Artist Recognition

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I have just been slammed and by the time I sat down with the intention of blogging, it was past midnight. I know, I know, I've written about sleep being unimportant, but lately I've been in need of a good 7 hours of snooze time.

This blog is focused on a situation that is common for artists, no matter what their discipline. I have an example to help illustrate my point.

Eric is a talented and skill edartist I connected with recently through JacketFlap, a fantastic website that promotes community amongst illustrators, authors, agents, publishers, and anybody else involved in the wonderful world of children's books. It's a great place to visit and I try to stop by at least once a day.

Anyway, let's get back to Eric. He is truly gifted and Ihave contracted him to do a cover for one of my upcoming novels - Claws of the Raven. Eric and I hit it off right away and I not only like his work, I like conversing with him via email. Right now Eric's facing recent unemployment, supporting a wife and baby, and all the other responsibilities life has to challenge him with.

But Eric is an artist. He is an illustrator and that's his passion. To feed his family and pay the bills, he'll take just about anything. You know, a job. Like so many other artists in the world, we set aside our dreams and our passions, because reality gets in the way.

So I'd like to take some time to talk about that common state-of-affairs. And please, let's get something straight. While I'm pursuing my passion, I too have to work at a job to pay the bills. However, I'm determined to change all that, by making my passion the focus of all my energy and creativity. The other guy's corporate thing is temporary and this time I mean it. I've had it working for somebody else and making them rich with my labor!

Here's what everyone should do. I'm not making any promises, but at least if you start committing energy to your dreams and goals, they have a much better chance of coming true.

1. Envision the goal, make it real in your mind and write it down or print it out and keep it posted nearby, as a constant reminder. Visualize the dream already being fulfilled. Remember to be thankful for every success along the way, no matter how insignificant they might seem at the time.

2. Take whatever action you can to get you closer to that dream. Stop thinking about the steps that cost money. You don't have any money, so stop wasting time on that. Sit down and plot out the steps you can take that don't cost a thing. There are a lot of options. It takes exploration and determination, but they're out there.

3. If you're reading this, then it's probably on a computer and with that tool alone, you can make great inroads. Google it. Yahoo it. Seek it out.

4. The Key is to create publicity. Marketing yourself takes time, it's true, but a lot of it can be done via email, your cell phone, and building networks of people who are interested in who you are and what you do. There are thousands, and I mean thousands, of free sites. You have to find them, register, post your work, announce it to everybody and move to the next. On and on and on.

5. Some of the sites I discussed in the previous blog hold true for creating such publicity. However, so much of it depends on how much effort you're willing to put into it. If it's really your passion, if it's really your love, if it's really your soul, then it deserves everything you can give. Yes, yes, I know you have responsibilities. We all do. But you'll need to sacrifice some things to make that time. That means staying up late to compose all the email, or visit the websites, or write your blogs, or draw the pictures, sculpt, paint, author the next book, compose the music, design the clothes, whatever your passion is. It means getting up early. It means giving up cable. It can mean a million different things to a million different people, but it still means you must drop the excuses and get it done.

6. People are the most important resource you have at your fingertips. Everybody knows a lot more people than they realize. And those people know even more, and so on. So you've got to start somewhere. It's okay to ask for help. You probably will get rejected a lot, but so what? Move on to the next person.

You see, I really care about Eric's success. He's too good to let slip away. His artistic skills are worthy of accolades. Not very many people know about Eric and that's not right, but he can change that. He is better than that boring old corporate tedium. Eric deserves more than that. So it will take him time to get the word out, to have lots of people see his talent. He'll have to balance the realities of life with the necessity of dreams.

You'll see Eric's work on the cover of my latest book when it's published. Until then, with his permission, I'm going to post one of his draft drawings for you to see. The finished work is quite impressive, but I find his set-up work the real proof to his skills. You'll be seeing a lot more of him. Like David Burke, who has done 17 covers and will continue to do another 17, Eric will become readily recognizeable. Just watch.

For you out there reading this blog, however, this little pep talk is about setting aside your fears. FEAR stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. That's all it is. It gets in the way of everything. Push it aside and start small. Get some victories under your belt. Use the powerhouse of the Internet to research, communicate, initiate, motivate, create, stimulate, and publicize your intentions. Go for it.

What have you got to lose? Really, is that all.