Ah yes, some of you may want to get into the *REAL* Art World...
You know, that strata of real society that is outside the confines of your computer room, bedroom, living room, cubicle... (Ok you choose there. I may've forsaken basements and S&M chambers and other spatial surroundings).
Let's face it… as much as I love this internet cyberspace thingy, the joneses are not really cybernetic yet. You put your art for free up here (very noble and conceptualist let me say) so every geek, freak, teen, bored mother, procrastinating corporate worker, otaku, and in some cases- other artists can see and steal and use it as they may- but that doesn't pay the bills (you are probably the one paying +/-$30 to let them portray your work- somehow this doesn't quite work in my head…I do the art, and I have to pay THEM to use MY art? Hmmm… )
"Oh but I sell prints! I sell prints! I am the awesomestestezz!"
You are only fooling yourself. Really, who buys that lie except yourself? Wow, $25 for a print of unique creative expression with a cultural dent?
Well, let's be realistic: kitschy art of ladies and princesses dressed in bridal magazine attire going melodramatically into the forest, posing better than Glamour and Vogue magazine (you sure love buying those big huge Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer fashion editions don't you?) models surrounded by flowers (without taking in consideration the symbolism that different kinds of flowers carry since ancient times- ruining your work and most of the time making it so kitsch it almost crosses into camp). You must know people do go to places like Borders and other nice Magazine stands…or are plagued by our proverbial excitedly obsessive bride-to-be-friends who can't decide if they want fuchsia or lime green motifs- we do see them dresses. Would you please give some credit to fashion designers, they are artists too! If you do want to make kitsch art, I've got news for you: Odd Nerdrum has changed the policies of the movement. Better go read and instruct yourself.
Well can't blame you since TV and Video Game Consoles don't really polish your wittle yummy puny zombie-edible brains into art history and the such… Therefore can't really expect to put your talents to better uses and you simply choose to go with the flow into the drowning ocean of fools- imitating everything without conscious notice (it's ok to imitate as long as you know what you are doing and dealing with!).
Art that matters- art that does say something to humanity- takes education- be it from life experience or formal. Are you giving of yourself or are you trying to feed us 'monkey-see monkey-do" bullshit? Sure, it looks pretty alright, but who cares? A signifying dent into humanity and culture means and takes creating art with spirit/soul/depth/importance (you name it).
Of course most of you just want to get paid for illustrating the newest cd cover, video/computer game, sci-fi/fantasy/horror book-cover, and lately just be a sweatshop-slave-worker to the "brilliance" of directors who only need your skills to steal your vision and claim all the credit/glory…Really, if you aren't the director himself, who fucking cares about the storyboard/conceptual artists…since most of them work under companies and it's the company that gets the credit, not you…the real creator.
Even better, some sure have seen the famous challenges of a certain famous site… the last one is just too precious. I love the cultish way that place works. They even get you to do it all for free…for "glory"- and for Corel Painter IX.5? You must be joking right?
While talentless hacks are selling 'abstract' art in the thousands, photography and digital prints over the $500 each in the galleries out there- you are all battling for fame and glory and corel painter. etc. You'll produce real professional illustrative work for a computer and Painter IX.5. Think…again- if you can employ that action of course. If not, good luck and go easy on the coffee.
Ah, yes, most of these talent-less skill-less hacks happen to have a degree in superior education…they have a certain advantage in social recognition. Mostly comes from the fact that they had the money (or indebted themselves enough) to get it but you get the idea...right?
Here's a clue: A real talent with a degree is better than a talent-less hack with one; but, a talent-less hack with a degree (for the curators and collectors and the Medici of today) is always better than a talent without education …oops.
So, where were we? Ah, yes! Making art that matters. Art that has cultural (international &/or national) significance. Art that makes a dent in history. Most of you have what it takes. Others could get what you are lacking to have what it takes. Your essential tool is to support your technical education with your informational/knowledge-based education.
This could mean:
-Getting out of your room more often; fresh air and some sun is good for your health.
-Visiting the accessible expositions to know what other artists and artisans, architects, etc. are creating (of all kinds, not only art)
-Reading other magazines apart from Vogue, Glamour, Modern Bride, Bridal Guide, Cosmopolitan, Bazaar, ImagineFX, Animerica, (just to name a few) and such …
-Reading something more than manga and comic books. (How about some real literature for good-old-times sake? Junk-food-books are also acceptable from time to time- but they tend to fatten your brain so beware)
-You could choose to undergo formal art school education, B.A. or B.F.A. and if you happen to survive, M.F.A. (a rest in between levels is recommended too)
-You can home-school yourself, but you better have enough capacity for self-leading and good analysis. By the way, Wikipedia sure is a nice shortcut (especially for the lazy), but quoting without knowing doesn't count. Stop drinking filtered information. Go to the sources and make up your own conclusions.
-Hone your senses, vision, audition, taste, touch, smell.
-Listen to REAL music for once. Yes, real music, from real musical artists- not record sellers. Listen to what they have to say, what they bring with their music, what they do. Emo and gothic and hardcore lyrics or campy pop-shit is good to have fun, but please, don't expect anyone to take you seriously if you mold your thoughts and way of working your mind with this. Music is not only lyrical, pay attention to the composition of the sounds itself. Educate yourself on the subject. Your music taste should not define who you are. Stop following trends. Choose for once, don't let them choose for you. Distinguish when you like something because it is force-fed to you by the media, and when you pretend to like something to fit into a group because you feel a need for classification and belonging in your life (tough yes- easier to be labeled than to be non-prized social product) from when you really like something because it nourishes your being... When you can be clear with all of this (what you like, what you learned to like and what you pretend to like so you are liked and 'in' and cool too)- you'll be able to discern other aspects of your life that work in the same way (what do you do unconsciously, what you imitate consciously and what is really yours). Also, go to live shows. Only then you know what is fake and made up with technology and what is really being created by the artist. If you can do this with music, you will be able to do it with visual arts.
-Turn Off the TV and go to a theatre play, or perhaps the ballet, the opera...a live tv show? It may be true the picture-box cuts off on your imagination. You'd be surprised how influenced you really are by the media...if you only think about it.
-Know your past, where do you come from- this means not only overall culture, but your family history. How many of you can say you know your family members well? (even if you dislike them- if you do, know thy enemy as they say)
The only way to make art that isn't merely superficial is to stop being a shallow superficial being. It's not that difficult really. You just need to put a little effort. (the world is more forgiving of lack of depth in teenagers...but if you passed your 20's and still behave like an airhead...)
After you wake up and are ready to stop being an "art"-producing-machine, victim to the publishing corporations… and you take conscience of who you are, and why you do art, and what for- so you can really call yourself an artist…then you are ready to enter another type of art business. ROFLMAO. Oh you thought it was all ice cream and butterflies? Magnetic-pin-stuck-copy-machine-paper artwork on the fridge? A lovely world! Delusions. Art has been linked to money since ancient times, and it won't ever stop being so. Accept it.
"Oh I just want people to see my art."
Good for you! Then, you are a hobbyist. You are a virus for the rest of us. You sell cheap. You just want to get published. You don't care about meaning, all you need is pretty pictures. You bring the rest of us down by underestimating your own art and selling cheap to the corporative wolves. Thank you! Really- in the face of adversity humanity does flourish and artists while weird are still part of it. But would you please rid us of your existence? Or start selling at the real value, thanks… If you are just a hobbyist, why not keep your art for yourself, there is no need for the world to see your enjoyment. Go back to your fridge and show your mom or boyfriend your lovely new art. A hobby is not to be taken seriously either way…so why do you need a public?
If you are not a hobbyist, and you are indeed real artists…then you've enrolled into quite a nice martial arts event:
First fight: Illustration/Concept Art vs. Art: Do not fret, it's not that complicated. There is the art of illustrating- it means you are accompanying visually a story by portraying elements from it. Main problem: "This is my character Puck, and he is fierce, and is in love with Fiona and they are part of my world"- so where is this world you speak of? Will you please include the text so we can validate it as real illustration? Who cares about your goddamn characters if only YOU know them? Furthermore, what makes your characters so important to the rest of us? Just because they are pretty doesn't mean they are valuable. When a character comments or gives a view or insight into society or human nature and also displays your own personality, then it is when it acquires validation. Your art is all about you. It sounds narcissistic, but it is. It's the best extension to your being, your ideas, your personality, your spark…blah blah blah. When your illustrations acquire humane and cultural importance, then they pass to be what they call Art. It's just a little push, really. Another pinch of salt into the soup. Costs nothing.
Second Fight: What I Want vs. What attracts curators vs. What The Publishing Corporation Want because it sells.- The key here is to get to do what you want to do, being sure of who you are and what you want to do with your art and what you have to give to society- without giving in to prostitution. (Not that prostitution is a bad thing- prostitutes make really interesting characters let me say- if you haven't spoken with one you are missing on quite an experience- speaking ok, I didn't mean having intercourse!) On a personal note, yeah, the internet is full of art sluts. Are you one of them? Altering your whole self to fit into the general fantasies of the public and to sell your product? It is very difficult to attract a curator if you work is merely illustrative unless your literary work has some importance. How about making art without the need of text? You won't change your style, it's just that Puck passes to be The figure of the male chauvinist and Fiona is a representation of the Submissive but yet Rebellious female. If you know yourself well, you will learn to recognize, value and express into and within archetypes and with time you will stop painting stereotypes and cliché (its good as long as you are doing camp or kitsch on purpose).
Third Fight: What I Want to Create Vs. What the Public(Viewer) Wants and Accepts: How many of you are censoring and hindering and castrating yourselves because you fear judgment from the religious bigots and other uneducated individuals that plague the internet? Your parents? Your friends? Your partner? If your friends or partner will bash or disapprove of you because of your real honest art, then perhaps you need a change of friends and partner. Your parents don't count as art critics unless they are professionals in the field of the visual arts (most elementary, junior high and high school art teachers don't count either). And who cares if this Mr. or Miss NOBODY flames you online and tells you are a disgusting heretic and will go to hell for it? I bet you've said FUCK YOU/OFF, in real life, so why not use it in these cases as well? What's stopping you? We are all conscious that to a degree if what you want to create is attuned with what the *buying public* wants you will sell more and gain more popularity. But here is when we go to a replay of fight 2: are you being yourself or are you just whoring? The ideal situation is to create something that is really you, and that is valuable- therefore it finds a consumer. Dignity and Honesty are virtues but you don't need them to sell, if all you care about is money. If money is the reason you do art…then you have to re-value your whole decision on why you chose this as a money making career. Since you won't probably leave a signifying mark in art history- leaving such imprint into art history and culture should be one of the main goals of every artist. If you can feed from it, even better.
There are many other fights to be held, but these are the ones I wanted to pay attention to. If you are ready to go out there (yes you may have to leave your bedroom), and pushing your artwork to make it into the galleries (private or museum's), art auctions, monumental locations (not referring to graffitti here *lol* though it certainly deserves to be on certain monuments!), the really important books (these are found outside the fantasy/horror/science fiction section), etc.- this next information may be useful for you. Ah yes, and you didn't have to pay for it OMG, free stuff!!! <3
This format is used to contact galleries to request exhibitions, to contact sponsors and similar purposes. Hope it helps!
Essential Elements of a Creative Investigative Art Proposal
(Yes folks- an art proposal is seen as sort of investigation.)
1. Title (DUH!)
2. Introduction- General Presentation of the Concept to Investigate
3. Description of the Proposed Investigation
a. Historical and Theoretical Placement within Art History (define concepts if necessary)
b. Relation of the project with previous personal investigations
c. Importance of the investigation for your personal development (in terms of mayor comprehension of concepts and the amplification of possibilities of action)
d. Contribution to culture (national and international).
4. Methodology and Strategies- Technical and formal approaches- format, medium and body of work (quantity)
5. Work Plan (*specification of dates and sticking to the working schedule recommended)
6. Divulgation Plan- exposition, presentation, announcements- getting the public.
7. Budget- assistants, materials and equipment, expenses, etc
Common Errors in Art Proposals
1. Unintelligible Proposal- writing must be clear and logical
2. Incapacity Convincing Possible Sponsors of:
a. What you pretend to create/do/make
b. Your capacity to make it work/complete it
c. Of the importance of the project for you and for the sponsors
3. Incompletion of the deadlines established in your Work Plan
4. Imprecision in the writing.
5. Lack of clarity in the writing.
6. Weak Recommendations.
7. Lack of adequate planning regarding economical sponsorship
8. Expenses trouble.
9. Lack of relevant supplementary material.
10. Poor presentation- unprofessional, lack of formality
11. Uninteresting proposal.
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