Experience and advice about the Calendar

If you are thinking about submitting images to the Fractal Universe Calendar, I would like to encourage you to do so. It's fun to have an image in the calendar.

My first submission to the calendar was for the year 2004. In 2002, when the image was submitted, I considered myself a beginning fractal artist. I did not think that I was good enough to make it into the calendar. I was asked by the editors to submit a specific image. It was a real confidence booster (maybe too much) to be asked for an image then have it make it into the calendar. It was cool to walk into a retail store and see my image sitting on the shelf. When my brother found out about it, he bought several copies as Christmas gifts for his family. It was a lot of fun. The fact that I made it into the calendar told me that anyone could.

I submitted 10 images for the 2005 calendar and made it in again. Cool. Don't tell anyone, but the image that made it is not my favorite - not by a long shot. It was still fun to have a calendar hanging on my wall at work and pointing out my month to my coworkers.

I thought that I had a lock on the calendar for 2006. I made it for 2 years in a row so it was bound to happen again, right? Nope. It was very disappointing to not make it in. So much so that I almost didn't submit images for the next one. I was encouraged by my friends to try it again for 2007, so I did. That one didn't happened either. Neither did the next one. I was in for 2 years and out for 3.

Last year I was an editor for the 2009 calendar. That was a great experience. It was cool to feel the excitement from all of the submitters. I learned that I wasn't the only one having fun with it.

The relationship between the publisher and the editors was one of respect and professionalism. I looked at the publishers as my boss. They do, after all, pay for the images, layout, printing and distribution of the calendar. They also make a business decision each year to publish the calendar or not. There is never a guarantee that they will publish one.

My advice now is to participate in the calendar for the fun of it. Don't do it for the money. I mean, it's $200, or $400 for a cover image. That's not enough to quit your day job.

Don't do what I did and wait around to become "good enough". Give it a try, now.

Take a look at past images that have made it into the calendar and submit images like those. I gave that advice a few years ago and it is still good advice. If you don't normally make images like those then submit what you do make. I am confident that Panny will show the publishers what's out there by providing them with a range of fractal styles. The editor and publisher needs to see what is available.

If you do have a question or concern about the calendar, contact the editor privately. That is the right and proper way to do it.

Give the calendar a try. There is still time. It fun to make it in and only slightly disappointing if you don't.

Should we ditch the 'net???

Boneyard

I just read a VERY disturbing article on a new copyright law wending its typically boneheaded, all-about-business profits-and-artist-be-damned way thru our fallacious form of "representative government" that seems to be a big scam to make a ton of $$ for a few "registry houses" by essentially requiring (in typically governmental double-talk) artists to register for copyright - for a fee of course! - with multiple registry companies in order to prevent their work from being deemed "orphan works" and being used for profit by any and all who happen upon them. Here's a link for those who don't follow the mailing lists - http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=Columns&column=MindBiz&article_no=3605 - (it's kinda slow - give it time...)

Do y'all think maybe this site where I have registered some of my sold pieces might be one of those that would benefit hugely from this legislation? - http//www.fineartregistry.com/members/tags.php

I remember when I started to get my first pieces professionally printed for an upcoming art show in Atlanta that my printer - a man who has supported himself thru art festival selling for FORTY YEARS - was disturbed that I had galleries of basically all of my very best (read "showable to anyone other than my good ol' doggie bud, Lars") on the internet at Renderosity and DeviantArt. And on my own - stalled for the time being - website. He said I was just begging for image theft that way and his advice was to remove everything immediately, the sooner the better, and to show NOTHING on the internet.

Of course, vanity and the need to show my work to someone with less than four legs - lol - precluded this action and I did nothing and just continued doing what I was doing. Seemed to work out ok. I got lots of encouragement, which went a long way to firing up my enthusiasm, made a few sales - some for pretty decent $$ - and was able to have my work seen by thousands of folks who like that sort of thing. And now this - along with the creepy feeling I've gotten about DA in reading things that some artists have said on various mail lists and blogs.

So what do y'all think? As digital artists, imho, we're pretty much stuck between a rock and a hard place in respect to showing on the 'net the fruits of our creative endeavors and to delete our galleries would be "suicide" as far as any real avenues to get our work seen. Very few of us - myself included - have the away time from our grinding work tediums to be able to hit the road and show at festivals. At least enough of them to make anything other than "play money". I'm thinking you either have to have enormous cojones (or whatever women have that is comparable - lol j/k) to be able to ditch it all and quit the day job, unwavering faith/hope in the commercial viability/worth of your art and it probably helps to be retired with plenty of free time on your hands to be able to do this sort of thing. And that is something that bugs me to no end because I like my steady paycheck and smoke like a freaken stack and have reached a point in life (the mid-life crisis thing) where I'm thinking in terms of time left to accomplish whatever and it doesn't look to me like I'll see any social security checks and long lazy days on the beach in Sanibel. Sorry - kinda morbid, huh - I'll quit. Here's something more optimistic...

The Good Life

There's got to be some way to do this fractal art thing "seriously" and/or show your art safely but I can't for the life of me get my head around it and figure it out. Too much brain damage, I guess. (but, as Tolkein said, "that is another story" - and nothing to do with drugs if you wonder - lol) Anybody got any ideas about where to go from here - or if maybe this article is just hyperbole? Do y'all think this legislation might force a lot of us who are trying to make something other than just a beloved hobby of our artwork to get our stuff out of the way b4 we get run over by some corporate truck?


Free as a Bird

c-ya!
Rick