Artipreneur - the Blog for working artists

How to Budget your Cash for Winter

2011-11-12T10:36:00.000-08:00

Its tough working in the freelance art biz if only for the fact that most of us don't have steady income. And those of us who do don't usually make a ton of cash in the winter. Plus most of us work on a cash-only basis, so there's a real temptation to spend spend spend all summer while the dough is rolling in, but then come November most of us are screwed. Some of us even have to GET A REAL JOB (audible gasp).

Here's a system I learned from a credit counselor on how to avoid those end-of-October blues. Even though it's November, start NOW. If you've saved up for the winter, this is a great way to see if you've saved enough, and will motivate you to market yourself more over the Winter (You DO market yourself, right?)

INTRODUCING: THE ENVELOPE SYSTEM

It's really pretty simple. If all you use is cash (and if you don't you might consider cuttting up that plasic ASAP!) then you basically need to make a budget, put money in the envelopes, and (this is key) NOT TOUCH IT unless you need it. Here's how:

You'll need:

A notebook and pen
A calculator
All your bills
A calendar
A box of envelopes

STEPS:

1. Make three columns in your notebook. The first column should be the biggest.

In The first column, list every single bill that you have. You'll also need to list every expense that you have, both business and personal. For a quick and easy template that you can print out for FREE, check out this site: http://frugalliving.about.com/library/pdfs/BudgetWorksheet.pdf

They are missing a few categories, such as birthdays and holidays (like Christmas).
Also they don't have any categories for a sole proprietorship. If you're not a sole proprietor, consider making an entire budget just for your business based on the same model. If you are a sole proprietor, add categories such as Marketing (business cards, flyers, postcards, adsense), Materials (easel, markers, colors, paper, etc.), and travel (gas, food, lodging).

2. In the next column, list each monthly payment. If you have a bill that is due, say, every six weeks, figure out exactly how much you'll have to pay per month. (For you artsy people who can't do math, you do this by dividing your biull by the number of weeks (6 in this case) and then multiplying that number by four since there are four weeks in a month). For now, just use the lowest monthly payment on each bill. Leave the last column blank for now as well.

3. For expenses such as gifts, look at a yearly calendar. On a new sheet of paper, write down each and every person you will get a gift for for their birthday, anniversary or holiday (like Valentines Day). Estimate how much you want to spend on each person and write it next to the person. Add these all together, then divide by 12 to help you figure out how much you need to save each month on gifts. Add this to your main budget page. You can do the exact same thing with your business expenses. Estimate how much art materials you go through in a typical week, and figure out the cost. Same for Marketing.

4. Now divide each figure by FOUR to get your WEEKLY BUDGET (I find this easier than monthly for what we do, but you can also do it on a monthly basis.) Place this figure in the last column for each budget item.

5. Take out your envelopes and label one for each and every expense. Write down the name of the bill, and the monthly and weekly payment on each envelope.

5. Place the envelopes in order of importance (rent and car payments go on top, for example).

6. Place money in the most important envelopes as you earn cash. Fill up the lesser envelopes afterwards. This is much easier in the spring summer and fall than in the winter, which is why it's IMPERATIVE that you don't touch the envelopes!

7. If you're rolling in the dough in July, for instance, consider filling up envelopes for November, December, January and February AHEAD of time. THIS is what will get you through the winter.

8. If your expenses exceed your income... you're screwed.

Well, OK, not really. But you may want to a) cut back and/or b) get a part time job c) market yourself better. Check out one of my posts on how to market yourself at http://caricaturebizguru.blogspot.com/2011/10/10-unique-ways-to-give-out-business.html

Now if I could just get my husband to stop opening the envelopes...

Increase your service skills, make more $$$

2011-10-30T12:00:00.001-07:00

You can slave away all night and day striving to get better as an artist, you can win award after award at conventions for your art, you can get published on magazine covers... but how does this translate into better retail and/or gig sales?

Mostly, it doesn't. Most people out there think of us as magicians, in a way. They think this about ALL of us, even the beginners and artists who haven't worked much to improve their art. (for tips on improving your art, see my previous post). They'll buy it even if it's not the best because to them, it's MAGIC.

If you want to make more money as a caricaturist (and who doesn't?), you need to pay AS MUCH ATTENTION to your Service Skills Set as you do to the quality of your artwork. If you do, you'll have a leg up on the competition, because many caricaturists don't bother with this aspect of our business.

What, you ask, are "service skills?" Well, I'll tell you, since you asked.

Service skills for what we do can be broken into three major categories:

1. Professionalism (showing up early, being dressed for the event you're working, coming prepared, etc.)

2. Salesmanship (learning more about the art of selling is a key part of our job. I read everything that comes down the pike on sales, which is why I'm consistently the top salesperson on our crew)

3. Entertainment (Laughter=Moolah. But you knew that. Didn't you?)

In future posts I plan on touching on each of these subjects thoroughly, but for now I'll give you some tips to enhance each of these areas immediately.

1. Don't hate on your customers. The first time I heard Adam English sing "The day I killed all the customers," I blew soda out my nose with laughter, but I don't really feel that way. My customers enable me to make a decent living doing something I love. Yours do too. They are your bread and butter, so give them what they want. That's not to say you cant exaggerate, but gauge first whether the person can take it. You can also prevent hard feelings (and a loss of sales) by WARNING PEOPLE AHEAD OF TIME that you re going to mess them up! Do so in a humorous way and you're framing your art for them so that they aren't insulted but instead find it funny.

2. SMILE. SOOOOOooooooo important! Bell telephone company did a study back in the day and found that when the operators smiled when they talked, they had significantly less complaints. Your smile even shows through in your voice on the phone! When talking to ANY potential customers, even over the phone, SMILE.

3. Introduce yourself. People have anxiety about getting caricatures drawn. Introducing yourself sets them at ease. I always state my name, shake their hand (even kids), and ask their name. Then I use it when talking to them. I've received MUCH fewer rejections since I started doing this one simple thing. It connects you to the customer and allows you to form a RELATIONSHIP with them. And people are reluctant to reject my drawings once I've done that.

4. Don't "force" the sale. Don't you hate it when salespeople haunt you at clothing stores? If you've set up your pricing and advertising at your stand correctly, you can just point and then back off. I find backing off to work really well if your pricing is right. If not, experiment til you get it right. Your work should SELL ITSELF. That doesn't mean you shouldn't ASK for the sale. You should. Just don't be pushy. That sets you up for rejections because you're convincing people to sit who didn't want to sit in the first place.

5. Be personal. Ive seen artists barely speak to customers. Sometimes you get a dud who doesn't want to talk, but mostly if you can ask a few questions and get them talking about themselves, you'll have something to talk about.

6. Use Humor. Memorize a few dumb jokes. Ask kids if they're married, or what they do for a living. USE ZINGERS ON HECKLERS. This works really well. Gets the audience laughing and gets the jerk off of your back. I have quite a few that I'll be compiling for another post.

7. Explain what you're going to do. In his book, "The Accidental Salesperson,"author and Sales guru Chris Lytle states that this is paramount to good salesmanship. It puts the customer at ease. I just simply say "OK you can have a seat. Look right at me, and Ill tell you when to smile. This ll just take a few minutes".

8.If you love someones hair or dress or shoes, tell them so. Tell them what celebrity they look like (but not if the celebrity is Wilford Brimley... eck). Everyone loves a sincere compliment. That's the catch, though - its gotta be sincere.

9. This may be controversial, but ALWAYS flatter young teen aged girls. Word of mouth from making a little girl cry is bad business and gives ALL of us a bad name. This holds true for anyone that you can plainly see is either a stickler for details or vain. Mess them up and you'll get a rejection and complaints. Just do a quick flattering sketch and get them out of your chair as quickly as possible.

10. Be on time, better yet be early. Dress professionally. Have everything you need. In short, be prepared. If you do screw up and are late to a gig, own it. Apologize, and then offer a pro-rated discount for the time you were late, or stay later to make up for it.

11. Don't take rejections personally, they happen to all of us. Even Joe Bluhm, author of "Rejects," a book full of rejections he's received on his arawrd-winning artwork. DO NOT TEAR UP THE REJECTION. Not only is it unprofessional, it is rude, and it will guarantee that person never gets drawn again and will give you bad word of mouth. Instead, try this trick taught to me by NCN founder (not to mention my husband) Buddy Rose:

Say "I'm so sorry you don't like the drawing. Honestly, I didn't much like it myself either. Here, it's on the house." Nine times out of ten you'll still get paid. THIS WORKS. Of course, some people are out to scam you, but there really are very few people who do that. For those people (and you know who they are as soon as they sit down if you've been doing this long enough), tell them you can redraw them if you can stomach it, or just give them back their money AFTER they've given you the sketch. If they balk, its a scam, and you can compare yourself to Walmart, Would you get money back from walmart without returning the merchandise first? Of course not. They cant expect any less from you.

12. Being nice goes a long way. Treat people the way you'd like to be treated at a store. Answer questions even if you've heard them 10,000 times ("wheres the bathroom?") Watch salespeople and use techniques you like.

13. Have fun! If you're having fun, the customer will have fun. And you'll make more $$$!

Your Number One Marketing Tool

2011-10-30T11:59:00.001-07:00

For those of us who are self-employed as artists, even if it's only part time, business
cards are our most important marketing tool. It's what gets you noticed - or not. It's really imperative to your business that your card not only stands out from the rest, but that it also advertises what you DO in a clear concise manner.

There are a number of ways to ensure that your business card stands out. In this
article I've taken some ideas from Writers digests' Illustrators guide as well
as from Guerilla Marketing and applied them to caricature.

First let's consider format. Vertical format stands out simply because most
professionals use horozontal. And who says your card has to be stock sized
business cards? You can get 500 postcards custom printed for $63.00 here:
http://www.printplace.com/printing/cheap-postcard-printing.aspx. I recently met a professional who handed me a CLEAR business card. Wow, did that make an impression!
It's DIFFERENT that is key. How many boring business cards do YOU actually keep? I guarantee you, I k ept that clear one.

Another way to make your card stand out is Artwork. It goes without saying that you should use your own artowrk, and your very best at that, although it should be easily reducible to postage-stamp size and yet still retain its visual integrity.

The Artwork you use on your business card should be indicative of your style. If you do illustrations or use alternate media as well as parties and those styles are vastly different,
consider creating two business cards with different artwork.

I highly recommend using a "selfie," (self caricature) for your logo. This helps
to "brand" you to your business name. The drawback is it will need to be updated
as your skills increase.
Using celebrities, even dead ones, can be tricky. For instance, using Elvis as a
logo could subject you to legal action by his estate, and there are plenty of other dead celebrities who are just as tricky to use..

If you've done a really great caricature of, say, brad Pitt, and you want to use
it as your logo, you CAN do it, but the rules are a little tricky. Check out
this site first to learn about copyright law when using a celebrities image.
http://library.findlaw.com/2003/Dec/1/133182.html.

So your very best, preferably color (unless you only do black and white) selfie
that is easily reducible is preferable. I used a black and white line drawing for my selfie for years. THis worked really well for me because I specialize in parties, and black and white is generally what I do.

Underneath your logo (or sometimes over it, you can get creative with the
design) is the Header. This is your business name. (read my article on naming your business for more info on this),. Your name alone can catch you a lot of attention, especially if it's funny, so choose carefully.
When placing your Header, make sure your font is
legible. Many fonts don't reduce well, and some printers (such as Staples) only
allow certain fonts.

Tag lines sometimes go underneath your Header. Tag lines are a good way to incorporate humor into your cards. Mine read "squirmy kids are my specialty" underneath the Headung of my business, Making Faces. Gets a lot of attention!
Next, make sure you include ALL of your contact info. Name, cell, email, blog, website and how to follow you on fb and twitter. great to get people following you who aren't artists, and let's face it, that's how to get sales.

The copy, or the advertising portion, of your card is the most important part.
This is what sells you. Sadly, many artists just place their name and
"illustrator" underneath. Or they don't even explain what they do. If you're doing this, you're missing out on using business cards to your best advantage. If you do parties, SAY SO. My
cards read " perfect for parties, great as gifts." Others list their services. Figure out what makes you the most KA-CHING (parties? Illustrations? Murals? etc) and PUT IT ON YOUR CARD.

Finally, Consider using both sides of your business card. Printing isn't much
more expensive and you can put a coupon on the back for next time or a percentage off
parties. You can also use it to quote your speeds and rates.

Whatever design you choose, get them made and HAND THEM OUT TO EVERYONE. I'll be
posting some guerilla marketing ways to hand out cards in my next post. Til then, happy
designing!

10 Artsy uses for your Smartphone

2011-10-30T11:57:00.000-07:00

Ok I admit it. I'm a bit of a technophobe. Im a gen-exer. I My family didn't get

a VCR til I was 12 years old, i got my first laptop last year, I and until two

months ago, I still had an old flip phone.

I decided to get a new iPhone when I was promoted to marketing director of

caricature cinema. But even though I knew I needed one, I still balked through

the entire process.

I hate salesmen and their transparent manipulations. I have severe anxiety about

trying to learn how to use new technology, especially when it's on something I

USE every day like my phone. (I mean, I put off learning to use my new laptop

til last month).

Let me tell you something. If you're a technophobe like me, (and in my

experience most artists are not only afraid of technology, they're by and large

a bit neurotic. Not a good combination when it comes to this stuff), and you're

still not using a smartphone, it will CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

I mean, after you get one you'll waste every waking minute of the next month

farting around on it and figuring it out, but that's a small price to pay for a portable hand held laptop.

Which is exactly what my iphone4 is.

You can do all kinds of amazing things on this thing. In fact, I'm typing on it right now. Below, You’ll find some cool things you can do with a smartphone. I HIGHLY recommend you go get yourself one – or you could always ask santa ;)

10 ways to use your iPhone for your art biz:

1. Sketch photos of kids during downtime at festivals to pull in business. I
find kids work best because of the "cute" factor.

2. Find celebrity pics to draw from and bookmark them.

3. Write your next blog post (like I'm doing right now)

4. Update your social networks with actual news about your biz(not just pictures
of your cat). Facebook and twitter, of course, but also deviantart, linkedin, and photobucket are important to update periodically.

5. Sign up for http://www.caricature.org/ if you haven't already. It's worth the $50 fee.
It's always astonishing to me when I meet a caricaturist who isn't a part of ISCA,
but it happens all the time. The ISCA is the INternational Society of Caricature Artists. It's open to anyone who loves the art of caricature (not just professionals - but it may well open the door for you to become a pro!) They have a forum where you can post your work and get critiques, as well as an annual convention held the second week of November. This may well change your life, especially if you go to the conventions. It changed mine - I married a caricaturist I met there!

6. Broadcast yourself drawing live. At least have someone recording you draw. Use this for publicity on your website or blog or even just to show the guy on the subway what you do.

7. Take pictures of your best drawings to use as samples

8. Create art with apps such as MyPaint Free.

9. Use it to market yourself when networking with people. When they ask about
your work, just whip out your phone!

10. Use your maps function to route your gigs. Make a wrong turn? No problem!
Just press "edit" and then "route" using your current address. It'll update your route
immediately. No more mapquest or gps blues! And you'll Never be late to a gig again!

If you haven't got a smartphone yet, seriously, go get one! It'll change the way you do business.

Resources for Drawing Better

2011-10-30T11:53:00.001-07:00

For beginners:
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: The Definitive, 4th Edition (Paperback)
Betty Edwards

Drawing the Human Head (Practical Art Books) (Paperback)
Burne Hogarth

Face Off: How to Draw Amazing Caricatures & Comic Portraits (Paperback)
Harry Hamernik
(19)

Drawing Caricatures: How to Create Successful Caricatures in a Range of Styles
(Paperback)
Martin Pope

How To Draw Caricatures (Paperback)
Lenn Redman
A classic

Cartooning, Caricature and Animation Made Easy (Dover Art Instruction)
(Paperback)
Chuck Thorndike

For seasoned pros:
http://www.tomrichmond.com/blog/2011/10/27/praise-for-the-mad-art-of-caricature/
Available only at Tom richmonds site, this is possibly the best caricature
drawing book out there. I recommend it for EVERYONE.

A Caricaturist's Handbook: How to Draw Caricatures and Master Exaggeration
(Paperback)
Jim van der Keyl, Tracie L Cannon

The Complete Book of Caricature (Hardcover)
Bob Staake

Live & Learn: Expressive Drawing: A Practical Guide to Freeing the Artist Within
(AARP) (Hardcover)
Steven Aimone
(25)

Artist's Way (Paperback)
Julia Cameron, Mark Bryan
An excellent 12 week course in a book designed to help unblock the blocked
artist

Rejects by Joe bluhm
Looking at the Art is worth the price

EVERYONE Thinks They Suck

2011-10-22T07:53:00.000-07:00

or, "how I learned to stop hating my work and love the process of learning to get better".

If you are like me, you've agonized over your work. You've sought others opinions to see if they'd boost your ego, tried to take classes or learn from others but found them less than helpful, and beat yourself up endlessly.

You are not alone.

First, I will not tell you whether your work is "good" or "bad". That's subjective. However, you can always improve, and should strive to. As professional artists (and if you're getting paid, you ARE a pro), we have no certifications or training aside from art school to keep us growing. So self-motivation is key. And I'm assuming you have that if you're reading this post. The rest is just sweat. Trust me, if you try the exercises below, and really work at them, not just trythem once or twice, you'll improve. Guaranteed.

Occasionally I still suffer from the "My work sucks" syndrome, but not as much as I used to. Because I've put in the work. You can too. Follow some (or all) of the suggestions below and watch your work improve dramatically. It's all about time and practice. The more you put into it, the more you'll get out of it. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. Then, Practice some more. You wouldnt expect to just sit down at a piano one day and be able to play Chopin. It takes years of work. Be prepared for it.

However, doing the same thing over and over ("canned" caricatures) doesnt really seem to help improve peoples work. Einstein said that doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. So MIX IT UP. Here's some of the things I've done over the years. Feel free to chime in and add your own ideas for what you've done to help you improve:

1. get a sketchbook and start sketching wherever your go. Restaurants. Libraries. Airports. Bars. (This has the added advantage of giving you an opening with that cute girl or hot guy sitting across the bar). I call this "Sniper Sketching". You don't necessarily have to let the subject see you sketching them, but you can if you like the end result. Some artists I know give their final sketch to the "victim". Some artists get together and do this on a regular basis, even giving themselves challenges to draw a particular person or theme. Mix it up.

2. Study artists you like. Facebook and Twitter make it easy to connect with other artists. I highly recommend enlarging a drawing you love and copying it freehand. Try to emulate the lines, the strokes, the color - whatever you feel you need to work on. Post it on the ISCA forum (more on this in another post) and ask for feedback. This is the way artists in the past have learned to improve - by copying the masters. DO NOT, however, repost it and claim it as your own! That's plaigarism and could result in legal action. Instead, use it for exercises for yourself. Keep your old exercises- its great to look back over time and see how you've improved.

3. Try different materials. Go to your local artstore and grab a bunch of different pens. SOme people swear by the Markette (Available online at cartoonpens.com), but there are many others that are excellent. I myself love a brush pen sold at Michaels. Its called LePlume, and its a bit stiffer than other pens of the same kind. But you can also experiment with color - try painting, pastels, even sculpy. The results may surprise you.

4. Start out your drawing with the intent of exaggerating as much as possible. STRETCH yourself! Trying to retain a likeness at the same time is the delicate balancing act that sets caricaturists apart from other artists, and it's what makes our art so difficult. But thats what we love about it! The challenge :)

5. Switch it up. Try a different view, such as 3/4 (this has helped me improve my work IMMENSELY) to break yourself out of a rut. Start drawing at a different place than you are used to (its fun to start with the feature you wish to exaggerate the most and then work from there.) Keep in mind the 100% rule - a face can be broken into 100 squares. If you use 90% for the nose, for example, that leaves 10% for the rest of the face and therefore the rest of the face must be smaller in proportion. Otherwise all you get is a "big" drawing.

6. Talk to other artists. Find out what they do. Watch them work. A great place to do this is at the International Society of Caricature Artists' convention. Its coming up soon, early November, so check out their website now! http://www.isca.org/

Hope these techniques help. More to come... and most importantly, have fun!!!

2011-10-19T16:36:00.001-07:00

If you're an artist and are self-employed, this blog is for you. I'm not going to toot my own horn on this blog about how great my art is (its not), or brag about my kids (I do enough of that on Face Book). I'm starting this blog because a lot of people have come to me for advice over the years, and it seems like there isn't one good place to go on the net for info on artists who own their own businesses. I don't pretend to be the most knowledgable (I've been at it for 15 years as a caricaturist, which if you know our biz, you know those are the front lines), sure. But there are plenty of other folks with a lot more experience than little old me. Which is why I'm planning on interviewing people in our field and learning their secrets, then passing them on to you. I hope you like it, and aren't too offended - I'm from Philly after all, and we Philly fillies speak our minds! ;) Enjoy!