1225 My kids must be broke

I don't know about you, but I came from a family of kids that would beat the roosters up on Christmas morning. By the time the parents had gotten up, we'd have scoped out all the presents, eaten breakfast (twice), wrestled over the "opening order", and generally gotten into tons of mischief. Not my kids...

The roosters have been going off for hours (yes, we actually have roosters at our place), I'm sitting on the couch ready to go, the cat is looking at me with hungry eyes...and the rest of the family is still asleep.

Sigh...

Maybe I'll pick up my Spectrum 16 again...

A couple of weeks ago the Art Directors at Wizards of the Coast pulled together our favorite pieces from 2009 in anticipation of Spectrum 17. We threw all the images into a room and then a select team (I don't know how we were selected - maybe because we were all cranky) went through the pieces to weed the group down to meet our submissions budget. The first couple of passes are pretty easy, but each pass gets harder and harder. I'm happy to announce that there were no fist fights, or scuffles involved. I was pretty excited, 8 pieces that I commissioned made the cut (and no, I didn't vote for my own pieces). I'm hoping that Wizards has a good representation in Spectrum next year.

I don't know about you folks, but I love Spectrum. I can look through it a million times and I never tire looking at the wonderful art. I also use it as a means of finding new artists, seeing what is going on outside my industry, and doing a reality check about where I'm going with my work. Arnie's Year in Review is always interesting as well. It takes me a while to read - 'cause I always get distracted chasing down an mentioned artists work, researching an event or product he talks about, and a million of things that get me off track.

Wait! Is that a sound down the hall? Yes, it is!! Someone is up, and now it's time for the morning to start! Gotta run...

Hope everyone has a grand and glorious day today.

1224 Holiday Wishes

Today is the last day at work for the year (technically). I'll probably take some time over the holiday break to drop a note or two on ArtOrder, but it'll be sporadic at best.

I wanted to take a moment and reflect on the year though. It' has been a grand year! For those of you that haven't been here since the start, ArtOrder is 1 year old this month! [insert sound of children cheering] There have been nearly 160,000 visitors (more than 5,000 this week alone) to the blog in the past year.

This blog has become more popular than I imagined. To be honest, I never imagined any of this...I just thought I'd be talking to empty space. It's been a wild and crazy ride.

I want to take a moment and thank all the judges that have helped out through the year, all the folks that have written in, and all the folks that have participated in the community. Some of the most active folks, have been those creative souls that have entered the challenges (29 of 'em!) throughout the year. I want to take a moment and recognize them. I'm sure I've missed a couple of names - I apologize if yours is one of 'em. Just drop me an email and I'll add it. In case you are wondering...there are 274 at last count!

ArtOrder Challenge Participants
Aaron Anderson
Aaron Holz
Aaron Miller
Abigail Ryder
Adam Lane
Adam Schmidt
Adam Volker
Alan Gallo
Alex Da
Alex Drummo
Alex Melchor
Alex Preston
Alfredo Lopez Jr
Allen Douglas
Allen White
Allison Reimold
Amit Dutta
Anastasia Belova
Andrew Olson
Andrew Silver
Andrew Smith
Andy C. Porte
Anna Christenson
Anne Kelley
Anton Puresev
Arkady Roytman
Audrey Durney
Autumn Turkel
Barry McWilliams
Ben Foster
Ben Hodson
Bill Hicks
Boleslav
Brandon Miltgen
Brent Woodside
Brian Baum
Brian LeBlanc
Brian McElligott
Bryan Fowler
Brynn Metheney
Caio Braga
Casey Hunt
Chad King
Chantal Fournier
Char Reed
Chelsea Conlin
Chris Chuckry
Chris Hoover
Chris L Kimball
Chris Malidore
Chris Pritchard
Christine Macternan
Christopher Burdett
Christopher Johnston
Christopher Reach
Claudio Pozas
Colin Ashcroft
Colin Throm
Corey Macourek
Cornelius Cockroft
Craig Maher
Craig Spearing
Cristoffer Benitez
Cynthia Sheppard
Cyril van der Haegen
Dan Helzer
Dana Henderson
Daniel Adrover
Daniel Dussault
Daniel Smith
Daniel Zhang
David Crust
David Fedan
David Hammond
David Kahi Aspelund
David Miles
David Studer
Dede Putra
Derek Cinalli
Des Hanley
Dixon Leavitt
DJ Sprockets
Doug Kovacs
Drew Baker
Drew Pocza
Ed Gowda
Elin Josefsson
Eric Belisle
Eric Bonhomme
Eric Collins
Eric Lofgren
Eric Zendejas
Erik Korsgaard
Esteban Rodriguez
Evan Shipard
Federico Piatti
Felicia Cano
Felipe Gaona
Florian Stitz
Frank Walls
Gene Snyder
George Semionov
Gilead
GT Neo
Heather Hudson
Herman Lau
Hoyt Silva
Hrvoje Čolić
Igor kKeryluk
Ivan Diaz
J. Lonnee
Jakub Kučera
James P Mullen
James Stowe
Jan Pedroietta
Jan Pospisil
Jason Behnke
Jason Bennett
Jason Cheeseman-Meyer
Jason Juta
Jason Pruett
Jason Wiebe
Jason Zampol
Jasper Ng
Jeff Himmelman
Jeff Koch
Jeff Lee Johnson
Jeffrey Alan Love
Jeffrey Lai
Jennifer Kearney
Jeremy McHugh
Jerry Salinas
Jesse Lee McClurg
Joe Acone
Joe Slucher
Joe Wilson
John Dotegowsk
John Mathis
John Moriarty
John Stanko
John Stanko
John Ward
John-Paul Balmet
Jon Kaufman
Jordan Patchak
Jorge Lacera
Jorge Munoz
Joseph Wu
Joshua Marchlewski
Joshua McHugh
Joshua Venis
Joyce Maureira
Juna Solorzano
Justin Orlando
Kaisa Tuulenkari
Kevin Richter
Kim Feigenbaum
Kim Lang
Kiriko Moth
Kristina Carroll
Kurt Taylor
Kyle Zielinski
Lee Smith
Lisa Cunha
Liv Hathaway
Liz Clarke
Loris Stavrinides
Lothar Speer
Ludwin Schouten
Luis Vazquez
Mack Sztaba
Marco Caradonna
Mark Molnar
Mark Simmons
Mark Winters
Mathias Kollros
Matt Aufderheide
Matt Dalluhn
Matthew Leahy
Matthew Meyer
Melissa Findley
Micah Stone
Michael Aspengren
Michael Franchina
Michael Jaecks
Michael Lavoie
Michael Matteri
Michael Merissi
Michael Ng
Michal Vondracek
Mike Faille
Mike Paa
Mike Sass
Mirana Reveier
MJ White
Murli Soogrim
MuYoung Kim
Nate Furman
Nate Goullette
Nathan Quan
Ned Rogers
Neil Dutton
Nicholas Cloister
Nick Egberts
Nico Photos
Nicole McDonald
Nigel Davis
Noah Bradley
Oleg Saakyan
Patrick Jones
Patrick Mathews
Patrick McWhoter
Paul "Prof" Herbert
Peter Lazarski
Peter Mohrbacher
Peter Reed
Péter Tikos
Phillippe St.Gerard
Piotr Boleslav Nowojewski
Piya Wannachaiwong
Rafi Adrian
Ralph Horsley
Raven Milam
RC Torres
Renan Moraes
Rhonda Libbey
Ricardo Guimaraes
Ricardo Tercio
Richard Aguirre
Rick Hershey
Rob Carlos
Robert Brown
Robert Stenberg
Robin Chyo
Rodrigo Avilés
Ruth Kim
Ryan Durney
Ryan Hall
Ryan Lord
Sam Kennedy
Samuel Donato
Sandeson Gonzaga
SC Watson
Scott Flanders
Scott Murphy
Scott Purdy
Sean Sullivan
Sergey Dulin
Sergey Tsigvintsev
Sergio Lopez
Sharina Maloney
Stanley Morrison
Steve Black
Steven E. Anderson
Tanna Tucker
Tariq Hassan
Ted Kim
Thom Scott
Thomas Legg
Timothy Phillips
Timothy Terrenal
Tiziano Barachi
Tom Babbey
Tracy Flynn
Tyler Bartley
Tyler Jacobson
Tyler Walpole
V Suppan
Valtteri Laine
Will Hawthorne
Will martinez
Wonman Kim
Xavier Garcia
Zachary Schoenbaum


It's been a wonderfully fulfilling year, and I'm looking forward more excitement and wonder next year.

Happy Holidays!!

Not so subtle reminders

The Rock 'n Load Challenge ends January 10th. Don't miss your chance to win a contract to concept an upcoming Rock 'n Rock inspired promotional game.

Speaking of... the deadline is quickly approaching for the Best of ArtOrder book. Don't let the holiday season lull you into a false sense of deadline apathy. It will hit a lot sooner than you think! Deadline is January 18th. No exceptions...no extensions.

To Be Seen...
Got questions, or want to see a discussion on a particular subject. Drop me a line at TheArtOrder at gmail dot com.

Don't forget that you can also send your art submissions to Wizards of the Coast at ArtDrop Submissions. Please make sure that your submissions do not total more than 5 Mb, or your email might get bumped.

1223 Rock 'n Load Challenge

Check it out! It's the first challenge of the new year, and it's one that deserves notice!

As awareness of the talent and creativity lurking within the ArtOrder community grows, I get the opportunity to talk with more folks that would like to tap into the skills you guys bring to bear on a challenge. I mean, just look at what you guys pulled out yesterday for the Krampus Challenge!

Well, I recently had a discussion with Jenny Bendel about a new venture she is starting up. Jenny had a stint here at Wizards of the Coast many years ago. I had the pleasure of working with her and learning about her skills in promotions and marketing. Well, she is kicking off her new business called Rock 'n Load. They are specializing in music and game marketing. Seems she has an upcoming project and is looking for artistic help with the concept pitch. She introduced me to her AD, Nate, and we chatted for a bit about the project and what they need for the initial pitch. My brain just couldn't help but see this as an opportunity for someone to break into cool and growing market - namely casual gaming that is tied to promotion and marketing.

Here's the quick breakdown

Rock 'n Load is pitching a promotional game to a client (which much remain nameless due to disclosure restrictions), and is looking to find talent to help with the initial pitch. They are looking for a character and environment concept piece that can be used for the pitch. Pretty simple huh?

Here's the cool part

Rock 'n Load founder Jenny Bendel, and Art Director Nate Abell will be the judges for this challenge. The winner of the challenge will have their art included in the pitch to their client for the creation of a game and be their first pick for a contract to concept, and produce art on this title, and future titles.

Did that get your attention? It got mine!

Let's get down to the nitty gritty

Deadline: January 10, 2010 noon PST (GMT -8)

We're looking for a concept piece that portrays the main character of a 2D game, which is an iconic male rocker, clad in black leathers with long black hair, as well as a concept of the city, Tool City, where our hero rocks his way to victory over corporate mouthpieces. We're not talking no boy band model here, okay?

Nate is looking for a stylized image. Think of a 2D Brutal Legend. Fun, but still "badass". Dark, but not depressing. Tongue in cheek heavy metal humor to the max, but without disrespect. In other words, have some fun, but don't mock your audience. It should be able to pass the "Teen" ESRB rating.

Nate is looking for a 3000 x 2000 pixel image. The winner will be required to provide a final .psd file that has the character and the city on separate layers.

Background info
Here's some info for flavor. Use it as needed to flesh out your concepts and extra mental stimulation.


Back story:
The main character receives a notice that his studio has been bought by the worst record label in existence, General Records. Known for stamping out creativity and soul, General Records says that the main character must change his studio to be less offensive and racy. Infuriated, the main character will make his way from the doors of his studio all the way to the board room of General Records, the bland promoter of dull, emotionless music. Along the way the main character is confronted by lawyers,
politicians, and advocacy groups, who try to stop him by censoring him. When the main character eventually confronts the board of General Records, he is in for the toughest performance of his life as he changes the stodgy, stuck-up, conceited members of the board into metal fans.

Power-ups in the game:
1. Chicken - The main character bits the head off a chicken and drinks it's blood. All sonic attacks will now fly through their first target into the next one behind them, covering each with chicken blood as it strikes.

2. Electric Chair - The main character is shocked by an electric chair, charging his body with METAL energy. The next three enemies that touch the main character will be knocked backward and damaged by the electricity.

3. Guillotine - The main character yanks the lever on a Guillotine and the resounding chop noise explodes across the screen immediately converting every enemy on the screen.

4. Cyclops's eye - The main character eat the eye and a giant 8 ft tall Cyclops is summoned. The Cyclops then runs head long in the direction the main character is facing, converting each enemy he hits. The Cyclops disappears when it is off screen for about 1 second.

Does it sound like fun? I hope so, 'cause I want to show Lock 'n Load a good time.

To Enter
If you want to participate, send me a link to the image, or use one of the file transfer applications (like yousendit.com, uploading.com, etc) and send it to TheArtOrder at gmail dot com with the subject of "Rock n Load".

Include the following information with your submision:
Name:
Website:
Email:




DO NOT send to ArtDrop!  
DO NOT send emails with attachments.
Failure to follow these requirement will result in the email being deleted immediately, and without notice.

Now, go listen to some heavy metal and get in the mood for this challenge


Go Forth. Create!




To Be Seen...
Got questions, or want to see a discussion on a particular subject. Drop me a line at TheArtOrder at gmail dot com.

Don't forget that you can also send your art submissions to Wizards of the Coast at ArtDrop Submissions. Please make sure that your submissions do not total more than 5 Mb, or your email might get bumped.

1222 Krampus Challenge

Hmm, at one point I thought this was my favorite challenge. Until today, that is...
Talk about make me work! Holy cow, a lot of other folks decided they were really into this subject matter too. We've got 67 entries this time...67! That's a new record, I think. Did you guys forget this was supposed to be just a simple last minute little (!!) challenge for folks that wanted to get in one last challenge fix, and for those folks that wanted to get one last chance to get into the Best Of ArtOrder book. Well, that'll teach me to think anything can every be "small" with this community of artist :)

If you were one of those folks that was looking to get a chance to get into the Best of ArtOrder book, then make sure you check  out the rules and requirements in the Best Of ArtOrder posting. The deadline is Jan 15th!! Don't forget, and don't put it off...you'll regret it!

Speaking of Jan 1th deadline. Swing back tomorrow for a really big announcement for anyone interested in getting into game design, or looking to do really high profile game design work. We've got a challenge for you. It's going to have a short timeline, but the potential for a really big payoff!
... and if you are a rocker, you'll really want to check this one out!

On to our standing challenge.

The Krampus Challenge was dreamed up by Heather Hudson. it sounded like a lot of fun so I ran with it. The line up is grand. We've got all kinds of personal interpretations of Krampus, and in numerous styles. I love that we've got some traditional fantasy, some young adult and kids versions, some anime, a couple of sculptures, and even a fine art piece. You can't beat that kind of diversity. I was also really impressed at the number of countries we touched upon. ArtOrder has always been a rather global community, but this time I think I received more international entries that US entries! That is very cool! I also enjoyed all the different cultural facts and info that I got from all the various artists from around the world. It is very interesting how a myth in one area can spread and morph into so many other cultural celebrations.

Hope you enjoyed the challenge. I did...despite the last minute crunch trying to get all the pieces in before the deadline.

Line up

Adam Lane

website

Anastasia Belova

website

Anne Kelley

website

Brian LeBlanc

Brian McElligott

website

Chris Chuckry

website

Chris L Kimball

website

Claudio Pozas

website

Colin Michael Ashcroft

website

Cornelius Cockroft

website

Craig J Spearing

website

Dana Henderson

website

Dixon Leavitt

website

Drew Pocza

website

Ed Gowda

Eric Belisle

website

Eric Zendejas

website

Federico Piatti

website

Florian Stitz

website

George Semionov

website

Heather Hudson and Daniel Gelon
Heather was the person that gave me the inspiration for this challenge. Please let her know if you enjoyed it.
website

Herman Lau

website

Hrvoje Colic

website

Jan Pedroietta

website

Jason Behnke

website

Jason Bennet aka Spikeytiger

webite

Jason Wiebe

website

Jason Zampol

website

Jeff Lee Johnson 

website

Jeffrey Alan Love

website

Jennifer Kearney

website

Jordan Patchak

website

Joseph Wu

website

See all views of the origami piece here

Kaisa Tuulenkari

website

Kyle J. Zielinski

website

Lee Smith

website

Liv Hathaway

website

Ludwin Schouten

website

Marco Caradonna

website

Mark Molnar

website

Mark Simmons

website

Mathias Kollros

website

Matt Dulluhn

website

Matthew Meyer

website

Michael Ng

website

Mike Faille

website  (check out his in process images here)

Murli Soogrim

website

Nick Egberts

website

Nico Photos

website

Nigel Davis

website

Noah Bradley

website

Oleg Saakyan

website

Patrick Jones

website

Patrick McWhorter

check out the flying ornament video

Peter Lazarski

website

Peter Tikos

website

Piya Wannachaiwong

website

Raven Milam

website

Ricardo Tercio

website

Scott Flanders

website

Sean Sullivan

website

Steven Russell Black

website

Thom Scott

website

Timothy Phillips

website

V Suppan

website

Valtteri Laine

website

Wonman Kim

website

Go Forth. Create!




To Be Seen...
Got questions, or want to see a discussion on a particular subject. Drop me a line at ArtDrop Questions.

Don't forget that you can also send your art submissions to Wizards of the Coast at ArtDrop Submissions. Please make sure that your submissions do not total more than 5 Mb, or your email might get bumped.

1221 It's harder than it looks

I spent a while this weekend trying to complete my wood stamp of the ArtOrder logo. What initially looked like it would be a lot easier than actually pulling out the wood carving tools - has turned into quite a challenge. Trying to get into the detail areas of the logo is tough. Trying to make a clean edge or corner with a spinning round tool (Dremel Tool) that keeps trying to follow the grain is even tougher. It's back to the drawing board for this project.

In the meantime, Tariq Hassan sent me an email about one of his DIY projects. I'll let him explain what he was doing in his own words...

"Hi Jon.

I read your request for self-made self promotion items.( and I have to admit that I was a little excited that someone still cared about this kind of stuff) I put this book together in expectation of going to GenCon this past year.

I grabbed all of the ingredients for this from the art store down the street: Matte Board, A nice corrugated specialty paper to cover the spine, high resolution mat paper to print the images, and some Elmers spray blue to hold it all together.

I did some quick research on how to make a perfect bound type of book, but came to the realization there was too much work involved, so I basically made a typical saddlestitch book, glued two matte boards to the front and back covers, and then cover the exposed spine with some nice specialty paper.

I initially intended to create a special over for the book, but found that gluing my business card was just the right finishing touch.

I also put in an inset page, smaller than the rest. I put a message to Art Directors and signed it personally. I initially wanted to put insets to talk about each page of art, but found that one it wasn't feasible with the time I had, but also, it would have made the book bottom heavy.

I wanted the book to be very clean and crisp, but also have a self made feel.. I feel that something you've put together yourself says much about the artist. I think with the easy push button ability to get business cards, sketchbooks and whatnot, artists have lost the ability to get their hands "dirty". And if they work digitally, they don't even know the experience of slopping paint around..

I felt this giveaway might differentiate me a bit.. And Art Directors that noticed this would probably be somewhat on similar page as me.

The most difficult thing is finding a glue that bonds permanently, forever.. The books are still pretty sturdy, but some of the glue has lost it's hold in places."

The "books" look awesome Tariq, and what a great personalized little "leave behind". Check out how it all came together:

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure what weight of paper you used, but another option would have been to make your pages a little wider, score the pages and use screw posts for binding. There are a million ways of making books, and figuring out the binding is always a significant part of the creative and mechanical process.


Anyone else have any DIY projects to share? I'd love to see your successes, and your failures.


Go Forth. Create!




To Be Seen...
Got questions, or want to see a discussion on a particular subject. Drop me a line at ArtDrop Questions.

Don't forget that you can also send your art submissions to Wizards of the Coast at ArtDrop Submissions. Please make sure that your submissions do not total more than 5 Mb, or your email might get bumped.

1218 A week of art

So I used to call this Week In Review...well, that was until I talked to Lisa (my wife) the other day about one of the pieces I posted last Friday. She hadn't seen it.

Some backstory...

I have a wonderful wife. I'm not saying that to garner brownie points (Hmm now that I think about it. Hey sweet heart, can you make me some brownies....please?). She is too often an art widow. Either I'm off at work, off at cons, off writing for the the blog, off dreaming about art, off looking at art, off talking about art....you get the idea. Despite all that, she still reads my posts on a nearly daily basis. Wonderful woman...and quite lovely too boot. I'm such a lucky guy!

Anyway, so I asked her about the image 'cause I love to get her feedback on pieces I've commissioned. She has a great eye, and her feedback is always really useful and honest. I was surprised when she said that she didn't read Friday posts normally. In fact, I was floored. I figured Friday were be the day she would prefer....no long art talks - just lovely images to look at. When I explained that, she got all red, and did that cute little "I'm so embarrassed" little thing that she does. Turns out she took the post title to heart. In her mind "Week in Review" meant that I reviewed the week's posts and collected just the best info from the week. Since she had read the the previous week, she skipped the recap. Now I was the one wearing the "I'm so embarrassed" look. Of course she would think that! It was right there in the title!!

I was once told that people that learn to laugh at themselves will live a longer, happier life. If that is the case, I will live a really long time - I'm laughing at myself all the time.

So, just in case you didn't get the message. This is not a rehash of the weeks posts. Instead I take a few minutes to look at some of the artwork & artists that was released by Wizards of the Coast this week.

Dungeon & Dragon magazines
Here is a list of the artists that were showcased in this weeks magazine articles, and a sample of the artwork they produced.

Wayne England

Dragon #382 - Winning Races: Drow Insights

Tyler Jacobson
Dragon #382 - Channel Divinity: The Traveler
Dungeon #173 - Campaign Workbook: The Bronzeknuckle Brothers

Jorge Lacera

Dragon #382 - Familiar Power

Patrick McEvoy

Dragon #382 - Assassins: Toys and Options
Dragon # 382 - Class Acts: Invoker
Dragon #382 - Class Acts: Avenger

William O'Connor

Dungeon #173 - Scales of War: Those Once Loyal

Mike Schley

Dungeon #173 - Scales of War: Those Once Loyal

Sarah Stone

Dungeon #173 - Explore Fairhaven, part 2

and since I plan not to be on the computer on the 25th. Here's a sneak peek at some artist work that will be featured next week.

McLean Kendree

Dragon #382 - Swordmage Essentials

Chad King

Dungeon #173 - Chaos Scar: The Lost Library

Not so subtle reminders

The Krampus challenge ends this Sunday. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite challenges based on the quality of entries I have received so far. There is some outstanding work in this round. Make sure your check it out on Tuesday. Get your submissions in soon if you want to take part in the last challenge of the year -- and earn the opportunity to participate in the Best of ArtOrder book.

Speaking of... the deadline is quickly approaching for the Best of ArtOrder book. Don't let the holiday season lull you into a false sense of deadline apathy. It will hit a lot sooner than you think! Deadline is January 18th. No exceptions...no extensions.


Go Forth. Create!




To Be Seen...
Got questions, or want to see a discussion on a particular subject. Drop me a line at ArtDrop Questions.

Don't forget that you can also send your art submissions to Wizards of the Coast at ArtDrop Submissions. Please make sure that your submissions do not total more than 5 Mb, or your email might get bumped.

1217 Never comment on a website

Write it down.
Follow this bit of advice at all times.

Never comment on a website!

Holy cow. I had no idea how expressing my frustrations with portfolio websites would garner so many emails and comments. Don't know if I should be flattered that so many people read my drivel, or frightened.

Now I'm going to break the rule I just wrote down...I'm such an idiot. Let's talk a bit about websites. First of all, there is no such thing as a website-for-all-things. So if you are expecting to find the holy grail of website design - forget it. I've been involved in the development of way to many website, and what I have found is that they are a nothing more than an exercise in compromise.

Let's start by narrowing the focus here. I am only going to talk about the artists website, and I'm going to keep it pretty generalized. How about developing a website for a mythical artist - Ira Painter. First off let's go secure the domain irapainter.com (yep, it's available - unlike my first choice imapainter.com).

As in all website design, the place you need to start is to define your needs. Let define our audience first:
• Fans
• Art Directors/Editors
• Art Collectors
• Press

You might have a more expansive list, but this is a pretty generic list. Next I would identify activities of each of these folks on the site

• Fans
They want to know about you
They want to check out art from the various products that Ira has done work for.
They want to be able to search the work by release, brand, or genre.
They want to purchase prints and merchandise (when allowed by contract).
They want to know about signings, gallery showings, and any other place they can get some face time.

• Art Directors/Editors
They want to see a small sampling of the most current and relevant work
They want to see work that is relevant to them, and not have to wade through the whole body of work. (filtered results or categories help in this regard)
They want a fast read of the work shown
They want to be able to send links, download a specific image, etc. (flash galleries or galleries locked with java script are bad for this purpose)
They want to be able to contact you

• Art Collectors
They want to know about you - awards, showings, publications
They want to know what art work is available
They want to be able to purchase prints, and originals
They want to be able to contact you

• Press
They want to have access to a press folder
They want to know the latest news, and have access to press releases
They want to be able to contact you

Again, your list may be different. Ira found this to be a pretty exhaustive list for his particular needs.

Now that we know the audience, and their activities on the site - we have to figure out how we are going to meet their needs. That is a combination of information design, navigation, content, and promotion. Since I started my little fire storm with some comments I made about my personal pet peeves, and my quick experience with Matt's site. Let's focus our experience to Art Directors for the moment.

Again, there is no silver bullet, no holy grail of web solutions. I don't have the answer for how to build the perfect site, and I don't even pretend that I'm some kind of visionary in the field. I'm a simple guy, with simple needs, and is usually happy with simple solutions. When I look at website design I tend to prefer to have navigation tie to audience & activities rather than categories of information. I've usually found that the user experience is better, and it also makes promotion easier...let me explain.

Instead of the usual Home, Gallery, Store, About, Links, Contact navigation that most folks use I'd like to propose something more akin to Home, Fans, Collectors, Art Directors, Press. This different vision does a couple of interesting things for us. First, it helps target our content and information under each of these headers. We are able to create a unique user experience based upon the expected user activities, and tailor out message to each of those audiences. In addition, it creates a "aspiration ladder". I just made that term up, but the idea of it is based in loyalty based marketing. The basic idea is that folks want to get involved with our "brand" when they find enjoyment in our product. We can help them get engaged more deeply in the "brand" by offering them additional ways to enjoy the product (in this case prints, t-shirts, mugs, desktop images, etc.). This is good. It creates demand, and diversifies our offerings. The more successful "brands" know that you can't stop there though. There are folks that want to get engaged even more that the standard fan. In out industry, that is the collector. We cater to the collector for all the obvious reasons - they want to spend even more on our products. The goal should then be to try and convert fans to collectors...if you are interested in increasing your net worth, that is. By using the fore mentioned navigation - we are setting up a navigation system that says "My fans are important, and look at the cool stuff I have set up just for you. My collectors are important and look at the REALLY cool stuff I have set up just for you." In addition, we are setting up a kind of "class" system that also says "You have to upgrade to a collector to get the cooler stuff." This is an reward for the collector, and an incentive for the fan.

Remember that I said we were going to set up different areas for different audiences and activities? This is how we deal with the issue of trying to be all things for all people - we don't! Instead we are defining funnels for folks to self identify and route themselves to the appropriate experience.

Let's take a look at the Art Director experience (cause it's all about me!). Our wayward AD hits your homepage when he googled your information, and the navigates into your AD experience...or you send out promotional info which directs them directly to this experience! In Ira's case he sends out emails to AD's with the url of www.irapainter.com/artdirector/ which feeds the directly to the experience he wants them to have. Once in the ArtDirector experience, he has a very simple navigation element that allows AD's to self select again based upon their needs. In Ira's case he has set up a simple 4 column layout. The columns are labeled: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Young Adult, Editorial. Under each column he has selected 5 pieces of his latest and most relevant samples to showcase. Each of these images links to a larger image that allows the AD to get a good look at the piece. In addition, he has added functionality to allows the AD to forward the link, download the image, share to his facebook or twitter account, send an email to the artists, navigation to shift to the next image in the category, and a link to his contact info.

While this is a very minimal experience, it meets the needs of an art director that is just looking to get a quick sense of the capabilities of an artist. The normal art director doesn't need, or want, a lot of flash and glitz. They just want to get info quickly. Ira likes this 'cause upkeep is easy, fast and minimal. He can rotate out art quickly, and often.

Does this meet you needs? Does it make sense for you?
No clue. I know that everyone will have a different opinion on what I've just laid out. I'm glad that it is the case. Each of us has to find our own solutions - based on our audience, their needs and expectations, our needs and expectations, our skill sets and time limitations. Case in point. Look at my blog - I keep getting pinged about issue the site has (yep, a ton of 'em). I'm looking forward to the day when I can address them, but right now I'm just trying to keep ahead of the wave. So I have to make choices and set priorities. Todays priority...write. Over the holiday break...code.

Of course, this chat could continue for some time. We didn't even scratch the surface of design, navigation, content, or promotion. Nor did I talk about the other user experiences. Web design is a huge subject, and I could probably do a blog on artist websites all on it's own. Maybe I can make that  one of the normal discussion points on the blog if there is interest.

Please express you ideas on this subject. Share your "solutions" and help each other out by sharing resources and suggestions. BUT, please leave you flames at the door. If you don't like someones idea or opinion - then offer a better solution. Just bashing down someones idea or opinion will get your comment deleted. Let's have a constructive discussion.

Not so subtle reminders

The Krampus challenge ends this sunday. Get your submissions in soon if you want to take part in the last challenge of the year -- a earn the opportunity to participate in the Best of ArtOrder book.

Speaking of... the deadline is quickly approaching for the Best of ArtOrder book. Don't let the holiday season lull you into a false sense of deadline apathy. It will hit a lot sooner than you think! Deadline is January 18th. No exceptions...no extensions.


Go Forth. Create!




To Be Seen...
Got questions, or want to see a discussion on a particular subject. Drop me a line at ArtDrop Questions.

Don't forget that you can also send your art submissions to Wizards of the Coast at ArtDrop Submissions. Please make sure that your submissions do not total more than 5 Mb, or your email might get bumped.