment for selling at conventions, too. After seeing all the masks, art, etc. at my table, most people aren’t sure what I’m selling or if it’s all by one person, since the themes differ so vastly. This also made my sales pitches extremely complicated, as I wasn’t sure how to address all of the products on the table.
Or my other favorite.
“Wow, this is cool! I’m going to ask this person for a commission that she’s not necessarily interested in doing because she’s obviously interested in doing everything and is very versatile.”
In truth, I’d actually prefer it if people ask me for work that I specialize in, rather than work that I don’t specialize in. Most of the time, the work I don’t specialize in doesn’t go into my portfolio and is never seen again.
I had to start asking myself some important questions and coming up with answers that faced my fears as an artist. These burning questions have been on my mind for a long time now:
A lot of people think ‘hey it’d be fun to make my hobby a job!’ but what they don’t realize is that once you make your hobby your job, it’s not fun anymore. If you turned to that hobby for recharging and relaxation, chances are that being forced to do it for monetary purposes is going to destroy that sense of fun and play you had with it. You’ll most likely have to get another hobby now that the last hobby has become the job.
My Answer: I realized over the past few years that Art Nouveau and soft watercolor work is my ‘fun’ art. So is mask-making. I turn to these modes of expression to refresh my creative well. Making them my job meant I had less time in my life for the mature fantasy work I am passionate about. Admittedly, the money is nice and that also swayed me towards these other forms of expression. This choice of splitting focus resulted in much burnout over the past couple of years.
Think about what target audience there is for your work. Does your work actually target the same people? Did you do something for random fun but it just doesn’t fit in with your other work?
Sometimes it’s just better to leave things off of your professional face for storage on something more casual, like tumblr. Keeping unrelated work can make you look like a student or unreliable in your ability to finish consistent work. Stop thinking of what is your ‘best overall work’ and starting thinking ‘what is your best work for what specific audience’.
My Answer: For me, I ended up dumping the ACEO and Surreal sections from my site. These works were all older and I’m not exactly interested in being hired to work in that vein anymore. On the other hand, I still wanted to share my artisan crafts and Art Nouveau, as I’ve put many years into them and still find them as viable professional faces to share.
And thus my brands Angelic Artisan and Angela Sasser were born! Angelic Shades is my original studio name, which will now be purely for the work I created for my book, Angelic Visions, and for my Art Nouveau work.
My mature fantasy work is going to be housed on a new site that I’m currently working on (sneak peek here!). Angelic Artisan has also been moved off to its own cozy website dedicated solely to my artisan crafts (a move which happened last year, actually).
I chose my real name as a studio identity because I feel like this brand is finally me. I have found MY voice and what I feel is going to be the artistic identity I want to become known for. Another perk to deciding what my ‘main’ identity/studio is going to be is that I now realize where the majority of my time needs to be spent.
Angelic Artisan and Angelic Shades will both now be downgraded to side projects that I only do for fun. This is a huge weight off me and one that I feel will allow me to focus my time on my passions instead of being torn between too many tasks. It’s going to be hard saying no to the commissions that come in for artisan and Art Nouveau work, but decreasing my stress levels and focusing on my long-term goals is what needs to happen for me right now to stop feeling so overwhelmed by the tasks ahead of me.
Bonus perk – my sites just look sooo much more beautiful and professional now that they have ‘themes’!
This one is my toughest question right now. How do I change what I’m doing so that people won’t be upset by my switch of direction? Most of the other multifaceted artists I’ve talked to worked to become known for one thing and earned the respect of AD’s and their market before they branched out. They were stabilized by the fact their fans would follow them and that they still have the respect of AD’s whom they have proven their reliability to in the past.
My problem is I got good at one thing I realized later on is not the thing I want to be known for. I’m not sure if I’ll be burning bridges doing this. It’s quite intimidating!
My Answer: Right now, my plan is to completely break my art styles up into Angelic Shades and Angela Sasser with their own corresponding sites and outlets so that when I hand a business card out to an AD or anybody else, the linked site on each unique card will present a consistent body of work with a clear theme.
As for AD trust, I will probably only be showing AD’s my Angela Sasser brand, unless their projects specifically call for soft watercolors and/or Art Nouveau stylings. They shall never know my secret identity as a soft flowy watercolorist and mask-maker!
I have no idea what this means for my social media faces, however! I’m so entrenched in the Angelic Shades username that I’m not sure if people will actually follow me to a new name, if I start one. Brand consistency for ‘Angela Sasser’ demands a new Twitter, Facebook page, blog, etc. I’m not sure I’m going to do this yet, but you will be the first to know!
If you’re doing well as you are and enjoy what you’re doing, maybe you should just leave well enough alone?
My Answer: It’s taken me many years of struggling and burnout to realize I’ve invested my time in the wrong places because I was more focused on making money than taking the risky path and following my passions in illustration and concept art. I was afraid and didn’t trust myself. I let bad advice and pressure from loved ones dissuade me from focusing on what I really wanted to do. I also didn’t really have an idea of where I wanted to go back then, so I did what was fun and acceptable.
Just because you might be capable of creating something that someone enjoys and will pay money for doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what you’re meant to do, especially if your heart lies elsewhere.
Knowing all this, I feel my mistakes have helped me to refine a laser focus I’m looking forward to implementing now that I’ve identified where my heart truly lies. It’s only through experiencing these early struggles that I know myself better and can look forward to the future with more confidence!
Do you have multiple creative businesses? How do you handle running them all at once? Share your tips in comments!
Next Up: Part 2 – Brand Design
A conversation with a fellow artist spurred me towards writing about this topic. This particular friend was curious about entering a new field in art, in her case, concept art for video games. She was really curious about it, but the idea of absorbing so much of the unknown concerning this entirely new field was stressful for her!
I’ve found my fellow artists to be some of the most friendly and pragmatic people I’ve ever met. Most artists want to see other artists succeed, so never be afraid to ask! They can also oftentimes provide you the honest feedback you need about your work that family members and friends might be too nice or simply uninformed to give you.
The same can be said of concept artists for video games. Go to game stores. See what the bestsellers are. See what new games are coming out. Check out the trends and who is working with the kind of style and characters you particularly enjoy. Chances are the developer of that game has a particular design sensibility that you would fit in with at some point.
(EDIT can’t believe I forgot this one!) Chrisoatley.com – How could I forget to mention Chris Oatley’s blog? Chris Oatley is a character designer and the spearhead behind the Oatley Academy, where I am a student of Painting Drama. His blog posts and Artcast cut right to the heart of my concerns as a freelance artist and tend to inspire me when I need the boost most. It’s a new one on my frequent reading list, but an invaluable one!
What are some of your favorite places to keep up with your field of art? Share in comments!
As is usual with any time that I’m forced to sit on my duff with hours of free time, I start thinking of a thousand ways to strategize what I’m going to work on next, how I’m going to improve towards my career goals, the meaning of life, etc. Gallbladder removal has been a massively introspective and motivating time for me. The whole year has been, really, as constant road blocks have forced me to slow down and think of my physical and mental health more carefully.
Enjoying myself outside of work and even simply doing art for fun became a distant memory.
really helped me as far as figuring out how to get the most out of my day. Artists from all walks of life, married, with kids, full-time, part-time, etc. give their best advice for how not to go insane keeping your ‘creative flow’ strong.
A bit of shameless self-promo before I go. If you do end up getting the book, you can use my Amazon referral link to buy it and give me a nice little earning from your purchase! I’d appreciate it very much and the book is well worth adding to one’s library if you are a creative professional.
It’s that time of year again. The breezy day in November where I wake up and realize I am now a year older! 32, to be exact. Birthdays always have a way of making me feel introspective about myself. Lately it seems everything does. An effect of getting older, maybe?
Even before today, something clicked when I was at IlluXCon where younger artists placed their portfolios in my hands and asked me about their work, trusting my knowledge in a way I suppose I hadn’t really trusted myself just yet. Giving them advice reinforced a confidence in me that had been quietly buried by self-doubt. Then, of course, I went and did the same thing putting my trust in artists more experienced than myself to give me guidance about my work. The art industry is a wonderful place like that. Everyone’s constantly growing and learning together. Everyone has a voice all their own.
Being around so many artists, young and old and in different phases of their career, made me realize I was in that sort of ‘middle child’ group. I’m not well known, but neither am I unknown. I’m in that gap where 95% of artists stop in their career at a crossroads and decide that having a family takes precedence or giving up is more prudent than pursuing that silly creative career. The clock is ticking in so many ways, biologically and creatively.
I think this is the answer to the question Jon Schindehette asked in the Women in Fantasy panel at IlluXCon. (paraphrasing here) Where do the 20 to 30 something female artists go after they’re just getting their first portfolio reviews and breaking in to the illustration jobs?
They’re making that decision of whether or not they must take the time out of their lives to do other things which society has deemed, with some exceptions, squarely in the role of the respectable woman that usually preempts having a career – specifically starting a family. You CAN come back to your career later, but it is hard and no matter whether you do or don’t, it takes time to settle into that new family structure.
All this is layered on on top of the troubles every gender of creative professional faces, a big one being the societal pressure of ‘Why are you following a career that won’t make you money or is as important/useful as a doctor/lawyer/etc.?’ In my experience thus far, turning 30 makes or breaks your determination about what you are going to be doing with the rest of your life.
Personally? I have no desire to start a family and until that desire hits, I’m focusing on a career. My experience with family comes from watching other ladies I respect in this industry deal with the trials and triumphs that comes with starting their own as well as pondering greatly on the matter, myself. I give massive props to those of you who start families AND pursue a career both at once! You must have eyes on the back of your heads…and elbows…and everywhere else! You have more strength and will than I can ever imagine having.
So then what AM I going to be doing in 10 years? 20 years? It’s easy to drive oneself mad thinking about this, but I think it’s important to sit back and do so every once and awhile. If you don’t, you have a chance of getting trapped in that 95% of people who aren’t going to make it because they never get out of the infinite loop where they get too comfortable where they are, are so mired down by frustration, OR never know where they should push themselves to advance in their art and career.
I am 32 today and in 10 years I do not want to be where I am now. I don’t want to be the Known Unknown. The fact of the matter is when I hit 60 or 70, that’s the time I plan to retire and enjoy the rest of my years doing whatever I feel like doing just because I can. I don’t want to hit my stride so late that I am merely a flash in the pan or that I waited so late to get myself ‘there’ that I just can’t turn out what younger artists can because I don’t have the energy anymore! What’s more, I have a lot of paintings and words in me that must come out before I die. They MUST or I will have failed myself because no one can get them out of that colorful pit of a brain but me.
It’s not fame I’m after, but Mastery. If I happen to gain fame for being so damned badass at telling the stories I want to tell with my art, than that is the kind of fame I approve of. Earned fame, not cheap fame. Artists and creative professionals don’t get this until they have paid their dues to the craft. Till they have been rejected 100 times or more. Till they have made 10,000 failed drawings to get the 1,000 amazing ones. Meeting the various masters of their craft at IlluXCon was proof enough of this. Most are not young and took many years to refine themselves into the flawless illustrators we view them as.
So there it is! The answer! Time, patience, and an honest appraisal of where you are and where you’re going, but also don’t forget to acknowledge what you’re doing right! The simple act of getting yourself into this mindset is a step in the right direction. It is a stone in the path you are building before you.
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| See the full image and download the template. |
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| PHOTO BY REMO MASINA |
Here we are a few weeks after IlluXCon and my mind is still buzzing with the possibilities, even as I settle back into the same routine I had before. Yet now I have realized something.
Having peers and respected artists review my portfolio at IlluXCon and tell me that I’m “almost there” has fueled the realization that I only need a little shove to get me where I need to be. With just a little grease and polish on my work, I will start approaching publishers again. I will start believing the time I spend on my portfolio is worth the time I take away from short term sales! It’s a precarious tight-rope act trying to compromise between short-term and long-term goals with a constant fear of failure, that the time spent will be wasted. The older I get, the more I feel that urgency and the more unsure my feet become! It’s that self-imposed and societal reinforcement that if you don’t have the American dream by age 30 that you are a failure in life (I am currently 31 years old). This is bullshit, especially as our society evolves new work patterns and standards of happiness and success in life.
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| My first coloring pack is available now! |
I’ve been brainstorming many ways to help pad the income between jobs, the first of which is producing digital art items such as coloring book packs, which I plan to roll out more of soon! I have also been researching how to sell my old work as stock illustration. The article on revenue streams over at Muddy Colors reminded me of a lot of old plans I never did put in motion. Time to step up and get things moving again!
– Create new work branded for the IPs I want to work with. (Magic the Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons, Shadowrun, Tor, etc.)
I’m finally recovered from the successive conventions of DragonCon and IlluXCon and boy can I just say what an amazing experience IlluXCon was! I’ve come back feeling so very inspired and motivated. There’s a lot I want to say about it, so hang on to your butts for a long post!
First thing to know about my experience is that I battled with myself in regards to whether IlluXCon was was worth the money we paid to attend. We saved roughly $1300 to cover hotel, room, food, badge, and board, which can be really painful for those of us on shoestring budgets. All in all, I will say yes, this was very worth the money, but not because I made money at the show. In fact, I sold one $20 print the entire Showcase, but that is not where this show’s worth lies.
Instead, I had so many passionate and livening conversations with so many artists, from world-famous artists to up and coming artists like myself. I learned so much from simply having great conversations with people and receiving good advice which is worth its weight in gold from pros who are further along in their careers. To say nothing of the barrage of helpful info packed panels on every aspect of art!
The passion you absorb just from being around so many other artists is also a priceless experience. I have returned hyped and revived after being around such a great crowd of kindred spirits! It is just the medicine the doctor ordered for the feelings of burnout and exhaustion that have plagued me.
– Sitting down for lunch only to realize John Jude Palencar was right across from me. He pointed to me and went “Hey that’s my book in your hand!”
– Talking with so many great artists who gave me specific advice about my work. The list of folks I got to chat up includes Noah Bradley, Donato Giancola, Dan Dos Santos, Winona Nelson, E.M Gist, and Michael C. Hayes. Mike was especially detailed in that he made sure to let me know what I’m doing right, which is sometimes easy to ignore! That was a great lesson in and of itself.
– Nearly EVERY single artist in attendance, including world-famous ones and AD’s, all jammed into the hotel’s lobby being yelled at to stop drinking by midnight lest the bartender lose his license.
– My first ever in-person interview with an Art Director, particularly Jon Schindehette. He gave me encouraging and prudent feedback as well as answered some pointed questions, specifically the following:
The Question: How often should an artist send an AD new work?
The Answer: As often as they have something that pushes their work to the next level.
– Meeting familiar faces I’ve only known through the net! Like Cris aka. Quickreaver.
– Realizing my Showcase table was beside one of the most talented book cover artists for Mercedes Lackey series, Jody Lee!
– Having a passionate conversation about comic books, creativity, and unique creators, such as David Mack, Neil Gaiman, and Drew Hayes with Bill Baker. It’s not often that a person I meet knows all three of these creators who are a triad of inspiration for me.
Speaking of the Showcase, I learned a lot from selling there which I will carry over into next year, should I choose to sell there again. The Showcase happened on the weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), where art collectors were invited to attend the show and meet artists face to face. I noticed as soon as I told people my work was digital that they almost immediately lost interest. It seems there still is a general lack of respect for digital as being an investment as a collectible piece. My digital Art Nouveau piece, Lady of December, still caught a lot of interest, but no buyers.
This has led me to the decision that if I am to show my work there or in galleries that I will need to bring some traditional pieces along as well. I don’t mind doing this, however, because it’s just easier for me to do intensive line work in my Nouveau inspired style by hand anyways. So keep an eye out for more ink and watercolor Nouveau pieces from me! I’m looking forward to scratching that Traditional media itch that’s been nagging me after all these months of doing digital work.
Something else happened that I did not expect at the Showcase that is worth mentioning is that I did not expect to be handed portfolios by other up and coming artists. I spent 80% of my time chatting up younger artists about their work. I’ve always felt that I’m the ‘eternally breaking in to the industry’ person. Having someone trust me enough to request feedback on their work was so unexpected! I got to encourage and inspire them in person and that just filled me with joy! Inspiring you guys inspires me, and it always has, point of fact. Part of the reason I keep this journal! (I know I occasionally do crit here, but it’s so different doing it in real life.)
The Number One thing I learned there is that the art industry is full of people who are passionate about what they do. World famous and novice alike are made equal by this passion. The first day I arrived and went through the Main Showcase, I literally crawled out of the room dragging my jaw along with me feeling feeble and unworthy as an artist. However, as the week progressed and I got to talk to more and more with other artists who offered encouragement and critique, I realized something.
I AM ready for this career path. My work IS good enough. I only need a bit of love and polish before I’m ready to start pitching myself as a hireable artist. I am one step away from my goals. That one step has always felt like a canyon I could never cross. Every artist I spoke to in review said practically the same thing, nearly word for word each time (“Work on lighting, polish anatomy a bit, and you’re there!”).
Sometimes we’re so hard on ourselves that we curl up in a ball and don’t take chances. I haven’t sent my work to AD’s in over a year because I simply wasn’t up to par. My portfolio was too full of life drawing and student work or pieces that I just wasn’t excited about. Sometime in this past year I have transformed, but I was too caught up in my own feelings of slowness, anxiety, and self-loathing to really notice it and PUSH my work where it needed to be pushed so that I could improve.
Having other artists I respect reinforce a properly centered view of my art has been so very cathartic. Even better, I am now informed with the knowledge of which companies are hiring, how much they pay, and who I should talk to in order to be hired. This is knowledge that you can get via the internet, but which comes so much quicker having a good conversation with another artist. As one artist put it to me, this is the ‘family reunion’ for illustrators where they all get to catch up and see how everyone is doing in a business and non-business sense.
As Lauren Panepinto said in her recent Muddy Colors post on physical vs virtual networking, “One hour of physical networking is worth 100 hours of virtual networking.” That is incredible advice and one of the best lessons I’ve taken away from attending IlluXCon.
To be sure, I’m going to do everything I can to be able to attend next year and maybe to add Spectrum to my list. Here’s hoping!
PS.
I have an album of public IlluXCon images on FB if you want to get a glimpse of the con. Check it out here!