Aspies For Freedom

I've asked about this before, from various people both online and offline--what in God's name can I do with my oddball talent for drawings to either make a little money for myself, or to attract any kind of notice.  I've heard of people being "noticed" on the Internet these days.. I can think of a few notable celebrity examples, but these are of course the true rarities.

It would be a stretch for me to say that I even have more talent than an average person.  In fact, I'm not even good at drawing, although I've been told my idiosyncratic skills are noteworthy.

Still, for what it's worth, I'd like to develop my talents in this area, whether or not it brings monetary gain.  But since I don't have a job in the real world right now, is it worth a try to "play the field" online and see what happens?

I've been given advice on what to do before, but I've not used it because:
1) I'm afraid of criticism from anyone who would see my artwork online; sad but true, I don't even take online criticism well
2) I have no knowledge of finances, marketing, or anything that has to do with numbers, so therefore any decision I make is not really an informed one

It's just getting very grating to be me.  Nothing going for myself.  I have to make something happen for me, though... I feel my "special interest in drawing" would be a good start, eh?

So, is the internet a good tool to ply your craft, these days, or do I really need real-world experience to get anywhere?

The internet is probably a good place to market particular "gimmick" pieces, if you have any ideas along those lines. This would involve building up a particular culture, theme, or story around the pieces you do, and generate a "buzz" around the idea in some way.

A good non-internet option would be to hire out a local hall, and create your own gallery showing, with pieces for sale. If you want to avoid dealing with figures or social contact, I'd recommend finding a person you trust and asking them to be an agent - offer around 10-15% if the person helps to book halls, hand out flyers, and/or deal with the money side of things.

As far as criticism goes, I think it's inevitable that you'll get some pretty horrible comments as you get noticed - regardless of your talent level. It's unfortunate, but it comes with the territory.



Other online options would include ebay or deviantart - but it's very difficult to make anything through these options.

Wow great idea EvilZakkie.
Batman, try putting up an auction on Ebay for a piece of yours and see how you do, you can have an Ebay store. I like Zakkies idea about hiring someone to help you if you feel you need that.

A lot of online magazines accept unsolicited illustration submissions.  I don't know a good tool to find them, but I'm sure if you google it, you'll find something useful eventually.  The going payment for illustrations is usually fairly small, unless you are already a well known artist.
DeviantArt is a good place to get "Discovered", but unfortunately it takes a looooong time to build up a following and get noticed.  I've been there two years now and only have an "average" number of watchers and even if my artwork was the type that gets printed, I doubt anyone would be buying.

Your best approach will be to corner every internet market you can.  Get a DeviantArt account, get on eBay, look for other similar places, and while you try to get noticed there, at the same time you need to go out looking for places to submit your artwork.  The more places your work shows up, the more likely it is to be seen by someone who likes it and wants it.

Good luck!  

Thanks for the advice, guys.  I'm amazed to find that at my age of 26, being confident about myself and what I can offer is still a foreign concept.  This would make taking your advice harder than it should be.

Those with a DeviantArt account--how do you go about taking criticism there?  Do the visitors there offer constructive criticism, are there any brutal critics... and can you delete certain unwanted comments..

Perhaps I should get my own website and try this one out...

You can turn comments off, if you want to - but it's not really advisable, as the way to build up a following there is to insert yourself into the community.

Coolies - if you need a hand with the website design side of things, I'm happy to help.

As an example of the sort of idea I was thinking about, have a look for Clive Barkers "Abarat" paintings - he spent a good 6 years putting together paintings of 24 islands, each of which represented an hour of the day - and the creatures that lived on these islands.

You can find a few of them here: http://www.clivebarker.info/artindex.html

The easiest way to see most of them would be to find a bookstore & browse through one of the hardcover Abarat books - he includes drawings and paintings all through them.

Thanks for providing the link--that is some truly wonderful, surreal artwork.  The fact that it is not orthodox or "highly trained" art is part of what makes his paintings stand out.

I must say, though, my style of drawing and writing is not "cohesive"--meaning my drawings are mostly random collections of images, usually without specific meaning.  It's an element of my style though, and my natural approach.  I'm not sure this approach is compatible with the idea of creating a fictional world...

That's fair enough - if it doesn't suit your style, then it doesn't suit your style.

My advice would be to try the gallery showing idea, then - people tend to like a variety of images and themes when they can see the drawings or paintings physically, so that will work well.

Actually, it probably won't be a problem.  Most people don't offer any kind of criticism at all, and when they do, the vast majority of it is polite and constructive.  When it's not, it tends to be along the lines of "Ur art sukz, hur hur", which is so unintelligent it's pretty easy to ignore.  Also, if you do get that kind of comment (and they're rare- In two years on the site, I haven't gotten a single one), you can "hide" the comment- almost like removing it.
So, yeah, it's a pretty open environment, and though it takes a long time to build up a following, there's plenty you can do to get yourself more exposure, such as posting in forums, submitting artwork to clubs, and entering community contests.

Hey Batman  You're style is very cohesive.  Aspies are good at pattern recognition - right?    And I would recognise your style anywhere.  You're fiction world is whatever you are inspired to create and draw - whatever it is, based on imagination or real world - it really doesn't matter.

And I do believe it's saleable... read your email darling.  

Why thank you, alectrum.   You make someone down on their luck feel a little better.  To inform the rest of you, alectrum is among the few I've gotten the courage up to show some of my drawings to.

Why I have not shown the rest of you is not a matter of "I'm something special," it is quite the contrary--I'm just too fearful of criticism and sometimes just receiving any insight (praise included) feels too awkward for me.