Doodle Discussions

This week’s IF topic is Infinite which immediately begs to ask the question…

How many penguins is too many penguins?

There isn’t quite an infinite supply of penguins, JGoode penguins or otherwise, but we can dream!

Yet another story goes out about someone using someone else’s art without permission. It’s a hard place to sit with this topic because no matter the answer or the plan of action, it’s just a frustrating, nerve wracking and often down right depressing situation to find one’s work used without the artist giving the thumbs up to do so.

I think the question isn’t just how do we protect our work – it’s also how to we manage and react when it’s used without our permission?

Being an artist with literally hundreds of pieces online, due to the way the Print on Demand industry works as far as promotion and sales of art, I’ve had to deal and work with the reality that every piece I sell is available to view online. We watermark our designs, only offer small viewable versions, etc. but people steal the work regardless. I’ve seen my designs on other items in etsy, ebay, others’ websites, online ads, an online video game… and even a few tattoos. Ever instance makes me stop and wonder why I sell online. It’s flattering to have someone else like our work enough to want to use it.. that’s part of what art is all about. However, from the artist perspective it’s also horribly frustrating at the same time. From our view is like taking our lunch… we don’t walk up and take your sandwich and claim it’s ours to eat.

You can do your best and do all the right steps to protect your work, but if someone wants to take it, they’ll find a way – lawful or not – and it doesn’t just happen with online work; it’s just easier to see it when it’s online (for them and you).There are a few things  you can do to become more proactive so when you need to be reactive, you’re prepared.

Educate and inform others that your art isn’t free to use
The first step to not assume everyone knows using art is wrong. Sure, we can assume people know, but really not everyone realizes that just because they see something doesn’nt mean they have permission to use it. So education is important. Spread the word that art isn’t free. Take into consideration where your art is found and inform the user of how art work is used – politely. I usually by begin assuming the user doesn’t understand that art isn’t free, rather that run after them with a pitch fork. I’ve gained links and credit back to my work by having this friendlier approach. With so many free clipart sites and sharing going on, for some users, they really don’t understand there is a difference. In my opinion that doesn’t mean we hide our work, but rather we should be educating the public that they need to ask first.

Network and share so you grow a fan base of friends who want to also protect your work
For me, the best help has been to make my work known as much as possible so that when my art does appear somewhere I didn’t put it, I might have a better chance of hearing and doing something about it. I’ve made myself accessible through not only my email and website contact info, but various locations (facebook, twitter, linkedin, etc.)– so when someone sees my work somewhere “new”, I might receive info about it – and usually its a “hey Jen, cool that your design is…”. Just about every place I’ve found my work that it wasn’t supposed to be, someone else told me it was there. It’s then, of course, my job to have it removed and deal with the situation

Networking is an amazing resource for art awareness as far as finding your work where it shouldn’t be.  Example… One person saw my penguin on an ad on facebook – facebook didn’t create the ad, a user submission created it. I never saw the ad because it was set up to view only in certain geographic locations. So, I sent a message via Twitter asking if anyone else had seen the ad – I did the same in facebook. A few others had replied. I then asked each person that saw the ad to take screen shots – it was only then, after I have visual documentation, that I sent a C&D to facebook and had the ad removed. A couple months later I had to do it all over again – but without my networking of contacts knowing my art, I never would have known.

Be willing to share and allow some use if it’s beneficial
Something else I have done, realizing people want to use my art for certain types of things – I used to see a lot of cut and paste type displays of my characters on myspace pages and friend things….. So instead of hiding everything I’ve created (because I can’t) – I created a website specifically for that type of use. Myjgd.com <– people are allowed to post these images for their friends and on their profile pages. A side note to this, that freebie site is my #1 traffic referrer to my shopping site, so those of you that might be thinking you can’t make money when you hand out art for free… Yes, you can – it’s ike the sample lady at the grocery store giving bitefuls of yummy donuts.

When it does happen, react quickly
Keep records of when and where you find your work used, take screen shots and document the use. I have a standard Cease and Desist (C&D) I send out that usually gets results within a few days. Protecting legally, I think, is the first step – what happens after that makes a difference in whether or not you can really keep hold of your art.

Help Eachother
Take time to get to know each other’s art and be proactive when you see something someone else did, some place it doesn’t seem to belong. We’ve got to work together to help protect our art.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of talking with Missy Ward for a bit. She invited me to be a guest on per podcast, Big Mouth Strikes Again, and I have to say, as nervous as I usually get, this was not only fun, it was very painfree. I always have a hard time talking about myself or what I do, but Missy made it an easy conversation, I only got stuck on a couple of questions.

We talked about how I got started in Design and how I’ve turned art into a career. We discussed how I got into affiliate marketing, places I blog, why I appear so darn happy, what makes me grumpy in business and what I wish I could do a little differently. We talked a bit about the JGoode doodles, how the penguin came to be and my own personal favorite creation (the smiley ice cream of course).

Finally, Missy asked some quick response questions, you know the gut reaction answer type questions… Many of my answers, listening back, seem pretty darn corny (aliens and cheesecake, really?), but it was a fun conversation to get into!

One question I wish I could answer all over again:

Missy: What superpower would you like to have?

Jen: (after stumbling in thought for a few minutes) “a super happy fairy wand” (or something just as riduculously silly). I was trying SO hard to come up with something uber cool and instead I spit out the most fooffy girlie poopoo answer there ever was. Really? Yeah, that’s me, just call me Jennie-tootoo.

If I could answer again, (although it’s still not a super cool power) I’d really like the Mary Poppins clean up song power. Just hum a little and the entire house is clean and as overly organized as I’ve envisioned. I really loath cleaning and in my dreams I see fabulously organized – everything – everywhere. My house on the other hand is not remotely close to what my mind’s eye sees. It’s a time thing – my motto is, “if you aren’t going to do it right, don’t do it” so anything and everything that could benefit by being put away in some orderly manner, usually gets stashed haphazardly because I’d rather it be super organized and “just so” but I don’t have the time just then… never ending cycle of disarray.

Anyhow, back to the interview…
I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to answer questions as they came. I’d always thought “how hard can it be to answer questions about yourself?”, but it really is. Not that I don’t have anything to say. I think it’s more about saying things in a way that others can understand, besides the little beings that live inside my own head. Tricky that is!

Biggest theme I came away with this conversation, besides me, is marketing for artists. It’s a tough task to be creative and not only know but succeed at promoting and selling that creativity. I’m still learning as I go, but I can happily look back today and see a great path I’ve traveled. I’m excited to see where this road continues to take me.

I really enjoyed the chance to share ideas and view points about what I do and the happiness it has created for me.
Listen to the interview with Missy Ward:

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Read the show notes on Missy’s website – Thanks Missy!

Here’s a follow up to the World Happiness day t-shirt wearing by Jason at IWearYourShirt.com. The way it works, you buy a day, all day that day he wears whatever shirt you send and then he takes photos, blogs and shares a video from the day. I jumped on board because it sounded like so much fun… Here’s the video he made for the day – it made me giggle so I had to share…

Thought to pass on:
Share a smile with one person each day and watch the happiness grow.

August 8th is World Happiness Day, and what better way to celebrate than with a whole flock of happy penguins? This design, the Penguin Happiness Tour, was created with World Happiness day and all the other happy celebrations specifically in mind. There’s tons of happy little penguins gathering for the festivities. Pizza, princess, postman and even the Statue of Liberty… all ready to celebrate the smiles of the day.

On the front the design reads “What’s your penguinality” with doodle words in various locations that shout praises for our penguin pals.

On the back of the shirt is a list of all the happiness days throughout the year, including today, along with the different penguin specifically awareness days.

This item is available through Zazzle and Printfection.
Technorati Tags: world happiness day, penguin, jgoode

There are a number of ways to promote your art online and each direction includes a number of options. What works for you and your art all depends on what you create and who you are selling to. There are plenty of artist communities and outlets for promoting your art alongside other artists, however is that where your buyers are?

Here are 5 ways you can promote your art to build name recognition, gain new clients or drive sales.

Blog – share your newest designs and creations… post pictures, invite feedback and display your work in all it’s fabulousness for the world to see. Blogging is a great way to feature designs, run promotions and thank your customers. You can talk about the meaning behind a piece of work, the process or simply share the art as is. Don’t sales pitch, but rather, share ideas and insights.

You can host a blog with your own domain or you can use any number of free services. My blog platform of choice is WordPress.

Facebook – build a business page to not only promote your art and your art business, but to interact with your clientele and your fans. You can integrate your blog into your Facebook business page so your facebook followers can read along with all of your comments from a single site. Share thoughts about art, network with other artists, get involved in any number of groups from the art community.

Go where your buyers are – get involved where your buyers are. If you are a work-at-home mom, find other moms and share what you do. If you are involved in supporting a charity or specific cause, donate products to an event or volunteer to help out. If you are interested in ceramics or photography, find groups that for these areas. Talk about what you do, share your ideas with others and help those asking for assistance. Become a part of the community that you are creating for. In addition to user groups you may already be involved in, check for groups through Yahoo, Google, Ning, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Artist directories – there is a huge array of choices when it comes to artist directories, lists and online galleries. The first place you want to start is with your particular style of art and your location. There’s a great list of artist galleries and directories on Mashable’s Artist Toolbox.

Get involved in any of the numerous activities involving art and creativity. Participate in regular group events such at Illustration Friday or Photography Friday. Enter art contests and share your comments on other’s blogs and portfolios as well as networking groups, forums and mailing lists.

Although we’d all like to create new art all the time, someone has to shout out that the art is here. Even if you have an agent, it doesn’t hurt to get yourself out there as well. None of the above activities require an enormous amount of time but do require sincere effort for positive results.

Take an hour each day and choose one. Update your information, write a new article, reply and offer feedback to fellow artists and fans. Think of it as virtually walking the neighborhood and shaking the hand of every person you pass by. If you do this every day for a year, how many new people will you have connected with and introduce to your fantastic talent?