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Musings, Reviews, Comic Cons
Oh boy, I'm in the money... section. After mindset and market, we are finally ready to approach money. Good, because creating is expensive in such a variety of ways.
I'm at an interesting little spot about charging for my work. I'd love to donate to some causes, but if I had the money, I'd be using it to invest in my business so that I could get rolling and be sustainable and be able to do better than a one-time five bucks and good luck. So occasionally, I might do some work for free. For example, facepainting is up to half my income when I'm at a con. But in a few weeks, I'm going to an event and while my family is off having fun, I'll be spending a few hours painting probably a hundred or so kids for free. Because I want those kids to know that my church cares about them and their interests and what's fun for them. My sister is starting a nonprofit to help her with the costs of rehabbing fawn – she's been doing this out of pocket for years. And I made her a logo and we're going to put it on fundraising items like t-shirts and coffee mugs. I don't have the money to just give to her (besides that would feel a bit weird) but this I can do. I've also turned down a few things that I used to do for free to help someone get a start. Well, they're started now! I have my own projects I need to get rolling. I don't go around expecting artists and writers to create for me for nothing, or even for a promise of a “share of the profits” later, just because I want stuff made now. Creating takes spoons*, y'all – that needs to be paid for or nothing else is getting done. Why, if I didn't have to worry about my family's multiple food allergies and sensitivities and regular old pickiness I'd have spoons enough to move mountains. I've grown to hate food-related minutiae so very much.... Ahem. Back to the book! My main takeaway from this chapter is a bit hard to choose, since there are so many good insights here. But here's a quote: “Our best work comes from the tension of trying to serve our craft and meet the demands of the market.” - Jeff Goins, Real Artists Don't Starve This makes sense. If you have no restrictions, no borders to work within, no rules to obey – then your work will lack form and focus. I've created some of my best art with a single calligraphy pen and black ink. Limitations force you to push to the edge of what's possible within them. And pushing to the edge is a key component of creating art. Craft and market define one edge of a dimension that can shift an entire culture. Money can be not just a tool to create more art, but also an easily quantified metric by which to measure the impact your art is having. Are you making money? If so, that means people are buying your work, which means they want it, which means you are delivering something that they previously didn't have, with a level of skill they consider worth paying for. That's awesome! Tell me about that in the comments. If you aren't making money, I have this great book here that you might win if you leave me a comment. *Reference to spoon theory - a useful analogy to describe rationing energy.
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Paula RicheyArtist, writer, creator of stuff. I just want to build worlds for you to escape to. Archives
March 2020
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