Business Questions/ Issues

Okay, maybe I'm crazy- never mind, the jury's pretty much in on that one- but do these images look the same to you? (not counting the business card part, of course) The top one is the original artwork, and the pic on the business card should be the same. They look alike in the folder on my computer, but when I post it- well, the colors are sort of - different, to say the least. I've tried it 3 times. Also, the background of the card is black, not gray. I sent this to a printer, and now I'm wondering if this is what it will look like when it's printed. Yikes! Does anyone understand what happened?



Mystery solved. My son explained that it looked that way because the printing company wanted it in CMYK color mode, instead of RGB, which is used on the internet. Who knew? Apparently not me. So this is what my business card will finally look like.

Now I move on to issue #2: Shipping artwork. It's not really the HOW to ship that I'm wondering about, it's the WHETHER to ship at all. Or maybe it's HOW to afford to ship. To put it more simply, is it even worthwhile to enter shows that aren't close enough to enable you to deliver the work yourself? The price of shipping seems to be rising dramatically. I recently shipped a piece to an exhibit in Jasper, Indiana, near Evansville, which is probably about 4 hours from where I live. It cost me almost $80.00 to ship it there and back! Is there a cheaper way to ship than UPS? What it comes down to is that unless I make a sale or win an award, I'm out a lot of money. So, do I stop entering shows altogether, only enter the few close to home, or win the lottery?

The Business of Art

Believe me, the last thing I ever wanted to be was a business person. I just had no interest in it whatsoever, and naively believed that it had nothing at all to do with my life. This was many years ago, of course. There were many, many things I didn't know at that time; so many that I didn't even know what I didn't know, if you follow me. When I thought of being an artist, I was sadly ignorant of what that would entail.

In the meantime, a lot of life happened, prompting me to put my artistic career on the back burner (actually, it wasn't even near the stove) for quite a long time. Eventually, I began to make art again, and at this point some practical concerns had begun to enter my head. Such as: what do I do with the art I'm making? If I want people to see it, and preferably even to purchase it, how do I accomplish this?

To make a very long story short, this was where I came right smack up against the "business" thing. I had to face the ugly truth that in order to be an artist, I also had to learn how to be a business person (unless I knew someone who would handle that for me- no such luck). This was a pretty revolting revelation, considering the fact that I had no business training of any kind, and had not even taken a typing class. I had no idea where to start.

So began the slow and painful process in which I drag myself, kicking and screaming, through each little tiny step on the way to learning how to conduct the business of art. I am not very far along with this endeavor, but I am beginning to make progress.

I have been trying to design a business card for some time now, but have never really been satisfied with any of my designs. Now that I have several different people waiting for me to send the cards I promised them, time's up. So I just stayed up late last night and said, "Whatever I come up with, that's it." So, for what it's worth, this is it.



Now, how do I get it to print on those little cards?

And the winner is...

I want to thank everyone for helping me decide; your feedback has been very helpful. This is the one I'm going with, at least until I change my mind!

Please help me decide!

I'm still working on the whole logo/letterhead/business card deal. Here are four more attempts, and I'd really appreciate it if everyone could give me their honest opinion. Which is best, and why? Or, if they all suck, that's fine, but what can I do to improve them? (Oh my god, I sound like a teacher!) Better ideas than these are certainly welcome; sometimes you get stuck in a particular mindset and it's hard to get out of that "box" once you're in there. So please, help me out of the box!