I sprinted through the streets just outside of Death City, there was a Kishin here, I could sense it, I just couldn't see it. I jumped up on to the fire escape and on to the roof, shortly followed by Ayame. Ayame was my weapon, she was a katana. We stepped to the edge of the roof and looked around to locate the Kishin. I spotted it stalking someone to the east of the building. I nodded at Ayame and she changed into her katana form, I grasped her tightly in my hands before jumping off the building landing quietly behind the kishin. No sooner had I landed than a girl and a boy dashed round the corner and made their way towards us. The boy changed into a scythe, they must have been from the academy. The girl shot me a venomous look before swinging the scythe at the Kishin, alerting us to his attention.
"Idiot." I muttered under my breath, I somersaulted over the Kishin, narrowly avoiding it's grasp before attacking him with Ayame. The Kishin turned into wispy smoke surrounding a Kishin egg. The scythe changed back to his human form and snatched the egg before swallowing it.
"What are you?" the girl demanded, maintaining her glare.
"I am Honoka and this is Ayame." I stated.
"You didn't answer my question, I said, what are you? You're soul isn't human, witch or Kishin."
"I am neither of those."
"You're soul resembles both human and kishin but your weapon's is human. Your soul is not possible. I know that for sure."
"You may be a Meister from the academy but you don't know everything." I sighed.
"You still haven't answered Maka's question!" the boy growled.
"Shut up Soul!" the girl who I assumed to be Maka hissed.
"I'm half human, half kishin. Happy now?" I admitted. Maka and Soul's eyes went wide before jumping on top of me.
"GET OFF ME NOW!" I yelled.
"NO! YOU'RE PART KISHIN, WE HAVE TO TAKE YOU TO LORD DEATH!" they screamed back at me. I felt the soul energy getting stronger and stronger, making my body go numb and tingly. My hands started to glow purple and black, shortly followed by the rest of me. The energy increased and sent Maka and Soul flying.
"I will come with you to see Lord Death, there was no need to jump me because I was planning to meet him soon anyway." I spat. I jumped to my feet and followed Maka, Soul and Ayame.
Maka stepped up to a window and breathed on it. She drew out 7 figures on the steamed glass: 42-42-564, death-death-murder? Oh yes, the number of Lord Death. The window blurred before showing an image of Lord Death and a red haired man, probably his Death Scythe. Maka started explaining the situation to them. I really couldn't care less about their conversations so I leant against the wall and started humming to myself. I picked up a few lines of the conversation- something along the lines of bringing me to the DWMA for a test or something. The window faded back to its natural state. I followed Maka and Soul Eater through Death City towards the academy where I was to be judged on what I was not who I was. I crossed my fingers focusing on the impending doom of the situation and not focusing on the positives. Who the hell am I kidding? There are no positives to this.... none whatsoever.

In a previous entry, I discussed galleries, public venues, and charity auctions as potential sales channels for art. Now I'll share my experiences on the effectiveness of festivals and online websites.

4. Festivals and Events

By "festivals", I mean art-themed events like art walks and organized open studio tours. These are, by far, the best opportunity for sales.  Here is a comparison of my best and worst experiences.

My least successful event was a one night mega-gala featuring visual art, body painting, and a popular local entertainer at a large venue. Artists were juried by the promoter and then charged a $200 nonrefundable entry fee. Tickets to the event were $60. The artists were asked to sell tickets to their friends and customer base for a commission. The event was positioned as a fundraiser for an arts foundation that I didn't recognize, but a brief internet search revealed that this foundation was run by the promoter.  

No one in the media seemed to give the event much publicity. I decided against getting my own booth and participated in a group of people sharing a booth. None of our work sold, not even a $5 fridge magnet.

My most successful event was an open studio art crawl. It was well-advertised, it generated a media buzz, and it was free for the public to attend. Moreover, I was fortunate in that my work was featured on the poster used to advertise the event. I wasn't credited due to a minor oversight so the organization doubled over backwards to make sure my name got out. One customer came in to buy a painting because she liked the poster but couldn't find whose painting it was so she methodically went through the event's list of several hundred participating artists to find me. All because of a poster. "It was alphabetical by last name. You were last," she sighed. I know; story of my life.

I had quite a few people come to visit me because of the poster. It made me realize how effective a postering campaign is for local events. In my area, a price for poster printing and hanging in Vancouver is $250 for 500 posters. I would pay that.  

One of the biggest art festivals in Vancouver is the East Side Culture Crawl. This is a three-day open studio event. Alas, I am unable to participate because my studio is considered outside the Crawl's boundaries. Many artists consider this their biggest sales point all year; in fact, some artists work all year for the sales generated during this one weekend event. I used to think that was weird, but it's not.

These events work because people like to come out and support local culture and they will go out of their way to meet artists in their studios. I liken it to a wine-tasting tour: has anyone ever visited a winery and sampled a glass that has been poured and described lovingly by the host, and then NOT purchased a bottle on the way out? Same principle applies in festivals: get visitors, talk about your work, and make a connection. I enjoy these events because no one has ever come to tell me they hate my work; it's all about the love!

It's apparently forbidden to offer people wine or beer on many of these organized open studio things but everyone does it. For that matter, the sales seem to come easier with wine, though I wouldn't recommend it as a sales tactic for, say, an automobile dealership.

Other festivals that may not be art-focused, like block parties and neighbourhood days, are worthwhile. I've attended a number of these as a community participant. I dislike the idea of renting/setting up/taking down a booth so I tag along with someone else who has one and offer by-donation face painting for kids. I'll bring along some business cards and trinkets, like the mouse pads, coasters, and magnets one can purchase through dA's prints service. I feel like I'm participating in my community as well as promoting my business.

Also consider timing: anything before Christmas is subject to the retail magic and desperation that surrounds the season. Make posters. Don't forget the wine.

5. Online Websites and Communities

Of course I'm going to be positive about my experience on deviant Art. dA is the longest-running art community that I've ever participated in and I love it here. However, it is not terribly effective for me in terms of generating original painting sales. It's great for prints, calendars, posters, and coasters, though. And friends, too. I've made lots of friends here. That being said, I don't really consider this a site for sales or "exposure." dA has always been  for *me*, not my customers.

Online art galleries and art sales sites tend to be afflicted with the same thing: volume. There are SO MANY things to look at. This is when free will bumps up against commoditization. People looking for inexpensive art to brighten their walls or shelves might shop online but most seem to want to go to IKEA or some other discounty place where they can see what they're buying and get a better sense of color and scale. Shipping is usually the deciding factor. If the shipping cost makes the product more expensive than what you can buy locally, then it's almost always a lost sale.

There seem to be an awful lot of art sites out there. I've tried a handful of them. Fine Art America has good search engine placement and I have sold a couple pieces because of them but not directly through their interface. I have also tried other sites like Gallerish, Myartspace (now defunct), Artweb, and Paintings I Love but, man, the interfaces are often difficult and the effort to upload and catalogue your work can be tedious. I don't even bother keeping my inventory up to date; I post things that are already sold.

The kind of art I create and my selling model - sell big but sell rarely - means I have more of a relationship business. That means I have a difficult time understanding how people would use these sites to buy big ($3000-plus) art. If I'm going to spend thousands of bucks on a piece of art, I want to meet the creator or go through a reputable gallery or agent. Then again, maybe there are people for whom $3000 is a mere pittance.

I'd love to meet them. Somehow, I doubt they are hanging around online art web sites.

Conclusion:

1. Studio tour events where someone gets to meet you in your environment are ALWAYS good, so budget for them and go all out. If you can't afford $, then volunteer. These events are almost always run by organizations that operate on grants and volunteer power, so let respect be your keyword.

2. Expos and fairs and festivals are worthwhile if the event has good media coverage and are easy* (*free) for the general public to attend. If your art fits the theme, do it.

3. Online venues are a good promotional supplement but return on investment is iffy unless the investment is free. If you've got time to spare, they are worth it. Because time is free, right?

4. And, lastly, don't ever do anything for "exposure" unless you're in control of that exposure. Your body of work deserves thought and respect. You wouldn't take your clothes off for just anyone, so be careful about "exposure," but once you're exposed, flaunt it! That means promote the hell out of yourself, get on stage, and shake your stuff.

It's not just the old real estate adage of "Location, Location, Location," but rather  "Promotion, Promotion, Promotion" that makes all the difference. If you haven't got the means (time, money), then be selective and work with events that do. That's an article for another day.

Ok, my dad got some CCTV footage from the local pub about our caravan being stolen by Pikeys.



Here is what I need...

The picture on the footage is very pixelated, and we need it depixelised so we can get the registration of 2 cars that fled.

I need you guys to pass this message onto to anyone who can depixelise using Photoshop or any other program so we can get a look at the reg of the cars in question.   

Please pass this on to anyone you know that can do this and copy and paste this onto your journals.

If you want to contact me about this please goto this profile and note me about it. Netko09.deviantart.com

Thanks to those who will help me out.

Hey all!
The reason I took a while to come up with this little guy was that I didn't start on him right away. I was actually doing some late, much needed cleaning of my working area (of which I am still not done)!

Well anyway, the answer was PRINCE ZUKO! Hope you like him, be sure to check him out in my gallery.

Next I will be working on some illustrations for Illustration Friday, and then I will come up with an amigurumi! I need to brush up on my crocheting, so this will be a good time!
Here is the teaser for the next creation~ :drumroll:

_ E _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ E

Look forward to it! And also, remember that I've got a finished project I never revealed (_ _ A _ A) but will be revealed in the next month~

Stay tuned for more arts and crafts...!

Okay, hopefully anyone can see this. So, I'm Melody, nickname is M-Katt (as you can see xD) or Mel. Some of the pictures that I'll post won't be mine. :/ I don't have much talent for art or writing. :/ But if the pictures ARE mine, I'll say so. Any of the writing that I may post will probably be short stories by me or stories by someone else. Maybe some of the stories would be from books. So yea.

-Mel <3

[link]

Here it is, the beginnings of the Oilgrime Cartel webcomic!

Not many pages yet. It's still getting worked out, but thanks to , we have the art and the website.

Lets think about this, though: Can o' Mimes would be a -great- product.

There will be more to come, so keep your eyes on the website. We won't be following a schedule, so new pages will come out whenever.