Digital Printable Graphic Poster

This week I am experimenting with a process to make a digital printable graphic poster. I’ve been using Printful to make and sell products but I have also been testing out digital printables and selling them on etsy. Awhile back I wrote a comparison of the two methods. So far, I haven’t made that much progress with selling digital printables, but I think part of the problem is that I don’t have enough products listed. The funny thing is that I have plenty of images in my library to turn into digital products! I just need to hunker down and start turning them into products. Read more

Silencing the Inner Art Critic

Do you have an inner art critic? How do you go about silencing him/her/them?

Julia Cameron, who wrote the definitive book on maintaining creativity, “The Artist’s Way,” calls the inner art critic “the Censor,” and suggests visualizing him in a funny way to take away his power. The point is that the inner critic does not speak “truth,” instead he just blathers on and on with useless criticism. I like to picture Anton Ego, the food critic from Ratatouille:

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Alex Katz Flower Paintings

As promised, I am blogging about Alex Katz flower paintings, and attempting to copy his technique. Lately I have been obsessed with his style. He is so economical in what he shows you. He pares the lines and colors down to only what is necessary to make his case that these are some flowers. Why does it work so well? I’m not sure but I can say that copying his technique is not as easy as it looks.

For my attempt at copying his process, I started out with some early evening photos. As you can see, you can start with a rather mundane photo and then fool with it till you get more information out of it. Read more

On Copying an Artist’s Process

I’ve been striving to publish more blog posts lately and as a result, I am starting to find a common thread in the way I like to work. One of my go-to techniques for getting started is copying an artist’s process. I take an artist and try to figure out how they made the thing. Recent examples include James Nares and Yugo Hortal. In my sketchbook, I am continually trying to copy the great textile artist, Anni Albers.

But then the useless part of my brain chimes in with the notion that this may be “derivative.” Artists are supposed to be original, right? Read more