What am I doing wrong?

[disturbedair]

Hello kiwi bikers, i am an airbrush artist - custom painter, i have been part of the kiwi biker forums for five years now and i have had many conversations with members in here who were looking to have airbrush work done on there bikes or helmets, but i have never actually got any work from anyone, so i thought i'd ask you guys in here directly "what am i doing wrong?" i have seen a couple of the jobs that members have taken to other painters and i don't mean to be an asshole but i really didn't think the work they got done was of any real quality, is my work really that bad? should i give up and throw my airbrush and spray guns away? i no i'm not the best in the world but i didn't think i was the worst either?, so il leave the judgment up to you guys as to weather i hang up my guns or not, if the majority of replies say my work is crap and that i should hang up my guns i will, (WEBSITE DELETED)so have a look and let me know what you think it would be much appreciated, please note thought that i have had to work into peoples tight budgets and most of the custom work in the website i have had to really hold back on to keep them on budgets, a few of them were actually freebee's for advertising, but i got no work from them either, is my work really that bad? thanks guys,

[hellokitty]

I love that helmet!!!!!!! seriously, if I had any money to spare I would love my helmet to look like that!!!!!!!!!!

the white skull like one

and damn you! I want my ute to look like that ute........ grrrrrrrr

[Headbanger]

Your work is stunning.

But you know that already.

So lets hope the thread works and more work comes your way.

[CHOPPA]

I always get my helmets painted. Just had 2 done recently. One was done by Helmart that is exceptional quality and the other by Outlaw Helmets which is completely shit!!

I have another id be interested in doing.... How much do you charge??

All the guys I have dealt with are so busy they cant get helmets done for months

[Mental Trousers]

I'd be interested in finding out how much to paint the chin bar part of a full face helmet.

You really need to do something about lifting your profile on here. A single post might get you a couple of queries but you need to put a link and some text in your signature (maybe a little thumbnail pic or 2 of helmets) to your site. But of course you'll need to post more often for people to see that.

[schrodingers cat]

You are obviously talented.
However, not everybodies taste is the same as yours. I suspect that your portfolio is indicative of what you like and value. Since you are seeking work in a mainstream environment you need to display high quality 'bread and butter' type work.
Art and income don't always meet in the middle
Good luck

[98tls]

Mate i think your works amazing but have to confess ive never read anything about your work on here.I will kick things off and ask you for a price to put this logo on the back of my helmet,yea i know its pretty simple but have been meaning to get it done for ages,will look after freight cost so a price to put it on there eh?

[Urano]

You are obviously talented.
However, not everybodies taste is the same as yours. I suspect that your portfolio is indicative of what you like and value. Since you are seeking work in a mainstream environment you need to display high quality 'bread and butter' type work.
Art and income don't always meet in the middle
Good luck

i agree.
your works are beautiful, but maybe you are on a very "narrow road".
i really like your snakeish helmet but i'd never actually use one like that.
in my opinion you could offer high quality particular works, as you do, but aside that you should give the possibility to choose something simpler, easiest to understand and to deal, from an artistic point of view.

if you do "hard" works you have to accept the possibility that only few people would like them and to set aside the money aspect.
in contrary if you want to earn from your work you should try to reach the widest market possible, accepting the possibility that you'll prolly have to loose the "essence" and the real nature of your works...

that is why artists often looks at people that make arts to live like whores...
:niceone:

[Berries]

Your work looks pretty good to me. Like Mr Trousers says, it might help if you up your profile on KB. Add some info to your signature and post a bit more. Get your name out there. Once you get a few commissions then word of mouth should sort you out for a few more.

[hellokitty]

We used to have auto colour matrix as a sponsor for our speedway sidecar - they did the paint job on the bike - free advertising!

Perhaps there is something you can paint to attract attention?

[YellowDog]

It's not your work that's the problem, it's how you present your business and what you do that is letting you down. I would suggest that your website name and email address are the first things that let you down and the rest is totally forgettable and just puts the viewer to sleep.

Your skills are where and what they are and will stay a secret forever unless you enlist the assistance of someone who knows more about business.

They couldn't do your job and you can't do theirs.

Advertising Logos, motifs, and affiliations are big business. AND you seem to be missing out on the action. All your local autoshops and dealers should know all about you. I bet they don't. With your skills, you could help them sell their products and services and not be able to cope with the workload, rather than scaping around for any work you can get.

My advice to you would be to stop trying to do anything anyone wants you to do and specialise in one aspect e.g. Helmet painting. Then go to everyone who knows about helmets and promote your services.

I've just types helmet painting airbrush artwork in Google. Can't see you there?

Try EMA or something like that to get pointed in the right direction.

Good luck.

[Banditbandit]

Yeah. As everyone thinks ... stunning work man ...

No prices on the web site ... a painted helmet is a luxury for me .. and a luxury I can do without .. tho' I would love to have one ...

There's probably a market tho' .... rich Harley owners with more money than sense ... another status symbol or them ...

[imdying]

No prices. Death for eCommerce. I automatically assume that it's a case of "If I have to ask, I can't afford it". Admittedly that's a portfolio, and not a shop... so I went looking for the shop... Don't know where that is.

Not here (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=gzz&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&q=disturbed+air&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=), here (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=u0z&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-GB%3Aofficial&q=disturbed+air+airbrushing&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=), or here (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=DhK&pwst=1&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&&sa=X&ei=CMOfTJ_BMM_McLGgtfgJ&ved=0CBIQvwUoAQ&q=custom+motorcycle+airbrushing+new+zealand+distur bed+air&spell=1), at least.

Finally, all of the work in your portfolio is pretty samey samey. Not that there's anything wrong with the work, but it's all sterotypical airbrushing work like we've seen before. Show us something new! How about picking something that's 'now' and leveraging off that? What about a Despicable Me Minion (http://www.google.co.nz/images?um=1&hl=en&biw=1680&bih=841&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=despicable+me+minion&btnG=Search)? How much would that be?

[scumdog]

There's probably a market tho' .... rich Harley owners with more money than sense ... another status symbol or them ...


Yep, me 20+ year old FFM helmet could do with a bit of gussieing-up I guess....<_<

[gatch]

Yeah man, same as all the above.

You obviously have great skill. If you want more work you have to really get yourself out there. And as has been said above as well, need to display more works that are more main stream.

My sister is right into painting on canvas. She was selling nothing until she started entering shows, badgering businesses to display her stuff, also taking notes from others in regards to what people want. Now she makes enough to call it an income..

Good luck man, you obviously have the talent.

[avgas]

I am going to do a bit of free e-promo stuff for a mate in Dec. email me (farrst@gmail.com) if you want me to do a little for you as well.
Cheers
-Stew

[KiWiP]

I don't think it's your talent, you obviously have buckets of that.

I would say it's your marketing. Your website is more an advert for the webdesigner than you (not good one though). Look at the size of your photos to your webpage. They should be large and the focus not small and stuffed in silly frames. Look at trademe and how they present photos of the goods. One large and several small that can be easily zoomed in on. Get a decent photographer to take photographs of your work, not snaps (all sorts of horrible things going on there crap backgrounds/foregrounds, flash bounce of product...) Have a look at succesfule websites (e.g. Apple) and copy good ideas.

You need a bigger and more diverse portfolio, Do some freebies for friends and family, do cost jobs for local businesses just to get a bigger gallery, and that gallery needs to be presented in a light to show off your work.

For another market I've always wondered what my dive tanks would look like painted up? How much would that cost?

Best of luck with the business

[Grasshopperus]

I agree with everything that everyone else has already written. Let me add some more.

We're all very lazy, make it easy for me;

In the case of a helmet spray job

1. How long does it take you to do the work, will I be without the helmet for a week or can you do it while I wait (I realise this will be dependant on the size of the job but we need indications)

2. How do you charge? By size of the logo? Or the number of different colours used?

3. How do I submit designs to you? JPG? Photoshop PSD? Napkin?

4. How much?

Your website is like a portfolio but we want an e-Commerce type site where you show some work and then tell us how much it cost the customer. We want some text describing what surfaces you can work with, what types of paint you use, and all the other things I described.

Also, no offence, but for a graphic artist your website is right on the line of not looking good enough, and that's supposed to be your core business right? (Looking good that is). Bite the bullet and conform-it-up a bit

I want a boba fett helmet, but how to do the visor so I can still see through it?

219657

[Botany Honda]

How about sending us some of your information/CV etc so we could pass it on to our customers?

[Mom]

I dont think I have ever seen you post on KB, I just checked, 20 posts in 5 years is hardly like to get you noticed on the forum. Like others have said, up your profile on here by posting a bit more, and advertise what you do in your signature.

Best of luck!

[avgas]

I want a boba fett helmet, but how to do the visor so I can still see through it?
219657
219658
They spray a mesh rather than a coat

however I can't imagine visibility is any better really.

[imdying]

There's also a perforated vinyl they can print on, have a look at the back windows on taxis (although AFAIK that might be illegal now, so maybe there isn't one around to see... but that's an example of where it is used).

[Conquiztador]

In NZ everyone knows a mate down the road who can do it cheaper. It is the curse of the talented. You end up doing jobs you don't really want to do just to get some jobs. But in your industry you sadly end up doing a day job so you can keep on painting.

You are clearly a talented artist, and so I take that you know of http://www.kiwiterry.com/ A god friend of mine. He was painting in NZ over 10 years ago. Very talented. Could not make a living out of it here so he moved to USA where he is now in the top 10 of them. In airbrushing videos, in magazines, painting for the "big guys".

Terry would display his talent at bike shows, at car shows. He once did all the prizes for HA's Drags. I used to do some custom work, build s/s custom 80 and 120 spoke wheels. The bikes we worked on would win first at the shows. But there was no future here, only a hobby. I stopped as I had a fulltime job that paid heaps better, he made the decision to follow his dream and moved to USA.

You can advertise all you want in NZ, you can promote your self. And perhaps you can get enough to pay rent and food. But sadly NZ is too small and there are too many who will do it cheaper.

Good Luck.

[disturbedair]

Thanks for all your possitive and helpfull replies it is much appreciated, as far as the website goes i can't change that as it's a free website run by someone else, as for doing more mainstrem work i agree with you hole hardtidly but thats hard to do when no one will give me work :), cheers to the guys who contacted me for quotes on some jobs i gave dirt cheap prices and still didn't get any work so i'l have to go with Conquiztador on this one it's hard to get work when i give a dirt cheap price near on doing it for free but i still didn't get the work maybee they found some one to do it cheaper? but that tells me a lot that i have suspected about in this industry for sevral years now as Conquiztador said there's always someone else down the road who will do it cheaper, in the cases iv'e dealt with i'd say they would have to be doing the work for free and in some cases it is probably going to cost the guy that does the job so good luck to the guy that does those jobs you will be workin for free :), so cheers everyone i have decided to sell me airbrush and sraygun i just can't do it any cheaper.

[imdying]

Link us up to trademe when you sell them :yes:

[disturbedair]

lol imdying i new you were an airbrusher with that samey samey bullshit lol, and it wouldn't surprise me if all the people that have asked for qoutes are just other airbrushers try to learn how i qoute so they can undercut me, 99% of qoutes i get are other airbrushes wanting to do that, it's bloody sad but it's just the way looser's are i spose lol, but your to late on most of my airbrushes but i do have a paasche ab turbine airbrush that is tunned like a ferrari, if your into that one it's $250 cash firm. but you really have to know your shit to use one of those.

[imdying]

lol imdying i new you were an airbrusherSorry, never picked up any airbrushes.


with that samey samey bullshit lolBullshit huh... well let me tell you something for free matey... I can well afford to have all of my helmets painted in any design I choose... and none of those designs would include anything like your website shows.

That style honestly just doesn't do anything for me.

Instead of writing me off as a convert competitor trying to mess with you, why don't you try taking my opinion at face value... Given I don't treat much of anything on this site seriously, count yourself lucky that I gave what I hoped might be a useful opinion.

I could've just told you that you were being a passive aggressive little cry baby bitch and to take your whinging and fuckoff :msn-wink:



and it wouldn't surprise me if all the people that have asked for qoutes are just other airbrushers try to learn how i qoute so they can undercut meOk, now you're just being paranoid and delusional... just how many people with your sort of talent do you think exist in NZ?!?!?


but your to late on most of my airbrushes but i do have a paasche ab turbine airbrush that is tunned like a ferrari, if your into that one it's $250 cash firm. but you really have to know your shit to use one of those.Not interested in airbrushes or airbrusing, you mentioned spray guys and I'm after a large nozzle cup gun for shooting tooling gelcoat onto molds. Don't see many popcorn guns for sale in NZ.

[wysper]

Thanks for all your possitive and helpfull replies it is much appreciated,

I am pretty sure I got in touch with you a few years ago for a quote to paint my Shoei.
It was going to cost more than the helmet did. (if I remember correctly).
That is too much for me, I couldn't see the value in that. And in no way do I mean to say your work isn't worth what you charge, just that I wasn't prepared to pay that much for my helmet.

I am sure I don't understand the time and effort it takes to create the helmet as you do, so I don't know what I would have paid. I didn't go anywhere else, didn't try and get it cheaper, I just didn't get it done.

I agree with the others about putting up some more varied images and artwork.

Also indicative pricing, maybe some more simple jobs too, so people like me who aren't going to pay top dollar might find something we can afford to put on our bike/lid.

Like simple repaints in different colours to perhaps match the bike or leathers or something. Wouldn't be as complex as what you have indicated but may fall more within most peoples level that they would spend on something like that.

Shame about the site hosting too, it is your shop window, it is peoples first impression and is very very important.

my 2 cents.

[disturbedair]

LOL imdying well go and die then you fuckwit, LOL LOL

[imdying]

LOL imdying well go and die then you fuckwit, LOL LOLWhat did you expect when you fobbed my opinion off as 'bullshit'? A friendly hug? Some cookies to eat with your grandmother? A tounge up the arse? Really, do tell, because I'm dying to know exactly how you thought insulting me was going to garner you any reaction but the one I gave.



/edit: Scratch that, I've had some minor success' today and I'm feeling charitable.


All I meant, and I'm sorry if you took it the wrong way initially, was:

I like custom things, helmet paintjobs included. I've seen a lot of the photorealistic looking stuff, and a lot of the fantasy "demons and skulls" sort of stuff before. Whilst that look is quite neat, and the work you do would well satisfy anyone who was into that, how about showcasing some of the other types of work you can do... say more cartoony stuff, Japanese anime type of stuff, GP relica type stuff, that sort of thing. It might give you a broader audience to appeal to, which might help bring in more work.

The comments about your portfolio site are also helpful. There are a lot of people on this site who would be able to help you with a design for a new site; some of those people are web designers, and some of them run web hosting companies with hundreds of other sites.

You're only beaten when you give up man.

[kave]

what am i doing wrong?

Your problem is that you seem to be a good airbrusher but a shit businessman. Running a business is not easy or cheap, you need to advertise, you also need a decent website, and you need to operate in a professional way when you are representing your business. I am into fantasy art, and have considered custom work. I have googled custom airbrushing in New Zealand, and have never noticed your site. Even if I had noticed your site, without even a rough idea of pricing, I wouldn't bother getting in touch with you.

If you do want to do this professionally, I recommend that you do a business course or even sign up for a business mentor. Your product isn't bad, you just don't seem to have a clue about the business operation side.

[White trash]

Fucken cool fantasy art, that's for sure. But I'm not into that unfortunately.

the portfolio you have on eyour website is going to attract full on custom bike builds, and not much else due to style, but then they're going to turn away due to only being able to see small shots of your work.

Have you considered a career in Tatooing?

[imdying]

If you do want to do this professionally, I recommend that you do a business course or even sign up for a business mentor. Your product isn't bad, you just don't seem to have a clue about the business operation side.Have you considered calling up somebody like that guy Lee here in Chch who does this sort of work (and regular custom paint work etc etc from what I understand). Every time I hear about him he has moved to bigger and better premises, and everybody reckons his work is pretty good. Presumably his business is going well, perhaps somebody like that might be happy to mentor you?

[avgas]

Don't give up - you have good work.
If your serious about it, get some help about running the business.
I will be free in December if you want me to talk you few a things. However I am happy to talk over phone or email if that helps (yes all this will be free).

Otherwise simply keep the guns - talk to other paint shops and simply go freelancing and let them manage you promotion and costings etc.

[disturbedair]

yes you are all correct, i am no bisniss man infact i can't even spell the word proply most of the time, problem is i spent to many years teaching myself how to draw and use the airbrush, i will try to clarify something before anyone else takes offence to my coment, imdying no offence mate but that first post you put up was pure competitive airbrusher speak, secondly my coments on other
airbrusher's contacting me to qoute work for them to learn how to qoute and to under cut me is directed at those people only, if you contacted me for a quote and you were a genuine customer then take no notice of that comment and i am sorry that i couldn't do the job in your price range
As for doing freebee's for advertising that is off the cards for me as i have done more than $60.000 worth of freebee's in the past and i have been stabed in the back every time, i found that people i did the freebee's for "my so called mates at the time" they didn't want me to do better work on any one else's car or bike so they wouldn'd give out my fone number or speak positivly about me or my work, i even had a carpainter mate that i did a flame job for on his hotrod and the asshole dogged my name all through the hotrod and custom sene then he opened up a paint shop named it after the flame job i did on his car he then parked it out the front of his paint shop to advertise himself as a custom painter and told everone that he painted it, iv'e had enough of that sort of crap and crap that is involved in the custom industry, but i thought i'd give it one more shot and it's just not gonna happen, as Conquiztador said, new zealand is just to small, so i'm gonna have to give it up, cheers guys :)

[imdying]

imdying no offence mate but that first post you put up was pure competitive airbrusher speakNone taken, I just wanted to give honest feedback that I thought might help.

[robo555]

Getting a file not found error on your website?

[Renegade]

Getting a file not found error on your website?

me too,hope you haven't thrown in the towel and pulled it

[scracha]

I've never heard of you mate...sorry. Complex fantasy stuff doesn't float my boat. I'd personally be interested in some GP rep stuff or a nice Scottish flag. Everyone is different, but a lot of guys n' gals want some sort of coherent theme going on with their helmet, leathers and bike.

If you're good then I'd suggest you hook-up with guys like Billy at racefairings.co.nz, Brett at Quasimoto or Sam at Celtic leathers. If any of these guys recommended you (or even just took a cut and resold your stuff to match their stuff) then I'd feel more confident you weren't going to fuck up my helmet and/or rip me off.

[Mental Trousers]

Subtle the Scotsman is not :facepalm:

Painting helmets is really only done for new helmets and people only replace their helmets every couple of years or more. I don't like replacing my helmets because they're comfortable and I know they do the job. They're also damn expensive (the Shoei XR1100 I bought yesterday was $615.00 without a tinted visor) and nobody has a lot of money at the moment.

As for custom jobs on bikes, my race bike gets white all over and that's it. Easy and stands out.

[disturbedair]

this threads a dead rubber now guys iv'e decided to give it up and i have deleted the website and sold my sprayguns and airbrushers but i do have one airbrush left to sell but it is a specialist brush and you really need to now how to use it if you want to buy it, again thanks for all your support, cheers :yes:

[wysper]

this threads a dead rubber now guys iv'e decided to give it up and i have deleted the website and sold my sprayguns and airbrushers but i do have one airbrush left to sell but it is a specialist brush and you really need to now how to use it if you want to buy it, again thanks for all your support, cheers :yes:

Thats a shame dude. It's a shame you couldnt find your market, I can't draw a straight line with a ruler so I think it is awesome that you have the talent to draw. Who knows, maybe in a while you will find a way back to it if it is something you really want to do, hell, maybe you might even start doing art shows, local metal bands album art, designs for someones tattoo (even if some one else does the tattooing, skinks springs to mind).

Good luck with what ever you end up doing.

[marty]

LOL epic fail.

[R-Soul]

What are you doing wrong?

You are putting your URL in wrong...

[R-Soul]

For another market I've always wondered what my dive tanks would look like painted up? How much would that cost?

Best of luck with the business

hehe You can paint a shark dry humping you on your dive tanks...

[R-Soul]

More advice for anyobldy else with drawing talent and more gumption.

wWy not align yourself with custom bike bulders- if a guy has blown $80k on a themed bike, he will blow another $1k on a matching helmet no problem.

[disturbedair]

hi r-soul first up i like the name, and don't take offence to this please i'm not out to piss you off but you don't no much about the custom bike scene if you think a guy who's spent $80.000 on a bike is going to spend money on painting his helmet, i have had shitloads to do with many custom bike owners and i can tell you from experiance and it doesn't matter if it's a custom biker or a hotroder they will both spend mega dollars on everything else on a project but when it comes to paint they litteraly want you to do it for free or as they call it "free advertising" if only i had a dollar for every time iv'e herd that line and then been stabbed in the back and this is even if it's just a strait one colour paint job. all you need to do now is look on trade me and you will see all those people that brought or built custom bikes are now sellin them for nothing what they paid for them iv's seen them going for $20.000, and the reson they are sellin them is because they have discovered you can't ride chopper's on new zealand roads.

[Conquiztador]

hehe You can paint a shark dry humping you on your dive tanks...

Surely that would be wet-humping?

[HungusMaximist]

all you need to do now is look on trade me and you will see all those people that brought or built custom bikes are now sellin them for nothing what they paid for them iv's seen them going for $20.000, and the reson they are sellin them is because they have discovered you can't ride chopper's on new zealand roads.

So true about the chopper comment, it's all for sho.

Bro, it's real shit that you gave up man, there is a market for your talent and skills you just need to re-examine your market dude and get with the times.

[R-Soul]

What you need to do is forget NZ, and develop your own style of stuff- not cpy teh other typical fantasy stuff. Your won trademark stuff. Develop your own little cool character/trademark him so nobody else can use him/it. Then offer your services as a craftsman in the USA, and charge the earth, because the more you cost, the better you must be eh?
Its amazing what people will pay for exclusivity.

[disturbedair]

howdee r-soul i love typin in that name :) you obviusly didn't see my work if you think it was standed stuff copied from other artist work, if you want to see standed copied work you need to go on line and have a look at what other new zealand airbrushers are doing then you will see the diference, the one thing people who have seen my work in real have said to me is that my work was completly different from other airbrush's they had seen and that i had a wide range of style,
i do not copy anyone else's style or work unless i am specificly asked to do so which is what some of the automotive stuff i had on the website was but i allso changed each drawing complety to put my own style into them, if you saw the demaccio bonnet and the original artist artwork you would know that as for the giger style thunderbird tank the customer spicificly asked for that syle and i also had changed that completly too and if you had seen the prosthetic arm i did you would realise that was a complet original from my head with out even useing foto reference and ninety percent of my pencil drawing were strait from my head on to paper without useing any reference foto's at all aswell, so as for my work being standed airbrushy crap, i don't think so and neither do the people who have seen my work in real life, at least thats what they have told me, mybe ther sayin differint crap behind my back, that wouldn't suprise me :) but at the end of the day you can't do out there freaky stuff if one, your not getting any work, and two if people wont pay what real original work cost's so im stuck between a rock and a hard place this is just another reson why i have given airbrushing up, cheers :)

[AznNinja]

From one batshit insane artist to the other...

Bit of background on this here n00b. I'm a designer by trade and artist by passion. Been in the industry for 6 years and about to back to uni for more. So I've done a bit of earning in the creative industry. I feel I can offer you a bit of a shoulder here. Here's a bit of chicken soup for your soul:

1) Don't give up. Just, don't. Get your brushes back, pick yourself up, and climb back on the horse. Talent isn't a right, it's a gift and privilege; you've obviously been given it. Very, very hard to come by, as other posters have said.

2) The creative world is HARSH, man! Take this from a graphic designer. Everyone's a critic, and most are not afraid to shoot from the hip. But here's a home truth: you make money designing for other people, not yourself! Don't take it personally. Never take it personally.

3) Your portfolio should show both your own pride and joy pieces as well as work you've done for clients. Show a wide but concise variety of work - most of the paying stuff you do, you'll most likely hate but the client will love. We all feel this pain - my design portfolio contains a grand total of ONE piece I did for myself. The rest has subject matter that'd bore you to tears. Looks very cool, though.

4) The more creative and talented the artist, the worse they are at selling themselves. You'll have noticed that really crappy artists make a lot of money selling their garbage - they are businessmen that can wave a pen. The best artists are hard to come by because they are just a little kooky and couldn't sell themselves if their lives depended on it. The best thing you can do is leave the marketing to someone else that you TRUST - the profits will be shared, yes, but if they earn their salt then there'll be more than enough to go around. Yes, a good artist needs a manager!

5) Spend the cash on marketing and advertising. You can't get anywhere without putting yourself out there. A brilliant website is the best start. From there, get noticed - have a logo designed, get it onto things. Have a clever, witty or memorable company name. Get your name welded into the minds of others! This is how you start the best marketing of all: word of mouth.



You'll do just fine, mate. Get yourself out there, try not to take things personally (this is the hardest for creatives) and try to find someone that can support your business from the boring end so you can do what you do best - paint.

[R-Soul]

howdee r-soul i love typin in that name :) you obviusly didn't see my work if you think it was standed stuff copied from other artist work, if you want to see standed copied work you need to go on line and have a look at what other new zealand airbrushers are doing then you will see the diference, the one thing people who have seen my work in real have said to me is that my work was completly different from other airbrush's they had seen and that i had a wide range of style,
i do not copy anyone else's style or work unless i am specificly asked to do so which is what some of the automotive stuff i had on the website was but i allso changed each drawing complety to put my own style into them, if you saw the demaccio bonnet and the original artist artwork you would know that as for the giger style thunderbird tank the customer spicificly asked for that syle and i also had changed that completly too and if you had seen the prosthetic arm i did you would realise that was a complet original from my head with out even useing foto reference and ninety percent of my pencil drawing were strait from my head on to paper without useing any reference foto's at all aswell, so as for my work being standed airbrushy crap, i don't think so and neither do the people who have seen my work in real life, at least thats what they have told me, mybe ther sayin differint crap behind my back, that wouldn't suprise me :) but at the end of the day you can't do out there freaky stuff if one, your not getting any work, and two if people wont pay what real original work cost's so im stuck between a rock and a hard place this is just another reson why i have given airbrushing up, cheers :)

Yeah sorry the website was gone before I could see it. No offence meant. I was referring to "fantasy" as a gendre in itself and just rying to come up with constructive advice. Post the pic's again - this thread loses its oomph without them and could be useful to other artists?

[R-Soul]

From one batshit insane artist to the other...

Bit of background on this here n00b. I'm a designer by trade and artist by passion. Been in the industry for 6 years and about to back to uni for more. So I've done a bit of earning in the creative industry. I feel I can offer you a bit of a shoulder here. Here's a bit of chicken soup for your soul:

1) Don't give up. Just, don't. Get your brushes back, pick yourself up, and climb back on the horse. Talent isn't a right, it's a gift and privilege; you've obviously been given it. Very, very hard to come by, as other posters have said.

2) The creative world is HARSH, man! Take this from a graphic designer. Everyone's a critic, and most are not afraid to shoot from the hip. But here's a home truth: you make money designing for other people, not yourself! Don't take it personally. Never take it personally.

3) Your portfolio should show both your own pride and joy pieces as well as work you've done for clients. Show a wide but concise variety of work - most of the paying stuff you do, you'll most likely hate but the client will love. We all feel this pain - my design portfolio contains a grand total of ONE piece I did for myself. The rest has subject matter that'd bore you to tears. Looks very cool, though.

4) The more creative and talented the artist, the worse they are at selling themselves. You'll have noticed that really crappy artists make a lot of money selling their garbage - they are businessmen that can wave a pen. The best artists are hard to come by because they are just a little kooky and couldn't sell themselves if their lives depended on it. The best thing you can do is leave the marketing to someone else that you TRUST - the profits will be shared, yes, but if they earn their salt then there'll be more than enough to go around. Yes, a good artist needs a manager!

5) Spend the cash on marketing and advertising. You can't get anywhere without putting yourself out there. A brilliant website is the best start. From there, get noticed - have a logo designed, get it onto things. Have a clever, witty or memorable company name. Get your name welded into the minds of others! This is how you start the best marketing of all: word of mouth.



You'll do just fine, mate. Get yourself out there, try not to take things personally (this is the hardest for creatives) and try to find someone that can support your business from the boring end so you can do what you do best - paint.

and most of all dont lose your passion for what you do- even if yo have to do it out of your garden shed at nights, keep going. It is passion that attracts people of similar ilk to you and your ideas. Nobody is attracted to boredom and whininess.

Its sound slike you are good at what you do, and that you love doing it. So dont stop even if it means doing it free or at least cheap for the time being. Make posters and sell them to Cardies gift shop if you have to, but make them how YOU want them. And make sue you can prove ownership of copyright in all of them. Sign your name, or develop a trade mark that makes people remember you.


Whats the alternative? Leave doing what you love completely, and die wondering. I wish I could find what I loved (besides my family, riding and money, but hey those years have passed :blink:). You already know.

[AznNinja]

Pretty much. If you stop doing what you love, if you stop dreaming... you're already dead. No one wants that. Liiiiiive, and do what you're great at!