Keep On Keeping On

"Keep on keeping on." This is one of Monkey's favorite sayings, and we think that it is a good mantra for those who are chasing their dream. This slightly wonky saying means "keep on doing what you are doing - it'll be okay."

So often we see people give up when they might be on the verge of something great. At first, this might seem sort of unintuitive, but we've seen time and time again that people chasing their dream have to go through was is known in the literary world as "the belly of the whale," or the largest, toughest challenge before they reach their goal. Whether life imitates art or the other way around, it's always the darkest before the dawn, and the most critical point in your journey is going to be the most difficult.

Because it'll always seem like all hope is lost, and that there is no way out, it is easy to give up or give in and take an easier, safer route. However, if you can have faith in yourself and keep on going, the biggest rewards will await you. Every success story has the part where you think to yourself "No way, how are they going to turn it around?" The hero is weaponless, fighting the fiercest dragon ever, but they somehow find a way, and you realize that the victory wouldn't have been so awesome if they has gone in with some magical missile-launcher that would just blow the dragon to smithereens.

Life is the same way. We wouldn't have anything to be proud about if everything we achieved came easily. So even though it may be tough, keep on keeping on and do what you do, and with hard work, your time will come.

Graduation

Yes, Monkey just had to silkscreen/heat emboss his cap

Today, Monkey + Seal will be graduating from the Academy of Art University. After 3.5 or so years of all-nighters, cutting mats, and painting like our life depended on it, we will be trading all that in for all-nighters, framing paintings, and painting because our livelihood does depend on it. While that may sound grim, in all honesty we get to paint, draw, illustrate, and generally live our dreams, so we're not really complaining!

Although we're excited about the commencement, we look at this milestone as a marker in our lifelong journey as artists. Now is the time to really focus our energy and move on to bigger and better things - to keep learning, to keep striving, and to keep moving forward. Graduating is a stepping stone that will open more doors, and create new opportunities for us. We'd like to thank all the people who have supported us over the years, whether it be financially, emotionally, or simply understanding why we always seem "too busy" to hang out. To our teachers, parents, siblings, friends, and everyone who came to our shows, bought our art, commented on our blog, followed us on the blog or on Facebook or on twitter - Thank you. We couldn't have done it without you.

Congratulations to all the other graduates who are all embarking on a new stage of life everywhere! Party, celebrate, and take a short breather, but don't let it get to your head and make you lazy or complacent. Keep on working and chasing after the dream.

Printing your promtional materials

Hi everyone! Monkey, after ordering samples and actually using some of these services, has put together a review of large printers in case you are interested in printing business cards and postcards. We haven't really looked into posters, or other printed materials, and we're comparing based on business card prices and postcard prices. Originally made for the SF Etsy Street Team, we decided to share it with you!

-www.PSPrint.com has a good selection of cardstocks, and are cool because you can order small quantities (like just 50) while most other printers start at around 100 or even 500. They also have rush options for same-day printing (although they ship out the next business day), and you can pick it up in Oakland. Their most expensive quantity/time frame (only 50 cards, same day printing) you're looking at 42 cents per card, and if you order 500 cards with a 3-day turnaround, it drops to 7.5 cents per card. We can't stick with a design long enough, but if you're in an identity for the long term, you can get 10,000 cards printed the same day for only 2.7 cents per card. They're also printing business cards and postcards on 100% recycled paper now with soy-based inks, so there's not a whole lot to be worried about. They're so good, we signed up to be their affiliates, and are the Monkey + Seal local printer of choice.

The one thing about PS Print though - they'll say "omg, we're having a huge sale!" Don't freak out and buy right away, the prices aren't really any different from any other day.

-Moo.com - Our 2nd go-to printer. Moo has really high-quality cards that are thick, satiny, and you can have different designs on the face of every card. This make getting choosing what image you want on the face really easy, as you can have them all! My only complaint is that the back side of the cards all have to be the same, and they're a quite a bit more expensive (~35 cents each), but you're paying for the high quality and customization. (They're also amazing, so we're also affiliates of moo as well).

-As other handmade artisians, however, you may want to check out www.1984printing.com. They're woman owned and operated, local to Oakland, and even though they're a *bit* more expensive than PS Print, you can know you're supporting a small press that's pretty punk rock.

They do have higher minimum quantities, however. I haven't worked with them personally, but they hooked up the SF Zine Fest on poster printing deals two years ago, and seem to be really cool.

-GotPrint.com has the best prices around for stuff printed on heavier cardstock. They offer really nice matte finished, heavy cards. I'd say their quality is very similar, but not quite as good, as Moo's. However, they do not have rush services available for the nice premium paper stock, and their customer service (if something goes wrong) isn't that awesome (it's actually pretty craptastic) - they're very big boxy, and seemed to care less to lose my business when something went wrong and they couldn't meet my deadline You definitely have to stay on top of them to make sure your order goes through, but if it does come out okay, the product is awesome and the prices can't be beat. They're based in Southern California, I believe.

-GreenerPrinter.com has some good product, but they're slightly more expensive than PSPrint, but I also have not worked with them very much. They are eco-friendly, but most other printers are going pretty green, so unless it is super important to be 100% green, I'd say there might be better options.

-Vistaprint = says stuff is free, but tacks on little fees that add on for custom printing, 2-sided, getting rid of their logo, etc. However, if you need super cheap and you don't have design skills or friends with said skills, they are pretty cheap, but the quality is also such. I don't recommend them at all, to be honest, unless you're absolutely devoid of design capabilities (but then you can always go to Moo.com, so I guess I don't recommend them at all unless you have absolutely 0 capital).

-Overnight prints.com - PS print is still cheaper for overnight printing. I did the price comparisons, so I'm not sure why I'd ever choose them.

-Rocketpostcards - They're almost 3x as expensive as PS Print. Not sure why I'd ever go here, besides that they're located here in SF rather than Oakland.

-Logos Graphics - If you have the budget and want to go the custom letterpress route, I could very well refer you to our affiliates over at Paper Source or at Minted.com, but Paper Source doesn't do printing over the internet for business cards, and I think you'd probably have to call Minted to see them. Thus, I've worked with the ever-helpful and talented Lars and John over at Logos Graphics. They recently printed up some wedding invitations I designed for a friend, and did an awesome job for a great price and I couldn't be happier with the entire experience.

Here you go! I hope this helps, and if you have any other opinions on printers, please let us know!

SF Zine Fest! Sign up now!

For all those print artists, card makers, crafters, DIY-ers, and other people who do cool stuff, you should definitely mark your calendar for the San Francisco Zine Fest! With our brand new postcard design from Jesse Reklaw, one of our featured special guests, we're one month to go to the deadline for early registration. Save your money now and get on board!

As chief registrar for the Zine Fest, Monkey can safely say that we're already half-full, with applications coming in daily, so make sure you get on it! Considering the price tag and the fact that it's not juried (although we'll tell you no if you're selling something non-DIY or really sketchy), it's really a low(er) cost opportunity to get your feet wet in the craft/art/zine fair scene and plus you get to meet tons of really cool people! Meet your audience face to face! Get out there and show us your stuff!

Overall, Monkey + Seal always have an amazing time at the Fest. Once again, we'll be live painting at the Festival, so even if you're not planning on exhibiting, definitely make sure to come check it out!

Register now!

Valuing our work

As creatives, Monkey + Seal have found that society as a whole tends to think that for whatever reason, our services are negotiable. Monkey + Seal are guilty of dropping their rates since we were "students" and not really valuing our own work. However, no other industry would ever allow this to happen.

When Monkey attended a professional designer's society's mixer, he heard a speaker who talked about this. The speaker said, "you would never walk into an automotive shop and say 'Well, can you fix my car first, and then maybe I'll pay you for the work?' You would never go 'Hmm, can I have my dinner to go, and if I like it, I'll stop by next month and pay your for it?' to a restaurant."

However, this is what we often do, because we're afraid of not getting work, never being "discovered," or of losing a bid. We work on spec, enter into contests and give away our rights, and when you compare our business to that of any other profession, it's just plain ridiculous. The public doesn't hire creatives as often (how often have you personally hired an illustrator versus hiring a doctor or a eaten out?) so it's difficult to change the way the public thinks about creatives and their work. Thus, it's up to us to stick up for ourselves and make sure we aren't under-valuing ourselves.

Now we cannot judge anyone, as we completely understand the need to make some cash. Everyone's personal circumstances are different, but we think that low-balling your work hurts the industry as a whole. If you're a student, it's a little more acceptable (you can get dental work done by students at lower prices), but once you've graduated, it hurts all creatives.

If you are a graphic designer or an illustrator, realize that there IS such a thing as an "industry standard." Check out the Graphic Arts Guild's Handbook: Pricing and Ethical Guidelines. It's definitely helped us set our pricing for freelance work, and we do our best to stick by it. The best part is that is has concrete examples (and is pretty specific) for a lot of general jobs, such as a quarter-page illustration for a local newspaper versus a nationally-distributed paper.

The more work that is done on spec or is given away in hopes of getting money back is going to lower the industry standard as a whole. Although it doesn't affect emerging artists now, when/if they ever do become established, they'll find that it is harder and harder to find clients willing to pay full price. As creatives you have to realize that you have the ability to do something that most people cannot.

As a visual artist (or any other creative) you are responsible for expressing ideas in a way that others cannot. If a client ever asks you why you charge so much, ask them why they aren't doing the job themselves. If designing a complete branding identity was so easy, then why doesn't your client do it themselves? Ask them to try, and when they realize how difficult it is, then they can come back and hire you.

Monkey + Seal often have to fight the constant battle of making sure our prices are fair and affordable but also that they don't sell our work short. We have heard a lot of other artists deal with this as well. If you do, how do you cope with this?

The Empire Building Kit

So if you're not familiar with the work of Chris Guillebeau, he's sort of a badass of the non-traditional entrepreneurial circle. He is a writer and his goal is to travel to every country IN THE WORLD by the time he's 35. Crazy. However crazy he might be, he is on track to do it, and he shares his travel hacking tips, advice on starting up your own business, and how to set off on your own and make money doing something you love.

I randomly found out about him after clicking a link on twitter, and I was sold. After purchasing his guide to Art + Money, we were convinced he was the real deal. Now don't get me wrong - the dude gives you a lot of awesome advice, but it's not a get-rich-quick scheme. It's more like "here are the tools to go change the world, now it's up to you to start doing the heavy lifting (albeit in bite-sized quantities).

He sells Unconventional Guides with topics like travel hacking and making money off your art that, from what we've read (and we own three of the guides), pretty awesome advice. They run $35 and up, from when I last checked, but they're worth it.

He just recently released his Empire Building Kit, which we invested in, and has thus far been well worth the $149 (the lowest of three tiers) that we paid. It has helped us re-evaluate business strategy, and helped spur us onto creating the free 7 Ways to Make Ordering Wedding Invitations Easier (and Cheaper). Anyway, we are so all about this that we wanted to let you know that Chris will be selling his Empire Building Kit again for another limited 24 hour period. If you want it, you'll have to visit between 9am (PST) tomorrow (Tuesday May 18th) and 9am Wednesday.

Really, for $149, reading all the interviews with small business owners who are actually making it doing what they love (a lifestyle business, if you will) was well worth it, and the case studies are icing on the cake. The case studies, which you get more of, aren't as in depth as I might want, but the interviews definitely make up for it.

Finally, you also get an email a day for 365 days helping urge you along your path to carving out your own empire in the world. Although 1/7 are recap emails (which I honestly don't find really that helpful), that's still a good 312 emails of motivational stuff, suggestions on small actions you can take, and other cool things that make it easier to keep on working towards the dream.

So Monkey + Seal are affiliates of the Unconventional Guides (meaning we do get a cut if you buy something), but like we said if you've ever checked out our affiliate policy before: we don't endorse crap that we don't use ourselves. I can't guarantee that you'll find the Empire Building Kit (or any of the other guides) useful, but Chris does come with a 100% money back guarantee - assuming you actually try his suggestions for a month and if you are still unhappy with the results, he'll give you your money back no questions asked. Not bad, eh? Additionally, Chris offers two free guides (his manifestos) which also offer loads of wonderful information, so even if you don't go to buy, at least check out the free stuff!

Go here to sign up for building your own empire! Huzzah!

Sharpening the Saw - Mileage

We're not quite certain where the phrase "sharpening the saw" came from, but it is a concept we learned about in an old X-men comic that definitely applies to art. Monkey + Seal finished with our classes at the end of 2009, so for January through March, we weren't doing nearly as much painting/drawing/making art as we were previously. However, with Seal's recent freelance project and Monkey working on his "art every day" over at his blog, we've found that we've gotten quite a bit rusty after so much time organizing and less time painting.

However, now that we're in the swing of things, we find it way easier to create. But just like exercise or any other activity, you have to keep practicing constantly to ever be great. Monkey completed the above digital painting in about ~2 hours, which would have taken him easily 6-10 hours about a year ago. How did he speed up and improve? With increased knowledge (and new tools, ie. brushes) and lots and lots of practice.

Our instructors in our Foundation courses at Academy always told us "You know what the difference between you and me is? Twenty years." Our teachers create art for our demos, then go home and create more art for their professional practice - and they've been doing it for twenty years.

When Monkey first started at the Academy, he hadn't seriously tried to draw anything in about 8 years. He had never used charcoal, and so obviously he was not going to be able to render things photo-realistically - he could barely keep things in perspective! However, three years of four studio classes per semester, look how far he's come!

It's not about inherent skill, or natural-born artistic talent. It's about drive, determination, and practice. And don't think that you have to create a masterpiece every time. As long as you are learning something, and refining a skill, whether that just be a refreshment on anatomy, your line work, or just learning more about what colors work well together and what don't, it's all good.

Draw every day if you want to be a visual artist. If you're a musician, you should rehearse every day. No matter what you're doing, make sure that you're practicing and you'll find yourself steadily improving. Just keep pushing, keep working, and keep on keeping on. It's how we do it here at the Monkey + Seal studio.