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    Artist As Brand Workbook: A Guide to Creative Empowerment and Prosperity
    Artist As Brand Workbook: A Guide to Creative Empowerment and Prosperity
    Artist As Brand Workbook: A Guide to Creative Empowerment and Prosperity
    Ebook144 pages1 hour

    Artist As Brand Workbook: A Guide to Creative Empowerment and Prosperity

    By Greg Spalenka

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    About this ebook

    The Artist As Brand Workbook is for serious creative individuals, students, professors, and professionals who want to manifest prosperity from their art on their own terms. This is the official digital textbook used by participants at colleges, universities and art institutions while taking the Artist As Brand Workshop.

    Become a confident, independent, prosperous artist regardless of economic slowdowns or other industry challenges by learning the simple steps of connecting directly with your fans, patrons and collectors. Growing this family of supporters creates a foundation of financial support.

    The Artist As Brand Workbook champions an entrepreneurial spirit. This paradigm is not taught in our schools. In the fine art world it is non-existent and actually looked down upon. However, many of the most successful artists on the planet embraced this model of creative commerce to promote their authentic visionary brands.

    Fine artists and commercial artists struggle when economic swings, technological advancements and outdated modes of promotion change the landscape of art career opportunities. The fine art gallery system, the commercial art industries of publishing, film, games, and graphic design professions are all susceptible to these changes. It is time to look at art career sustainability differently.

    Learn the history behind the creation of Artist As Brand® and how it’s synergistic principles are helping artists around the world create their unique art businesses. The Artist As Brand Workbook has live links throughout that can be utilized while reading through the material.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateApr 16, 2013
    ISBN9781620181287
    Artist As Brand Workbook: A Guide to Creative Empowerment and Prosperity

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      Book preview

      Artist As Brand Workbook - Greg Spalenka

      Artist As Brand Workbook

      A Guide to Creative Empowerment and Prosperity

      By Greg Spalenka

      Published by Artist As Brand Press

      P.O. Box 884, Woodland Hills, CA 91365

      http://www.artistasbrand.com/

      Copyright © 2013 Greg Spalenka. All Rights Reserved. No content may be reproduced without the express written permission of the author.

      First Edition

      ISBN 978-1-62018-128-7

      This e-book edition was created at FoliumBookStudio.com

      Chapter Contents

      Acknowledgements

      Introduction

      Artist As Brand® – Beginnings of an Indie Art Revolution

      Chapter I  – Your Core Virtue Is Your Brand

      Your Heart is a Brain

      Defining Your Purpose

      Living and Creating From the Inside Out

      Owning It

      Chapter II – Your Core Virtue Emblem

      Chapter III – Your Vision Board

      Turning Love and Passion Into Niche Markets

      Chapter IV – Plan The Brand

      Creating a Product Strategy

      What is a Tribe

      Lean with Meaning — An Indie Art Revolution

      Personal Vision to Personal Product

      Social Entrepreneurialism

      Licensing

      Product Plan Questions

      Chapter V – Declare Your Name  – Taglines, Blurbs, Business Cards

      Chapter VI – Creating Your Market Niche

      Define Your Market Tribe

      Fans, Patrons, Collectors

      Chapter VII – Brand Promotion – The Art of Social Media

      High Tech

      Communicating and Connecting

      Online Art Promoters

      Information and Inspiration 

      Networking Sites.

      Digital Paper Media

      Multi Media

      Publicity

      Chapter VIII – What Makes a Great Website/Blog

      Website — Design/Architecture/Functionality

      Push/Pull Marketing

      Website Questionnaire

      Your Blog

      Google Analytics and Other Statistics Services

      Your Email Uniform

      Voice Mail

      Shop Policies

      Marketing Techniques

      Chapter IX – High Touch Venues – Conventions to Galleries

      Popular Art Culture Genres

      Set Up and Booth Design

      Galleries

      Juried Shows and Art Annuals

      Presenting Yourself

      Talking Points

      Chapter X – The Art of Business

      Entrepreneurship

      Art Income

      Five-Year Blueprint Questionnaire

      Sample Five-Year Blueprint

      Expectations

      Innovation and Reinvention

      Blue Ocean Strategy

      Time Management

      Multiple Streams of Income

      Maintain Solid Business Practices

      Sustain Your Enthusiasm for the Long Run

      Closing Notes – Continuing Education & Professional Studies

      Acknowledgements

      I bow to all who have guided me through my journey of divinity, creativity, and prosperity. 

      My parents – David and Margie Spalenka, Dr. Paulette Shafranski, Dan and Maryanne Pocapalia, Matt Mahurin, Jeff Burne, Lenny Scarola, George Zebot, Brad Weinman, Jeremy Kidd, Roxana Villa, Rob Jacobs, Michelle Barnes, Frank Frazetta, Greg Montana, Paramahansa Yogananda, are at the beginning of which could be a very long list. A special thank you to Marilyn Neuhart for her editing mastery, and to Terese Harris for her design and editing support.

      Introduction

      Congratulations! You are about to become a proactive participant in your creative and financial destiny! It takes courage and ambition to create your independent art empire, but the rewards can be great. Enjoy the freedom of manifesting your stories and your visions for your fans, patrons, and collectors around the world. These loyal followers will grow in number year after year and can ultimately support you full time. The principles in the Artist As Brand® Workshop were formed from over thirty years working in publishing, galleries, film and popular art culture venues. Additional knowledge is updated through a worldwide network of artists who are living the Artist As Brand® dream today.

      The Artist As Brand® path will prepare you to align your true nature with your talent, art, marketing, and supporters/buyers.

      This workbook is filled with loads of information and exercises, but it is also a journal, sketchbook and tool to help you brainstorm. Print out its pages. Then draw, notate, scribble whatever facts, figures, ideas you have and create a personal reference for yourself that you can go back to time and again to revive the spark of your purpose.

      Throughout this book are hyperlinks that will take you to additional important information. The linked text will be in bold.

      Artist As Brand

      Beginnings of an Indie Art Revolution

      IndoctriNation

      For me, growing up in America was a contrast of infinite imagination and corporate compartmentalization. The media I grew up with – television, film, newspapers, magazines, and books – was bursting with creativity and inspiring the minds of my baby boomer generation. It was a fertile time for popular art culture.

      The 60s were full of social and political conflict, but we were also exploring outer space and literally walking on the moon! Life seemed to be filled with infinite potential.

      Public school programs (elementary to middle school grades) were a regimen of classes focused on remembering facts and figures (math, history, english, science, etc.) sprinkled with some art, music and recess time. High school increased the pressure with a similar but more intense curriculum, but recess now became physical education or organized sports. The goal ultimately was to  prepare the students to attend higher education or teach skill sets that could funnel them into standardized occupations.

      For some high school graduates this meant jumping right into the work force and getting a job, any job. For others, being accepted into an occupational school or four year college meant a regimen of even more classes where the focus was on how to get a job that could become a career. The suggestions by the high school career counselor usually pointed toward college to prepare yourself for corporate employment: business, medical, legal, educational, etc. We were assured that acquiring a job at a corporation or plugging ourselves into the world of industry would set a course for a lifetime of financial security and happiness.

      My high school counselors did not think becoming an artist was a viable career. Fortunately, during my senior year one of the art teachers, Mr. Carrillo, took us on a field trip to Art Center College of Design—and it opened my eyes to the possibility of becoming a commercial artist. This still required my talent to serve corporate interests, but getting paid for creating art that could be seen by thousands of people was exciting.

      I never considered becoming a fine artist, as that career path required I receive an MFA degree to become a teacher.  As I understood it, fine artists were encouraged to get their Masters degree so they could make their income teaching. Finding a gallery to sell their work would only augment their teacher's salary. Fine artists taught classes to support their art. This felt a little backwards to me, plus it meant two more years of college!

      After graduating from Art Center College of Design in 1982 I dove headfirst into the world of freelancing, which was intimidating and less secure, but gave me more freedom than a staff position. It also meant that I ran every facet of my business, from secretary to promotion to bookkeeping.

      Focusing on publishing meant that much of my income would come from businesses, large and small. The goal for a commercial artist is to complete their client's assignments on time and in a professional manner. Keeping one's identity through this process can be difficult, but maintaining a strong personal vision is crucial. If you lose your vision, you merely become a cog in the wheel of commerce. This challenge is the same in any creative industry whether film, gaming, or even the business of fine art. Maintaining a balance between the client's perspective and your own is called the Client Compromise.

      While working within the confines of the publishing industry I walked a tightrope trying to keep my integrity yet following the dictates of my client. Most of the time I remained balanced on the wire, sometimes I fell, other times I jumped. Having a net beneath me was preferred, but it was not always there.

      Hired Hands

      In the entertainment industry my identity took a back seat to the bigger picture. I became part of a team in service to the Production Designer, who was in service to the Director, who was in service to the Producers, who were in service to the studio. I was truly a cog in the wheel of creative commerce. There were opportunities for creativity, but I was still beholden to this hierarchy of power. As an illustrator it was similar but not as complicated.

      It is an illusion, even in the gallery system, that the artist has the freedom to show and sell the art they want to create. Commissions for specific genres, themes or repeats of an artist's past work are not uncommon. If a specific series of art that an artist creates is popular, the artist can be pushed hard by their gallery to continue this line of work to increase sales. Profit is king.

      Making a profit is preferable unless it's at the expense of your integrity, ethics, morals, health, and life. You can place happiness in there too! As creative beings we enjoy our freedom but accept that there is usually some compromise required to make a living. This compromise is often more difficult for artists, and hence, we are on the lookout for new ways to make and sell art, no holds barred. It is sad to know that only a small percentage of graduates from art and design programs will ever use that knowledge to work in a creative field. Our entire educational system has followed corporatism as a model and, as a

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