Ideas flow through me like water. They can be drips, streams or rivers but they are always moving through my mind and spirit. If not for meditation I do not know how I would sleep at night! Of course even a great idea is just an idea until you make it real so the challenge becomes the art of the start.Jerry Gretzinger's idea started with the drawing of a small map. Watch this video on how a simple idea continued to grow into new possibilities. He sells mainly on Ebay and has an interesting approach to expanding his collector base-"A word on my pricing of the prints and originals: when posting a panel for the first time I put it out at 120% of the average price paid to date for that type of panel. If it hasn't sold after 30 days I mark it down 20%. I keep doing that every 30 days until it is sold. I want you all to become collectors, and I want The Map to be affordable for everyone. I will let the market set the price."May your ideas extend outward and create new territories in art and life.PeaceGreg
Sign Up deadline is May 6th.
Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! and Artist As Brand are aligning to bring creative empowerment and prosperity to artists in Kansas City, May, 2012.
Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! is a natural extension of the eighteen-year success of the award-winning Spectrum: The Best In Contemporary Fantastic Art annual.The Spectrum book has come to symbolize the vibrancy, diversity, and overall excellence of this international art community. Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! is an art fair in which creators will be able to sell originals and prints while promoting their work to patrons, collectors, and potential clients. Whereas the ubiquitous comic con focuses on all facets of popular art culture, Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! focuses on the artist and their sales.
This focus makes it a perfect fit with Artist As Brand! I will be presenting a workshop three days before the event. It is open to all serious artists, students and professionals. Learn the secrets of connecting the power of your essence with your art, to your collectors, and see how these principles can be applied at an event like Spectrum Live.
All participants will receive free access to all three days of Spectrum Fantastic Art Live. The workshop is held at the Historic Aladdin Holiday Inn Hotel, just blocks from the convention center.
Learn more about the workshop on theABOUT page.Read the REGISTER page before signing up.See what art professors, professionals, and college students are saying on the RESULTS page.
Register Here
Kendall Students
I presented an Artist As Brand workshop at Kendall College of Art and Design this past weekend and wow, these students were on fire! They were already formulating ideas for a multimedia community art event to be held at the school next year. I was impressed with the strong independent art spirits in this group. Go Kendall!The amazing life coach Greg Montana was Skyped into our session pumping up the group. Twenty eight students, alumni and faculty stuck it out for the three ten hour days. You could feel the love! See more pics here.
Artist As Brand was a complete success!!! 3 day illustration boot camp, followed by a lovely dinner with the amazing illustrator that created it!... I have had the best weekend ever!! I mean ever!!.... priceless.-Amanda Schaub
I am going for what I want in life. I'm getting my mind, body, and soul together and failure is a foreign word now.-La'kenya Shauray TerrellI can't thank Greg enough for sharing his wealth of knowledge and more importantly, touching my heart. -Kirbi FaganSweet! I will be back next year.Thank you also to Christine Brown, Nancy Hart, and Jon Mcdonald for introducing me to such an awesome school.PeaceGreg
Interested in worldwide exposure? Here is one way to do it. The Sketchbook Project encourages artists to create singular sketchbooks, which are then exhibited in locations around the world. In the words of the Sketchbook Project team, “It’s like a concert tour, but with sketchbooks.”
Create an event that will spark other people's creativity. Manifesting a team of like minded individuals can start with as little as two artists. In this instance it involves hundreds. If you can produce a concept that it timeless and timely it can become the spark for something much larger than yourself.
To your empowerment,
Greg
“Shoot for the moon and if you miss you will still be among the stars.”
-Les Brown
October 11th we had a full moon. A full moon symbolically represents the height of power, the peak of clarity, fullness and obtainment of desire. In celebration of these attributes I am offering a special deal. For one month until we reach the new full moon on November 10th all online workshops will be discounted 25%! Contact me to register.
Bronze- $149Silver- $369Gold- $749Click on the ONLINE CLASS button in the menu bar above to learn more about the online workshops.Now is an auspicious time to empower your art spirit and your prosperity as we move through the moon's phases toward 11/11/11. There are symbolic attributes associated with our lunar sibling. Sign up during the phase that most resonates with you!Waning Moon:Symbolic of letting go, surrender, release, quiet time, contemplation, and a time of incubation.New Moon:Symbolic of new beginnings, a fresh start, rebirth.Waxing Moon:Symbolic of growth, manifestation, attainment, gravity (heavy with child – both philosophical and literal).Full Moon:Symbolic of the height of power, the peak of clarity, fullness and obtainment of desire.To your art spirit,Greg
Create a video of your art process and pull people in with your magic. Choose your background music wisely! In this case you might want to turn your volume down.
I have been talking about the magic Five Years ever since it took me as much time to really lock in my illustration career. It can happen sooner, but the five year mark generally holds true. Check out this post on Muddy Colors where Chris Moeller talks about the five year mark. He is talking generally about the industry of illustration but the principle of how long it takes is the same with building your independent art empire outside of industry.
My students create a five year marketing blueprint in the AAB workshop. This way you begin to shape your career long term instead of leaving it up to fate.
Peace
Greg
REGISTRATION CLOSED
I am honored to be presenting a workshop at the historic Westbeth in NYC.Located in West Greenwich Village, Westbeth has provided affordable living and working spaces for artists and their families since 1970. The workshop is open to all artists. I guarantee that any participant that faithfully applies the principles learned in the class will sell more art in the coming year than they did the year before or I will refund their registration fee.
$295
$150 For Westbeth residents!
Westbeth (Community Room) 55 Bethune Street New York City, 10014 212- 691-1500
Read the REGISTER page before signing up.
Learn more about the workshop on the
page. See what art professors, professionals, and college students are saying
When you finish this seminar you will be empowered to take any success you have now to another level. See you soon!
Greg Spalenka
Creating a website can be done many ways. I recommend using Wordpress however there are other options that can give you more power and flexibility in designing what you want to see. HTML is one of those ways. It can appear daunting and feel like learning another language, but never fear, here is a great website for HTML beginners with easy tutorials and its free! It's called, Don't Fear the Internet. Check it out to gain at least a rudimentary understanding of how this internet code works.
I am presenting a three day workshop May 15 (Tues), 16 (Wed.), 17 (Thurs), before the May 18-20 Spectrum Live event in Kansas City, MO. This is a great opportunity for all artists to learn the Artist As Brand principles and then see how it applies at an event like Spectrum Live, where I will have a booth too!Which artists know how to present themselves in a unique and professional manner? Who stands out? What can you do that nobody else is doing? How to present yourself at a shows like Spectrum Live is only a small part of what you will learn in this course. You will be empowered and prepared to manifest your own art empire. Get ready to see your professional art career from a very different perspective.And receive a free 3 day pass to Spectrum Live!Read the REGISTER page before signing up.Learn more about the workshop on theABOUT page.See what art professors, professionals, and college students are sayinghere.
The Facebook Machine
Lori Taylor has a philosophy based on 3 simple principles when it comes to social marketing-
1. Popularity is vanity, sales are sanity.2. If content is King, then context is Queen; you must be relevant and extraordinary to go viral.3. Going viral is not an outcome, it’s a happening.You Don’t Have To Love Facebook, Just Like It
This post is for people looking for real strategy and tactics in the Facebook world. Check it out.To your marketing awesomeness,Greg
Handmade Bookkeeping Spreadsheet 2.0 - Bookkeeping for Etsy Sellers
For anyone who uses Etsy to sell any of their work might want to check out this bookkeeping program. It is a one product solution to all of your bookkeeping needs—specifically for handmade artists. I have not used it as I have a bookkeeper to do this work for me, but have heard good things. For those who are starting out and cannot afford a bookkeeper right away, this is a good way to organize your business.
This robust bookkeeping system allows you to track the following data:
- Raw Materials- Finished Inventory- Monthly Sales- Monthly Expenses- Marketing data- Social Media statistics- Cash/Bank/PayPal Accounts- Sales Tax- IRS Mileage- Bill Tracker- COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) Calculator- Contacts- And more!Not only is the data entry created in a way that is very user friendly, but it has relevant and insightful reporting that is created automatically!- Reports for each month (34 graphical reports to choose from)- Reports for the year (155 graphical reports to choose from)
Remember your business is as important as your art.
Greg
The Beerhorst Family
The Beerhorst Family is pure Artist As Brand. In fact Rick Beerhorst says the family is a brand! Take a look at this article on Etsy and the video and see what I mean.
Empowerment People!
Greg
JAMMING FOR 38 YEARS!
Phil Yeh has been making comics for a long time. He has written and illustrated over 80 published books. Phil founded Cartoonists Across America & The World to do something about the literacy crisis on the planet. His group of artists have painted more than 1700 murals in 49 states in the United States as well as more than a dozen countries. A documentary film "Planet Literacy" is in the works and will cover much of the 25 year global tour promoting literacy and the arts.One of his most popular comics is, "The Winged Tiger" series. of for January 2009. See more of his work HERE.Phil also publishes a FREE magazine that celebrates the art spirit called, "Uncle Jam." Started in Long Beach in 1973 it is filled with interviews of well known artists like Moebius, Daniel Merriam, Kadir Nelson, as well as writers and performing artists. Check out the newest issue HERE.I salute Phil for his passion to produce his own creative properties, but also to his commitment to other artists and the people they inspire. I will interview Phil in the future to find out more about the history of his work and the passion that has driven him to manufacture a free magazine for 38 years.PeaceGreg
I am honored to be presenting a workshop at the historic Westbeth in NYC.Located in West Greenwich Village, Westbeth has provided affordable living and working spaces for artists and their families since 1970. The workshop is open to all artists. I guarantee that any participant that faithfully applies the principles learned in the class will sell more art in the coming year than they did the year before or I will refund their registration fee.
$295
$150 For Westbeth residents!
REGISTRATION CLOSED
REGISTER BY LEAVING YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATIONHERE.
Westbeth (Community Room) 55 Bethune Street New York City, 10014 212- 691-1500
Read the REGISTER page before signing up.
Learn more about the workshop on the
page.See what art professors, professionals, and college students are saying
When you finish this seminar you will be empowered to take any success you have now to another level.See you soon!
Greg Spalenka
This Saturday August 6 at 10:00
Free! Artist As Brand LectureSponsored by the Alameda Writer’s GroupGlendale Library222 E. Harvard St.Glendale, CA 91205818.548.2030
LESSONS LEARNED
Experiences are going to be good and bad depending on your perspective, but if we focus on the lessons learned we can always view it through a positive lens. Every San Diego Comic Convention since my first in 1974 has taught me something. In the beginning Comic Con was all about fans appreciating comics and the creators behind the art of these stories. Writers, artists, publishers, merchandisers, all gathered for this large show and tell of popular art culture, to be seen as well as trade and sell their products. Comic Con grew on this simple premise.
The film and television industries were always present at the event but more on the fringes. Over the last decade the tables have turned and promotions for the large media conglomerates have taken center stage, literally. This has changed the fan base. Serious collectors that flocked to the event are becoming rare. I was elated to see Mr. Katz, one of my best patrons stop by the booth. When I asked why he had not been to the Con in nine years he waved his hand toward the FOX and Warner Brothers islands and said, "I could do without all this."
Ric Meyers (writer and presenter of the Kung Fu extravaganza at Comic Con) mentioned "the artists and merchandisers are being pushed towards the walls, and disappearing into them." Many of my favorite artists do not come to Con anymore because it is too expensive.
This year a group of Pixar artists started an event called “Tr!ckster” across the street from Con in response to what they consider an impersonal giant. It's fascinating that a group of artists who make their livings strapped to a corporate entity are putting together alternate events to Comic Con. This highlights the dilemma I see in the corporate world all the time. Artists become addicted to the salaries they receive working for industry, yet yearn for independence. The challenge is you have very little time to do your own work once you are locked into that system.
The shining light in all this is that your fans, your patrons and collectors will stick with you wherever you are. Some of my collectors who I met at Comic Con years ago stopped by to see me and purchased art (one is the Batgirl painting above that I worked on at the booth). I love my supporters, they make the trip to San Diego worth while. Also seeing my artist friends at this event is enjoyable.There are other conventions popping up around the U.S. I was speaking with Arnie and Cathy Fenner about Spectrum Live to be held next May in Kansas City. It is an event that is focused on the artist. I will be there with a booth and as well as presenting an Artist As Brand workshop! Yes, stay tuned, Spectrum and Artist As Brand are aligning.What did I learn this year? Comic Con is becoming less of a place to sell and more of a venue to promote. The big question is if it's worth it? That being said my Crescoptiscope from The Visions of Vespertina was a hit and brought many curious eyes to the booth. I wish you could have all seen it in action. Had to be there!
For those of you who could not make it to San Diego, I have a few Masters of Science Fiction and Fantasy Art left. See some of the bookhere. I am in it with Brom, Kinuko Craft, Dan Dos Santos, Donato, Charles Vess, Stephan Martiniere, James Gurney, and more. It is an awesome collection, with insightful commentary by the artists. $25.00, shipping included. You can purchase it at Amazon for the same price but mine comes signed.
To your art empire,
Greg
The Illustrators Journal is the brainchild of Lon Levin. It's a new magazine about the illustration world. There are articles about empowerment, marketing wisdom, and the other facets of jumping into a career of art. I am interviewed in it too! Check it out here.Peace allGreg
Director Spalenka
When I decided to publish my first illustrated novel, The Visions of Vespertina,Kickstarter.com came to mind to garner support. This online crowd funding website has really taken off and now their are others to increase the competition. I like the way Kickstarter supports creative projects. It is amazing how well different projects have done through the help of this funding platform.
In a nutshell you pitch your product to the world and see who is interested enough to donate or pre-order your art, movie, book, etc. You offer rewards for specific amounts of product or extras. If you reach your desired financial goal by your deadline the funds are released to you. A video is a helpful tool to perk up interest. The quality of these infomercials range from sophisticated to doh!
I wanted to create a "trailer" for my book and so decided to film actors and my art using green screen technology. If all goes well I should have it up on Kickstarter in about two weeks. I will keep you informed. So for all you courageous Artist As Brand® (yes I now have a registered trademark!) entrepreneurs, crowd funding is a viable solution to jump start the production on your labor of love.
Peace
Greg
PRIORITIZING YOUR TIME
Managing time is an illusion. Time has it's own schedule. We can only work with it. What matters most is how we prioritize our time.
This means focusing on what is important in our lives. I look for a balance of mind, body, and spirit. I meditate morning and night, eat simple nutritious meals, workout a few times a week, and prefer to fill my mind with inspirational knowledge. Creating my personal art projects brings me a sense of well being. Living responsibly, yet passionately.
In the context of our career and work it is the same. If you go to a job that schedule is pretty much set for you . When you freelance or own a business, prioritizing your time is crucial. Having the discipline to meet your deadlines and remain on track with costumer service is necessary to your success. Yet there are times when deadlines loom and parts of your business demand full attention, putting other facets of the game plan on hold. A little crunch time now and again is normal, but if excessive can burn you out.
I am premiering the first episode of my "Vespertina" books at Comic Con in July, so I will be going into the cave to finish this project. Go to mySpalenka Eyeblog for more info. I will create a kickstarter campaign for this project so you can see how crowd funding can be used as a promotional tool. If you do not see much activity here for the next two months this is why. The online workshops will be ongoing, but before the end of May will be the best time to reach me.
Keep making art everyone!
Greg