Starting Out. What Did You Face And Overcome?

I think this would help a lot of us out and thanks for your time! I spent about 4 hours trying to learn to put my drawings on the disscussions like this and it was simple cut and paste!

what do you mean over come?

i didn't go straight to selling, i learned the craft first.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

marlene - WhAt HaPpenNeD tO Ur TeXT?


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

disappearing ink.
Seriously, I don't think I faced or overcame anything extraordinary.

"I want to hear your stories of success and failure."

Well, it all started the day I was born...

Thats what I mean in starting out learning the craft to your where you are today. good ,bad ,happy, sad i finally made it! i starved but now I'm glad!

the story is way to long and would never apply here. like it all started one fine sunny day when i was 6. ... and then when i was 15 this happened.... and as i was saying, when i turned 28 this other thing happened.

there isn't a whole lot to learn, other than - there were no pod's at the time, so you had to learn your craft or art, and then go on to the selling.

most won't starve. most have jobs, most don't make it at all. some sell here and there, but they have a real job to support them. art really isn't a job unless you can make it as one. but as far as stories go -

1. i can't answer because i don't log my life like that.
2. i never failed.
3. i would have to mention other stores, we aren't allowed to talk about the outside world.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

First artist in my family, my dad wanted me to be a lawyer since I would never shut up. I thought I would work in a museum or teach history as that is where my interest was. Once I fell in love with art my father was quite worried. He insisted that I study art education in college. I did but was not happy with it so a couple of years latter I went back to college and did a MA in painting. I thought at the time I would either make a living painting (HA!) or teaching college. I soon discovered that the preferred degree to teach college is the MFA, terminal degree in painting. I got a chance to return to college about six years latter and did my MFA in painting. Ironically I now teach as I have for the last 22 years art in elementary school. Not sure this is overcoming anything but sort of. At least I make a living in the field of art.

I think its success Ron your doing what you love!

After receiving the best art education possible and thriving in "Center of the Art Universe" (NYC in the 50's)...
..
I was fully prepared to meet the consequences in confronting that universe...I confidently knew I had the EYE and HAND of an Artist.

But then I came to this brutal conclusion......

I HAD NOTHING TO SAY!!!


Still determined to have a significant life, going back to school (night), I entered the field of Architecture.

For the next 15 years it was for me a "Heady" experience...responsible for major aspects of some of the more notable edifices of that time.

Even after the 50 years,when I was deeply involved in the design and construction of the Metropolitan Opera House, NYC, I can claim that I still have Something to Say in the way people See and Hear performances to this very day.


Why I eventually left Architecture to stick crab claws into mussel shells is another story

@Roger
"Why I eventually left Architecture to stick crab claws into mussel shells is another story"

And a very interesting one I have no doubt, Roger.

Bill Tomsa

http:billtomsa.blogspot.com/

It was a cold day when my space ship landed. It took some time for me to adapt to this primitive world. With no working fusion reactor's I found myself stuck on this miserable planet but if I am to be stuck I will make the most of it. So far so good but may tail is not done yet and this adventure continue. will. It took me some time to realize that the squirrels and dog's did not rule this planet but it was humans that did.

Don, hate tell you but the bugs rule the Earth.

HHHHmmmm you know I suspected this but they kept saying no no don't mind us... We are just insects and bugs what could we do.... are numbers are not in the trillions,, We don't have underground city's just look the other way. I knew they where keeping something from me.

The only ones the insects fear are the neon jellies in the deep deep sea! Smile

I sold my first piece without advertising. A friend of mine saw it, loved it and bought it. The second piece I sold was in pretty much the same manner. I then entered some contests, attended some "trade" type art shows and got noticed by a gallery owner and things have snowballed from there. Literally FAA has done nothing for me advancing sales, other than a website where people go to view my work, contact me individually and then I print locally. LOL. I am just at the point where I feel like my community is recognizing my worth as an artist and am starting to be published, etc. It's been four years of marketing, etc. In about another ten, I figure I will make a profit. It's all good. I'm not doing it to make money. I'm doing it because I just CaNT sTOp!

Thanks for the topic, Blaine. Cool question. A story for me in my art quest, of serendipity:

I was invited to do a one-man show of my area landscape paintings at a community college in another town. A bank president on the college board there, known for his community beautification, saw my work and commissioned me to outfit a bank he'd just bought, which turned out to be the bank in my hometown where I'd grown up. :)

Blaine, I am still testing waters with my art creations. But with books, I sold more than a hundred. Thanks to Amazon.

awesome water colors kip! What are your books about solomon?

Blaine, my books are mostly about medical issues and review materials for nurses and other healthcare professionals.

Here is the link : http://www.amazon.com/Solomon-Barroa-RN/e/B00AV3V34S

You can also search my name in the Amazon website under Books department.

You can borrow my books for free under Kindle Unlimited.

I started doing fractal art last year. I found that selling my art creation is harder than selling the books I have written.
A month after I published my books, I already had 10 people who bought it. I am nowhere with art to this point in time. I might give this up in due course.

Hiya Blaine,
First, I really dislike reading over and over in biographies here at FAA that "art is in my blood and art has been my passion since I was born and,,,and,,," Then I check out their art and see nothing. As Mike and others have said, they learned their craft and then started advertising themselves and making money. That's exactly what I did. When I was a teen ager I went to countless art shows, art exhibitions and museums t o learn what art was all about. When I was in my early 20s I was hired as an Art Director. That was my first big mistake because at that time of my life I didn't have anything to offer. It wasn't till my late 20s that things started falling in place for me and I sprouted wings and flew. But here';s my biography that you can read if you choose to:

Listed in Who’s Who in the national register at the Library Of Congress as a lifetime member, Harold Shull has had a very diversified career. Beginning as a Political and Sports Cartoonist for the Baltimore News American, he has made his mark in many different fields. Shull moved from Baltimore, MD. to New Jersey to make it as an illustrator in New York City, but as luck would have it, he found a steady income in the toy field designing packages and toys for such companies as: Knickerbocker, Mego, and HG Toy Companies.

While designing hundreds of toy packages, Shull was also developing his painting style by illustrating these packages. Major corporations started to take notice of these package designs and Shull started receiving commissions to do illustrations for The New York Yankees, NBC TV, Warner Bros. and many others.

With the development of video games for TV, the toy field took a downward turn and Shull moved into the Pharmaceutical field designing and illustrating direct mail, posters and anatomical wall charts for: Glaxo Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Bristol-Meyers Squibb Company, The Upjohn Company, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and many others.

Throughout his career, Shull has always enjoyed painting portraits of people and animals and as a result of his popular realistic style he has paintings in the private collections of: Bob Hope, Johnny Unitas, Steve Allen, J. Randolph Hearst, Sharon Himes, Blaze Starr, Eddie Arnold, Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, John Crowther, Julie Adams, Basil Gogos, Brooks Robinson and many others of equal prominence.

I usually go to a person's home and measure the area they want a painting or look at the large wall they want painted and we talk a deal and the deal goes down. One hardship I face is people I've graduated with who are very successful or they married well and they have fabulous homes that I work in. I'm happy to be the lowly artist not different than the person who cleans the shitters and showers in the house. I do the work, and if they love it, they have me do more. That is the life of a real "arteest" who is never going to tell the truth about money made by art.

Im a union iron worker and when work is good i pick and choose my jobs I'm good at what i do and i say whats on my mind. when there was little work during the last few years i had to hold back what i felt and just work to not risk losing my job to put food on the table and feed my family. when i can b myself and hang iron its fun same as you painting for yourselfs is fun. the first four on my portfolio i was coloring with my kids and they were easy to scan i never took a art class before that, and if i want to work i will iron work not art. i am not saying any of this in disrespect because i understand! thanks for everyone help.

my way
frank sinatra

Blaine quick question, I am showing in June in Sacramento at the FE gallery. Also known as the Iron Works Gallery. I was wondering if you have made or are thinking of making some sculpture out of Iron?

Blaine quick question, I am showing in June in Sacramento at the FE gallery. Also known as the Iron Works Gallery. I was wondering if you have made or are thinking of making some sculpture out of Iron?

thats funny I've have been thinking about getting into to that i have the welders and torches to build sculptures. I think that would be really fun!

Do you have access to scraps?

go with what you know best. you may need a forklift as well. but you can start small. your neighbors might hate you if your too loud...

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

this really might be up my alley I have an acre and a shop, quarter acre of scrap, forklift attachment for my bobcat, and a electric guitar so my neighbor already hate me

Blaine,

Seriously it was all a mistake. I was suppose to not be drinking and graduate as an engineering student.

I took a wrong turn.

Then a bunch of wrong turns later.......

My mind keeps seeing pictures. I can move them around, repaint them in different ways...etc....I have
a lot of control over all of the processes in my head when it comes to images that most folks do not.

But I would rather be a classical composer. So I need to make another wrong turn.

Dave

I know what you mean i can walk on steel beams not tied off 10 stories off the ground and its like I'm on the ground and not scared.With a family now its harder to not think about what happens if i fall but its way more dangerous with that in your head. this life is weird the little turns that can change your whole direction

of course the hard part will still be selling them. hard to ship as well.

the competition is still high, and i know of a few sculptors that make some neat stuff. but it might be easier to do that. however if your selling the image of the creation, then you'll have to get a camera and there will be a limited amount of people that will want an image of the creation - unless its creatively done.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Blaine,

Do you want to see top university classes on the arts for free?

Many schools are now offering free videos of their classes.

Yale in my neck of the woods is behind the times, but MIT offers a lot.

http://search.mit.edu/search?site=ocw&client=mit&getfields=*&output=xml_no_dtd&proxystylesheet=http%3A%2F%2Focw.mit.edu%2Fsearch%2Fgoogle-ocw.xsl&requiredfields=WT%252Ecg_s%3ACourse+Home%7CWT%252Ecg_s%3AResource+Home§ionlimit=WT%252Ecg_s%3ACourse+Home%7CWT%252Ecg_s%3AResource+Home&as_dt=i&oe=utf-8&departmentName=web&filter=0&courseName=&q=art&btnG.x=0&btnG.y=0