Real Time, Contact Time, and Dead Time

"Our days are identical suitcases---all the same size but some people can pack more into them than others." 

---Anonymous

I manage my studio time by dividing it into three categories: Real Time, Contact Time, and Dead Time: Real Time refers to the span of time I spend in the studio; Contact Time refers to the amount of time spent working, brush to canvas, in the act of producing a sellable  piece; and Dead Time is time spent in the studio but not engaged in productive work.

A typical work day for me begins and ends within a twelve hour span of time, but if only six of those hours are spent actually working, then it doesn't count as a twelve hour work day. Twelve hours of Real Time elapsed but only six of those hours count as Contact Time with the other six as Dead Time. The purpose to this division is to identify and eliminate waste. 

Time is, and always will be, your greatest resource and therefore it is critical to invest it appropriately. If a six hour studio session involves work on a single painting, chances are that there will be some Dead Time while waiting for paint to dry. Why allow wet paint to impede your productivity when you can just buy a fan or learn to work on multiple pieces at a time? 

By painting several pieces at one time, concurrently not simultaneously, you won't have to stop painting at any point. Working in this manner, it didn't take me long to discover that the same amount of Contact Time could be directed towards painting one art card or fifteen. 

Dead Time: time when nothing is happening. Five seconds here, two minutes there, like hairline cracks in a dam, those innocuous little breaks are easy to overlook and potentially disastrous if ignored. For example, my roommate's cat visits me several times a day. If my studio door is closed, she opens it, walks around, and then exits, leaving the door open behind her. Typical imperious cat behavior. 


 

One day I realized that this seemingly harmless interruption was costing me a break in concentration as I put down the brushes, walked across the studio, pushed the door closed and then walked back to my desk. It would take me about one or two minutes to get back into my workflow, totalling about five minutes a day.

"Big deal! It's only five minutes," some will say. To them I answer that yes, it is a big deal. Ask any ninety-year-old billionaire if he or she'd trade their fortune for a drink from the Fountain of Youth. The reality is, we only have so much Real Time. How much of it is converted into productive, focused work is up to us. Some people happen to be comfortable with a more relaxed approach to life. For others, "relaxed" is just a euphemism for "unfocused."

The problem with a relaxed, unhurried attitude is that it minimizes the effect that the present can have on the future. It presumes that next week, next month, or next year are all going to be as they are in the present. It's an attitude which takes time for granted, for it's not possible to know if your next major breakthrough is about to happen or if it will require more development with a specific technique. It's not possible to know if what you learn in the next hour will fundamentally alter your approach for the next five years.

Some things can only be discovered in the studio. The sooner these breakthroughs are had, the sooner they can influence your subsequent paintings. Since what you do in the present might drastically effect how your future work will appear, it makes sense to micromanage your studio time.. Wasted time delays progress, while making more efficient use of it will encourage progress. 

Let's return to the example of the cat, and why those little interruptions culminated into a big deal. I didn't mind the cat's visits, but I was not going to take impromptu breaks at her whim. Instead, I salvaged at least twenty minutes a week by keeping a yardstick close at hand. When I extended my arm with it, I was able to reach and close the door behind the cat without the inconvenience of breaking my workflow. Each month, that yard stick probably salvages an hour of Contact Time. 

During Real Time in the studio, any non-Contact Time is killed by default, devoured by the termites of inattention, distraction, and inefficiency.  Dead Time is costly in more ways than one: it means less money, less free time outside of the studio, and less time focused on the work itself. Managing your time doesn't require a super-detailed calender. All it requires is a recognition that time is your greatest resource, but only if it is accounted for and intelligently invested. 

3 Ways to Generate Revenue From Your Web Portfolio

Your web portfolio can serve as a catalog from which a wide array of products can be created on demand. High quality images are all you need to start selling prints, postcards, mouse pads, refrigerator magnets, greeting cards, coffee mugs, calendars, posters, tea shirts, bumper stickers, and so on.

The rapid turn-around on digital prints and related products eliminates the need for maintaining a vast inventory; you simply order as needed. Here are three ways you can begin to generate income from your portfolio:

1) Sell small, inexpensive, framed prints. 

The most cost-efficient print and frame combination, at least in my experience, is a 4"x6" photo in a plastic, one-piece frame with a pop-out glass front. These smaller, one-piece plastic frames don't flex, twist, or bend, which makes them ideal for mailing. 

The 4"x6" frame is the largest size light enough to ship Parcel Post. The next size up, a 5"x7" framed print, will cost more per print and will fall into the Priority Mail category, adding another two or three dollars to the shipping price. 

A 4"x6" frame costs $1.00, the print costs $0.06, and the bubble mailer costs an additional $0.50. Add $3.00 for shipping to this, and for under $5.00 you can choose any image from your portfolio and have it printed, framed, and shipped anywhere in the U.S.A., and for only a couple dollars more, internationally.    

I don't bother shipping larger photo frames because, even with bubble wrap and "handle with care" stickers, an 8"x10" glass fronted frame cannot withstand the rigors of the shipping process. Even a slight twist or bend will break the glass.    

2) Use Your Facebook Portfolio To Advertise Prints

I upload all of my work to Facebook because it's free and has unlimited storage space for large, print quality images. Each image caption can link to your store or you can simply leave a message stating "framed prints available upon request." Each image can function as its own advertisement.

If you keep a ready supply of frames and bubble mailers on hand, you'll be able to fulfil orders in under an hour. When you order prints online, your account with the photo lab will retain those uploaded images, speeding up the process for subsequent orders. Some print labs, such as the one at Walgreens.com, conveniently integrate with your Facebook profile for the purpose of importing images. 

Another way to monetize your web portfolio is to sell it as a digital download. From your Facebook general account settings, you can have your entire collection of images downloaded into a single file. I sell my 2009-2013 portfolio though a third-party website in this manner and get paid royalties every three months.  

3) Upload your work to Print on Demand websites such as Society6.com or Zazzle.com where the production and shipping is handled by the printer and the artists receives a percentage of each sale. Third-party websites such as these are free to use and have built in social media plugs for promoting your work:

Your portfolio is the principal tool with which you introduce people to your work so there's no reason to confine it to your own website. Each third-party website you upload a selection of your work to will improve your search engine ranking because third-party websites buy their own ads and draw their own traffic. Upload your work to photo-sharing websites, such as Flickr.com, and use the image caption space to post links to a places where prints can be purchased. One more point about prints, and why you must make them available: they generate interest in, and demand for, originals.

Finally, a note on product photography:

If you’re not particularly confident in your camera or if you simply don't have the time for product photography, you can’t go wrong with your computer’s scanning device. A scanner will allow you to skip the process of perfecting the lighting while avoiding bothersome glares and distortion from bad camera angles. Best of all, you can scan eight or more art cards at a time, which is much faster and less tedious than taking multiple shots of each art card and selecting the best one. Scanners get it right the first time.

Jack Larson

http://www.ZombieArt.blogspot.com

Art Card Protective Sleeves

When I first started painting and selling art cards, I used plastic inserts to protect them but not the rigid outer sleeves. The inserts cost less than a penny each while the plastic sleeve cost about twenty-five cents each. Additionally, the outer sleeves are too rigid for first class postage so the cost of mailing goes up by seventy-five more cents per envelope. 

I intended to save money by cuttings costs but this is one of those cases where cost cutting costs reduces the value. Within a few months I learned that by not using the rigid sleeves, I was placing the artwork at risk of significant damage in a couple of ways, and I was missing out on a way to deliver a better product:

TWO WAYS THE USPS IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR ART:

1)  Your envelope will get bent at the post office. The USPS employees are trained to weigh the item and then decide if it should go First Class or Parcel Post. If it's rigid or thicker than 1/4", it must ship Parcel Post. Since art cards are not that thick the postal worker only needs to check its rigidity, and this means flexing and bending the envelope. 

2) First Class mail goes through a sorting machine and is subject to a certain level of bending. Whether by man or machine, the only way to protect the art card is to use the plastic, rigid sleeves and pay for parcel post. Shipping parcel post alone is not a guarantee your art will be protected.

HOW THE ADDITIONAL EXPENSE IS JUSTIFIED:

The additional cost is more than compensated for when you consider that your art collectors are investing in your 'brand" as well as your art, therefore it is in your best interests that they are able to store it safely so it can appreciate over time. In most cases, the sleeves even improve the look of the art. Also, the backs of the cards have enough space to insert business cards or to write your contact information.

The rigid sleeves make it possible for your work to be carried in pockets, shared with others, placed in birthday cards, stuffed in stockings, and passed around classrooms. They make your art practically indestructible. I still cringe thinking of all those times a postal worker would bend the envelope back and forth asking "What's in it?" Since I started using rigid sleeves, I have not had to refund a single damaged art card.  


Jack Larson
http://www.zombieart.us


ps.

              WHY I USE "TOPLOADERS":

They aren't overly stiff like the others I have tried, which makes them ideal for artwork with textured or thick applications of paint. Sleeves that are too stiff can potentially damage the art if the fit is too tight. 

Displaying Your Art Cards

Many buyers ask me how they should go about framing their art cards for display. Since most art cards are painted on canvas paper, Bristol board, or watercolor paper and not on stretched canvas, you can use photo frames such as those you'll find at your local drug store:

The minimum size is a 2.5" x 3.5" display, however, you can use larger frames if you use matting. Some frames will be compatible with the art card's protective sleeves, others won't. This particular frame doesn't have enough space so I used the glass that came with it:

If you buy your frames from a retail store, look at their website first and see if any coupons apply. Hobby Lobby and Michaels both offer 40% off coupons which you can print from home or access from your smart phone and display at the register. If you stagger your purchases, you should never have to pay full price. This is important if you're going to recoup the added shipping and handling costs.

Don't leave it up to the buyer to buy frames from someone else. If they are going to spend money somewhere so you may as well be the supplier. If you don't have the money or time to invest into small frames, an inexpensive alternative are magnetic photo sleeves. They don't cost any more to ship than the plastic sleeves, and with a coupon, are available at less than a dollar each.

Include pictures of your art card on display in your listings to encourage buyers to order frames with their orders. For example:

Jack Larson
BUY FRAMES, PHOTO SLEEVES HERE

Serialization -- Repetition in Marketing

Here are three ways that serializing your work according to  theme, style, and content is a useful strategy for building a web presence and maintaining productivity: 

1) It relieves you from the task of waiting for new ideas to begin new work. Time wasted dreaming up new ideas is better spent honing your skills exploring one idea further. 

2)  A series encourages collectors to pursue complete sets and lets new buyers see that you're serious and prolific. It will form a visual record of your artistic progress along a particular style or theme. 

3) For the purposes of target marketing, a series of paintings is easier to align with a single niche than a collection of unrelated pieces. 

Jack Larson
http://www.zombieart.blogspot.com

Are Galleries Obsolete?

Are galleries obsolete? 

If your goal is to sell art for a living, then for that purpose, galleries are merely one more place to interact with the public and prospective collectors. They aren't critical or even necessary for the purposes of sales and marketing. So while they are obsolete for practical purposes, they aren't useless. 

It's better to have art on someone's wall than warehoused in your studio awaiting a gallery show. Or worse: ignored. Your work belongs in the marketplace. It must circulate to accrue value, and given the ubiquity of social media, the self-representing artist no longer needs gallery representation for their work to enter into circulation.

The conventional approach of pricing high without having created a popular demand is presumptuous and counterproductive. When the pricing is disproportionate to the demand, your potential base of collectors is barred from investing. It's far better to keep your costs low and aim for sustainability low prices, thereby accruing consistent buyers. This will allow you to grow the demand organically, and your price increases will occur as a natural response.

Arbitrary pricing is rooted in a monopolistic mindset, which make sense given that every artist is, in fact,a monopolist. The power of a monopolist is in their exclusive access to something which is scarce, so it goes to follow--according to conventional wisdom-- that the artist doesn't need to justify exorbitant prices. This misguided approach has resulted in widespread hunger among artists, not to mention the wasted creative potential.

Original artwork appreciates in value because there is only a finite amount of work an artist can create. However, until the artist is recognized, appreciated, and desired for their unique art, it won't appreciate. It must exist in the popular mind, or at least within its particular micro-market .

Your objective must be to increase popular demand for your art by making as many people as possible aware of its unique qualities and desirability. Then, once your ability to produce is exceeded by the number of buyers, the art can be steadily produced, sold, shipped as fast as you can produce it. A consistently filled demand will lead to consistently increased prices. 

Art galleries have traditionally held the role of monopolist. An art show is nothing more than the owner of a building allowing access to a limited supply of unique items. By its nature, the gallery succeeds based upon its ability to monopolize highly desirable work. Even an obscure gallery could become an international sensation if it were to obtain access to rare art and thus become capable of wielding that controlled access for maximum financial advantage.

The gallery offers a trade-off to the artist. In exchange for allowing the gallery sole rights to show and distribute the art, the artist is granted access to the buyers. The gallery's role as a mediator is a thing of the past. They no longer monopolize access in any meaningful way.

Social media is a great example of how the Internet has broken down traditional barriers of communication and access between the individual and the collective. Today, the fate of the artist is not bound up in knowing the right people or living in the right place at the right time.

Use galleries when you can but don't rely on them to build your reputation. For that, you must break out of the artificial scarcity mindset of the gallery and enter the online art market.

Jack Larson

http://www.ZOMBIEART.us

Word of Tweet Advertising

Word of mouth advertising has long been considered the most effective form of advertising. This was long before the emergence of The Twittersphere, which has effectively merged the personal with the social, in a free market of ideas that places no barriers on admission and imposes no limits on one's potential to reach mass audiences. 

For the niche marketer, Twitter is a godsend and here's why: personal websites are isolated entities. They are dependent upon searchers seeking them out and they lack the interconnectivity of social media platforms. Twitter puts its users together in one forum which makes it possible to reach mass audiences and target those who are relevant to your interests. 

Think of a website as a home business, and the Twitter account as a kiosk at the local shopping mall. Both the amount of foot-traffic and the placement of the kiosk determine how well it will succeed with a given product. If it's positioned by the correct stores, it can benefit from the cross-marketing. For example,a kiosk selling sunglasses and suntan lotion would fare better near the clothing store specializing in swimwear than near the bookstore (assuming that more beachgoers than bookworms will need protection from the sun's ultraviolet rays).

A Twitter account doesn't tell the whole story but presents a lead-in. The idea is to connect with the right users and draw them over to your personal website. Hashtags such as #zombieart, the one I promote with my own work, are used to filter your outgoing Tweets into relevant categories, increasing the odds that your messages will be received by the right readers. 

An important note about etiquette: DO post links to for sale items but DO NOT utilize urgent "buy it now" statements. The link should stand alone. Waste no characters on prompting the potential buyers to click. The focus of the Twitter post should be to draw readers based upon content, not hype.  If you're targeting the appropriate niche and using the right hashtags, then the buyers won't need to be told what to do. 

With each image you upload, your account becomes  a de facto web portfolio. Each uploaded image makes your work instantaneously accessible to potential collectors even outside of the Twittersphere once your posts start showing up on Internet searches. As you accrue followers, their own network will overlap with yours whenever they promote your Tweets on their own "feeds" in what are called Retweets. 

For the purposes of hotlinking to your auction, it's preferable and  more efficient to purchase a web domain and forward it to your  auction listings. This will save you the time and trouble of copying  and pasting unique URL's for each listing. The domain name you choose should be  memorable and related to your work.  For example:  "JaneDoesButterfyArt.com." Keep it simple, keyword oriented, and memorable. This domain name is part  of your long-term branding strategy so name it appropriately. .

JaneDoesButteflyArt.com would post images of her butterfly artwork and by remaining within the parameters of those search terms, would gradually build up a web presence within that particular niche. I use ZombieArt.us to link to my Ebay store which matches my #zombieart hastag, and my social media user names, such as Twitter.com/Zombieart and Facebook.com/Zombieart. 

Your Twitter feed can be published on your personal website in order to reach those who don't use Twitter, and those who do but don't follow your account yet. Your embedded Twitter feed makes it possible to direct new buyers to your auctions with one click. (Look to the right margin of this blog to see an example.)

 If you are consistently keep your store stocked, then even expired Tweets will serve as permanent advertisements. Much of my  own Ebay traffic comes to my store from old Tweets and even if they don't find what they initially sought, they will usually find something from the same series (see my post on Serialization).


Jack Larson
http://www.Twitter.com/zombieart