I've been thinking in the past few weeks about promoting my art, even as I think about trying out new kinds of art. Artistically, I'm pleased with how my books come out these days and I think they just get better and better, but I find myself a little frustrated that they sell kinda slowly, despite getting a lot of pageviews and positive responses.

I was wondering, does anyone out there have any thoughts on good places and ways to promote art?

Things I've been reading up on and pondering:

- A series of photos / stopmotion compilation of photos detailing the process of making a book
- YouTube videos about my art, being an artist, etc
- starting a mailing list with monthly updates of whatever artworks or events happen in that time
- Does anyone successfully sell original art on Ebay? Or anywhere else?
- I am constantly looking at Lulu.com, since I have a secret hankering to publish a book someday LOL
- Do people like seeing photos of an artist's studio space?

I recently updated my Etsy store: [link]

Though I haven't sold much on there so far, it does remain a site with a lot of people on it, similiar to DevArt. I decided to not, at the moment, purchase a Showcase on Etsy, since I read a lot of comments that said they made no difference in sales. As I was saying to a friend, steampunk stuff seems to sell well on there, and goth things, but I'm not sure what else @_@

How many people buy gifts and stuff for themselves online? I do buy more online stuff these days than in the past, but that's just me. When you buy, is there any information from the store that you consider vital to your decision to buy from them or not?

I have been slowly teaching myself OSCommerce to try to get a store up on my domain itself, which would be nice

You may have noticed I've been making more crocheted plushies lately, which I enjoy making and have the added benefit of being a less expensive item. I'm not sure yet whether they'll be something people would want to buy, but I'm always interested in trying new things anyway. I've been idly thinking about making some stuff aimed towards babies, though I realized I don't know how big a baby hat is, how big are baby heads?? LOL

Anyway, just thoughts that have been floating through my head lately

~Sunhawk


's fanart is |here| and |here|


my IRL friends

clubs are fun yay!

Hello my dears!

It's been more than a year since my last update, my apologies, I often don't know what to write here that would be of interest!

But right now, I do have something I'd like to talk about and I appreciate you reading this entry, even if you can't help me out

You see, I've been doing pretty well these past few months paying the bills, but right now I'm in a bit of a squeeze and I'm not sure I've got next month covered, it's been real slow commission-wise this past month or so. It's a little embarrassing to admit and I don't want to make a big deal about it but the short of it is that right now I am looking for any extra funds to help make ends meet.

PLUS, it's now October, if anyone was thinking about getting a custom book or anything else in time for Christmas or the winter holiday of your choice, now is when to order it so I can get it to you in time!

So if you'd been planning to eventually get something from me, NOW IS THE TIME! XD

I can do just about anything - custom book, custom plushie, custom crocheted wearables, custom jewelry, custom painting, heck custom $5 doodle! CHALLENGE ME!

Or check out what's still up for grabs: [link]

Take care!

~Sunhawk


's fanart is |here| and |here|


my IRL friends

clubs are fun yay!

I am really happy that my current little obsession of customizing blank hardcover books has generated a lot of positive interest!

I wanted to talk a little bit about them and the fact that I am open for commissioning special books in addition to the current batch of books already done and for sale

My customized blank books are priced by size. To give you an example of the scale of pricing, here are some different examples of different sizes:

$50:

[link]
[link]

$75:

[link]
[link]

$100:
[link]


This base price covers the cost of materials and labour. For those interested in commissioning a specific image, there is an added cost of $10 per book. If you can provide the base book for your commission (and it MUST be a hardcover book!) and mail it to me, then I will discount your order by $10

I am flexible and welcome books of different shapes and sizes. Currently I am offering blank white page books (mostly Canson sketchbook highgrade paper books), but I can accommodate those wanting lined books (sizes are more limited) and I even found one size of graph paper books that are something like 7" x 10" (still looking for other sizes)

Here is an example of a different style of book:

[link]

Any questions, please feel free to Note me

~Sunhawk


's fanart is |here| and |here|


my IRL friends

clubs are fun yay!

I have been waiting for some sort of News post or other staff-posted mention of the new set of ads that show up in the gallery pages of free users but it doesn't look like anything is coming so I guess we are supposed to just accept the new ads and get on with our lives.

That said, I think it's worth pointing out that I personally think they cross a line and turn the site from an art website that supports itself with ads to something that visually resembles the cluttered mess of MySpace and other junky websites.

I also think it's interesting that this new series of ads came about just around the same time as the new front page system of FairExposure came up. It's merely a cynical idea, but I think the timing of the two is a lucky break for DevArt, if not outright planned, because so many artists seem way more interested in FairExposure and I've seen plenty of journals on the subject. Comparatively, there have only been one or two journals about the new ads, none of which really brought up much interest or discussion.

Of course, for some, there is the mentality of "You are getting free website space so suck it up" which I believe is a gross simplification of the situation. Let me address some of the specifics that come to mind:

Ads Already In Place. There are already no less than two Ads By Google on the Messages page, the Notes page and the Community watch page. There is a banner ad above every account page, not to mention the full-page ads that show up for users who have no DevArt account. Given the traffic of this site, I find it incredibly difficult to beleive that all those ads are not generating enough money to cover whatever costs they are meant to cover. I am actually not convinced that DevArt makes more money from subscriptions than it does from ad revenue for those with free accounts or no accounts at all.


The Carrot, Not the Stick. Another theory is that adding more ads is supposed to encourage free users to upgrade to a paid account, which I think is an unwise method if true. Firstly, people generally react badly to the sensation of being trapped between a rock and a hard place. Secondly, I think a better way to convince people to pay you for their service is not to make your free service so crappy it is unpalatable. Why should anyone think paid service is worthwhile if it's biggest selling point is "It gets rid of ads!" above anything else? DevArt is damning itself with faint praise here.


Community Spirit. Devart promotes itself heavily as a community rather than a business venture (whatever the truth may be) and to oversaturate the site with ads doesn't really sell that image to people. Too many flashing, noisy, just plain ugly advertisements and you end up with a site that looks disposable and cheap. It does not project an image of respectability and dignity. It is not a place that makes me feel good to host my artwork on. There has to be something about this site VISUALLY that separates it from the Photobuckets of the Internet.


Just Plain Misleading. In the Ad forum, where people have been making complaints about the new ads, a common comment is that their very placement within the thumbnail space of the gallery pages creats confusion as to whether the ads thumbnails are a) another artwork in the gallery and b) created by the artist whose gallery they appear in. These ads make a mess of what was previously a pretty understandable and tidy layout.


I know my journal isn't read by many but I feel better for having verbalized my issues with the new ad system and I wish I felt there was some sort of dialogue possible with the staff to even entertain the suggestion that maybe we could get the ads removed. I do know that if they stay in place, they will definitely change how I feel about DevArt and while it will probably not mean that I won't post here anymore, I don't think I will be using it anymore as one of my primary methods of showcasing my art. And I'm not going to pay for a subscription when I already own my own domain that allows me complete control over how my art is showcased. I post here because I enjoy interacting with other artists, that part won't change. It's just a shame to realize I won't feel proud of my account in the same way with these new ads cluttering it up.

~Sunhawk


's fanart is |here| and |here|


my IRL friends

clubs are fun yay!

Right now, I am working as a freelance graphic designer, artist and jewelry-maker. My overarcing artistic goal at the moment is aimed towards creating a variety of really cool things to sell at AnimeNorth 2007 but I am open to commissions at any time.

If you want to commission me, leave me a note here or email me at hawklion at hotmail dot com. Casual projects, serious projects, I am your man...woman...flamesprite? No project is too small!

I'm hoping that some of the projects that I've been working on that I can't post here will soon become available to the public, specifically the TTC merchadise I've done so far - some nifty t-shirts and buttons ^_^

I recently added two fabulous artists to my domain, hosting their art in websites I designed for them, please check them out because they are also my friends and awesome people!

The Art of Jessica Vellenga

Deep Feltings: The Art of Chelsea Treahy

The rest of my domain www.sunhawk.ca is full of lots of cool stuff, including some projects I did with other people that I love and the best of the bunch has to be:

Raptor Rapture - an interactive website that teaches kids about birds of prey ^_^

Also, don't forget to check out my portfolio and my store! I just added some new jewelry and some really cute fantasy magnets which are featured here. I also have an Esty store where you can more easily buy most of my jewelry


~Sunhawk
Feathered graduate of McMaster University
still proud of her Combined Honours in Fine Art and Multimedia ^_^

's fanart is |here| and |here|


my IRL friends

clubs are fun yay!