Posts Tagged ‘info’
How to Buy Art as a Gift
Wednesday, October 17th, 2012
So, you’re the sort of awesome person who wants to buy your loved ones some original art for the next gift-giving occasion. You’re here, so clearly you have excellent taste, you like to support independent artists, or you got lost on Google.
We’ll pretend it’s the first two.
What do you want to know before you buy?
So, the first question to ask yourself whenever you’re gift-shopping for someone is, what’s my budget? It might seem mercenary, but there’s a world of difference between a $20 gift and a $50 gift, let alone a $500 gift. If you’re spending less, it’s good to find someone who sells prints, or small items with art printed on it. If you’re specifically looking at art from me for under $20, my Etsy shop is a great place to find prints and cards, or you can check and see which bookmarks are still looking for a home.
The next question is, what do they like? It’s all well and good if you love my art (and yay you!), but your mom might not want tentacles on her wall. Or she might, in which case, go her, too! It’s wonderful to introduce your friends and loved ones to an artist you adore, but it’s always good to make sure they really want the piece you’re buying. This is a bit selfish, but as an artist I hate the idea that someone might get my art and then not like or display it, or even declutter it to the trash someday.
Plus, you want them to make the good face when they open the package. You know the face I mean.
There’s also the “art of things they love” clause — a Cthulhu original will generally go over well with a Cthulhu fan no matter what artist made it. Though it’s good to make sure it is something they love, and not something they once told their mom they liked and have gotten one of every holiday for the last 20 years.
Have you considered asking?
It may seem strange, but if you’re really into the idea of getting an original for someone that you think is just perfect for them, consider talking to them about it. Not just, you know, “hey do you want this,” (although that has worked for me in the past!), but showing them some links of art you like in another context. It’s a good sneaky way to disconnect the piece from your ego, so they’ll tell you what they really think instead of worrying about not liking your gift.
Think, too, about whether you want the art framed or gift-wrapped or sent directly to the recipient, and then find out if the artist can accommodate you. For me, I will gift-wrap free, ship wherever you like (but I prefer to be told if it’s going to a recipient so the thank-you card can make sense), and frames are usually optional and cost more, but sometimes included (for the salt pieces).
So, once you’ve figured out your budget, and the kind of art they like, and how you want to present it, what’s next? Buying, of course.
Why would you want to give someone art, anyway?
Original art is by definition unique, and hopefully something they’ll value and treasure for years to come. If you’ve paid attention to what they want and what they like, you can add a lot of simple happiness and beauty to someone’s life with art. It might sound cheesy, but the right art for the right person will improve their environment, which in turn improves their smile to frown ratio.
And who doesn’t want more smiles?
Categories: Daily Art, Words Words Words
Tags: info, words
Denouement – How Commissions Work
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012
(or at least how this one did)
Denouement, commissioned oil painting by Amy Crook
Denouement, 36″x24″ oil paint on canvas, nfs (commission).
This commission was many months in the making, as all my oil paintings are, but in the long run both Kristen (the commissioner) and I are happy with the results. I believe there was something about squeaking noises during the unboxing, specifically…
We chatted a little about the commission process from her end, and this is what she had to say:
I tend not to buy ‘pre-created’ art a lot. Much of what I have in my possession (walls, hidden in the closet, etc) is from commissions, because it’s exactly what I want. I’ve had some smaller things done from other people, but nothing else on this large a scale. I was Natalie’s roommate when she got Till the Walls Shall Crumble to Ruin, and that was kinda what pushed me to go to you for this big piece. She told me that you guys had some many conversations about her art that you had to use a separate conversation on gmail, which boggled my mind, but then we ended up doing the same!
Mostly I just thought of every beautiful thing I really wanted to put into it, and how to make an amalgam of six different things into one idea, and what would that idea look like at the end of the day. So even though the image was so freaking clear in the my head I knew it needed to be adjusted. That’s where you came in. And I knew the basic idea: the hero standing at the end of a journey and going into the light, but the specifics were hard coming. Photo references were totally helpful, plus the mood I wanted, melancholy instead of heroic. It’s Luke burning Vader rather than a bunch of ewoks singing.
Then there were sketches — it was like slowly seeing what I had in my mind’s eye but also redefining it, because what i had in my head could never be exactly put onto canvas, and I knew that. So it was looking and quirking an eyebrow and readjusting and asking questions, figuring out what worked in silhouette and what didn’t. The waiting from my end was agony, but a lot of it was on me. It took ages to figure out exactly what I wanted.
It was a very interesting little journey but completely worth it. It’s amazing to have something so important to me on my wall, in my life, tangible. Which is what is. It’s an incredibly important idea that I can touch, and that’s a wonderful thing. Overall, it was a very pleasant experience, even the agony of waiting. It went on my wall very quickly once it came, though!
Denouement commission, various studies by Amy Crook
Above you can see some of the sketches we went through, starting in the lower right of the four-panel page I made myself. I did a lot of studies for this one, because I knew once I was painting the process demanded I know exactly what I needed to do. The watercolor study came out a bit mushy because of the paper I was using, which wasn’t at all suited to it, but I took a very good scan of the sketch on that page before I added color.
Denouement commission, transferring to the canvas
That sketch got printed off onto a few sheets of paper, and then I cut them out and used them to transfer exactly the image we’d agreed upon to the canvas.
Denoument commission, work in progress by Amy Crook
Then I painted in the color, which looks super bright with the background still white. You can see where I wanted to have everything decided upon before it got to this stage. Plus, this way the carving above the door was almost perfectly symmetrical, heh.
Denouement commission, detail, by Amy Crook
Here you can see a really nice view of the sunlight glow, which was the last thing to go in, and also the texture of the paint that gives all of the detail in the black areas without any actual color variation beyond the glow.
It takes me months and months to do one of these commissions, but I always love the results. There’s something really special about doing a painting just for someone else, knowing it’s just what they wanted.
What about you, would you like to commission one of your own?
Categories: Completed Commissions, Daily Art, People, Figures and Faces, Words Words Words
Tags: all rights reserved, commission, info, nfs, oil painting, words
On Calligraphy
Wednesday, July 18th, 2012
Red Irony, detail, by Amy Crook
Like basically every other artist I’ve ever talked to, I’ve been drawing stuff from a very young age. We all do, really, even the non-artists among us are given crayons, cheap finger paints, sidewalk chalk, and pencils (not to mention in-class boredom to inspire margin-doodling). So, with that in mind, I think the first time I really chose an art form to try to pursue in a meaningful way, on purpose, it was calligraphy.
A Murder of Crows by Amy Crook
I started out with one of those Schaeffer calligraphy sets basically just like this one, which I’m pretty sure I still have somewhere, along with a couple dozen of the little ink capsules that fit into those pens. I remember painstakingly learning a few different fonts, writing out song lyrics in a slightly wobbly hand, and doing all those things young girls do when they learn to make their writing pretty.
Once I got older, sometime in college when I was trying Real Serious Art, calligraphy got set aside as a childish plaything, and the pens went into the black hole of art supply hoarding. I’d pull them out once in a while to do something, but in the long run (even now), I tend to prefer simple pointed fountain pens rather than the chisel tips, and drawing the shapes by hand rather than counting on the shape of the pen to create them.
A is for Arabesque, detail, by Amy Crook
Recently I’ve been exposed to a few more examples of grown-up calligraphy, from Melissa Dinwiddie‘s gorgeous professional work to the plethora of Qs I visited online while working on the Quadrivium logo. I’ve seen a lot of people successfully integrating words into their art, as well, often using stamps or collage to add a message to their work.
With all this inspiration and the whole internet full of it as well, I’ve started getting back into calligraphy, not just as a long-forgotten habit but a legitimate art form of its own. Monday’s art may be part of a trend, I’m not sure yet — I don’t always have words to put on a piece. Sometimes Google can find me a quote that fits, like in Pomegranate below, but not always. I’m definitely going to continue my illuminated alphabet, though. I love the intersection between tradition and absurdity, modern glitter gel pen and ancient motifs.
I don’t always have something to say with my art, but when I do, at least I’ve got the skills to make it as beautiful as the pieces deserve, I hope.
Pomegranate by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Words Words Words
Tags: calligraphy, info, words
1 Comment »
Why Bookmarks?
Wednesday, July 11th, 2012
Bookmarks by Amy Crook
I asked one of my darling patrons what I should post about today, and he asked me a really easy question: Why bookmarks?
I’m sure he was expecting some deep answer about my love of books or the utility of art, but in all honesty, it’s really simple. I often have little strips of paper left when I’m tearing or cutting down larger sheets. Since I’m a total art supply hoarder, I’ve kept some around (and more since I started doing Bookmark Weeks), and one day when I was on the phone for something, I pulled one out and started doodling on it. It’s a fun way to mess around on a small scale with lowered expectations. I sell the results for a relatively low price, so that way people who can’t afford one of my regular paintings or drawings can still have a wee Amy original.
Plus, now I feel all virtuous when I save weird little scraps of paper.
For the curious, I’ve got 4 new ones done, so there’s only 3 more to go before I can slack off real posts and do another Bookmark Week for your enjoyment. If you’re on Twitter, keep an eye out for a preview tweet one of these Sundays — I ended up pre-selling a couple of them before the posts even went up last time. There’s only two left out of the previous lots, some tentacles and the very first one I ever posted.
Categories: Daily Art, Words Words Words
Tags: bookmark, info, why, words
On Fandom, Fan Art, and Being a Big Dorky Fangirl
Wednesday, June 20th, 2012
S is for Sherlock, Baker Street Tinies art by Amy Crook
By Starlight by Amy Crook
I sometimes think I’ve always been a fan of something. I remember getting into reading Star Trek books when I was maybe 12, but before that it was Stephen King and my big horror phase at 10, and before that I read every Nancy Drew book the library had, and all the Oz books (did you know it was a series?), and the Narnia books, and… Yeah.
I’ve always lived best in other people’s worlds. Even though every one of the things I named above, and every one of the things I’m a fan of now is problematic in some way, that doesn’t diminish my love for them.
Doctor Who
Bookmark 1
by Amy crook
As an artist, it’s always been a calling to me to draw or paint the things I was a fan of. I remember when I was younger, drawing ridiculously detailed pencil art from posters of the bands and actors I swooned over as a pre-teen. And now I’m nearly 40, and I still draw and paint things out of other people’s worlds, other people’s imaginations.
Transformative works are everywhere we look these days. From Sherlock to The Avengers, the new anthologies of stories in the Cthulhu Mythos and the explosion of unlicensed fanworks online (note: yes, the stuff here goes in that category), people are looking back through the things that came before, rifling through the imaginations of the past to build a foundation for the things they make now.
I love it.
Every once in a while I roll my eyes at the endless sequels and remakes and book-to-movie adaptations, but in truth it’s more Sturgeon’s Law (90% of everything is crap) I’m disparaging than the desire to depict Shakespeare as high school drama or make stylized movie posters for films from a different era.
So, I’ve embraced my dorky fangirl heritage, and in amongst the abstract salt paintings and tentacles you’ll find cartoon monsters out of someone else’s imagination and other pastiches of my favorite things.
I’ll just try not to do too much that falls into that bottom 90%.
Weeble Voldemort cartoon by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Things I'm a Fan Of, Words Words Words
Tags: info, why, words
Why Tentacles?
Wednesday, May 30th, 2012
Tentacle Deeps 30 by Amy Crook
I’ve had some time to think about this question since I was asked at the STUDIO Gallery reception (the show’s now over but it was wonderful to be a part of it), and I’ve come up with some answers that are probably true some of the time. Your mileage may vary.
First off, tentacles are fun. I’ve said this before, but it’s probably the top reason I keep up with the series, just because I really enjoy doing it. The scribbly ones are fun to draw, the painted ones are fun to paint, and there’s still new things I can do with them that I haven’t done before.
Now that the shallow answer is out of the way, we can dip our toes a little deeper, though in the end the answer is still about fun. What can I say, I’m a fan of fun.
Being scared is fun.
It is when you know it’s harmless, anyway. And it’s wonderful to explore the edge where scary meets something else. I love things that are morbidly funny, frighteningly beautiful, or creepy-cute, just to name a few. It’s those ragged edges where tentacles are gorgeous and otherworldly and creeping into our thoughts like, well, tentacles, that keeps me coming back not just to the Tentacle Deeps series, but to weeble Cthulhu and logos with skulls on them and pendants of spiderwebs.
Real-life spiders give me the willies, but art that makes them fascinatingly lovely is amazing to me.
I enjoy taking people to that place where you go, “Huh, I never would’ve thought of that.” I like creating something that is, let’s be honest here, not just another fucking landscape. If I’m going to obsessively detail anything, I want it to be something interesting, fascinating and maybe even a little bit repellent, something funny or charming but also morbid and grim.
It may be that that narrows my audience to a very small sliver of people who, like me, enjoy seeing the horrific beauty in the tentacles that slide up from the depths for purposes unknown. But you can kind of guess they aren’t savory, that these strange alien arms reaching upward aren’t straining towards the surface of our world, our pond, our imaginations, for anything that’s good for our health.
But then, since when has anything that’s really fun been all that good for your health?
Tentacle Spiral 1 by Amy Crook
Categories: Daily Art, Tentacles, Words Words Words
Tags: info, tentacles, why
Think Small
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012
Small Things, Great Love by Amy Crook
Mostly, I work small.
I make paintings as small as 2.75″ square, and the vast majority of my work in the past couple of years has been 5″x7″. Nothing that takes up much space on a bookshelf, let alone fills a whole wall.
I think life is in the details. There’s grand, sweeping panoramas and grand, sweeping gestures and big harry audacious goals, sure. But there’s as much beauty in a single leaf or flower petal, in paying for the person’s toll behind you, or in crossing an item off your to-do list as there is in the big things. People overlook it, just like the introverts get overlooked for the extroverts, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there.
Don’t get me wrong, sometimes you’ve got to set audacious goals, but in the long run the success or failure of the big things depends on crossing all the little ones off your list, one at a time.
I like the physicality of working small. Though my masseur and my eyesight might disagree, there’s something very satisfying to me about drawing Many Tiny Lines, or using the Smallest Brush Ever. It’s one of the reasons I love my salt paintings, because they’re filled with miniscule details that sort of make themselves, and then beg for me to add to them or work off them or just appreciate them.
It’s micro-chaos being turned into something beautiful.
This isn’t that thing about the butterfly in Asia making Tornadoes in the Midwest, either. Small things are just that, small, but it’s what they can do that interests me. The effect of one cheerful smile in a sea of frowns, of holding the door for someone with full hands, or inversely of shutting the door in their face and leaving them to flounder.
Putting something unexpectedly beautiful somewhere that you have to notice it makes it more of a surprise, makes the smile linger a little longer. I absolutely adored the 365 Jars project, even though it never wrapped up, because it brought small, surprise art into so many people’s lives.
So, really, why small?
For all those reasons above. For practical reasons, because it’s easier to finish in time for daily posts, and it’s easier to store and ship and frame.
But most of all, because it works for me. The path from inspiration to art is smoother for me when I work small, because tiny work with details you have to peer at to discern just flows better than big, bold, and obvious most of the time.
Tentacle Deeps 32, detail 2, by Amy Crook
And yeah, I’m a lot like that with people, too.
Categories: Daily Art, Words Words Words
Tags: info, why
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