How Long Did That Take?

aah, just finished writing up a new post for BookLifeNow, here's an excerpt:

"During a #SFFWRTCHT last month I was asked this question: “How long does it take you to do a piece from first line to finish?”* I responded with something vague about always being amazed at how quickly some pieces come together and how slowly others do. And that’s completely true: The time from first line to finish varies enormously depending on the illustration project. (Even more tricky to explain is why an illustration that only took an afternoon to complete may be more successful than one that took several weeks). One of my art professors used to answer:  “40 years and three weeks” when people asked how long a painting took (the sum of his painting career to that point and whatever time the specific painting required), which was a witty nod to how much more than just hours goes into an art piece. But as a freelancer, knowing how long a project will take is pretty important career information. So I’ve been working on that." ~read more

Now, I still gotta wrap up next month's Fireside illustration, it's short school day, kid has a doctor appointment, and OYG I HAVE TO BAKE PIE FOR TOMORROW... I'm off like a border collie**! (i wish)

But first, a few of the various and sundery links I compiled while writing this post:

• John Scalzi’s advice to writers about money (and time) management***

• Kat Howard steals sand from the hourglass

• Theodora Goss on finding the energy to create

• 6 cool tools for tracking your time

• Who Does She Think She Is, a documentary about working artist mothers

• (Whew, anyone else wish they were one of the sleepless elite?)

• And this interview with creatives talking about their time management methods:

* thank you Paul Weimer for asking the question!
** thank you Bo Bolander for lovely herd dogs.
*** thank you Remy Nakamura for pointing me to Scalzi’s article.

a career in the arts (more $$$ stuff)

A few excerpts from recent articles about paying artists (and artists asking for payment)

Slaves of The Internet, Unite! by Tim Kreider.

"I suppose people who aren’t artists assume that being one must be fun since, after all, we do choose to do it despite the fact that no one pays us. They figure we must be flattered to have someone ask us to do our little thing we already do. I will freely admit that writing beats baling hay or going door-to-door for a living, but it’s still shockingly unenjoyable work... The first time I ever heard the word “content” used in its current context, I understood that all my artist friends and I — henceforth, “content providers” — were essentially extinct. This contemptuous coinage is predicated on the assumption that it’s the delivery system that matters, relegating what used to be called “art” — writing, music, film, photography, illustration — to the status of filler, stuff to stick between banner ads." ~read more 

What to say when you're asked to work for free by  Rhonda Abrams

"You may want or need to work for free, especially when you’re just starting out to build a resume, client list or broaden your skills. At any time, you may be happy to donate your time and talent to good causes or very good friends...But with the right response, you can turn these freeloaders into something positive." ~read more

Being An Artist Isn't Practical by Elena Sheppard

"To support a career in the arts in 2013 requires a cocktail of connections, financial support, talent and tremendous luck – and many of us just starting our professional lives are choosing more stable paths. We are not in the financial position to take on more risk. The result is a rising creative class largely determined by money." ~read more 

Don't Quit Your Day Job by Juri Koll

"Compared to other countries, such as Ireland and Denmark, where there are tax-free grants or direct subsidies with special tax benefits, the United States lags far behind in its treatment of artists. The idea of making a living as an artist will probably never appeal to the bottom line sensibilities of corporate America.  That's why almost every artist I know -- aside from some of the famous ones -- has a day job." ~read more

 If You're an Artist You Need A Support System by Nisha Asnani

"With patronage and endowments mostly a thing of the past, artists must now rely on smaller amounts of support from individual contributors. This is easier with global communication, but tougher given the current distribution of wealth; it’s mostly broke artists who are giving to other broke artists via Kickstarter campaigns...More structured organizations that empower artists and teach them about fund-raising and business skills like The Field, where I work as communications manager, are also vital for our creative culture." ~read more

Instead of Exploiting Artists, Pay Them by Paddy Johnson

"Asking whether it's too expensive to pursue the arts is a little like asking whether it's too expensive to read or write. Even if we wanted to, we couldn’t stop.Making art is not an economic decision for most artists, who are continually exploited for their ideas and labor... it’s time we spent a little more time figuring out how to support artists." ~read more 

 Being A lawyer is easier than being a Musician by Miki Navazio

"I did enjoy scoring independent films and documentaries, but these hardly paid the bills, and the commercial gigs just weren’t for me. I didn't want to be Miki Navazio Music, Inc. My fate was sealed when the National Endowment for the Arts terminated funding for individual artists in the mid 90s. For me, being a lawyer is a lot easier than being a jazz musician. In a sense, I’ve freed my art from the burden of having to support myself. And I would do it all over again." ~read more

I just realized that all of these collectively come off with a rather dim view of making a living in the arts and that wasn't really what I had in mind. But they did all resonate so here they, all assembled where I can find them again easily and, well, just keep thinking about that.

Meanwhile, here's a sketch I did the other day while sitting in the dentist office. The day after I posted it to FB, I got a notification from my 'page manager' that this post was "98% more engaging than your other posts on this page" (with an offer to help it be even more engaging if I just paid a bit of cash.) ((um......))

98% more engaging, woooo.

asking for money.

You may have noticed that several of the recent projects I've been involved with have been funded by Kickstarter campaigns. That's an interesting (sometimes awkward) place for me to be: I have a difficult time asking for money. It's been educational and eye opening to participate in and promote these projects as a contributing artist. The arts need funding. Artists and writers need to be compensated for their time and skill and energy.

So here's just four things:

1) Stephen Blackmoore blogged about the success of our recent Fireside Kickstarter. An excerpt:

"Nobody’s walking around with bags of money dumping them on startup magazines saying, “Here, get some awesome fiction into the world.” They should, but they aren’t. People with bags of money are disinclined to give it away. That’s where crowdfunding comes in. Crowdfunding is nothing new. I’ve been involved in a couple of projects that have been funded that way, like the Kickstarter that led to my writing KHAN OF MARS, and I’ll probably be involved in a few more...
The arts depend on patronage. Whether that patronage comes from someone with big wads of cash, advertisers, people purchasing a subscription, cartels laundering money through shell companies, whatever, is irrelevant. Crowdfunding is no different, except in that it spreads that patronage out to and puts it directly into the hands of you, the audience.
Congratulations, you are all mini-Medicis." ~read more

 2) Amanda Palmer gave a TED presentation on The Art of Asking.  An excerpt:

"I was a self employed living statue called the 8 foot bride... I would get harrassed sometimes, people would yell at me from their passing cars 'GET A JOB' and I'd be like 'this is my job', but it hurt and made me fear that I was doing something 'un job like' and unfair and shameful..." ~Amanda Palmer

She goes on to talk about her own experience with Kickstarter, with negative backlash, the new way of connecting with audiences, and the entire talk is 12 minutes of AWESOME:



3) Recent developments in author contracts with Random House which disenfranchise the author.
First, John Scalzi weighs in extensively and you really must read the whole thing but here's an excerpt:

"What impetus does Alibi have to keep those costs down? What impetus will it have to keep those costs high? And how will you know the difference? Well, if you are like most authors, you won’t — and thus, you’ll be at the mercy of Alibi in terms of what costs you owe. This is, I will note, a fine way for Alibi (or any publisher under such a scheme) to make mischief and engage in the sort of accounting that ends up making the publisher a profit and the author, well, pizza money." ~read more

Then Jeremiah Tolbert translates the PR response from Random House. An excerpt:

"We hired some­one from the record indus­try, and we were aston­ished to learn that you could fuck over writ­ers in ways we never even imag­ined.  So we imme­di­ately set about set­ting up an imprint where we could dick over writ­ers like record com­pa­nies have been screw­ing over musi­cans for years.  Why should be have to bear the bur­den of risk pub­lish­ing new authors, I mean, we’ve been doing it for­ever, isn’t that long enough?  We swear writ­ers will make money this way." ~read more

(Here's the full content of the Random House response, and SFWA reply.)


4) Recent protests at the Oscars over the state of the VFX artists' dismal financial state of affairs.  An excerpt from The Big Social Picture:

"The film Life of Pi was nominated for Visual Effects (and won!), but sadly the studio that did the effects for the movie (Rhythm & Hues) had to file for bankruptcy a few weeks ago, and laid off close to 250 employees.  The protest was named "A Piece of the Pi" to show that the VFX studio behind the film wasn't getting their share of its success...
This tragic story is just one example of the poor state of the VFX industry.  With overseas competition, domestic VFX houses have been surviving on less than 5% profit margins, and other studios have gone bankrupt as well (see: Digital Domain). " ~read more , and more and more.

And there you go. I do not have anything more profound to add after these brilliant folks. Just needed to make a note of it, for my own sake as much as anything, then get back to work.