note - (Most of you know I can’t spell and that my grammar and punctuation is borderline retarded So please bear with me. the usual editting staff didn’t have the time to look this over before I posted it)
Hi guys !You probably all know that the most common e-mail or comment that I get is: wow cool stuff didn’t know you existed.
The days of try are dead and it’s 2010 time to get my finger out and get noticed!
So I need your help, (and I’m not afraid or ashamed to say it).
I need to get the word out there; press the big shiny red button on the promotion machine!
I will need to rely a bit on fans to spread the word – So if you or anyone else knows of a site/ forum or a comic news site that you think I should be posting to please tell me! Shoot me a tweet/ e-mail or even better post a comment here!
But I know the basics:
Advertise! (I’ve started a meager campaign through project wonderful)
and
Go to out of town conventions!
And to this end I’m committed to spending the time and other resources to get on top of both of these areas the only thing I lack is the doe! the green the how you say…Money!
(Actually i had to pull out of going to C2E2 because of lack of funds.)
So I talked fund raising strategies over with a few of the biggest brains I know and they gave me three great suggestions on how to raise some doe to get to the shows:
1 Do Commissions and a series of Pin-ups of popular characters done by me and put them up for sale or auction!
Now this may not be the number one idea but it’s the one I can get started on right away and I know how to make a bit of an event of it! I’ve been doing live streaming of my drawing and painting sessions for a few weeks now over at – http://www.ustream.tv/channel/fresh-and-tasty
My plan is to make a few of the sessions be of me doing these pin-ups. So I’m putting out an all call for Commissions of a super hero or iconic nature and yes even your cheesecake! If you go to the shop section you can purchase a commission and send me a description and any specific refs. Otherwise I’ll come up with a list of characters to start drawing and start auctions. (I’ll post updates and record some of the sessions for those of you that can’t view the live sessions.)
2 A fund raiser event with – custom toys, live art, and music!
I think this is a great idea ^__^ I am prototyping my first figure right now and I think a live event as a launch party would be the perfect thing I think this is a stage 2 event and should be planned for the summer. So as I see it I need to recruit some people who really know how to throw a kick ass party get them to help me select a venue and put a plan together while I finish up some more paintings and do up some more custom toys. I’ll be looking into getting a few local stores to help me sponsor the shindig and I know some people I’m going to contact about putting the event together the right way but if you have any ideas or suggestions shoot me an e-mail!!
3- put the question out to everyone Admittedly there where some other great ideas but one that kept coming up was to put the question out to everyone and see what other genius ideas float out. And my readership and fan base consist of some scary smart and clever folk So I’m asking you to post your ideas here or e-mail me! And you know I’m a rather simple creature so chances are your going to mention something I’ve never heard of and you’ll have me singing your praise till the end of days.
A problem I have often tried to think through myself. I’ll be very interested in the details of your efforts and results you hopefully will get and with which methods.
I think that method #1 you listed might prove to be mine field of rights issues, unfortunately. I’m not sure though as I didn’t look into it too much since my art is more photography/remix based and so commissions don’t make a lot of sense. Personally I have been trying to think of ways to design shwag that is more appealing and more closely linked to the art in some iconic way, rather than just a decal slapped on a mug, but haven’t gotten that train moving yet. The trouble with fundraisers is that you can’t just keep doing them, they’re like a rare boost you can get — can be crucial though early on, right? So good idea. Also it’s socialising based on your art with people in a position to actually physically just pay you for things on impulse. Hmm… now I’m thinking Fundraiser.
Thanks for the fast reply man!
From what I know of private commissions is that your doing a drawing for a fan and there are no issues. I don’t know that doing a drawing of a character and then selling it on e-bay has any issues.I think I’ve seen tones of people do this in the past and I’ve seen tones of stuff in printed sketchbooks that simply mention that they are not the copyright holder. Also I believe anything you’ve worked on before is fair game for sketchbooks. In my case that would mean Star Wars And Marvel are good to go. So With a little research I might be able to put together a sketchbook of fun stuff to help raise funds. And i was thinking of collecting some cheesecake pinups into a little booklet. All depends on the demand people express.
Good luck with it man I hope it really looked out for you. Maybe look into stuff like Kickstarter too I know that Jason Scott guy who does textfiles.com was really successful with it but what he does i more like apublic service for geeks than art. I don’t know my mind keeps spinning. One of these days it’s gonna find *something* shiny! 87