No milk money post today. I'm also closing down the blog for a while. Things are not going smoothly and I'm swamped and morale is at an all-time low. I just want to clear my plate and take a vacation. I'll be back in a couple of months and hopefully with renewed interest in the craft/business.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
Milk Money: Part 3-Instruction.
For this installment I've talked to my friend Richard Luschek about his teaching experiences. Richard was a good choice for this topic since I'm really interested in people who are just using teaching to supplement their freelance income and it's not the majority of their work or income.
I'll start off with some quick comments about my experiences though. I've been asked to lecture at the college I graduated from twice. Those instances mainly came about because I stay somewhat in contact with some of my instructors or at least make myself easy to find through social networks. It may also be appealing that I've had some variety in ways I've earned money.
What sort of part time lecture/teaching jobs have you had?
I have had a wide variety of teaching jobs. Out of college I taught kids in an art summer camp. It was fun at first, but it was not about art as much as it was fancy day care where I was covered in paint and germs.
I taught a few classes for adults at a few community education programs at local colleges. It was more rewarding, but using my college education made it a lot of work, since I really did not know how to draw or paint well,
I had do a lot of work to make it look like I actually knew something.
Then I took time off to learn how to paint. I got some great training from a master of his craft (Paul Ingbretson in Manchester NH). I came home very excited about the information I had learned and began
teaching almost immediately. One thing that was interesting that now that I had skills to show and work that was an obvious demonstration of those skills, people started to ask me if I was teaching. The nice thing about a solid
classical training is that you generally become a pretty good teacher yourself. Fresh back from that training the information was pretty fresh on my mind.
I contacted a community college about teaching and designed my own landscape painting class that I have been teaching for almost 5 years. I also organize various classes and workshops in venues around town and have done
some private teaching as well.
My eventual goal would be to have a full time teaching studio with serious students that want to become painters themselves.
For now I would say most of my students are hobbyists that want to have fun painting some pictures on the weekend. I still give it my all as I figure I am giving knowledge about the things in art that are important to me. I think an
educated public is more likely to support, fund and purchase the work I enjoy.
How did you come across those jobs?
The first few jobs were given to me through teachers I had in college. After my training in Ingbretson studios I pretty much worked to set up the classes I wanted to teach. As I said above, I have had people ask about teaching
at gallery shows, when I was out painting landscape, or they have found me through my blog or facebook. I use social media to attract students now. I have a lot of repeat students that have taken my classes over and over for years. The more this happens the less work it is for me to get a class together.
I can often decide to teach a class, send out emails and it fills up.
Recently, my high school history teacher, who is not a dean at a local college, find me on facebook and offer me a job teaching. So, you never know where the work my come from.
Were they worth the time and effort required?
Most of the time I really enjoy teaching and feel rewarded for the experience. Teaching can be a nice way to make a living. It is obvious that the better you are at what you do the better you will be paid. Of course it depends
on where you are and the number of students you can attract. I look at other classes in the area.
Do you have any tips for shortening the preparation time?
Experience is the only way. When you start out it will be a lot of work. You have to figure out how to unload all of this information on a bunch of very different people having a broad range of natural ability or past experience.
If someone called me now and asked me to teach a class tomorrow for 20 people. I could probably do it cold with little preparation, but in the beginning it took a fair amount of preparation, writing and study.
In the beginning if you try to find short cuts you will not do a good job and will not impress the students. I do more work than is needed in the beginning to make sure I do a good job.
Has teaching lead to any painting commissions?
I have sold some work through teaching. Students are there usually because they like your work, and the ideas on art you have, so sometime students want a piece of your work.
I have not gotten any commission yet, but I did have a few classes chip in and buy me some very nice bottles of Scotch.
Do you have anything else you'd like to say on the topic?
I would add that teaching has a lot of benefits other than just financial gain. For one thing, you get to meet a lot of great people. I have made friends through teaching.
The most important benefit for me is that I am immersed in the basics of drawing and painting and have to think of a variety of ways to improve a student's picture. I am very hands on, so each week I am working on a pile of bad paintings. I have to then explain it to them so they understand. Often in explaining these ideas I find I gain a greater understanding of concepts, especially the basics, which I may neglect as I develop as a painter. I find I paint better after teaching a class. I also am getting very good at public speaking, as I lecture every week. If I have repeat students I have to try to make is interesting week to week.
Teaching, like painting, is a skill. It can be a bit nerve racking and difficult at first, but if you stick with it you will find it becomes more natural and fun.
I'll start off with some quick comments about my experiences though. I've been asked to lecture at the college I graduated from twice. Those instances mainly came about because I stay somewhat in contact with some of my instructors or at least make myself easy to find through social networks. It may also be appealing that I've had some variety in ways I've earned money.
What sort of part time lecture/teaching jobs have you had?
I have had a wide variety of teaching jobs. Out of college I taught kids in an art summer camp. It was fun at first, but it was not about art as much as it was fancy day care where I was covered in paint and germs.
I taught a few classes for adults at a few community education programs at local colleges. It was more rewarding, but using my college education made it a lot of work, since I really did not know how to draw or paint well,
I had do a lot of work to make it look like I actually knew something.
Then I took time off to learn how to paint. I got some great training from a master of his craft (Paul Ingbretson in Manchester NH). I came home very excited about the information I had learned and began
teaching almost immediately. One thing that was interesting that now that I had skills to show and work that was an obvious demonstration of those skills, people started to ask me if I was teaching. The nice thing about a solid
classical training is that you generally become a pretty good teacher yourself. Fresh back from that training the information was pretty fresh on my mind.
I contacted a community college about teaching and designed my own landscape painting class that I have been teaching for almost 5 years. I also organize various classes and workshops in venues around town and have done
some private teaching as well.
My eventual goal would be to have a full time teaching studio with serious students that want to become painters themselves.
For now I would say most of my students are hobbyists that want to have fun painting some pictures on the weekend. I still give it my all as I figure I am giving knowledge about the things in art that are important to me. I think an
educated public is more likely to support, fund and purchase the work I enjoy.
How did you come across those jobs?
The first few jobs were given to me through teachers I had in college. After my training in Ingbretson studios I pretty much worked to set up the classes I wanted to teach. As I said above, I have had people ask about teaching
at gallery shows, when I was out painting landscape, or they have found me through my blog or facebook. I use social media to attract students now. I have a lot of repeat students that have taken my classes over and over for years. The more this happens the less work it is for me to get a class together.
I can often decide to teach a class, send out emails and it fills up.
Recently, my high school history teacher, who is not a dean at a local college, find me on facebook and offer me a job teaching. So, you never know where the work my come from.
Were they worth the time and effort required?
Most of the time I really enjoy teaching and feel rewarded for the experience. Teaching can be a nice way to make a living. It is obvious that the better you are at what you do the better you will be paid. Of course it depends
on where you are and the number of students you can attract. I look at other classes in the area.
Do you have any tips for shortening the preparation time?
Experience is the only way. When you start out it will be a lot of work. You have to figure out how to unload all of this information on a bunch of very different people having a broad range of natural ability or past experience.
If someone called me now and asked me to teach a class tomorrow for 20 people. I could probably do it cold with little preparation, but in the beginning it took a fair amount of preparation, writing and study.
In the beginning if you try to find short cuts you will not do a good job and will not impress the students. I do more work than is needed in the beginning to make sure I do a good job.
Has teaching lead to any painting commissions?
I have sold some work through teaching. Students are there usually because they like your work, and the ideas on art you have, so sometime students want a piece of your work.
I have not gotten any commission yet, but I did have a few classes chip in and buy me some very nice bottles of Scotch.
Do you have anything else you'd like to say on the topic?
I would add that teaching has a lot of benefits other than just financial gain. For one thing, you get to meet a lot of great people. I have made friends through teaching.
The most important benefit for me is that I am immersed in the basics of drawing and painting and have to think of a variety of ways to improve a student's picture. I am very hands on, so each week I am working on a pile of bad paintings. I have to then explain it to them so they understand. Often in explaining these ideas I find I gain a greater understanding of concepts, especially the basics, which I may neglect as I develop as a painter. I find I paint better after teaching a class. I also am getting very good at public speaking, as I lecture every week. If I have repeat students I have to try to make is interesting week to week.
Teaching, like painting, is a skill. It can be a bit nerve racking and difficult at first, but if you stick with it you will find it becomes more natural and fun.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Milk Money:Part 2b-Licensing
This is a quick addendum about licensing opportunities. I'll keep it short and sweet.
d20Pro
Have a lot of personal work sitting around? You can crop those portraits and sell them in token packs for their program for gamers. They pay 70% Gross Royalty. I doubt there's much money in it but it seems pretty painless to set up and I'd bet that most freelancers have some personal work and portrait studies around that could easily be put into a pack.
Playmats
A guy stopped by my booth at GenCon looking for work that I still owned the rights to looking to buy licenses to use work on playmats. From what I remember they paid really well. I can't remember the company's name. Maybe someone can name them in the comments.
Plates,etc.
I remember talking to a woman(can't remember name) once who would license her work for plates and glasses. It was mostly floral stuff but apparently there was good money in it. She recommended thinking of what your work might look good on and attend related trade shows to show the work you want to license.
Anything else to add to this list?
d20Pro
Have a lot of personal work sitting around? You can crop those portraits and sell them in token packs for their program for gamers. They pay 70% Gross Royalty. I doubt there's much money in it but it seems pretty painless to set up and I'd bet that most freelancers have some personal work and portrait studies around that could easily be put into a pack.
Playmats
A guy stopped by my booth at GenCon looking for work that I still owned the rights to looking to buy licenses to use work on playmats. From what I remember they paid really well. I can't remember the company's name. Maybe someone can name them in the comments.
Plates,etc.
I remember talking to a woman(can't remember name) once who would license her work for plates and glasses. It was mostly floral stuff but apparently there was good money in it. She recommended thinking of what your work might look good on and attend related trade shows to show the work you want to license.
Anything else to add to this list?
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
