My journey on "how to sell art prints"

Good morning

and I hope everyone has a good week.  As for me, sure, it's been good.  Ask me that a few months ago when I was trying to figure out how to get artwork made into art prints....I would  have had a different answer. 

"Get prints made" they say....

"I want a print" they say...

"I'll buy one when you get your prints"  ....you get the picture

Who knew making prints was soooo difficult!  What type of paper would you like to print on?  What kind of ink should I use?  Should I use canvas to make prints?  

How is the best way to package these said prints?  Oh and don't get me started on the pricing!

What a mess of confusion. 

Four print processes later and a wee bit of money later...I am figuring out what works best for me.  It wasn't an easy or cheap journey however. I am still on the cheaper side of print making than some artists I know.  We haven't even touched the giclee' printing process!  So, I am here to share my findings with whomever wants to learn....

First things first, Create art!  Make what you want and put in on paper, canvas, board or whatever your flat surface medium you choose. Paint to your hearts desire and let your emotions run wild within the piece.  Fill it with love and laughter and smiles or whatever you feel at that moment.  Just get it out and down for others to enjoy.

Secondly, Finding a printing place to best suit your needs.  If your piece is large, you will need to make a "Digital Copy" of it.  I took my pieces to a photo processing place in Anchorage to get my digital copies made.  They were professional and they were good to personable as well.  I was given my images on a cd with a high resolution image, a low resolution image and a TIFF image.  I really don't know what that means, but hey, they did.  One image is for making prints, one was for uploading and making prints online and one was for uploading to social media.  Sounded so much better that way!

From there, I was able to take my digital images and find a printing company.  There are a ton in Anchorage to deal with, and I drove around town stopping at all of them and asking questions.  I found a good printing place that had quality work, but their customer service was less than quality.   The guy seemed to know what he was talking about, but conveying it to me....yep...me...wasn't his strongsuit.  He and I just weren't on the same page.  I left.  I found another print place that I could understand and the guy made a lot of sense.  I left my images there to be printed. One thing with printing companies, they specialize in certain types of print.  This one just so happened to be in the photo prints! I received my prints on photo quality paper.  They were vibrant and printed well, but for my taste...I didn't like the on photo paper.  It wasn't what i was looking for. 

Back to the drawing board.

I found a printing company in Fairbanks that has great customer service and does great work. Artist quality work;  I dropped off my originals to have prints done.  The thing with this company is they will make prints from small pieces of work.  Nothing bigger than 11x14 roughly.  If your work is bigger than that, you will have to get digital copies. 

So for now, I am still going to try new places and new papers, as well as, new ways to make prints until I get something paved down.  I would suggest doing the same for your prints.  Try textured papers, matte paper, canvas!  Try digital copies of your work and look up places online.  Printing online is a little cheaper, but be cautious because you don't know what you get until its in your mailbox!

Best of luck and I will keep you updated on my progress!   

New blog post.....Here goes.

 

I haven't updated my blog in over a year and a lot has happened since then.  First off, a year has gone past and I am a much better artist than I was a year ago.  I have had some new doors opened and some old doors closed.  I started a class last year called "the documented life" and it was such an eye opener for me and my skills.  It was based on art journaling and writing out your ideas for weekly prompts and drawing techniques.  I was able to incorporate mixed media  and art journaling techniques into my art.  

 

Let's see, what else has happened...The family and I took a vacation to Oregon for visiting the Grandparents.  They were great; both the grandparents and the kids!  They spent their time chasing grandma's chickens, playing with bugs, running in the grass and catching snakes! yep! catching snakes! They are so much like their dad in many ways.  He spent his childhood doing the same things. We went to downtown Portland and it was awesome! Just let me say...Portland is a pretty cool place! I can feel the creative vibes rolling out of that city.  I fell in love with the graffiti on the buildings, as well as, the local shops selling local hand made gifts. 

I was inspired by Portland. 

 

What else has happened within this year? This summer, I was asked to be an artist in residence at the local coffee shop! how very exciting can one girl be?  This girl can be super super excited that's for sure! I was in the right place at the right time and I am so thankful for the opportunity.  I have to give praise and thanks to the Lord for allowing me these chances.  I hope to honor Him with my talents.  My gifts given to me.

 

So, that brings us up to now....what a great year and I will do my best to keep you posted on my happenings.  Until then, I will be continuing my routine of..."staying up late, doing artwork, listening to headphones and updating my blog" Creativity never sleeps! Why should I!

    



Art???

Photography???

or Both! 

I choose both.  

     Photography is considered both an art form as well as a science.  It takes skill and knowledge of the equipment as well as learning the camera.
  

  The definition of photography: the art of science and practice of creating images by recording light. 

Guess what??

I am not here to talk about science! I am here for the ART! I am an artist at heart and my background is in art; so I am naturally drawn to creative pieces.  I love to pour my heart into a painting or sketch and naturally I want to do that with my photos as well.

Here are just a few ways to "evoke emotion" within photography. 

  Color

Subject Matter

Contrast

Expression

     Color can evoke emotion by being BOLD and FIERCE… If I were to put on that shade of lipstick!!!  Well, my high heels better be matching my lipstick and I expect a nice glass of wine to go with my steak dinner! Yum!!!  

     Including RED within a photo or painting can present the piece with boldness! 

(maybelline ad)

On the other hand…adding blues or greens can evoke the opposite…

This photo is calming and soothing in comparison to the top photo. 

(photo by: Eleaca Young! my fav!) 

Contrast is my next point…

this can be an aggressive element in an image. 

 Contrast shows strength, boldness and ultimately…emotion!

When painting, sketching or photographing; the objective to see the contrast can be crucial.  

Tip* Squint! It allows you to see the HIGHLIGHTS and the LOWLIGHTS of the subject.  

(art instruction blog)

Go ahead…SQUINT! You can't resist! 

You will see the dark shades of the sphere as well as the light on the top half of the sphere. 

 In drawing, you would shade the darker. 

 In photography, you would be paying attention to the light source and where you want that light source to be on your subject.  

(photo credited to Becks)

I know…I know…Another Red Lipstick! But this is a sketch and the contrast is amazing as well as the artist used red to evoke emotion!  A DOUBLE WHAMMY!!

Here is a photo I took of my little guy…I think it evokes emotion by using light for contrast.  

The photo seems to have emotion due to the contrast from light to dark. ..or dark to light.

(whichever way you choose to look)

Having all that said….

We shall have to continue with the other points next time. 

 I hope you go out today and squint! Go ahead and try it!!  (but not while you are driving! Yikes!) 

Squint and see objects for their contrasts as opposed to seeing them as objects only.  See their lightest lights and see their darkest darks and think about that when taking pictures or even sketching! 

How can you give that object/subject matter "emotion"?

Until next time...

My fancy schmancy Art Class….

   

      Since this is a new year and like many folks, I have taken on some new ventures for myself.  One of which was to eat better…cleaner if you must say.  I have been doing great so far! I have cut out all of the yucky processed foods like pop tarts and hot pockets! (that wasn't too difficult) I also have widdled my way down from sugar and into a "cleaner" form of sugar….Raw Honey! It's yummy! and better for my body since it is a natural form of sweetener.  So…changes can be slow…but changes are happening and I like how I feel!
   

     Moving on….

     I joined in with an art class/group and it has been loads of fun! I have really gotten the hang of the "mixed media" and am really starting to like the journaling aspect of it.  Each week, the head ladies give us a prompt and we are to go 'wherever the creative mind wanders'…and boy does mine wander!  I have improved on my art in the 3 short weeks time we have been doing this and it's allowing me to add "sentimental" memories and get it all out into a sketchbook and not in my head or scattered all over my house! I was able to add old postcards, old love letters and 4 leaf clovers that I was saving for over the years.  Now they are all compacted into the pages of my sketchpad! I hope that one day, the boys can look over my sketchpad and see all of my memories.  On that note…here are a few pics….

…simple sketches make a big impact sometimes..

…this was my motto for my night.. the teabag told me so! :)

...what a year...or few that is! eek! I see I haven't been on this blog in quite some time...like 2 years! Here it is 2014 and I am finding myself wanting to update this old horse'! so for all of my 12 followers...here goes! I hope to keep up with it and update it with all of my happenings and then gain more followers! I mean...who wouldn't want to get insight into this crazy family and lifestyle!!! we are a wild bunch! so...having all that said...I will plan for a major comeback into the blog world with this beginning post! (this explaination..is it!) Tons have changed since the last post, but to save us both the hassle...we will leave it at that!
    Have a blessed day and wonderful week and I will begin my updates on the blog and post pictures as well! Starting....now.... !!!  Tootles!

Seniors....Seniors...and more Seniors!   I love them all! I made it back to Kotzebue and was able to take pictures of my first Kotzebue Senior!  It was great...she was the cutest girl I have ever seen and she was sooo easy to work with! She and I had fun and I think her pictures showed the fun and carefree time we had.  Here are just a few of my favorites!

...And for my Senior Photo shoot number 2..

     Katherine...was super duper cute and adorable and she and I got along perfectly, we toured the city and took pictures all over! We even got jumped by a duck! I will have to post a picture of the duck on a later date, but he did come up to me and snatched at my finger! ha, and then tried to come for Katherine!  The weather was perfect and she was just a beautiful as the weather! Thanks girlie, and I hope your senior year is fun filled!