E4.3 Self promotion

Presenting my work: Unique Selling Point

My most unique point is ability to combine my visual communications practice with my professional sociological and analytical skills. Combining work in UK with international experience in very many countries to produce something

I am still working this through – both in terms of what I want to say to wider audiences beyond my professional international development networks or in terms of how to communicate visually to a wide audience. But I hope to bring that together for UK in Sustaining Your Practice and then revisiting my international resources after that.

Physical presentation

Finishing work is as much a part of the creative process as idea development.

Physical outcomes can involve commercial or digital printing, mounting existing artwork, scaling your work up, or making the jump out of your sketchbooks.

High-quality artwork means producing something that looks professional, works for the context it’s intended for and is resilient enough to be used. What it doesn’t mean is you suddenly needing to adopt glossy printing, double-mounted frames, foam board, or any other print technique or display system that might not be in the spirit of your work or the context you’re working in. Going from sketchbook to finished artwork can be problematic. There can be a tendency to tighten up your approach and in the process lose many of the aspects that make the work enjoyable. So:

• be aware of what makes the work successful.
• leave time to play and experiment with the kinds of finishes that can be achieved
• reflect on the results and continue to develop artwork in response to what you’ve found out.

The choices you make in how you prepare your artwork can have a hugely positive effect in amplifying the qualities of your work, but this does mean recognising the nature of your work and making choices that are sympathetic to it. For example, if your illustrations hinge on small delicate drawings with subtle use of colour, you’ll need to be conscious of this in how you scan your work, print it and the kind of paper you use. All your choices need to maintain this delicacy: low-resolution scanning, poor-quality printing and rough paper will all act against you; high-resolution scanning, colour adjustments in Photoshop, quality digital printing (which
you may need to source externally) and smooth paper will all maintain the qualities of your work. Alternatively, you may want to cut out digitally scaling up a small drawing from your sketchbook and do it by hand. Projecting your work onto a larger surface could be a starting point to recreate the work, or scale up your thin pencil for something thicker and produce new and larger original pieces. The quality of your work may lie in the dynamics of colour, the rough use of line or grungy typography, in which case your choices need to keep hold of these things.
Photocopies, printmaking, generating large-scale original artwork, or using new materials to recreate your sketchbook ideas, can all work in this context.

Producing high-quality visual outcomes might be limited by what resources you have available. Working creatively within your restrictions can make the most of what you have, especially if you factor the production into your creative thinking early on.

Ultimately, it’s the visual ideas that will deliver a successful outcome, not the quality of the final printout. Avoid overemphasising the finish, so your choices don’t distract from your visual ideas. Over-mounting work, unnecessary framing, adding on extra layers of gloss or other embellishments can all get in the way. That said, the final printout has to communicate your visual ideas, so it needs to be good enough to transmit them.

Digital presentation

For many visual communicators finishing their work is synonymous with the reproduction of it through printing or digital means. You may have finished the artwork but if the final outcome is mediated through print, then this is the real context you need to think about in terms of your
creative decision-making.

Digital printing offers a cheaper but no less professional alternative. Working with digital printers allows for viable one-off or shorter print runs; it also offers the opportunity to work on different scales and surfaces. Large-scale digital printing is offered at high street print shops or
as part of many commercial print companies.

To print your artwork successfully through commercial or digital printing, make sure that:
• your work is scanned at a high resolution and potentially scaled up according to the print size – aim for 300 dpi at the least
• your images are formatted in CMYK not RGB
• all associated images and fonts are copied with your DTP files or embedded when you produce your print-ready PDF
• suitable bleeds and other registration marks are in place
• pagination is sorted out, if you’re working on more than one page.
If you have any doubts, talk to your printer directly.

On-line

Alternatively, you can create your artwork to be seen in different online contexts, such as PDF or JPG files you can share via emails or social media, online videos or animations hosted on YouTube or Vimeo, or by creating your own bespoke website or using existing blog sites to do something similar.

My main promotion so far has been on Stock Image Libraries, particularly Shutterstock.

Also looked at Adobe Stock.

SMUGMUG Photography Page

Cambridge Camera Club Galleries

SMUGMUG art and illustration page

After Assessment, this current blog will become my art and illustration blog that I use for discussion and presentation of different techniques.

I have not yet promoted my work on art, illustration and design networks.

I have active Pinterest boards. Have joined Facebook groups on ink, gouache and iPad art.

LinkedIn is a possibility. But I use that for my consultancy work.

The development of the internet, in particular the social media of web2 technologies, has provided illustrators with new ways of presenting work, finding clients and reaching a wider audience. They also provide ways to get together as illustrators to share ideas, work, and to support their own development.

Digital publishing for illustrators

Developments in on-line publishing potentially offer illustrators new and cheaper ways to publish and present their work tailored to specific audiences. This means there’s less of an imperative to compromise and it’s easier to take risks. There are a number of ways in which illustrators can use on-line publishing:

• portfolios within the content of websites – setting up one’s own e-commerce sites through sites like SMUGMUG (see my own photography and art website http://www.zemnimages.com that I intend to develop as a professional site) and promotion of images.  There are also many on-line networks like Behance, Pinterest and artist e-commerce sites like Etsy and others.
• self-contained downloadable content presented as pdfs (downloadable documents which can be read using a variety of technology) or as interactive content on websites using software like Adobe InDesign’s interactive features. An issue here is keeping up-to-date with interactive formats that can be cross-platform as formats are continually shifting (something I need to update my research on) and both sizes and file types differ between for example Kindle, Apple and Amazon.
• on-line publishing by Blurb, Apple and Amazon and others where users upload their book content and viewers can access it freely on-line or pay for a one-off paper copy to be printed and posted to them. Here the publisher takes care of the formatting from pdf and generally offers a number of options.

However the roles for illustrators in traditional book publishing like book covers, magazine articles and other forms of editorial illustration may decline as digital bookshops function through search engines and tagged words rather than through visually eye-catching material. 

Thinking about self-publishing

Self-publishing your ideas can take many forms. Self-publishing content doesn’t have to be a great opus, nor does it have to compete at the highest level. Some of the most entertaining examples of self-published work are based on very simple ideas, such as Mark Pawson’s ‘Die-Cut Plug Wiring Diagram Book’.

www.theaoi.com/portfolios/
www.behance.net
www.carbonmade.com
www.cargocollective.com/
www.etsy.com
www.linkedin.com
www.pinterest.com
www.redbubble.com

Central Illustration: http://www.centralillustration.com
House of Illustration: http://www.houseofillustration.org.uk
Illustrators Lounge http://illustratorslounge.com
Dutch Uncle http://dutchuncle.co.uk
Sequential Ap for graphic novels

Facebook groups

America Fine Art

Saatchi Online

A social network that encourages artists to subscribe and post their work
online.  The whole site is mediated by the Saatchi Gallery, so there are judging criteria.

Image-based blogging networks

Less structured social networks where people seek out others with similar interests and follow, re-blog or simply like their posts. With all of these networks, there’s room to contribute and discuss, but it’s unmediated, so the quality may vary from site to site, person to person.

Facebook

Flickr

Blogger

Tumblr

links from iPad software like SketchClub, Artrage, Auryn Ink, Sketchbook, Procreate etc

Professional networks

LinkedIn is a hub for a whole series of career and work networks (including illustration and other disciplines)

Vimeo focuses on creative moving – image and animation

Academia.edu: a network for academics??

Discogs a network for record collectors??

On-line market places

marketplaces for craft items, hand-made prints and other forms of contemporary illustrationmaking.

Etsy

Cut and Paste

Folksy that create online

DeviantArt

Red Bubble? (mentioned by Stayf Draws)

On-line magazines

The Design Observer present content authored by design writers and
professional illustrators, but encourage comment and debate.

Other websites

Fecal Face representing the work of a network of young American artists and illustrators

My main outlet and contact for printmaking is my printmaking blog set up for OCA printmaking courses. This need to be updated.

I put details of printmaking techniques and at its most active was getting 2000 visitors a month looking at different techniques. Comments and feedback were positive.

Aim to significantly regenerate this when I am again able to focus on printmaking as part of Sustaining Your Practice.

www.etsy.com
www.linkedin.com
www.pinterest.com
www.redbubble.com

America Fine Art

Look at Cambridge printmaking studios where I have done workshops and who have Open Studios: Barnabas Press and Curwen Print Studios

!!From my book design and photography modules. To be updated. Mostly I use Blurb.

The key distinguishing characteristic of self-publishing is that the author has decided to publish their work independent of a publishing house.  In 2008, for the first time in history, more books were self-published than those published traditionally. In 2009, 76% of all books released were self-published, while publishing houses reduced the number of books they produced. According to Robert Kroese, “the average return of the self-published book is £500”.

Commercial printing

!! I want to look more at these art alternatives in Sustaining Your Practice

Commercial printing covers a wide range of different technologies and processes such as
offset lithography and silkscreen as well as choices around paper stock, finishes and folds. Use
it to produce multiple copies of your work. Professional printing only becomes viable if you’re
printing hundreds if not thousands of copies. It’s important to know how these technologies
work, especially if you’re focused on graphic design, publishing or want to think about your
illustrations within such contexts. A visit to your local printers is easy to organise and worth the
effort.

Vanity publishing

The term ‘vanity publishing’ originated at a time when the only way for an author to get a book published was to sign a contract with a publishing company. Reputable publishing companies generally paid authors a percentage of sales, so it was in the company’s interest to sign only authors whose books would sell well. It was extremely difficult for the typical unknown author to get a publishing contract under these circumstances, and many ‘vanity publishers’ sprang up to give these authors an alternative: essentially, they would publish any book in exchange for payment up front from the author. The term “vanity publishing” arose from the common perception that the authors who paid for such services were motivated by an exaggerated sense of their own talent.

Vanity publishing differs from self-publishing in that the author does not own the print run of finished books and is not in primary control of their distribution.

The line between vanity publishing and traditional publishing has, however, become increasingly blurred in the past few years. Currently there are several companies that offer digital and/or print publication with no up front cost. However, most of these companies also offer add-on services such as editing, marketing and cover design. Self-publishing companies that fit this model include CreateSpace (owned by Amazon.com), iUniverse, and Lulu. An author who simply hands his or her book over to one of these companies, expecting the company to make it a bestseller, would meet the previously established definition of vanity publishing, but it’s unclear how many authors fit this description. Further blurring the distinction between self-publishing and traditional publishing was Penguin’s purchase in 2012 of Author Solutions.

Increasingly, then, vanity publishing is being defined as a behavior rather than a set characteristic of certain companies or individuals, although there remain a handful of companies that clearly qualify as vanity publishers. These are companies that offer the cachet of being published and make the majority of their income on fees for intangible services paid for by the author, rather than sales revenue. These companies are also known as joint venture or subsidy presses.

Artists’ books

Artists’ books are well-made, limited edition publications that are usually based on one thematic idea and are presented as pieces of art in their own right. Unlike fanzines and comics, artist’s books place more emphasis on the form of the book, either in terms of the book’s format and how it relates to the content or simply through the quality of the materials used. Artists’ books can be printed and hand-bound or be completely hand-made.

See Johanna Drucker The Century of Artists Books 2004

Fanzines

edited from my book design post on Fanzines and my own Zine

Fanzines are magazines for fans. Many illustrators have contributed to fanzines as well as used this format to present their own ideas and examples of work. Fanzines existed in one form or other since the 1930s but really became widespread as the punk subcultural DIY response to mainstream print.era. ‘Fanzine’ was abbreviated to ‘zine’ in 1970s.

• Readership were super-niche interest groups and cultural underground. They were part of
• Distribution:  small quantities on an irregular basis distributed by hand and word of mouth or via independent music or book stores or through zine fairs and symposia. Different titles would spring up for a few editions then disappear.
• Format: usually small A5-A6 to easily fit in the hand, but sometimes oversized broadsheets.
• Production: Created by a single producer as both author and designer – no censorship or corporate strategy.
• Subject matter political, humorous, poetic, underground music not necessarily represented in more conventional print.
• Style Lively Do it yourself style uninhibited by design conventions. Often chaotically lively layout.
• Cheap and designed to be ephemeral  : some were commercially printed but many were printed using photocopiers, stencil and other ‘hands-on’ processes. Sometimes they were more 3-dimensional and incorporated recycled objects or materials.
• Materials different coloured papers, crayons, felt-tip markers, Ribbons, stickers. Collages photos hand-drawn illustrations. often made with very basic tools: scissors, glue.
• Typography handwritten or typewritten or using rub-down lettering.

“Doing a fanzine in the Noughties is all about the process of making it, and having that direct impact on an individual, who will (hopefully) cherish the object you’ve lavished effort on.”

Which are commercial/vanity?

!! to be updated. I concluded that Blurb was best and have used that for my books so far.

The following is a Wikipedia list of some of the notable companies that provide assistance in self-publishing books, provide print on demand services as publishers or operate as vanity presses.

AuthorHouse

Books LLC controversial American publisher and a book sales club based in Memphis, Tennessee. Books LLC publishes print on demand paperback and downloadable compilations of English texts and documents from open knowledge sources such as Wikipedia. Books LLC’s copies of the English Wikipedia are republished by Google Books. Titles are also published in French and German respectively under the names “Livres Groupe” and “Bücher Gruppe“. Books’ publications do not include the images from the original Web documents but, in their place, URLs pointing to the Web images.

BiblioBazaar
Blurb, Inc.
Bob Books
CafePress
CreateSpace
Famous Poets Society
Greyden Press
iUniverse
Kobo Writing Life
Lightning Source
Lulu
Notion Press
Outskirts Press
Poetry.com (also known as the International Library of Poetry)
PublishAmerica
Samizdat
Small press
Smashwords
Tate Publishing & Enterprises
Trafford Publishing
Vantage Press
Xlibris
Xulon Press
Wattpad

The emergence of digital print and print on demand, with its small print runs, has arguably given creative designers much more control over the design and publishing process. Similar to the rise of fanzines in the 1970s punk era, independent book publication in the twenty- first century serves as a countercultural response to the aesthetics and associations of mass commercial book production.

Digital print on demand, although perhaps limited in terms of production values when compared to traditional lithographic printing, can be cost-effective when working with small batches or ‘one-off’ books and this process can be exploited by small independent publishers. In addition, artists and designers are rediscovering the craft and skills inherent in traditional printing processes such as letterpress and returning to a more physical relationship and contact with print, using materials and processes of the pre-digital age, such as photocopying and hand- binding. In the twenty-first century a new generation of designers can ‘take back the power’, once the preserve of the large publishing companies, and enjoy a creative independence in the design and printing of books. This approach recalls the era of early English small presses, where the author/artist expressed their vision through the craftsmanship inherent in book design, and enjoyed ownership of the design and production process as a whole.

Self publishing provides an outlet for illustrators to retain full creative freedom through authoring their own work, both visual and/or written. This is an area that I have researched in-depth to create books printed by Blurb for my Book Design and Landscape Photography courses. See my blogs:

• Book Design: posts on Fanzines, publishing models, self-publishing and my Blub book: A to Z from Armageddon
• Landscape Photography: Photobooks Design and Publishing, Blurb books printed as part of Assignment: Perspectives on Kyrgyzstan and Bench

Wikipedia article: Print-On-Demand
Print-On-Demand (POD) publishing refers to the ability to print high-quality books as needed. Online retailing, wherein dominant players like Amazon.com have enticed readers away from bookstores into an online environment. Print-On-Demand (POD) technology which can produce a quality product equal to those produced by traditional publishers – in the past, you could easily identify a self-published title because of its quality.

For self-published books, this is often a more economical option than conducting a print run of hundreds or thousands of books. Many companies, such as Createspace (owned by Amazon.com), Lulu and iUniverse allow printing single books at per-book costs not much higher than those paid by publishing companies for large print runs. Most POD companies also offer distribution through Amazon.com and other online and brick-and-mortar retailers, most often as “special order” or “web-only” as retail outlets are usually unwilling to stock physical books that cannot be returned if they do not sell.

Self-published comics

Mainstream comics are either printed in their own right or live within larger publications and newspapers. See discussion of comics and graphic novels from Part 3 of this course:

Sequential illustration

But  many comic artists started out by self-publishing.

• Robert Crumb developed his comics through underground publications as part of the 1960s counterculture.
• Viz, the British high street adult comic, started life in a bedroom in Newcastle upon Tyne, produced by brothers Chris and Simon Donald with friend Jim Brownlow. This low risk approach meant that Viz was able to find an audience before it began to grow as a commercial enterprise.
• Gary Panter Illustrator and artist from the early punk scene in America. He produced his own comics before rising to prominence illustrating record sleeves.

Which are POD?

!! to be updated. I concluded that Blurb was best and have used that for my books so far.

The following is a Wikipedia list of some of the notable companies that provide assistance in self-publishing books, provide print on demand services as publishers or operate as vanity presses.

AuthorHouse

Books LLC controversial American publisher and a book sales club based in Memphis, Tennessee. Books LLC publishes print on demand paperback and downloadable compilations of English texts and documents from open knowledge sources such as Wikipedia. Books LLC’s copies of the English Wikipedia are republished by Google Books. Titles are also published in French and German respectively under the names “Livres Groupe” and “Bücher Gruppe“. Books’ publications do not include the images from the original Web documents but, in their place, URLs pointing to the Web images.

BiblioBazaar
Blurb, Inc.
Bob Books
CafePress
CreateSpace
Famous Poets Society
Greyden Press
iUniverse
Kobo Writing Life
Lightning Source
Lulu
Notion Press
Outskirts Press
Poetry.com (also known as the International Library of Poetry)
PublishAmerica
Samizdat
Small press
Smashwords
Tate Publishing & Enterprises
Trafford Publishing
Vantage Press
Xlibris
Xulon Press
Wattpad

!! The best seems to be Adobe Publishing on-line for portfolio work. Linked into blogs and website. This has the best interactivity.
Fast moving field. Need to look again.

Technological advances with e-book readers and tablet computers that enhance readability and allow readers to “carry” numerous books in a concise, portable product.

There are a variety of E-book formats and tools that can be used to create them. The most popular formats are epub, .mobi, PDF, HTML, and Amazon’s .azw format.[citation needed] Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and Smashwords all offer online tools for creating and converting files from other formats to formats that can be sold on their websites.[citation needed] Because it is possible to create E-books with no up-front or per-book costs, E-book publishing is an extremely popular option for self-publishers. Some recent bestsellers, such as Hugh Howey’s Wool series, began as digital-only books.

www.issuu.com

Sequential Ap for graphic novels

www.carbonmade.com
www.cargocollective.com/
www.etsy.com ??

www.linkedin.com
www.pinterest.com
www.redbubble.com

!! To be done by October alongside Moving Image course

www.tumblr.com
www.vimeo.com

www.youtube.com