new prints and shirts: which do you want first?
rebuilding my print/shirt shops and I want your opinion! Take the poll and let me know.
unrelated chunk of coal.
reworking my patreon with YOUR feedback!
I’m rebuilding and restructuring my Patreon today, and I’m wondering what you all would like to see:
- for free (there will always be some free content there!)
- for small monthly subscriptions (what would you pay 3 bucks a month to look at?)
- for bigger amounts (tattoo classes or info that’s more guarded? art tech? readings from my books? what???)
- physical goods- books, preprints, zines, art prints? early access to sales of originals, discounts?
if you have suggestions, ideas, things you’d like to see, thoughts about what you would pay for or what you think would be worth paying for (and your thoughts on costs!)
please let me know. you can see my patreon at this link.
feel free to go look at the free content there, see what I’ve been posting behind the paywall with the previews, and let me know what you think. I’m interested in YOU and your thoughts; your criticism is more than welcome!
most recent post: https://www.patreon.com/posts/talking-about-116394983 is talking about flash, history, and showing some pieces from my collection.
some recent works, smoky days
air quality is so bad right now.
I’ve been tattooing as usual, though:
Originals: Paintings from Quarantine
The entire series is now for sale HERE.
Prices go up after the 18th. Thanks you for all the support this year so far, I hope to add a few massive paintings to this list before the year ends. Large-scale prints will be available at some time in December. If there’s a book, it will have to be next year.
xox
screenprint action!
I’ve had to cancel my Seattle trip due to family health issues. I’ve got a fund going to cover my own medication and therapy in the meantime, that link is here in case you’re flush.
During the free time I have had, I dug out all my screenprint stuff from my art hoard. I had another tattoo artist make some shirts for me and realized I had all the stuff at home (big thanks to Christian Lyze!!!)
So I made some screens
after burning those, I started printing.
the more I did, the better they got. I forgot how fun it was to do this. I’ve been pressing them with an iron but thanks to a loved one I’ve got a heat press on the way! in this weather, that’ll help a lot.
you can find all the shirts I have finished in the resonanteye.net/shop link. I’m gonna make a lot of these, this fall, I think.
…
bring your soul to the surface
solstice trunk sale
I’ll be holding a fire sale again, if you get the newsletter you’ve got the details. If you want work of mine that’s older, watch this space for further info.
why some shops are cut rate, who drew the lion?
- In art, artwork, clients, complaints, dos and donts, drawing, ethics, female tattoo artist, female tattoo artist olympia, female tattoo artist pacific northwest, female tattoo artist spokane, health and safety, how-to, love, money, nomad tattoo artist, old school, oregon tattoo artists, original art, original drawings, questions, tat zap wizard, Tattoo, Tattoo Advice, tattooing, traveling tattooer, you,
the reason some tattoos/piercing shops have really low minimums or hourly costs:
- little experience or inconsistent abilities,
substandard, imported inks (could be risky to you), - don’t provide follow up
like good aftercare and personal answers to questions (this should always be available!), - don’t care about touchups or fixing a piercing that healed improperly,
- substandard materials in jewelry, (dangerous!)
- inconsistent machinery or other actual tattooing gear,
- not paying for licensing or training (legally required but people will cut corners),
- not paying taxes, insurance, or other necessities
- they have known you for twenty years and actually are your real life friend.
my minimum/hourly ensures that I cover the shop’s commission, my equipment (good stuff), and a living wage for a professional in a trade. it also covers any and all time you need to ask me questions afterward via text or email, touchups if needed, aftercare info and good bandaging, continued contact with me in case you have questions, and twenty years of experience.
it’s my hope that everyone I tattoo, even when they get tattooed by other artists besides me, ONLY ever gets AMAZING tattoos after they get work by me. I want all you guys to get worked on by great artists that treat you well and value your patronage. I know the piercers I work with are the same, they use the best, modern, safe, high quality things and will always help you after.
If you’ve been tattooed by me you can always contact me with questions about anything tattoo related. I’m always here. even if I only did a dot on you. You guys are my people. I want you all to look and feel good.
This is what my hourly and minimum cover, and they’re cheap at the price.
(also, I have PUMPKIN SPICE)
Below, the first kind lion with cherry blossoms and lotuses, was drawn by Guen Douglas. It’s a really good drawing.
She drew it as a custom tattoo for one of her clients. Since then, tons of people have fallen in love with it. That’s fine. A lot of people have copied it exactly though, and that’s not fine!
If you want an amazing lion tattoo it’s OK to say “look, like this, amazing” and bring it as reference or an idea that appeals to you… then have your artist draw you your OWN lion and flowers. Pick your favorite flowers. Make the lion have the kind of look on its face that you want to feel. Hell, pick an animal you identify with instead of a lion! All these things are possible.
The second picture is a fierce lioness with acacia and freesia that I drew for someone. If you pick a good artist they will make you something amazing that is YOURS, not a copy of someone else’s. If you don’t have a good artist… GO GET ONE. If you’re completely fixated on that lion that Guen drew… may I humbly suggest that you contact her and GET TATTOOED BY HER. She drew it! She’s really good!
Of course if you find a tattoo online that you love, I’ll use it as the basis for your idea. YES. I won’t copy someone else’s tattoo exactly, line for line. that’s THEIR tattoo. We will come up with changes so that it fits YOU .
xox
by Guen Douglas
by me, anji marth
I was going to write something helpful today…
I had planned to update my old post about lettering for tattoo art (because I’ve learned a lot since then)- but then…
today I looked over what it costs me to keep my websites up ad-free. two hundred bucks a year. It’s a lot, maybe too much. every year it takes a chunk and I always wonder if it’s worth it, that’s money I will only have if my car repair is cheap and I don’t go to the dentist. You know? That’s two months of internet and phone. That’s a doctor-bill payment.
The ads wouldn’t pay me anything, this is a non-commercial site, and I’ll never MAKE money from it. Even if I downgrade and allow the ads- they won’t pay me anything. This site is considered “adult content” so I can’t have any google ad network ads on it- and even if I did, my numbers would pay out maybe five bucks a year. Then there’s the content of those ads the hosting company would run, they’d be for crap I don’t endorse (THANKS GOOGLE YOU JERK) like tattoo schools (SCAM), unlicensed equipment (WTF), etc… and all it would do is lower my cost yearly to around thirty or forty bucks if I let them run them.
originals are up for the holidays!
I’m listing originals. Everything I have on hand is being put up until the holidays, here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/resonanteyes
I won’t be doing this again for a while, so get em while they’re hot.
All of these will be for sale through january 15. If you want them by the holidays, order before december 12, though.
(prints and all my other things can be had at THIS page, right here.)
the 6 worst pieces of promotion advice for artists, and the real solutions.
After countless suggestions of sites to use for promotion, I’m starting to realize that several things do not help at all:
1. Selling on more sites, adding more print-on-demand stores, or more marketing profiles.
When you ask most people “how should I promote my art?” you will often get well-meaning people, telling you “you should sell at *printsite*!” or “are you on *marketsy* site yet?” or even “maybe you should sell them on *auctionworld*!” “Do you have a *deviantshit* profile???” It’s as if they purposely misunderstood your question! “But I already sell on *somesite*!” You protest. “I already have a *americanartprints* profile, do I really need to be on *shirthoarders* too?”
You know, and I know, that you already ARE selling your work on a site like these. There is already at least one site out there with your work on it, for sale, clearly marked prices and all. What you need isn’t TEN MORE OF THOSE, you need PEOPLE TO GO TO THE ONES YOU ALREADY HAVE, and spend their money on your work. Yet asking how to do this never gets that kind of response! This is because most people have one or two sites they have heard of, vaguely, or bought something from once, and so they assume- if you are asking how to promote, it’s because you don’t even know where to list shit.
Most people aren’t trying to sell art. They’re buying it. So yeah- if ten people suggest *randomprintplace*, you should check it out, maybe. Because you already know ten people shop there. But be wary of paying for a bunch of shops or profiles on these sites, because they usually don’t offer much return. (If you DO need to know which sites to sell on, you’re not ready to promote the art yet. concentrate first on listing it, a lot of it, all in one place. I like redbubble for print-on-demand and squareup market for direct sales of originals. )
2. Writing in-depth or posting art directly on social media sites instead of your own.
I keep my favorites to the left.
Let me guess- you post your work to facebook, twitter, tumblr, instagram, googleplus, wanelo, weheartit, pinterest, linkedin, and maybe even a few dozen other places like this. You’re exhausted. You put off making stuff because you spend way too much time in an endless round of liking and sharing and pinning and chatting with people who never buy a damn thing. Then you get caught up in talking to friends and family, and somehow the day is gone and you actually didn’t do anything you could call “work”. I know. OH TRUST ME I KNOW. Then you go look at your own site, your own blog on your own domain and there’s only like two views. Ghost town. Well, of course it’s a ghost town! You don’t live there, you live in social networks, and you don’t invite anyone there- you talk to them on facebook!
How many people on there do you NOT know? How many people on there BUY things from you that way? I know I get sales to previous clients or friends on these sites sometimes, so it’s tempting to post there a lot, and spend time interacting, and all that…and call that “promotion”. But it’s not, really. It’s not work-related, it’s not promoting, if you do it that way. It’s either time spent with friends hanging out, or you’re just creating content for free so someone else can make money off of your work.
How social sites work, you see, is that people who make things and write stuff, they post these things on that site. That site then slaps ads everywhere and rolls in the dough. If they find out they can charge you to post your work too, they will. They’ll take the ad money YOU and YOUR WORK attracted, and ALSO charge you too. Without your work and your writing and your time spent there, THEY DO NOT MAKE MONEY FROM ADS or datasharing or…or any money AT ALL. YOU ARE PAYING THEM TO GET PAID. There are solutions to this, which will be in the next section (if you click through)
