Articles For Artists

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10 Effective Ways to Promote Yourself on a Budget

The Art of Follow-Up

Passion

Voila! Knowing When My Work Is Done

These articles may not be reproduced without including the following credit: copyright Gregory Huff. Please visit www.CreativeHelps.com for more articles like this and resources designed to energize your creativity.

"10 Effective Ways to Promote Yourself on a Budget"

by Gregory Huff

Start spreading the news! ~ Chat people up about your creativity. Have an art party featuring your art, or a poetry reading with your work, in your home or local gallery/coffeehouse. Give ‘em something to talk about!

Post-it! ~ Post fliers at train stations, doctor’s offices, auto repair shops, diners, wherever people have to wait. Write your info on several post-it notes and stick them inside each magazine at the dentist’s office. Don’t forget to put your flier at your local visitor’s center!

Find the Missing Link ~ If you have a website, scour the web for places you can link your site to for free. Most sites require that you post a link to their website on yours. Doing a search at Google will uncover a host of sites you can link to.

You Wear it Well! ~ Can’t afford a booth at the art festival? Don’t get upset, get a t-shirt! Your local office supply store may carry iron-on paper you can run through your printer. Scan in some of your artwork, print it on the iron-on paper, transfer the paper to a t-shirt, and wear it to the art festival. Why not get your whole family to wear the same shirt? And while you’re at it, make your vehicle wear it too! Office supply stores in your area may carry water-resistant bumper sticker paper to create your own stickers with. Check it out!

You’ve got Class! ~ Attend a workshop given by your local SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) or college small business center. They are often low in cost, offer free services, and are a great way to network.

Stick it to ‘em! ~ Your local office supply store may carry magnetic paper for your computer printer. Put your art or writing on magnets and give them to family and friends. Put a magnet on your office refrigerator. Include them in all your holiday and occasion cards.

The Heat is on (Almost)! ~ This summer, make a cardboard heat shield with your art or writing on it for your car. Heat shields are used on the dashboard of your vehicles front windshield to keep the summer sun from heating the inside like an oven. It’s free advertising wherever your vehicle is parked. Just make sure your vehicle identification number is still visible when the heat shield is in place. Why not make one for the back window as well?

Lend a Helping Hand ~ Donate your services or artwork to a local silent auction. The organization benefits from the sale of your work, and you may gain a new client. Get creative about it: offer to paint someone’s portrait, or write someone’s life story, or create a piece of art just for the show and advertise the auction (using the techniques mentioned above). Be sure to leave your business cards near your work so people can grab them.

As Seen on TV ~ Put an ad on your town’s website or public access tv station. Maybe you can advertise your art party or poetry reading. Ads are often free and perhaps there may be a program on the public access station that could interview you.

Following the Leader ~ Follow up the leads you already have (and keep following them up). They are already interested in you and your work; why not give them a free magnet or bumper sticker to show your appreciation for their interest? Call them personally to invite them to events. You never know when interest will turn into sales.

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"The Art of Follow Up"

by Gregory Huff

When it comes to follow up, how effective are you? Are you often heard saying, "Oops! I was going to call him back but… I just forgot. Time escaped from me and I kept putting it off. Besides, he’s my friend. He’ll understand I was just too busy to follow up." Friend or not, another potential client may have bit the dust.

I know the feeling. Many years ago I wrote to a greeting card company, to see if they would be interested in seeing samples of my art. Imagine my shock when they actually wrote back, wanting to see some! I wasn’t ready. I didn’t have any samples, and I hadn’t really been doing any art that I considered worthy of showing. So I brushed it off. I never followed up, and it could have been the opportunity that changed my life forever!! OK, maybe not forever, but at least for a few months. I also used to have the terribly annoying habit of unplugging my telephone for weeks at a time, much to the chagrin of family and friends. Then I would plug it back in and answer the phone as if nothing ever happened. Thank God I don’t do that anymore.

But what is it that motivates you to keep repeating a bad habit instead of incorporating a good one into your routine? Of course, there are as many reasons as there are excuses. But let’s focus on this one reason: besides a lack of motivation, you may not have enough information to support your desire to change. So what can you do to assure that your best intentions are put into practice?

Change the way you look at follow up – If someone has thought enough of you to find out more about you, consider it an honor, not a burden. Reward yourself for following up a day or a week’s worth of calls. Think of a reasonable and inexpensive reward that will bring you pleasure.

Plan – Sometimes we have a great method for reaching out to people, but we don’t plan for follow up. Set aside specific time during your day when you will return calls, respond to e-mails, etc. Write down that time and keep it where you can see it. Give yourself a 7-day rule – you will follow up all initial leads within 7 days. Write on the back of any business cards you collect from prospective clients the following: date, event where you received the card, and something that connects you to that person (why you should follow them up). Returning a call within seven days is a good amount of time to allow your first impression to sink in. Any longer than that and a person may lose interest, change their mind or even forget about you.

If you can’t call, write: Send a follow up e-mail or regular mail letter. Why not include a free gift, such as a magnet or calendar with your business card or information on it?

Build a friendship – Think of that potential client as a friend. Don’t hard sell, become a friend first. How about inviting them for a cup of coffee just to chat? Invite them to your special events, but don’t be pushy about it or have unrealistic expectations. Let your conversation happen naturally, and show them you have their best interest in mind more than your bottom line. Tell them something about your creativity that you didn’t discuss when you first met them. Use their name when you talk to them, smile, and keep those breath mints handy!

Following up with someone interested in your creativity shows them you listened to them and you’re interested in building a relationship that will benefit you both. It will help dispel the myth that "all creative people are flaky." But if you don’t intend to follow up promptly, let them know. Courtesy goes a long way. Don’t just take someone’s information for the sake of being socially polite, if you really had no intention of following up in the first place.

Ok, it’s true: we can’t always be 100%. Sometimes we delete important messages by mistake, or misplace phone numbers we meant to save. It can happen to the most organized person in the world, so why not accept it and move on? Just stay focused on your goal of establishing a follow up routine.

But what happens if, after all your excellent follow up efforts, you don’t hear back from them? Keep a record of who responds and what kinds of contacts produce results. Follow up isn’t always easy, but it is necessary. Make your next impression as good as your first. You’ll be glad you did.

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"Passion"

by Gregory Huff

One of Webster’s definitions of the word “passion” is “violent, intense, or overmastering feeling.”

But for the purpose of this article, I interpret passion to be the answer to these following questions:

What is it that really gets me excited, that really has meaning in my life?

Given 6 months to live, what would I drop everything and start feverishly doing?

What is really important to me as a human being; so important that I feel it should remain after I’m gone?

For me those answers come rather easily. I am most passionate about the 3 loves of my life: my love for God, my love for my wife and family, and my love for my creativity. Given 6 months to live, I would make sure I was ready to meet my Maker, that my family was cared for, and that I had accomplished the creative expressions I was put here to do. I try to live that way every day of my life. To me, mortality is fragile. After the events of September 11, I am acutely aware that at any moment my life can change. Knowing this helps keep me focused and accomplishing my goals.

Passion often enters my creative process early. When I first come up with an idea, I don’t usually feel violently passionate about it right away. Yet I feel a sense of urgency; a sense that this idea is valid, important, and meaningful enough that I should consider exploring it on paper. I make thumbnail sketches of the idea, drawing enough of the image so that I will be able to recapture the spontaneity of what I first saw in my mind’s eye.

Robert Henri describes this process as such: “When you saw the thing and it was beautiful to you, you saw it beautifully. Paint it as it looked then.”

Usually my thumbnail sketch is simple enough so I can freely interpret and improve the image as I draw a more formal sketch to work from. When I finally get to the stage where I create the actual piece, I allow all of my senses to get involved. I rarely sit still for long periods of time when I’m in the “creative passion zone.” As I mentioned in a previous article, I sing, I dance, and I get 100% of me on the paper. For example, right now as I write this I am writing on a sheet of loose leaf paper being held against a wall by my other hand. I just moved to another wall, and will probably sit down at my desk in another minute. The excitement of writing this and the need to fully express on paper what is going on inside me keeps me moving from place to place.

Just before I began to write this article I had an epiphany of sorts. God dropped into my spirit the idea to break up the word passion and discover a new meaning for it. Therefore, I suggest to you that passion can also be defined as the act of trying to pass “I” on. To be grammatically correct, one would say pass myself on, in the sense of passing a torch from one person to the next. Through my creativity I am passing myself on to generations who will see it when I’m gone. I’m leaving a legacy to encourage and inspire them, similar to planting a tree for your children’s children to enjoy shade under.

Passing “I” on is the act of creatively expressing your innermost being. You’ve GOT to write it, you’ve GOT to shout it, you’ve GOT to create it, otherwise you will be utterly consumed by it. And no one else can express it like you. Passing “I” on is recognizing and affirming the fact that there an inexplicable something inside of you: an inner zeal, a raging fire, an explosive energy that cannot be contained. It is greater than you and it MUST be shared. Silence is NOT an option. And when you share it, it roars through you like the sound of thunder, shaking you to the core and resonating within others. The fruit that results from the release of your passion becomes the seed of inspiration for the sensitive minds that experience it.

That is why every time I go to a museum or gallery I get excited and energized. I have just been in the presence of great passion, and must hurry home to express my own. So often the creative geniuses that created the masterpieces we treasure today were not appreciated for their vision. Part of the reason is because they were birthing something totally new into the world through their passion, and people tend to be threatened by things that challenge them. Sometimes critics were vicious in their disparaging remarks about the art. But the passion the artists gave birth to was for the generations after them to understand and appreciate. The same artists who died penniless back then may not necessarily be amazed to see how well their work is recognized and valued today. They knew their day would come, whether or not they were alive to see it. The important thing to them was living fully and freely, and expressing that life on their canvases. Capturing the essence of themselves on canvas was their goal.

What is your goal with your creative gifts? When is the last time you have felt passionate about your creativity and what has been the result of that passion? You have something of value to say, and the world is waiting.

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"Voila! Knowing When My Work Is Done"

by Gregory Huff

In our household I often make dinner. I like cooking, so it works out just fine. Each week we put together a menu and shop for groceries. Sometimes when I make dinner I follow a recipe. I don’t usually follow it to the letter; I like to adjust the seasonings to our taste. It isn’t an exact science, and it can take longer than expected to cook some foods. Finally, the fruits of my labor are ready to be eaten and enjoyed. But even after all that, it may be necessary to add salt, pepper, ketchup, etc.

When we first got married I didn’t collaborate with my wife regarding the menu, I just made what I thought she’d like to eat (based on my own tastes). I’m sure it was frustrating for her at times, and definitely for me when she wasn’t excited about eating something I had made. Finally I got the bright idea that maybe we didn’t like some of the same foods. Turns out she chose to eat a lot healthier than the diet I was used to: fried foods, sausages, meats smothered in gravy, chicken almost every night, etc. I learned that I could eat healthier and like it, too! That was mainly because I used recipe books and scoured the web for healthy menus. Now, after three years of trial and error, menu planning is a lot easier.

And so it is with my art. I can gather all the proper ingredients for a work of art, but without a strong idea and adequate drawing skills, the result can be rather bland.

At one time I used to think that the “recipe,” the guidelines for artmaking were rather confining and restrictive. It felt like I had strings attached to my hands, pulled by my teachers and my fears. Then I had a teacher who said to me, “Gregory, you cannot create without first learning the rules that govern the act of creating. You want to break the rules without even knowing them. First, learn the rules, then let your creativity take you where it may.” It reminded me of when I learned how to ride a bike: I had training wheels for what seemed like a long time. Then the training wheels came off, and I was free to crash or glide. After I got the hang of it, I could even do a few tricks and avoid some hair-raising situations as well. The same held true with my artmaking. I thought I could just go to art school and pass without much reasonable effort. Boy did l find out that I didn’t know very much about art at all! There was so much I needed to absorb! How would I know what “recipes” would be to my taste, and which ones I would never make again? By experimenting with as many art forms as possible.

Just like a chef, I learned that certain spices blended nicely in many dishes, as well as tasting great on their own. I found that I could combine various art media to create my unique blend and style. Though I chose to use scratchboard as my primary medium, I decided to vary my subjects while retaining my overall style. True, there are seasons when certain dishes taste good every night, with slight variations. But they are indeed seasons, and I must remain flexible and allow my art to change as well.

But how can you tell when a piece is completely done? I have discovered there are degrees of doneness. I leave a work alone for a day or two, to “marinate” in its own juices. When I come back to it, my intuition tells me whether or not it is finished, perhaps by showing me something that doesn’t look quite right. I tweak it and then perhaps I’ll leave it alone again. Or the tweak may have been the finishing touch before I sign my name. I often have the pleasure of having a work tell me it is done at the same time I feel it is complete. But at other times I go through a process of tweaking and refining until it feels done.

The feeling of doneness that I get is the sense that the work finally expresses exactly what I wanted it to say. It is done when I feel a sense of accomplishment. It is done when I feel the work is fixed in its most meaningful state at that moment: when I see me on the paper.

Sometimes it just doesn’t work out at all, and I find myself not knowing what a work needs in order for it to be completed. Or the work seems ready before it truly is. Or perhaps I even overworked it beyond recognition. It then gets filed away, perhaps to be explored at a later date; perhaps to become meaningless and forgotten.

Another aspect of doneness is when I set the work of art before the hungry admirers, who either praise it or trash it. I’m tempted to tell them all about the process when it is an emotional connection they seek, or vice versa. But there’s nothing like knowing I got it just right, just like I never tire of hearing my wife say ,”Dinner tastes great, sweetie.”

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