Day: February 21, 2006

Today my sister wrote about how she spent all day paying full attention to her kids. I read it and realized that I haven’t really paid my kids much attention for about a week. My head has been full of projects. I thought this situation would be somewhat remedied once I got through my week hosting preschool and LTUE. Unfortunately my mind has just moved on to other enticing projects.

Also I have this wierd sore throat and stiff neck thing. It isn’t a classic head cold, neither is it classic strep. Maybe it is classic laryngitis because it hurts to talk. This makes managing the kids less than fun. Advil has become my new friend.

And it is cold. I am tired of cold. In past years the weather has been cold, but mostly 40 degree cold with a few dips down into sub freezing. This year we’ve had a month’s worth of sub freezing days and pretty much all the nights are below freezing. No danger of my apricot tree blooming too early this year. cold cold cold cold. grr.

I’m also contemplating entering some of my completed stories into writing contests. I already have a long term plan involving on demand publication. I’m pretty sure that my stories are worth it. But then the voice of doubt tells me that I’ve never shown the stories to anyone who doesn’t have a vested interest in being nice to me. This means that the stories may not be as good as I’ve been thinking they are. So I’m going to put a few to the test. Now if only the Conduit people would get thier act together and post the writing contest rules that would really help.

Next monday I get to register Gleek for kindergarten next fall. Of all my kids, she is the one I’ve been most anticipatory about sending off to kindergarten. This is because unless she has a friend she hovers near me. Gleek is also the child I am going to miss the most when she is gone every day, for exactly the same reason. She’s growing up fast. She’s already doing beginning reading.

More thoughts keep bumping into each other in my head, but I can’t seem to catch any of them long enough to stick them into this entry. Must be time for bed.

I’m not going to try to replicate the ebb and flow of the conversation in this panel. I’m just going to lift the major points and expound upon them.

If you want to make money as an artist, you also need to be a business person. All of the professional artists on the panel agreed with that. There is nothing wrong with art as a creative outlet or as an avocation. More people should have an art of some kind as a hobby. But you will never be a financially sucessful artist until you learn to manage money. Most of the panel discussed ways for artists to get contracts, or find other ways to bring money in. Just as important as getting paid for your art, is managing the money after it arrives. These days starving artists usally give up their art and go get a day job.

Art requires diligence and discipline. You need to love it and thrive off of the creation of art, but don’t expect to love every minute of creation. All of the professional artists admited that there are times when they just don’t want to draw, but they draw anyway because it is their job. Usually once they got working they enjoyed it again. (I’ve seen Howard do exactly that time and again.) There is lots of hard work involved as well as inspiration. Put in the time to become really excellent at what you do. Writers write, dreamers dream, Artists draw. If you want to be an artist draw every day whether you feel like it or not. You have about 10,000 really bad pictures that need to come out before you get to the good ones. Don’t jump the gun and start looking for paying work before you’re done with those bad pictures.

Taking classes and trying to meet the exact specifications of your “picky” teacher is very much like trying to meet the specifications of your “picky” client. Getting good at figuring out what someone else wants is an invaluable skill. The client always knows when something is wrong, but the client is never able to identify what it is. He just knows he doesn’t like it. Your job as an artist is to figure it out and fix it.

Be reliable. Always meet your deadlines. Art that is finished too late might as well not exist.

On submitting a portfolio for review: Never never never submit a drawing on notebook paper as part of a portfolio. If you can’t replicate that cool drawing on notebook paper onto good paper, then you’re not ready to be a professional artist. If you are not sure about the quality of a piece, leave it out. It is better to have a small portfolio full of excellent pieces than a large one with mediocre pieces. Tailor your portfolio to the reviewer. Do some research before you submit the portfolio.

Building an income as an artist is a slow growth business. Expect to work hard with little return for several years. You have to identify and research your market. Networking is the key to building an income. Every connection you make strengthens your net. Remember to give as much as you get or you won’t have a solid network. Beware, there are some sharks out there who will take advantage of you. These sharks will claim they are trying to help you while actually using you. Always check advice with several unconnected people before you apply it.

Well, that ended up being more a transcription of my notes than a true exposition, but at least most of the thoughts are there. I should note that pretty much everything said up there about art and artist could be applied to writing and writer. In fact it could all be applied to any creative business.