[spooge demon]

I am having a show of prints on the 19th on Maui. Stop by if you are on the island and there is nothing good on TV! Free food and booze and Mary Page and her guitar. Come flick food at the paintings! A few more details on goodbrush.com.

Sorry bout the "master(bator) Hollywood artist" crap. I have to get more comfortable with shameless self promotion and barnstorming the truth if I am to be successful with this area of art marketing.

[P-Rik]

Yep i have seen it on your webite yesterday! I WANT TO GO, I WANT TO GO.... but i can't!! It's a shame... i like free food!! ;p

Be sure that the gallery will be not enough big to welcome people!!

And please, shoot some photo!!! I want to see that graeat events!

Enjoy MrCraig enjoy!
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[Lunatique]

What printing method?

Better get used to the whole shameless thing. Before you know it, you'll have assistants putting paint blobs on glicee prints. Have you seen how fast Pino glicee prints sell? It does cheapens the whole image of the guy, but at least he's far more talented then Kinkade.

[Tomasis]

I have time but no money

[spyroteknik]

photo's, yesyes, am sure it will go down well craig, would love to be in a position to fly over

[gLitterbug]

Now this is very interesting, I�d actually fly over just for it if I had the money.

I wonder if you would mind telling us what is the incentive and reasons for this? I think it�s great, I�d just be really interested if you plan on switching careers to becoming a self-promoted artist only?

Personally I always thought you did not go that route because it would mean to get into the spotlight and have to do, as you called it, "shameless self promotion". Did you read a book on how to handle sudden and extreme amounts of exposure and stardom that made you change your mind?

Sorry for poking so much, but this really fascinates me, because it�s a very surprising move that I would not have thought to be likely at all.

P.S.: Is the date 19th now or 21st as your site claims?

[balistic]

Congrats spooge. As a lighter, that piece on the card has always been one of my favorites of yours.

Don't go getting all legitimate on us though, you digital illustrator . . .
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[Gort]

Legitimate hell - I've been waiting for those "for sale" prints for some time now, Craig.


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[watmough]

yay spooge!

[Chruser]

You should set up an E3-esque Sijun booth in a dark, remote corner of the showrooms for various get-together-fun/collaborations/machinations-in-flying-dark-castles.
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[Max]

Sounds great! I'd really love to come. No money and no time though.
Anyways, Congratulations!!! I hope you enjoy it

[eyewoo]

Truly wonderful... If I had the money, I'd make the flight from Philadelphia... really would. Maybe next time...
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[spooge demon]

Date is 21st, not the 19th as stated above.


p-rik, more like hide behind the potted palm for me. I was seriously thinking of hiring someone, maybe French, to be me, maybe a male model, bout 6 foot 4, gorgeous teeth and a tight butt, and I could coach him with little tidbits like "I waz tinking of your gloriuz azz as I painted dis...."

lunatique, they are Giclees done locally by a guy who knows what he is doing. I spent a lot of time getting them as close to acceptable as I could.

If any of you have gone to a touristy area you have probably seen a bunch of galleries grouped together that sell art to people with more money than "taste." The prices are extraordinary. And in some cases they are crooks. I have seen what is sold as a Haring or Chagall or Matisse print for 20 grand. It is worth about 50 bucks, beside the thousand dollar frame. There is a little sign below the counter (well hidden but you can find it) telling you to buy what you like, regardless of the "investment" value. I suppose this has come up in past lawsuits and now protects the gallery to a certain degree.

The tactics and angles and pitches are far more interesting than the art. And it works wonders.

You might ask why would I want to swim in these polluted waters? As I have said many times, I am an illustrator, and this is another form of illustration. I can paint pirates for a game company and I am too good for these galleries? Hah... So some soul searching ensued and I came to the conclusion that it is no different. The one big difference is I will have to indulge in some heavy handed self promotion to be successful at this. If it doesn't work, nothing lost.

The only point of this show really is to talk to the other gallery owners and operators and see if there is an angle for my stuff. We will know a lot more after the opening.

Glitterbug, see above, but I am not switching careers at all, just seeing if I can expand it. I did not read any books on self promotion, but it's no big deal if things go well or not.

Balistic, yes, some people see this as a step down, some a step up. I see it as all the same. I am an illustrator. And not just in the strict definition of the term, i.e. I make images that support other media. I am an illustrator by taste, I can't shed the skin. And I don't really want to. I like bud light not white wine and I don't want to change!

Eyewoo, I know that you have been poking about similar markets yourself, with not as much success as you would like. Maybe I am wrong about this, correct me if I am. As I remember, the galleries and market that you were after were a little more serious than these galleries. These people see themselves as the salemen they are, no pretension at all. They want something they can sell to upper Middle America. The more "serious galleries" are the same underneath, but with a layer of pretension shoveled on.


Random blather--


The strange thing is you know how much the pretension of serious artists bothers me, and I don't take things too seriously (I always have thought my art to have a little self-parody, at about the James Bond level). So these galleries are really a perfect match. Tasteless, yes! That's me too! We should get along fine! Can you sell it?

I really would encourage everyone else here who is looking to make a living at some art related field to take more that attitude. Yes you have to do the work and have some kind of quality content, but you have to find where where it is valued and unique. The different marketing strategies that I have seen are genius. 20 artists proofs, highlighters, etc, someone thought up all this stuff, and it makes money.

If you think it is crass, that is something you have to deal with. And it did by not taking myself or my work so seriously.

Becoming what I see as a better artist, such as getting better as a painter, learning the head, learning color etc. is a very separate activity from selling.

The nobility of the starving artist is a load. Starving is not proof of value. Most famous artists and musicians were successful in their time, the reverse were isolated incidences.

I like money, lots of it, and you do too if you are honest about it. I live like a college student, because the usual trappings of money don't interest me. But I am after security and freedom which is way cooler than a Porsche.

So be as creative in your marketing as you are in the art. I am trying, but I am not as good at it as I would like.

But one thing I will not do is try to sell to someone who can't afford it. I could see a grandmother walk into a gallery and say she hocked her teeth to "invest" in a print so she could put her granddaughter through college. That is my nightmare. These things are worth wildly different amounts to different people. But I will not misrepresent them as investments. If you want the art because you like it, great. There are lots of artists who I would pay a pretty penny for, if I had such a thing, because I like the art. Buying art as an investment is not wise, unless you know exactly what and where and how. A Thomas Kincade or a spoogedemon is not an investment and I will not represent it as such, not even a little. I suppose that is where I draw the line. And it could eventually stop me from proceeding with certain lines of retailing.

[Lunatique]

Heh, yeah. I figured out that there was nothing romantic about starving when I was 24 (I was doing comic books then). Right after I came to that realization, I decided to whore myself out to the video game industry. Best decision I ever made for my career, but one that I'm going to make sure I can get out of. I'm just not an office person. Elena's convinced me to go back to traditional painting and try my luck at the galleries, so that's the current game plan.

A few questions:

As I understand it, giclee prints differ from normal ones because it uses more colors, and are archival. Any other differences?

Did the gallery people have any reservations about selling giclee prints of digital artworks? If they don't sell well due to the fact they are digital, would you keep trying or just switch to traditional painting for the galleries?

You've been approached to have "The Art of Craig Mullins" type books published, but you don't seem to be interested at this point. Is there a reason why?

[Sumaleth]

spooge, I think it's great that you're giving this a go. If it didn't cost 3 months rent, I'd be flying over to have a look.

Please remember to take photographs of the event.

Oh, and then show them to us.

--

It's interesting how energetic you get when talking about Wyland, Kinkade, and the rest of that pop-folk ilk. They really do appear to get under your nails. Is it the high prices, or just the fact that type of art is popular that bothers you?

I've never been able to make any sense of the price of art. I figure the value of a piece of art is whatever someone will pay for it; here's no way to slap a price tag on something and say that is the true worth of that piece. Pop-folk art seems to make people happy, so I try not to let it bother me.

Trivia: after getting back from Hawaii I wished I had bought a Wyland book just to commemorate my trip there so I ordered one from their web site.... wait for it...... I unknowingly ordered a book of Wyland poetry.
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[gLitterbug]

Luna - read up on giclee here

Spooge - Thanks for your thoughts on this, they pretty much describe how I thought it�d work, even though I do have no experience on it myself.
I�m sure you are totally right about the fact that investing in art is nothing for an amateur in that field, but then is investing in anything else different? If you don�t know your stuff you probably end up with less money than before.
What I do wonder about is what you think turns somebody�s art into a good investment? Is it because he is so good at marketing himself he becomes a star and the demand for his works rises? Or is it the people who discover some formerly unknown artist (maybe even dead) who does not have alot of art out there which is now suddenly high in price because everybody wants to have it? I�m pretty sure the reason is not the outstanding quality of the work most of the time, just as you said that it�s not the reason when art sells well.

Some more questions: How are you going to handle your print numbers? Limited Editions with certificates of Authenticity? Have as many prints as needed?
Do you think that having a high-quality limited edition run and at the same time an unlimited but smaller-sized lower quality run contradicts itself and throws off customers that would be interested in getting the expensive ones?

[Mikko K]

[balistic]

Craig, if you have to start wearing a beret and a turtleneck, we'll understand.

Sell some pick-shuhs.
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[Lunatique]

glitter - I know what a giclee is, as I've seen quite a bit of them, but I can't figure out why they are so damn expensive. Using archival ink and more colors of them don't justify the hefty price tag. The ones I've seen all have a tiny bit of raised paint applied to them--but that doesn't explain why photography giclees are also so damn expensive.

Sumaleth - I think it's more or less the lack of scruples associated with the marketing that bugs spooge. The little old lady thing is the perfect example. Craig does seem to get a bit excited when it comes to Kinkade, doesn't he?

[watmough]

luna,alot of time they print on watercolour paper(arches usually)=pretty expensive.a 20x30 sheet of 300lb arches paper is about 13 bucks.

[skullmonkeys]

That is really cool. Congrats. I wish I could be there.
Be sure to take some photos for those who aren't able to be there(?)

[Gort]

[eyewoo]

Spooge, I've pretty much stopped poking around the idea of selling via galleries. It helped that a good illustration agent took me on and is keeping me busy... which also implies why I was poking around the gallery idea in the first place - making money - which also demonstrates how essentiall naive and ignorant I remain at 64...
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[Lunatique]

[watmough]

lol,luna-no clue.
50 bucks is expensive for me,hehe.

[gLitterbug]

So what do you recommend Luna? That they sell their prints for less even when they can get away with that pricetag?

I asked about the price of some printing for my last painting and its gonna be a bit over 100 Euros I think to get it printed on Canvas. Now how would you set a price for that then? It�s a digital piece, so it has no original, but what if I set it to a run of 1 piece only? What if I set it to 100? When does it start being too pricey?

I tended to underrate my work and all, but lately I think that is worse than sticking to whatever price you set yourself and just add a bit of "magic" to it and call yourself a great artist with a vision and whatnot. Sure alot of people will go WTF on high pricetags (even if they aren�t that high if you count up the work you did on a painting/sculpture), but I think that is not the audience you want to go for anyways. People that cut some print out of some magazine to frame it and put it on their wall and sneer at prices of high-quality prints from a still living young artist are not what I think I will ever sell to.

I think Spooge is completely right with the old lady, after all that would be just like robbing the money off her bank account that she saved up for her whole life. But if someone thinks that paying 5000 bucks for a giclee print of my work is not too much, because he likes it enough to justfiy spending that amount on it, I�m sure to be glad to take it. That doesn�t mean I think that all art should be expensive, but there is no use of selling your art at low prices if you can�t even live off it. Designer clothes and furniture are hellishly expensive too, but I never hear anyone demanding that they reduce their price, because after all that is part of what makes it exclusive. People like exclusive things, makes them feel special.

[Lunatique]

[Greensun]

I don't live on maui, but be sure to take some pics, I would love to see it
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[jr]

[P-Rik]

Spooge wrote : "more like hide behind the potted palm for me. I was seriously thinking of hiring someone, maybe French, to be me, maybe a male model, bout 6 foot 4, gorgeous teeth and a tight butt, and I could coach him with little tidbits like "I waz tinking of your gloriuz azz as I painted dis...." "

Ha ha ha!! Funny Mr Spooge!! )

Be sure i will think about you hide behind your palm the 21st on Hawaii !!

Btw, I really learn a lot about your speedpaint! Never, but never stop to post there!

Have a nice week Demon Illustrator! and good luck!!
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