Welcome to another edition of The Artists Newsletter! This month:

• Global artwork search trends
• Publicising your art courses
• The Artists Web - Autumn updates
• Cool Globes: Artists wanted - help raise awareness of global warming
• Islington Art and Design Fair

Artwork Search Trends

A readers may already be aware of Google Trends a fairly new and really useful tools for researching what people search for on the internet. The tool is very simple to use, one simply enters a list of comma separated search terms to compare and google will show a historic graph of the relative popularity of the various terms you have entered.

So here’s a few examples for Google Trends:

sunset VS landscape VS portrait VS abstract

original art VS art print

oil painting VS watercolour VS watercolor

So no doubt you’re already trying out searches for yourself and gaining insights into the way people use the internet!

Publicise Your Art Courses

And following on from our previous edition in which we covered finding art courses, this time we would like to bring your attention to a new feature on The Artists Web this month - Art Courses. This section of the website will provide a user friendly and easily searchable databases of art courses. We are aware that a number of members run their own courses and workshops, so we are delighted to announce that members will get first dibs on submitting their info and at no cost! Members of the public will also be able to list their courses but must pay a listing fee.

We already have a number of larger institutions lined up to provide us with their course info, but you can submit yours first and secure your place in our extensive course listings!

So get maximum exposure now before the listings fill up - The Artists Web enjoys great search engine results and thousands of visits from art related visitors every day, a perfect platform for publicising your classes, workshops and courses.

Advertise your courses now:
————————————–
* Login to ‘myaccount’  here: www.theartistsweb.co.uk/myaccount
* Click on ‘add venue’ under ‘my courses’
* Enter venue details for where the course(s) will take place
* Go back to ‘my account’
* Click on ‘add course’
* Enter course details
* You can continue to add more courses by going back to ‘my account’ and clicking on ‘add course’ again

The Artists Web - Autumn Update

After receiving some valuable feedback from the a recent user survey (thanks again to all who have particiupated), The Artists Web will be working on some new features and enhancements this Autumn:

• More art focused home page
• Some general design and layout enhancements on www.theartistsweb.co.uk
• New website builder features including multiple file upload, new design templates, paypal shopping cart enhancements.
• New publishing channels for the print program - we’re pleased to announce that The Artists Web has secured an agreement with The EAW Group who represent 4 of the worlds leading print distribution channels.

So keep your eyes peeled for updates!

Artists Required! - Cool Globes

Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet is a major environmental art initiative taking place in London from April 2009. Up to 100, five foot diameter globes will be placed in Central London for 10 weeks. Each globe will depict an issue with regard to climate change and, importantly, a solution that can be implemented at an individual level.

Cool Globes is seeking artists to paint the blank globes and is offering an honorarium and £1000 on completion of the globe. Interested artists are encouraged to visit www.coolglobes.com and contact charlie@wildinart.co.uk for information.

Islington Art and Design Fair

And finally a brief mention of an event in London this October:
3-26 OCT 2008 FRI: 1-7PM SAT-SUN: 12-6PM
ADMISSION FREE

FOUR WEEKENDS, FOUR SHOWS:
3-5 OCT: PAINTING AND SCULPTURE
10-12 OCT: ILLUSTRATION, PRINTMAKING, GRAPHICS
17-19 OCT: FASHION, JEWELLERY, TEXTILES
24-26 OCT: FURNITURE, GLASS, CERAMICS, DESIGN PRODUCTS

CANDID GALLERIES, 3 TORRENS STREET, LONDON EC1V 1NQ
TUBE: ANGEL
0207 837 4237
WWW.CANDIDARTS.COM

So that wraps it up for this edition of The Artists Newsletter - thanks for reading!

The Artists Newsletter Team

"At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since."
Salvador Dali

A very warm April greeting to all members of The Artists Web! This is the April edition of Artists Newsletter, your monthly source of information and news.

Finding Art Courses

For the artist who may have just rekindled their love of for art and is turning hobby to profession, or the professional artist looking to hone their craft in a particular area, finding art courses to suit you remains no easy task. The Artists Web is constantly looking for quality schools which our artists recommend from experience, but here, we’d like to instead focus on critical areas to research and feel comfortable with before making the (often expensive and most often lengthy) commitment.Main criteria to look for when deciding on which course to choose are:

• Price and location.
• Effective teacher/student relationship,
• Your goals match the proposed goals of the course
• Continuation- Taking the skills home

Price and Location

We advise not simply looking at the fee structure of the course provided, but also to look into greater detail as to what the value added services are. Many more expensive course fees may make the budding artist balk, but it is important to investigate further; what does the school offer in the way of materials / training / open days / exhibitions? Remember that a more expensive school may provide materials and tools which are of a higher quality and standard, translating to your creation being a longer-lasting and more attractive artwork. With relation to exhibiting, schools with gallery affiliations or an attached space of their own are often a good way for the burgeoning artist to gain valuable exhibition experience.Location is also another crucial factor. Of course proximity to your home is important as it is highly likely that you may be transporting canvases back and forth from your class to your home. Much more than that however, is the class spaces itself. After all, this is the place where your creative thinking should be able to shine. Comfort, warmth, and an open space with plenty of light to work in can only be assured after visiting the site; something we highly recommend doing before joining an art class.

Effective teacher / student relationship

Like any other process of self discovery, taking art classes is an important and personal journey, within which students need to be encouraged and strengthened to achieve their goals. The relationship between teacher and student in the field of art is very different from another skill whereby there may be a correct or incorrect answer. In fact, no matter the level of skill, artists in training need to confirm that their learning style suits the teaching style of the instructor.Some students learn most effectively when classes consist of very little dialogue between teacher and student, and the majority of time being attributed to working on their piece. Other less experienced artists may find too much unstructured time irritating, preferring instead to receive detailed instructions on technical processes. To combat these variables being a problem later in the class, we advise meeting your instructor personally and discussing your own goals prior to commencing. One option as well is to ask to sit in on a class of your appropriate level. Pre-exposure to the instructor’s teaching style will help you to decide whether or not you will be able to get the most effective results under this person.

Your goals matching the proposed goals of the course

Having a realistic goal or target before taking your course is a necessary step to take before joining an art course. Ask yourself, why are you taking the course? Is it that you hope to enter a tertiary institution and require a more professional portfolio of work before your apply? Are you interested in learning to pain in greater detail subjects like animals, plants and people? Is this just a hobby that a friend suggested you pick up for relaxation? After you have decided on your own specific goals (and we recommend doing a brainstorming session to attain what physically you would also like to take home after the course) it’s time to compare these goals with those of the courses you have chosen.Also look for the materials you are required to buy for the course: if you are hoping to improve your realistic representations of figures, you may find fieldtrips to the park for a still-life watercolor session and ‘getting to know gauche’ a little on the frustrating side. If you have a particular area of interest, make sure to ask the instructor about how much attention will be given to that area. In addition, if there is a piece that you would like to create, make to enquire about the final piece. These questions will satisfy not only your curiosity but also justify the money you are about to outlay.Another important thing to remember when choosing your art course is to find that perfect dynamic between the ‘personality’ of the course and your own. As budding Tokyo-based artist Belinda 43, describes, sometimes the best option is to find a school where your involvement levels are not all-consuming. She came to this conclusion after recently joining a school which involved activities she was not comfortable with, including presenting at Spoken Word nights, students taking turns to be live models for figure classes, and making extravagant costumes to wear for the end-of-year exhibition. ‘I felt that the classes and tuition really suited me, but I could not really opt in or out of the additional activities with ease,’ she states. ‘I don’t really take too well to dressing up or undressing in public.’You may want to keep your art at a limited time per week, without letting it impinge on your personal or work time. Remember to be clear with the instructor about what your goals are, as communication and research is key.

Continuation – The Importance of Skills Transfer

The right art course for each artist should be one which incorporates mediums they feel stimulated and interested in and be one that gives the artist the opportunity to utilize tools that may not be as easy to use at home- some examples are etching, sculpture and photography. Courses which incorporate complex or messy materials are great to be involved in, but the important thing to remember is that skills attained should be transferable to other mediums which can be done at home. Make sure to ascertain you are learning a process which can be applied to other mediums (such as shading, detailed drawing, cross hatching etc.).Well that just about covers it team! Make sure that you research your art course well and go with your gut feeling as to what is going to work best for you.

May 1st - New Site Launch Date

On May 1st 2008, The Artists Web will be launching the new site displaying some great new features. The site you know and love will remain, but here’s a preview of three of the improvements you are sure to love:

• General redesign of site to enhance buyers’ experience (and make artwork sell better). The Artists Web has been slightly redesigned to include various new features including Comments on Artwork, Selling Prints with ease, and increasing traffic through our ‘favorites’ option being added.
• Interviews Now our ‘Spotlight’ section will not only feature in the Artists News Section, but also on the main site area
• Buyer Process Improvement The buying process will now be much more streamlined, adding ease and convenience to the buying process.

For more information, check out:
http://www.theartistsweb.co.uk/new_features_for_artists

The Artists Web in Tokyo - Design Festa

April’s Website of the month, is for the Tokyo Design Festa.
http://www.designfesta.com/index.html

The Tokyo Design Festa is a freestyle International Art Event open to all artists, both professional and non-professional from all over the world to exhibit their creative talent. Design Festa is the biggest art event in Asia, with approximately 53,000 visitors and 7,000 exhibitors. This art event is held twice a year at Tokyo Big Sight, the biggest event hall in Japan.As part of the upcoming Tokyo Launch of The Artist’s Web, THE ARTISTS WEB will be taking part in the 27th annual Design Festa Art Festival.a

TAW has decided to set up camp at Design Festa as we know it is the ideal place for us to showcase the work of our passionate artists who are looking for a great opportunity to show their artwork to a very large audience from all over the world. As well as the numerous art fans and music lovers who attend this event, Design Festa receives a high level of exposure from the media including the BBC, APTN, CBS, AFP, and Canal+, to name a few.As well as demonstrating the new japanese version of the website, we will be promoting members on the site to visiting buyers at Design Festa. We’ll be printing up and distributing 1000 postcards of selected members work, each with the members name and website. (Members chosen will of course be asked for their consent before hand.)Please make sure to check out the site and see where your artwork will be hitting the Japanese market soon!We’d like to leave you with this quote and wish you here’s to April being a fruitful and enjoyable month!

“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.”

-Emile Zola

Thanks for reading and best regards,

The Artists Newsletter Team

March 2008 – Volume Six

A very warm spring greeting to all members of The Artists Web!This is the March edition of Artists Newsletter, your monthly source of information and news.

In this edition:

• Tips to make your work sell – 10 must-dos when promoting your art
• Protecting your work: Need-to-know information about your art and copyright
• Art Competitions – March 2008
• Website of the month

Tips to make your work sell

A popular topic in our online forums has been how artists can increase traffic to their site, and generally heighten marketability of their work online. We’ve developed a very helpful top-ten list of recommended actions for all artists to help make their work sell:

1. Ensure to fill out the terms and conditions for buyers on your site (this is a legal obligation)            http://www.beta.theartistsweb.co.uk/myaccount/
2. Submit site to D-Moz Directory (Run by Google) http://www.theartistsweb.net/wiki/How_to_get_your_website_listed_in_the_dmoz_directory
3. Have a signature when posting on forums with a link to your site. (e.g. http://www.artistsforum.org: Login, User Control Panel, Profile, Edit signature) This will increase your incoming traffic and search engine results when potential buyers do a name search.
4. Complete your profile properly on The Artists Web
5. Tag your artwork: Login, Image Pages, List images, Open a gallery, Enter tags in tag box for each image. (Untagged artworks are difficult to search for)
6. Add testimonials from past buyers to your website and profile on The Artists Web: go to http://www.beta.theartistsweb.co.uk/myaccount/ -> view profile -> and fill out the Testimonials form.
7. Maintain a mailing list of people who have bought from you before, have enquired about your art or would be interested in your exhibition.http://www.theartistsweb.net/otrs/faq.pl?Action=&ID=47
8. Encourage people to comment on your artwork. The benefits are two-fold, with comments working as a ‘review’ of your work, assuring other viewers that your work receives attention. Secondly comments attract more traffic to your profile.
9. Ensure your work is priced.
10. Resist the temptation to display every piece you’ve ever created. Show off your best! Although sold works should be displayed, a greater percentage of the work on display should be for sale.

For more tips on promoting your work, please watch the Wiki.

Copyright- Protecting your work

For all of our artists out there, one concern after creating that fabulous piece, is how to protect it. Firstly, to define terms, the UK office for Public and Intellectual Property state that copyright applies ‘to original artistic works such as paintings, drawings, engravings, sculptures, photographs, diagrams, maps, works of architecture and works of artistic craftsmanship’. As long as your work falls under the above definitions, this protection in the UK is automatic, and no action or bureaucratic process is required by the author in order to ‘copyright’ the work. In other words, no other party can make reproductions without explicit permission from you for the life of the authorship.

How long does automatic copyright last?

In the United Kingdom (for works created after 1989), the creator of the work will be the author and first owner (and copyright will las)t for the life of the author plus 70 years.

Simple protection measures

As previously outlined, no official action is required to formally copyright a piece of work, although it is useful because it informs the public that the work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright owner, and shows the year of first publication. In addition, if a proper notice of copyright appears on the published copy or copies then in an infringement suit, no weight shall be given to a defense based on ‘innocent infringement’.For the purpose of digital images presented on a web page on the internet, a clearly identifiable copyright message, stating © or Copyright, or the author’s name and date of first publication is sufficient.

After I sell my artwork, have I lost my copyrights over that work?

Copyright is a form of intellectual property which, like physical property, can be bought or sold, inherited or otherwise transferred, wholly or in part. So some or all of the economic rights may subsequently belong to someone other than the first owner.In the example that an oil painter sells his or her work, this does not mean the artist has sold copyright of the work. Therefore unless specifically authorized, the new owner of the painting cannot make reproductions etc. without permission from the artist (the copyright owner). For more information about copyright and your work, please refer to The Artists Web ‘wiki’ at: http://www.theartistsweb.net/wiki/Image_Copyright

Art Competitions March 2008

Here are our picks for art competitions to get involved in this month:Royal Academy of The ArtsCompetition: Summer Exhibition 2008 Exhibition Dates: 9 June – 17 August 2008 Entry Deadline: Tuesday 18 March Details: The annual Summer Exhibition showcase for art of all styles and media, encompassing paintings, sculpture, prints and architectural models. Artists in the UK may still purchase forms by telephoning for them on 020 7300 5929/5969 before the 14th of March. For more information: http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/summer-exhibition Leisure Painter & ‘The Artist’ Magazine (in conjunction with Patchings Art Centre) Competition: Patchings Art Prize and Exhibition 2008 Exhibition Dates: June 5th-July 13th, 2008 Entry Deadline:  March 28th, 2008 Details: This multi-prize exhibition is open to both professional artists and leisure painters – from beginners to professionals. Artists are invited to enter two-dimensional works in any medium. Selected works will be exhibited at Patchings Art Centre, in Nottinghamshire. For more information: http://www.painters-online.co.uk/open/?page=patchings08 Royal Society of British Artists-The Mall Galleries Competition: Threadneedle Figurative Prize Exhibition Dates: 20 Aug - 6 Sep 2008 Entry Deadline: June 20th, 2008 Details: A new competition, decided by public vote aimed at encouraging innovation in figurative art. Set to rival the Turner Prize, with two major prizes totaling £35,000.A special Open Day will be held at the Mall Galleries on Saturday 19 April (10:00 am - 3:00 pm) for interested artists to see the Gallery space and learn more about the competition. For more information: http://www.threadneedlefigurativeprize.com

Website of the Month:

March’s website of the month is an Art Lexicon called ‘ArtLex’ (http://www.artlex.com) This website contains definitions for more than 3,600 terms used in discussing art / visual culture, along with thousands of supporting images, pronunciation notes and great quotations. It also cross-references styles, media, techniques, and other terms. Here’s our favorite quote from Mexican painter Diego Rivera (1886-1957): “To be an artist, one must . . . never shirk from the truth as he understands it, never withdraw from life.” Thanks for reading, and we hope March be a fruitful and enjoyable month for all our artists!Best Regards,The Artists Newsletter Team

Welcome to the latest edition of The Artists Newsletter!This week we have included a round up of news and info on The Artists Web and beyond 

Showing Your Work On Facebook

No doubt you’ve been hearing about the latest buzz on the internet www.facebook.com, so cutting out a long introduction it will suffice to say the latest buzz in social networking, facebook is receiving a massive amount of attention and new users at the moment. We’ve mentioned before about using social networks to help your work reach a wider audience (see http://www.theartistsweb.net/wiki/Social_Networking_Websites), so how can one make an impact on facebook aswell?If you’re familiar with myspace, you’ll know it’s all about “showing off your stuff”, however facebook is a little more private. Essentially you remain private from people who you aren’t already connected too - your friends, people in the same networks and groups. So how can one’s work reach a wider audience, outside one’s own network? Well realising that this was a missing feature, The Artists Web has started a new facebook application for just this purpose.The application is called photobox and can be found here: http://apps.facebook.com/fbphotobox/ The idea is simply that you can tag your facebook images and make them public so that anyone on facebook can browse throw photobox and see your work. In addition, people can make comments or even add your work as a favourite either way it helps your work reach a wider audience. You might even get selected for photo of the day!At the moment there’s several thousand photographs that have been tagged already, but it would be nice to see some artwork on there too, so please drop in and have a look: http://apps.facebook.com/fbphotobox/We’re actually considering bringing some of these features to the artists web aswell, more on that below.

New Features For The Artists Web

We’re been planning some exciting new updates for some time now, and would like to give you sneek preview of some of the ideas we are bouncing around. We hope to improve the look of www.theartistsweb.co.uk, make the buyer experience smoother and more condusive to sales, start introducing some interactive features such as the option to leave feedback/comment on artwork, interviews with artists and more detailed artist profiles.Anyway watch this space!

Print Reminder

And just a quick reminder (again!) that we’re launching a print service whereby you can upload high rez images of your work and in conjunction with easyart.com we’ll make them availble for sale as prints, complete with framing and shipping!We hope to have this up and running next month, keep an eye on the website and your inbox for details.

Recent Forum Posts

Date	Subject	Member
27/09/2007	HELLO THERE	charityrose2
26/09/2007	freebies	chazwood
26/09/2007	summary numbers	dianaharrison
26/09/2007	I would like to ask membe…	leylamurr
26/09/2007	On a sunny day…	Sabine

Newsletter Readers Offer!

20% off when joining The Artists Web.Just enter the Code AB0907 when signing up full details here: Newsletter Offer.Forward a Message to Someone, click this link

• If you want to change your preferences, please use this link
• If you want to unsubscribe, please use this link
• Visit The Artists Web

Just a brief message this month with a couple of items on the agenda about developments on The Artists Web.

Selling Prints Of Your Work

As we mentioned a couple of months ago we have been looking into providing a print service for all members of The Artists Web. We have now decided to go ahead with this and are currently setting the scheme up.Essentially you will be able to submit high resolution images of your work and your prints will be promoted to thousands of potential customers from the UK, Europe and the US visiting your site, www.theartistsweb.co.uk and www.easyart.com. The Artists Web and EasyArt will take care of payment, printing, framing and shipping so once you have submitted your work you can sit back, relax and be paid on your monthly sales! Of course the more enthusiastic marketeers amongst you will surely be spreading the word to friends, family and beyond that one can now easily order your prints online…How to sign up? We are currently setting the system up and we will post further messages and promote the offer on our website when it is open for submissions, so watch this space!

Newsletter Reader Offer

For newsletter subscribers who haven’t yet joined The Artists Web, you can now claim a 20% discount off the first year of membership. See the link at the bottom of this email for further instructions.

Recent Forum Posts

Newsletter Readers Offer!

20% off when joining The Artists Web.Just enter the Code AN0907 when signing up full details here: Newsletter Offer.Forward a Message to Someone, click this link

• If you want to change your preferences, please use this link
• If you want to unsubscribe, please use this link
• Visit The Artists Web

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Welcome to the latest edition of The Artists Newsletter!This week we shall look at Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and of course have a round up of news and info on The Artists Web and beyond 

SEO 101

We’ve added some new tips to the wiki regarding SEO, here’s the ‘Basics’ section for the How To Get Your Artists Site In Search Engines article:Really there are two aspects to consider when ‘optimising’ your website for search engines, what you do on your site and what the rest of the internet is doing in relation to your site.

Your Own Site

Mainly, it is important that your site properly accessible to all visitors, the page titles are good, the site generally has good quality content and you have some relevent outgoing links to other sites of interest, see the section below about Search Engine Optimistation. If your site is not properly accessible to search engines, it simply won’t be listed at all.

The Rest Of The Internet

However arguably of much greater importance is what the rest of the internet is doing in relation to your site! You can have the best website in the world, but if no other websites mention or link to your site then you will be buried at the bottom of the search engine results. You could think of the other websites linking to you, mentioning your site as your reputation on the internet. Even if your site is excellent, if you don’t have a reputation you won’t get many visits just like if a very talented artist has no reputation then they have trouble finding buyers!Full Article: How To Get Your Artists Site In Search Engines.

Getting Listed In The DMOZ DirectoryAnd following on from the SEO article, you’ll no doubt be thinking about adding your site to the DMOZ directory: How to get your website listed in the dmoz directory

Recent Forum Posts

Date	Subject	Member
28/06/2007

Welcome to our first edition Artists Newsletter!The Artists Web has just launched 2 regular bulletins, Art Beat * New and emerging artists * Latest artwork * News round Up andArtists Newsletter * News and opportunities * New articles * New topics of discussion.If you don’t want to recieve any newsletters please see the links at the bottom of the email. And finally please forward this message others: this link

Artists - Protect Yourself Against Art Scammers

Unfortunately there is an increasing number of scammers or con artists operating on the internet and all artists selling their artwork though the internet should be aware of this. Over the last few weeks we have noticed a number of internet scams aimed at artists, so in response to this we have put together an article on our wiki with important tips for recognising such scam emails: http://www.theartistsweb.net/wiki/Art_Scam_Email. We strongly recommend all artists read this article and learn how to protect themsleves.

Search Engine Marketing

In the next edition we shall expand on some of the important points that we mentioned in our article on the wiki: http://www.theartistsweb.net/wiki/How_To_Get_Your_Artists_Site_In_Search_Engines

Art Beat

Welcoming Our Latest 3 Artists

Michelle Green | website19 images uploaded, painting drawingsfantasy, animal and figures Daniel Iles | website11 images uploaded, painting mixed media Tiffany Durling | website32 images uploaded, painting Nature inspired semi-abstract paintings using acrylic on canvas 

New Work Uploaded

1210 new items uploaded since 07/05/2007.

Some randomly selected new works:

Most common tags since 07/05/2007:Tags:

• alpha
• pumpkin
• zara
• humble
• kochalka
• storyboard
• weston
• dripping
• relationships
• beeswax
• burgandy
• sitting
• books
• day
• farmer
• metallic
• sand
• sun
• graffiti
• opera

Artists Newsletter

New/Updated Articles On The Wiki

• Open Studio
• Main Page
• Art Scam Email
• Open House
• Marketing Your Work

Recent Forum Posts

Date	Subject	Member
20/05/2007	sold 2 Fizzogs	lindahopkins
20/05/2007	how do, from t north	lindahopkins
20/05/2007	Hello!	John B
20/05/2007	what is your current/late…	Spencer
18/05/2007	Graphic Novels	chazwood

Welcome to the latest edition of The Artists Newsletter!This week we have included a round up of news and info on The Artists Web and beyondThis week we have a couple of newsworthy items for your perusal:

Image Copyright Issues

Not surprisingly the subject of image copyright is a common source of questions from visual artists e.g.:”What is copyright”"How do I protect my work”"Should I register my work”As there are not too many lawyer/painters out there, we thought it would be useful to research and add an article on this subject to the wiki. Read the Image Copyright article

Interested In Selling Prints Of Your Artwork?

>From a business point of view it makes good sense to offer prints of one’s work for sale. Popular prints can be a very lucrative income, even a short run of limited edition prints takes little effort to produce compared to the original and can certainly extend the income from one’s work.The Artists Web is interested to hear if who would be interested in selling prints of their work online via The Artists Web: Please Give your feedback on the forum 

New/Updated Articles On The Wiki

• Working With Digital Images
• Image Copyright
• Main Page
• Open Studio

Recent Forum Posts