Thursday, March 26, 2009

Self Publishing: 2.0


Ran across this just now while enjoying the latest from artist Tommy Kane's blog and it struck me as such a brilliant and workable concept I had to share it with the world !

Artist Danny Gregory appears in Tommy's blogroll and his blog: Everyday Matters has a couple of book thumbnails promoting his sketches available in book form from Blurb at a very reasonable price.

Okay. Maybe despite my devotion to being up on all the latest and greatest I'd never heard of Blurb, but I use Cafepress and Zazzle and this is the make-your-own ala Web 2.0 concept to the ne plus ultra. ( the state of being without a flaw or defect )

Damn.

If you're a photgrapher, artist or writer, how could you lose with this? Blurb gives you the ability to create your own high quality books without the interference of an editor or art director and sell them or print a specific number for your own use.

Nuff said.

I have some ideas myself . . .

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Why we can All Quit Whining a Bit

Comedian Louis CK makes some pointedly funny observations with Conan O'Brien about our ability to bitch and moan in the midst of fantastic times.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Can you afford to lose your portfolio ?

A few weeks ago I noticed that my computer's hard drive seemed to be making more noise than when I bought it. Louder when reading or writing. Clatter. Clacking.

It had been a while since I'd burned any backups, so I threw in a disc and made one.

Then I checked the disc to confirm all was good, only to discover MY COMPUTER COULDN"T READ THE DISC !

Now I'm concerned. I have a lot of images and projects for clients, both done and in-progress, and I certainly can't afford to start all over again.

NOW WHAT?

I began thinking of anything I could fall back on to keep from possibly losing hundreds of hours' work.

I went to Google and looked for "best online backup" and got MOZY as the result that had the best reviews and satisfaction. THEN I discovered you could have 2 GB free without subscribing to their service -- "2 GB of 100% free backup space. No setup fee, no credit cards, no monthly payments, no expiration." So I did. In a hurry.

After uploading the most critical files I started to think about their pro upgrade and realized that an hour of my work is a LOT more valuable than their $4.95 monthly fee.

I upgraded.

Their interface is easy to use. You configure it to run the way you like and it does it's thing while you aren't working, so there's no distraction from your day-to-day production.

Once all was secured and duplicated online, I took a moment to contact my local independent computer tech and told him of my concerns. Made an appointment.

Took the machine in to his shop. He turned it on and immediately pronounced that my hard drive was toast !

To make a long story short, MOZY saved my ass in the nick of time.

I lost several day's work while my machine was in the shop getting a new drive, but recovered everything when I restored the entire system from MOZY into my brand new drive.

I heartily recommend you try them.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Grab your pencils everyone !



Drawing Day 2009 is coming.

I don't know if anyone else is like me, but I get an absolute kick out of drawing -- with anything -- for anyone. I just do.

It's not really very hard to make me happy. Give me a new No.2 yellow pencil and some paper. Or a crow quill pen and a bottle of ink.

Why Drawing Day ?

To quote the organizers: "Why is Drawing Day important?

Illustrators and artists alike often go unappreciated. The creation of art and illustration captured our minds ever since we were children and our parents turned the pages of our first book. These stories came to life via the illustrations that took us to an imaginary world full of inspiration.

Whether you're a professional illustrator or you just enjoy the occasional scribble, you can give back to the illustration community by drawing on this day. By injecting more and more illustration and art into our community, we are not only showing our appreciation to our fellow artists, but we are spreading awareness of the joy of drawing. It is important that you contribute - Drawing Day will only be a success if we all participate and make some noise. So, please tell your friends and spread the word."

Nuff said.



Sunday, March 15, 2009

Absolute Killer Web Design

Want to laugh and clap your hands with surprise ? Six Revisions posted "40 Beautiful Examples of Vintage and Retro in Web Design".

These are some of the most entertaining, fresh & exciting bits of creativity I've seen!

My top 2 Picks ? Level 2 Design and TARGETSCOPE.



These sites are art !!






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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

How Valuable are Artists?

Despite all the news about our going into a "recession", "economic slowdown" and all I have nevertheless found myself with more demand for my art over the last 6 months than ever before.

So how valuable are artists?

Your art, your ideas, your entire creative output - is more valuable to the day to day world that anyone would ever possibly imagine.

Our art is the virtual source of the life of our culture we create every day. We take our audience to realities that we imagine. We bring hope. We show ways to envision futures.

The British poet Arthur O'Shaughnessy stated it beautifully in his book Music and Moonlight:

Ode

"WE are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.

With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample an empire down.

We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth."

Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1844–1881


Hang a copy of that in your studio. There's more truth right there than you might currently imagine.

So ignore the "experts" predicting doom, and realize something basic about yourself; You are the entire cause of your future and your own economy.

If you paint, then paint up a storm. If you write, write something wildly subversive.

And you will find there are more audiences than you'd ever notice while paying attention to media or experts.

I make a point every single day to back away from the the general "reality" and find a different game to play. And I play that game.

It never fails to take me out to where there is inspiration and energy and a higher spirit of play.