Gratitude 2012 Edition

Hi all.  This is our annual Thanksgiving / Unthanksgiving / National Day Of Mourning post, where we take some time to focus on something that is too often overlooked: gratitude.

So one of the authors Monkey reads, Chris Guillebeau, wrote a great post based on the writing of a 14th-Century Sufi poet named Hafiz.  In it, Chris talks about the difference between dropping keys and building cages.

This post pretty much changed the way we think about life. We highly recommend reading it, but to sum it up, you can either build cages (kicking people down), or you can drop keys (empowering people).

If you're asking "Why help everyone else out and create more competition?" you're looking at this all wrong.  You can try to eliminate the competition and create a bunch of enemies, or you can help people out and build a League of Badasses.

So the obvious take-away is that you should be a Keydropper and help other out.  However, when you're in a mentality of lack, you often feel like you can't afford to give.  While we're not suggesting you give your last $5 bill to a homeless person when you're struggling with paying your rent, we're talking about being grateful for all the good things going on and giving away stuff that you can afford.

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In life, we can focus on stuff like being hundreds of thousands in student loan and credit card debt.  We could focus on our crazy families, or on how life wasn't fair because of XYZ.  We can focus on low balance bank accounts, or the calls from collection agencies.  We can focus on the messy desks, the smelly buses, the lack of recognition, the lack of XYZ.  We can live in a world that's lacking...happiness.  Or, we can change our mindset.

We can focus on the humble roof over our heads.  The friends we have.  The fact that we don't have to worry about drone attacks or airstrikes killing us or our loved ones.  We can be grateful for the fact that we even have the opportunity to chase our dreams (however improbable or realistic they might be), and that we always have a choice of how to live our lives. We have the internet!  By framing our own worlds in a lens of gratitude, we can feel empowered ourselves.  We can then afford to drop keys.

If you're sad because you only sold a few items at a craft fair, you're not realizing that people just paid money for your work.  If you are bummed because you just had a breakup, you're not realizing that it's better to find out that you weren't going to work out now rather than twenty years from now.  While we're not advocating that you sugar-coat everything and just lead some blindly optimistic life, you do have to put things into perspective.  Failure is rarely fatal, and the human spirit is surprisingly resilient - after all, you're still here reading this, dreaming of achieving greatness in what you love.  What you fear probably isn't as terrible as you might think.  Learn from your mistakes, and press on.

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By living with a lens of gratitude, we can afford to drop keys.  Mentor someone who asks for help.  Connect friends who you think could mutually benefit from knowing each other.  When someone offers advice, give it.  There are a lot of things you can do for other people that don't require the loss of your own assets.

Just remember that while you can drop as many keys as you want, people still have to open their own cages, and that's not something you can force upon them (because then, you're really doing it for yourself and not for them).  We know it's hard, especially when your own world can look bleak, but if you constantly try to give, you'll find that people will want to give in return.

We have personally found that the more keys you give, the more you get.  So this Thursday, take time to reflect on all the good stuff that you do have, and think about how you can drop some keys.

PS - For all you artists out there who want to make a living off your work - Monkey has written a Marketing Guide for artists.  He usually sells his Marketing 101 for Artists: How to Sell Art Without Selling Out for $29, but in the spirit of dropping keys, we're doing a limited time (now through 11:59pm PST on Monday, Nov. 26th) offer of the guide for just $4.99 (aka more than 80% off).

If you want the guide, make sure you get it while it's on sale and go through this special link (that will vanish soon).

Don't Hold Anything Back

Monkey talks a lot about business sometimes, but even more important over the course of your entire life is the art itself.  Too often we might focus on what is going to take us to the path of the "professional" artist the fastest, when we ignore what might be best for our inner artist in the long run.

We often talk about the "hustle" and the drive to make sure that you get your art out there.  We talk about marketing (Monkey even wrote a book on selling your art), but we want to take this opportunity to emphasize on how important it is to nourish your inner artist's soul.

Yes, we all need to make money, and yes, if we can make money off our art, then we can do more of what we love.  That's why Monkey is always on your case to get your hustle on.  BUT!  The sneaky seemingly perplexing truth of it all is that you have to do more of what you love regardless of your circumstances.  Jobs and opportunities and all that stuff follows if you just do what you love.

Sure, this may sound new-age hocus-pocusy wackiness, but it's true.  The one minor huge caveat is that you can't hold anything back.  If painting is what you love, and you're trying to do a specific style, or if you're trying to stay focused on one single thing (when you don't really want to focus), then you're holding back.  If you feel this overwhelming urge to paint an elephant playing soccer but you have to finish your homework, you're holding back.  If you desperately need to paint something dark and painful from your past, but are afraid to, you're holding back.  If you let people tell you "you're too ____," or "you're not  ____ enough," or "your work is missing ____," and you believe them, you're holding something back.

So you've got to take your brush in your hand and let it explode.  Don't hold anything back.  If you need to attack the canvas, do so.  If you need to coax out the art with a gentle touch, do so.  Whatever form it takes, by embracing that uniqueness, that essence that is undeniably YOU, let it out.  For better or worse, by inhibiting what you really want to do, you'll never really reach the heights that you were meant to soar to.

So while you may feel the pressure to get your hustle on, that is even more of a reason why you need to embrace your inner artist and really let it rip.  Don't hold back.  We know it's scary as hell, but if you're going to dive in, you have to dive deep and really let yourself explode into the awesome artist that we know you are.

So get out there and don't hold anything back.

SF Zine Fest - Our First Show

This weekend we'll be vending at the 11th Annual San Francisco Zine Fest.  Held in the SF County Fair Building at 9th and Lincoln, the Zine Fest always holds a special place in our hearts.

The Zine Fest was our first foray into any sort of vending situation, and we only got into it because Monkey's manager at his retail job was the chief organizer.  Monkey started helping out organizing the event, and soon Monkey + Seal was born.  We really ended up coming up with the name in a sort of spur-of-the-moment panic as we realized we had to turn in something for registration.  

When we first started, we didn't have shirts, or prints, or ties.  We didn't accept credit cards, or have originals for sale.  Heck, at the time, we didn't really even know how to paint.  We managed to get a stamp made, and literally stamped all our business cards for that show.  

All we had were two mini-comics and two zines. And a few left-over buttons. We still sell some of them, and they've sort of become Monkey + Seal classics: The Story of Seal, and The Bad Date Zine, Vol. 1.  Seal finished her comic the night before, and we ended up going to the 24-hour FedEx Kinko's down in the financial district around 2am in order to print and trim the comics in time.

We didn't have a tablecloth, so we grabbed a big piece of green felt that we originally bought to make stuffed monsters.  Now, our bright green tablecloth (along with the bright, saturated neckties that we sell) is usually how people find us.  

Monkey assisted in a bookbinding workshop with the amazing Aaron Cohick of New Lights Press, his first workshop teaching experience ever.  Now Monkey has taught screenprinting, bookbinding, and is teaching a Marketing for Artists class this year.  He's also gone on to run the workshop program at Big Umbrella Studios.  

We've also met a lot of great people at Zine Fest, and we think you can really feel the communal, supportive atmosphere at the Fest.  I think among artists, there is generally a supportive vibe, but at some of the bigger shows more money can be at stake and sometimes a competitive vibe and big egos can creep in.  

So while its too late to get a table (or half table) at this year's Fest, we highly recommend getting on the mailing list so you can be first to sign-up next year.  There's also no jury (unlike a lot of the bigger shows), so it's good chance to get your art out there in a safe space. 

So we hope you join us at the Zine Fest this year (this is our fifth year vending) to share in a bit of the creative magic.  Come and get some ideas, see how little you need to get going pursing your dream.  And of course, there's always Monkey's Marketing for Artists Workshop Saturday at 1pm to look forward to as well.  It's free!

Hope to see you all there!

Getting Your Work Out There - Part 3

Monkey drew this to be funny, but now he's seriously considering investing in a squid suit..

Today, we wanted to talk about the importance of getting your work out there into the world. For more on the getting yourself psyched up to show, check out Part 1, and for the business side of why you should get out there, check out Part 2. This is Part 3 (of 3) and will be about some practical ways to actually have your work seen.

While craft fairs/art shows, comic conventions are cool ways to get out there and sell some stuff, they do cost money to register for booths. If you really want to get out there though, these really are the best ways to do it. If you can't afford it now, try to save up, or sell art to friends, or even apply for artist grants. If you aren't ready because you don't have anything to sell, we recommend signing up for an event a while off, that way you can make a concrete deadline for those that need them.

If showing at one of these events isn't for you, however, there are a lot of ways that you can start getting the word out, most of them for very little cost. You could start a blog of your art for free on a site like blogger (what we currently use), wordpress (what we're going to migrate to eventually), or flickr or tumblr. There are lots of options and besides the cost of a computer and access to the internet (which you can access for free at most libraries), are all free.

Ideally, if you want to make a profession out of your art, you'll eventually want a website with your own personal URL or something, as it looks more professional. To start out, if you can afford it, I would even go and register a domain that you want (ie. rickkitagawa.com, eveskylar.com, monkeyandseal.com, you get the idea), and you can even have it just redirect to your blogspot or tumblr account.

An example of this domain forwarding is Monkey's collaboration with his friend Matt Na Sal - their project can be found over at www.thelocustfeeders.com, but is actually just a tumblr blog.

Other key ways of getting out there is just having business cards made. You'd be surprised how often we ask artists for their card, and they don't have any. Make sure your name, website/blog, and your email and phone are all on there so they can get a hold of you! Monkey and Seal have both had business opportunities come up to a year later of giving someone a business card. It's a quick and easy way for people to find you, and you can get them printed quite inexpensively at someplace like PsPrint. If you're going to use them, we always appreciate you using our affiliate link here, but if not, no worries. You can get them even less expensive at Vistaprint, but we don't recommend them as their quality isn't quite up to snuff.

Along with business cards, if your budget can handle it, print up some postcards with your work on it. People always love free stuff, and if you leave them in coffee shops, stores, etc. (just make sure you get permission first - you don't want the owners dumping your cards), you'll find your audience as people who like your style will gravitate towards your cards, pick one up, and most likely will check out your website, later if not sooner.

Another way to show off your work in by participating in online forums and art communities. DeviantArt is one of the largest, and if you're into concept art, conceptart.org is unparalleled. Most of these communities have weekly/monthly challenges to get your inspired, and winners have gone on even to be hired by other companies! You can also get your weekly illustration topic on at Illustration Friday. Fun!

While all that online activity is free, once you're more confident in exposing your work, you should think about entering into contests. While there are a lot of contests out there that are sort of sketchy (ie. high entry fees for little-known contests), entry into annuals such as Spectrum and Society of Illustrator's Annual are big deals, and can pay back their entry fees tenfold - that is, if you can get in. Competition is quite stiff - you'll be competing with illustrators from around the globe - but it is frequently used by art directors to scout up-and-coming talent.

If you're not quite there yet, there are a lot of other ways to get your work seen. You can always show your portfolio to various coffee shops and bars to see if they'd be willing to hang some of your work. In San Francisco, the opportunities are nearly endless.

For those with organizational experience or are up for a challenge, you could always curate/organize/promote your own show. Monkey + Seal created Paper Hat Productions just for that reason - we wanted to get out and have really fun, super packed shows that people would remember. Seal ended up selling some of her originals as well as being commissioned for a personal piece, while Monkey has sold some paintings and picked up graphic design gigs through it. That said, it is quite a bit of work to put on a show, but if you are determined and willing to work hard, much can be gained from it.

Of course, once you get enough work (or you could always collaborate with a large group of your artist friends), you can always publish a zine or book about your art. Print-on-demand sites like Lulu and Blurb (two of the largest) make it easy to publish your own art book. If anything, you can use them to professionally print one or two copies of your portfolio. Having your own hard-bound, professionally printed portfolio can never hurt. If you're on a tight budget, you can always make color photo copies, staple it together, and sell it.

Finally, you can't underestimate the power of family and friends. Between facebook, twitter, myspace, and whatever other social media sites you and your friends use to keep in touch, make sure that you're sharing your links. Of course, you don't want to turn your FB wall into a billboard, but updates that tell a bit of backstory to your work will intrigue people who see your post and if they like it can share your links. Also, if you have family and friends who are supportive of your art, make sure that you keep them in the loop to what you're up to. We are fortunate to have some great networking-type friends who say "oh yeah, I met this animator at a business conference, let me give you their info."

So that's it. There are probably a lot more ways of getting your stuff out there (please leave suggestions we forgot in the comments for others to read!), but those are some of the basics, and if you work everything on the list (or even 50% of the list), you'll most definitely start making waves and people will start to recognize you and your style. Thanks for following along in our series, and if you'd like more (or less) multiple-part entries like this in the future, let us know!

Getting Your Work Out There - Part 2

Today, we wanted to talk about the importance of getting your work out there into the world. This is more about the business reasons why you need to get out there. Stay tuned for Monday's post which is part 3, which will cover some practical ways to actually have your work seen.

So why is it important to get your work out there? The most obvious answer is so that people can see it. While this can be scary, if you are serious about making it as an artist, it is a necessity. The big myth about being an artist is that you slave away at your craft, year after year, and then, someday, somehow, someone finds your art, falls in love with it, and buys all your paintings and promotes you to galleries and you explode out onto the art scene.

While this may be true for very, very, very, VERY few individuals, if you look at the careers of most artists, this is not the case. With the emergence of the internet, suddenly it's a lot easier to go and get your work seen by lots of people. While this is generally a great thing, it also means that there is a lot more competition. With everyone and their mothers and great-aunts, and nephews out there with their own flickr accounts, suddenly the art scene has become very saturated. It gets hard to weed through all the tons of art to find any single individual.

Thus, the era of the hustler was born. If you want to live off your art, it's no longer enough to be relevant, or funny, or thoughtful, or scary, or unique. Now, you also have to think like a business person. You have to hustle your art and make sure that people see your work. The people who are making a splash in the art world, I would say 50% of the time, are not necessarily the ones with the most skill or creativity, but the ones who know how to market themselves the best (however, the ones who are at the top of the game are those who are amazingly creative/talented AND have the marketing skills).

So, long story short, you need to get your work out there. So you just finished a comic book, or a new painting. Great, that's definitely an achievement in itself. But if you want to sell your new product, you have to get it out there. If no one sees your work, no one can buy your work. If no one buys your work, you can't make a living off of it. It's that simple.

So how are you going to get your work out there? Stay tuned for Monday's post to learn some easy (and inexpensive) ways how.