Business Lessons For Artists
If left to their own devices, most artists will end up going one of a few sad routes: homeless, pyramid scheme, or Hitler. The truth is, it doesn’t have to be that way. With a little guidance by someone who specializes in the kind of thinking that artists aren’t too gifted at, there can be a much happier ending.
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Drawing on a computer has its advantages but will never have the feel of drawing with pencil and paper. This thingamajig bridges the gap between the physical and virtual worlds and enables artists to digitally edit and enhance their traditionally hand-drawn artwork. The “smartpad” captures drawings from actual paper, converts them to data, and sends them by bluetooth to any computer. The pad also works well with iOS and Android tablets or mobile devices.
Creating art on the computer as opposed to the canvas opens up a new range of creative possibilities. This digital canvas and stylus gives artists the feel of traditional drawing and painting combined with the power of modern technology. The cost of this thingamajig is minimal compared to buying paints, brushes and canvases for each new work of art.
In the right hands, a color wheel is like a recipe book for beautiful design. There are actually a lot of cool tricks that can be achieved by placing certain colors beside each other, as Jasper Johns explored in his work in the 1950s. For example, did you know that you can make one color look like two different colors? Or make two different colors appear as if they were exactly the same? There is a science behind it all, about how your brain interprets sensory input, but let the artist worry about that. Just know that this is an item that should be included with every painter’s toolkit, that can help them mix colors and understand the effects colors have on one another.
Artist thrive on creative challenges, and everyone needs to eat. Why not bring the whole picture into focus with this kit full of culinary experiments? Their food will be as beautiful as their artwork, and you may just get invited over to try some chocolate spaghetti noodles, exploding caviar beads, solid spheres of yogurt, or salmon topped with lemon foam.
If they do any 3D modeling or already have a 3D printer, then a 3D scanner is the obvious gift they need. Any small object can be scanned and rendered as a digital 3D textured mesh in full color. This is the closest thing we’ve got to the Replicator technology we’ve all seen on Star Trek, and it’s a tool that will open up a new world of possibilities for the artist you know.
It’s rumored that the real reason great Renaissance artists like Ingres, Van Eyck, and Caravaggio were able to draw so accurately is very simple - they cheated. The Camera Lucida is an ingenious tool that superimposes the subject’s image on the artist’s canvas. From there, all the artist needs to do is trace the projected image and, voila, another masterpiece accurate down to the last detail.
A 3D pancake printer gives artists another medium to express their creativity, and gives patrons a new way to appreciate art - by consuming it. Support the arts by commissioning an edible museum-quality masterpiece that even the toughest art critic will find tasteful.
Why bother with messy paints and long drying times when there’s a perfectly good computer to paint on? The digital paintbrush mimics the flexibility and feel of the real thing, and even leaves brush stokes. It can simulate painting in oil, acrylic, watercolor or charcoal and is compatible with most touchscreen devices.