12/15/2020
-I’m Very Selfish-
I’ve spent the last 20 some odd years drawing and painting- plying the whole gamut and spectrum of art and craft. Everything from animals and monsters to objects and equipment for D&D and other fantasy related subjects.
I’ve tattooed some really cool stuff, and even taken quite a bit of time to write essays, poems, short stories, and extremely short stories. I’ve sold photo work through the years, I’ve made books, jewelry, small clay masks, and even sold a few carvings.
I’m here to admit that I don’t know what to do anymore- not that I don’t have ideas or concepts that I want to bring to fruition. I’m lost in a different way, and that’s you folks.
What do you want from me?
I mean this genuinely, you guys are my audience and with that I have been a royal ass. 2020 has served as an aggravating and painful lesson to me that I can’t simply just go about doing whatever the hell I want, it doesn’t work anymore. There are repercussions to everything, from my posts to the artwork that I create, what sells and what doesn’t sell... it’s been a rough year, where I have lost the majority of my income.
I’ve been a lazy marketer. A lazy artist. A lazy friend.
I mostly sell my work through word of mouth, and to some extent that’s great and in the past it has served me well. With Covid-19, with social and health restrictions in place, there has been a large decrease in the foot traffic that has served me so well to keep me afloat and more financially stable. I haven’t paid enough attention to you guys either.
You’re the ones who buy my work, who commission pieces ranging from line work illustrations or a tattoo, to paintings, and even necklaces. You guys are my consumers and I’ve not done my part in asking you what you guys are looking for. I haven’t taken the time to listen when you guys give me critiques or even ideas. I’ve been so caught up in doing what I want that I’ve missed a crucial aspect of art, and one of the biggest reasons I got interested in all these mediums in the first place.
At first, my motivation was praise- but as I got older and actually developed those skills into talents, I found that for me the highest praise I could receive was seeing the reaction of the recipient of a particular piece had when I gave it to them. To see their smile, their shock, their awe- to see them truly enjoy and love the work that I did just for them, it made so damn happy.
Back then, I was barely able to draw buildings, humanoid figures were completely foreign to me (though, to some extent they still are), when the best things I could draw were made up creatures and dragons, made up flowers, and different borders for letters, much like ancient illuminations.
I was in love with seeing your reactions, and somewhere along the way I lost that. I stopped listening at some point, starting just doing my own thing. Filling the occasional commission, or bringing a foreign idea to fruition. And I’m sorry for that.
I’m sorry that I got lost along the way- but this post isn’t to seek your pity. This is me asking how I can better serve you, the community that I’ve been blessed to build over the years- from grade school to military service, from an LDS mission to now working as a bartender and tattoo artist. You guys are my tribe, some of you are family- some of you are even closer, and I’m ever grateful that you have all been there for me through the years.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to be doing my thing, pursuing my own subjects, thoughts, ideas, and notions. I simply want some direction from you, you guys have been part of this journey of self growth and realization and you guys know what I do best. I have the all too common struggle of being an artist, and I am my own worst critic- it’s time that I stop beating myself up and give this pursuit all I can.
So I ask you my friends, what do you want from me? What do you want to see me draw? Paint? Write? What do you want to see more of? What do you want to see me create?
Please leave your suggestions and ideas in the comment section below and know that within reason, I will do all I can to bring it to life. I need your help and I am grateful to have you guys. I’ll be taking the top twelve ideas and through the year I’ll be bringing those to life through the different mediums that I practice.
I’ll be posting those on January 1st, 2021- and I want you guys to help keep me accountable. Call me out. Critique me. Offer your insights, helpful hints, or straight tell me what I did looks like garbage. With your help I can be a better artist, build up my business, and do some damn cool things like giveaways, or raffles. The sky is the limit and I, like Icarus, want to fly.
So, who’s in?
