Art instructors encourage you to paint as many pieces of artwork as possible, claiming it will greatly improve your skills. This is true, to a degree. It depends on whether you are actively practicing new skills or just repeating the same mistakes. This post explains how I drastically improved my art by not following the trend of “paint as much as possible”.
Continue reading How long do you spend actively painting on each artwork?
A website isn’t free, but they aren’t outrageous expensive either. Depending upon the amount of products you sell, or if you just want a website to showcase your work, it may even be cheaper to host your own website than using an online online marketplace. Thankfully there are both free and paid services that let you set up a running website fast and cheaply.
This month’s art challenge was to paint a red panda to help raise awareness for the plight of the cute animal. Sometimes, as individuals, we find a cause to work towards that drives us above and beyond. This is especially true for many artists, as we have to so often connect with our emotional sides to be creative. If you haven’t found your own cause, there are plenty that need an extra voice; such as the conservation efforts of red pandas.
I’m working on this gorgeous photo of two elephants, for a custom commission. This is by far my largest artwork I have worked on to date. Most of my work is so detailed and time-consuming that I tend to paint smaller sized paintings (max 30x40cm – 12x16in). Whilst this artwork is far from finished, I thought it would be worth while to share some in-progress photos.
A website can be a great idea for any artist looking to improve their professional image, provide additional income streams and to showcase their artwork in general. In this article I will cover the pros and cons of owning a website.
Did you know, this post is the first of several – all of which explore artists and their need for websites!
Have you heard about the ArtistsCommunity? It’s a growing group of artists on YouTube who are working towards a better and more supportive platform… It’s so easy for good channels with Amazing (with a capital A) content to be overwhelmed or hidden by channels that produce mediocre content. So often these channels stop producing their videos… because what’s the point when you put so much effort into something with so little ROI. Sometimes its just nice to receive a friendly comment, an upvote or like, and a subscriber. Sometimes that little action of clicking like or typing a comment can take only a minute or two from our day, but can change someone’s life for a day or even a week.
This is the purpose of the Artists Community. It’s about supporting each other to grow as channels and as individuals.
Writers are often told “don’t tell, show”. Why should it be any different for artists?An artist aims to instill life into their artwork, and a great way to help the viewer to connect is for them to see how it was created. This could be photos that you share to Instagram and facebook, or even videos. Continue reading Time-lapse of the Blue-Throated Macaw Pastel Painting
I’m so excited; I just launched my YouTube channel!
The very first video is a time-lapse of the Ring Tail Lemur pastel painting. I hope to upload a lot more videos to YouTube, as I make them. I’m interested in making art lesson videos for both beginners and more advanced artists. I will also upload time-lapse videos of my personal artwork. Continue reading Time-lapse Of Ring Tail Lemur Pastel Painting
Finding quality books can sometimes be a problem; there are many books that cover the same basic information without anything unique. I’m on a search for the books that you keep for a lifetime. This is an in-depth book review of The Oil Painting Course You’ve Always Wanted by Kathleen Lochen Staiger.
Continue reading The Oil Painting Course You’ve Always Wanted by Kathleen Lochen Staiger Book Review
You can post all the paintings you want on your website and send links to your friends, but it will only get you so far. Unless you are famous chances are you don’t have a huge following of fans all fighting each other to be the highest bidder of your latest artwork.
In order to be found, you have to be findable.
Austin Kleon aims to change your situation in his book Show Your Work: 10 Ways To Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered. The book is about how to self promote yourself and your products in perhaps what can be seen as a more humble way. By sharing their own work they can in turn ask for fellowship, feedback or patronage.
Continue reading Show Your Work by Austin Kleon Book Review