Gallerella

Tracking Production = Making Money

As the old saying goes there are two ways to make money in business: increase sales and decrease spending. But I’ve figured that in the art world there is a 3^rd way: track production costs.

As I’ve stated in an earlier blog post, if you track your production you will more often than not be able to recoup half of those expenses from the gallery that sells the work. Typically a gallery will split profits with you 50/50 and the same goes for production costs.

I’ve explained exactly what constitutes production costs and how you get repaid for those production costs BUT what we haven’t discussed is exactly how to track them. How you track production costs depends on your art practice. I would say most artists have bodies of works and maybe within those bodies of works there are series. Or maybe there are just series if you stick with one medium. Or maybe you have different practices, you have a collaborative practice with another artist and you have a solo practice. Or you have distinct practices that overlap other art forms like book-making or performance.

In any of these cases, the way I find the most useful is to track expense with as much consistent detail as possible. For example, say you have a solo and collaborative practice, you are a sculptor and a filmmaker, you have a series of work that you are making for a museum show at Kunsthalle Zurich, and you began making the work in 2012. So you paid a fabricator $1,000 to make an armature for a sculpture. So that $1,000 would have a code associated with it which would indicate the practice, the medium/body of work, the series or project and the year. So the code might look something like this: AD.Video.Zurich.2012. AD (my initials) indicating my solo practice. Video indicating my medium. Zurich indicating the project or series. And 2012 indicating the year I began making the work.

I like going from broad to specific because it’s easier to search in whatever database or program you are using. If you use Quickbooks then you can put this “code” in the Memo field or the Class field. If you are using Excel you can put this in the same row as the work and then do a Sort Table function by the Code Column and then Sum up everything in the Cost Column. If you have a more sophisticated application like ArtSmart or Artbase then you can use the Notes field and pull up specific searches for that code.

Usually when you begin making work, you have no idea if it will be one piece or many pieces that will come out of it. So it is good to start with a code like this. Then when you figure out exactly how many pieces you are creating, you can either divide the costs up evenly or begin to parse out the exact cost of each individual work.

At the end of your project, you will be able to look and see exactly how much was spent, exactly how much each work costs and easily present these costs to your gallery (BEFORE) the work sells so that you can get ½ of that money back. You just made $500 for typing in a little code. So a little work and organization can really pay off.

Commissions

I recently had this discussion with a client about how to structure a commission deal.

There are two main aspects of a commission that an artist should consider, the work and the money.

If an artist is represented by a gallery and the commission went thru the gallery then the gallery will negotiate the logistics. For working out the logistics and for setting up the deal, the gallery will take a percentage of the sales price. In a straight sale of artwork the gallery usually gets 50% but in a commission the standard percentage doesn’t always apply. Typically the more well-known the artist the less the gallery will take as a percentage. I typically see galleries taking 30% commissions depending on how much work they do to orchestrate everything.

If an artist is represented by a gallery and the commission came thru the artist and the gallery is not negotiating the deal on behalf of the artist, then the commission to the gallery is up in the air. You could give a 10% consideration commission to the gallery for representing you. But you may want to ask them to assist with the logistics for their cut. Obviously the more work they do for you, the more of a cut they should get. But if you feel that you earned this all on your own and the gallery did nothing to help you get the commission and are not going to help out in any way, then it’s your call.

If you are not represented by a gallery and you are doing it all on your own then it’s easy, right? Well, you may not have to split any of the proceeds but now all the logistics are on your shoulders. Drafting an agreement isn’t easy especially when you have to think of all possible factors: work schedule, deadlines, scope of project, artists responsibilities, collector/institution responsibilities, travel reimbursement, materials reimbursement, labor, structural engineering, timing of payments, artist fee and what happens in the event of the commission being canceled by either of the parties, etc. I suggest drafting an agreement that describes in detail each of these issues.

Still have questions? Let us know and we’ll be sure to answer them.

cost efficient tips to “putting yourself out there”

So if there’s one thing I’ve learned after spending nearly 15 years doing marketing for many products and services and then launching my own business is it’s much harder to market yourself! It feels so icky and networking feels taboo but the reality is, both marketing and networking are necessary evils to success.

 As we explained in our last post, starting with who you know is a great way to start the networking process. You never know where one innocent conversation could lead and who your network could connect you to. And really you don’t realize how much people are willing to do for you until you ask. So definitely don’t take the power of networking lightly.

But often times it helps to put yourself out there in a few other ways as well, allow people to find you beyond that initial conversation and help them spread the word about you by having you “pop up” in other places. What do I mean by that? Well, typically for something to resonate, people need to see or hear it a minimum of 3x. And in today’s world where we are bombarded with messages it’s safe to assume more than 3x. So let’s talk about how and where you can put yourself out there, and for cheap because we know, budgets are tight (or non existent).

1.     Have a Website and/or a Blog:  Most artists are likely to have some online forum that features your work by now but if not, don’t be intimidated—it’s now rather affordable and you don’t have to be real “techy.”  While this may not be 100% free to create, a website and/or blog is likely to gain you the most traffic but more importantly, help you build up that image that you’re “legit” and you’ve got product or services to sell. And today, there are websites like Squarespace.com and Wordpress.com that offer you really affordable “all-in-one” website templates that are built to include tracking, search engine optimization and of course the ability to import photos, videos, custom content and more.  So even if you already have a website—consider a blog in addition. It’s a great way to drive traffic to your site and show off a bit more of who you are. And both websites and blogs are great for Google search results. So check out either of the sites mentioned above for your website or blog as well as tumblr.com and blogspot.com for blogs only.

2.     Stay Connected: While I’m sure everyone is well aware of Facebook and how it can keep you connected, did you know LinkedIn can also be a great source? LinkedIn has many “groups” that you can join for free and connect with people like you for advice, promotions, etc. And if you spend the time building up your network in LinkedIn (sending requests to connect), it works similar to Facebook by which your network will see anything you post/update on your profile page in their newsfeed. So a good tip to keep in mind for both sites—find ways to update your profile page often so you will re-appear in people’s newsfeed to stay top of mind. New work, new profile image, new exhibition—be sure to update both your Facebook and LinkedIn pages for all of your network to see.

3.     Marketing with Social Media:  Now more than ever it’s easy to help spread your name by “word of mouth” via social media. The following are all great ways to promote your work, be seen and give your fans a way to stay connected. And keep mind, social media is like one huge spider web, so be sure to feature each of you page links on your other social pages to maximize your exposure. Here’s a quick social media cheat sheet:

Facebook: Artists can create a “Page” to showcase work, announce events, engage fans etc. The two critical pieces: content and frequency. Facebook is good for updates that you want to “stay around” on your page for a while—so great for photos and/or videos. Post a couple times a week so you stay top of mind in people’s news feed. And encourage your friends and contacts to “like” your content so it spreads and shows up in their feeds to their friends as well.

Twitter: A micro-blogging site best for quick, short updates which works well for news on new work, events, announcements, thoughts, etc. The advantage here is you’re part of another community where you can connect to people like you and also provide fans a way to engage with you. It is meant to be a two way convo, so no one wants to talk to the person who only blasts their own ideas—on Twitter it’s best to engage with your followers through tweeting back @ them. Tip: check out Search.twitter.com to see what people are talking about and how you can contribute to the conversation and sites like wefollow.com or twellow.com help you find/follow people who love what you have to offer (those who mention art, performing arts, etc in their profiles) and once you follow them, they can discover you and follow you back. And, like Facebook, Twitter is totally free!

Flickr: A free, or affordable if you upgrade, photo sharing site. If you’re unable to build a full website, this can be a great place to show of your work and start to build up a portfolio of images.  Make sure you feature your Flickr page/link on all your other social media profile pages as well as your website or blog.

Pintrest: The latest craze in social media. While the site says it’s not meant to be for self promotion but instead visual discovery, they do encourage that people share images, designs, photos, art and “tag” that image with the original source. So for an artist you can share your work (low res version of course) and tag it with your name or website so people know how to find more of what they love.  And you can promote your “pins” with a link on your website or FB page, also free!

YouTube: YouTube is second to Google as the most used search engine.  So this is a great opportunity to feature your content and tag your videos so you will show up in search results. Create a “channel page” so all of your content is stored in once place and you can then drive traffic to your YouTube channel through your other social pages.

4.     Email Marketing: Sending out a “mass email” to all of your past, current and potential customers is a great way to keep them informed and engaged. If you have new piece of work you’re promoting, an exhibition coming up or any other relevant news you think they would find of interest, design a quick email blast on something like Mail Chimp or Pitchengine.com. And make sure you’re talking to your gallery about including your work/news on their monthly or quarterly email blasts.

5.     Join Art Communities:  If you haven’t already, think about places that can serve as a conduit for you to get exposure. There are online sites where you can be listed or even feature your work for sale like: deviantart.com, pelime.com, coroflot.com and organizations also offer “listing opportunities” like NYFA Source, an extensive national directory for artists and art organizations. There is a cost to some of these but worth looking into to see how you can further promote yourself. 

So there’s a quick crash course on some ways you can network, stay connected and promote your brand. Next up I’ll be talking about “branding” and what exactly does that mean, what’s the power behind a good brand and how to go about building your own brand image.

What questions do you have about marketing—leave us a comment or question here and we’ll be sure to answer it.

thanks, jen (marketing guru)

It’s not what you know; it’s who you know.

Three months into the new year and you don’t have much to show for it.

You started off the year ready to make some sales, ready to get a gallery, ready to get that coveted grant, ready to meet new curators.

Three months later you wonder why very few of those emails or calls were ever returned, why few sales have come thru and why you haven’t made many new (genuine) contacts.

You could blame it on the universe and mercury being in retrograde, but how’s that going to help you turn things around? What do you need to do differently? What haven’t you thought of? What rock has been left unturned? This was the topic of discussion with a client a few weeks ago. We sat there for over an hour trying to figure out some new ideas. 

And here is the one nugget of wisdom that we discovered. The key is not what you know; it’s who you know. I absolutely hate that cliché. I really despise it because what that means is that you have to do the one thing that most artists hate to do: self-promote, or otherwise known as Marketing.

Artists scream NO! No, I don’t have to do this. I can work in my studio and make good work and someone will discover me. Someone will just happen to trip over my studio doorstep in the middle of Alhambra, CA sandwiched in between Chinese restaurants and Escrow companies and just happen to see my work. And they always say good work gets seen. This is a fantasy, a good, valid fantasy but a fantasy nonetheless.  I think most artists really know this deep down, that regardless of if you have a gallery or not, you have to do some level of self-promotion.

Okay, so now that it’s on the table and we know what has to be done, let’s put the dirty marketing word aside, let’s put the hate to rest. The first step to promoting yourself is getting organized.

Make a list or better yet make a MAP of who you know, what they could do for you and what you could do for them. When I started my business I literally drew a map with me in the center and drew lines in every direction. I started going around in a circle notating every job I had had, every show I had curated, every project I had participated in, every artist, gallery, collector, friend, colleague and all the random connections and overlaps in between. As I worked on this for a few hours I realized I had accumulated a lot of connections. The strongest ones, I put closest to me and the weaker ones were further away.  I continued to add more and more detail, and then I wrote down how that person could benefit me and how I could benefit them. Dirty, dirty, yuk, but I digress.

I then created a core group of people that I needed to get in touch with first and have them help me promote my new endeavor. My close connections were thrilled to help. What I realized is that people want to help, people want to know what you are up to, people love making introductions and connections. So don’t be shy to take advantage of these opportunities. And try to accept the fact that you cannot do it all on your own.

I will admit that I’m a little out of my depth when it comes to marketing. All I know is what worked for me. So I’d like to hand the baton to Jennifer Ostrich, Professional Coach/Marketing Consultant extraordinaire. Look for the next blog post to learn more tips about how to promote yourself.

Asking your gallery for money

Asking for money is often times an awkward situation to be in, especially for an artist.

I have an artist client who recently asked me for advice about asking their gallery for money in preparation for a solo exhibition. The exhibition is a year away and the work is incredibly meticulous and time consuming. So it will take working day and night only on this show to get ready for it.

Artists, this might sound incredibly familiar. As you probably know, it’s not just the making of the work that is time consuming, it’s the preparation, filtering, refining, selecting, remaking, making sketches, building models, finding the right fabricators, and essentially working through mistakes and reworking the art that takes time.

Imagine a writer being asked to write from beginning to end a novel that was going to be published in one year or a filmmaker being asked to create a film from scratch that would screen in one year. Writers typically get an advance and filmmakers typically raise money or a production company fronts the money. But artists don’t really have a “standard” business practice to follow. Some galleries will advance them money against future sales or cover production costs or pay for studio rent. But how do you know what to ask for?

Here are a few scenarios:

If you’re an artist that doesn’t have high production costs and you are being asked to do a solo exhibition (including a solo presentation at an art fair) that is some months away, I suggest asking for an advance on sales. If you are just beginning a relationship with the gallery, i.e. this is your first exhibition with them tread carefully. In this situation I would suggest consigning to them some work (works you just completed or older works but not something more than a few years old) so that they can make sales in advance of the show.  This is a trade off. You are saying I’m going to give you the best show I’ve ever done but in order to do that I need to focus just on this exhibition. In other words I can’t make work and sell it to pay the rent and eat like I normally do.

If you are an artist that has high production costs and you are being asked to do a solo exhibition that is some months away, I suggest asking for an advance to cover production costs. Or you can agree that all the production bills will be paid by the gallery directly.

If you are an artist participating in a group exhibition or an art fair and your production costs aren’t high, I think you can always ask but most likely you probably won’t get that far. The reasoning is that you are only being asked to make one or two works and you can still make a living from the other work you’re producing. 

But if you do have high production costs, a gallery will most likely either advance you money for the production or cover the production directly.

 Bottom line is it never hurts to ask. 

How to really get organized. Step by Step and all the nitty gritty details.

Okay everyone says they want to get organized, but how do you actually begin? Everyone says I want to manage my expenses better, I want to know how much I make, I want to have a budget, I want to save a little money, I want to pay myself a salary, I want to pay my taxes throughout the year so I don’t have to scrape and scrounge every April 15th. In this blog, I’m going to walk you thru step by step how to get your studio and your finances under control.

First thing’s first, Artists, you should think about the type of entity you want for your studio. You’ve probably been operating as a sole proprietor under your own name. So you make some money and you spend some money and your expenses off set your income and you file a Schedule C on your 1040 tax return and you’re done. That’s fine if you’re just one person working inside your home and not making that much money off your art practice, but if you are beginning to operate a studio, i.e. hiring people to assist you, hiring people to pack your work, renting studio space, incurring lots of production costs or starting to make a living from your practice, you should seriously consider taking it to the next level.

The Next Level means separating your studio and personal finances and creating a legal barrier between your studio and personal life. And these two things go hand in hand.

Artists, I highly suggest you separate your studio practice from your personal finances. Once you do this, everything will be easier. It takes a little bit of time to get going with it, but once you do you’ll be happier and the business part of your life will feel more under your control.

First step is setting up an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation). LLCs are somewhat expensive. They cost about $800 per year to the State (this is what California charges). But it is worth it especially in order to limit the liability of your studio practice. If one of your freelance art handlers slices his hand on a box cutter while packing your work and he was training to be a painter or concert pianist and goes after you in a lawsuit for damages, your personal assets are at stake. So protect yourself by forming an LLC. If you don’t have the money to form an LLC, save up and form one when you can. In the meantime, create a DBA “Doing Business As.” This allows you to create an entity name for your studio to work under, accept payment, and allows you to register with the State for a minimal fee of around $25. Then you can set up a Business Checking Account. You can register a DBA online. You can set up an LLC and a DBA on Legal Zoom or the Company Corporation.

Second step is walking into a bank, preferably one that you already have your personal account with (so you can transfer money easily between accounts) and set up a Business Checking. Some banks will require a DBA or an official letter from the State naming the business entity. Call ahead and find out what they require before you spend the time going into the branch.

Third Step deposit all checks from your art practice into your business account, ie. checks from lecturing, teaching, art sales, reimbursement of travel expenses, grants, stipends, etc.

Fourth Step use your business checking debit card for all business expenses, ie. business meals, supplies, production costs, shipping, postage, utilities, telephone, etc.

Fifth Step set up all your personal and studio bills on auto-debit from their respective checking accounts. This way you don’t have to worry about writing checks all the time, incurring late fees and ruining your credit.

Sixth Step create calendar notifications 2 days before funds will leave your account for bills.

Seventh and Last Step set aside a little time during the week (personally, I set aside about 30 min on Sunday night) to look ahead at the upcoming week and see what will be going out of the account. Then transfer funds from your business checking to your personal checking online. Essentially you are paying yourself a weekly salary to cover your personal expenses. Once you get into the habit of doing this, it becomes very easy and painless.

Artists and Taxes

I’ve been getting a lot of questions about tax deductions from artists lately so I just wanted to address them in the blog this week. Let me preface this by saying I am not a CPA (Certified Public Accountant / aka Tax Guru) and am only giving mere suggestions here in this blog. Please seek tax advice from your accountant. 

So you’re an artist and you have expenses, you probably file a Schedule C for your art practice where you deduct studio rent, studio utilities, health insurance, supplies, production expenses, pedestals, framing, contract labor, shipping, crating, photography documentation, software, archiving expenses like flat files, etc. 

Here are some other areas to also consider (and ask your accountant about):

Research - music, video rentals, movies, books, museum entry fees (ask yourself if they play a role in your own art-making)

Catalogues

Art magazine subscriptions

Work clothes like coveralls

Lunch for studio workers

Parking while on business errands

Interest expense on your business credit cards

Bank fees for your business checking

Unfortunately fancy clothes for your opening not deductible

IRS Circular 230 Disclosure: Any written tax advice contained herein was not written or intended to be used and cannot be used by any taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed under the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.

Contract Labor as Production Cost

Okay so you’ve got the Material Costs organized and well tracked. Now let’s talk about Contract Labor. Your time and labor will never be reimbursable unless you are working on a large commission for some public work project, and you will submit an invoice for your artist fee. I don’t see any other exception to this rule. But the labor that you pay for can go towards Production Costs. Now if you paid someone to paint a painting or draw a drawing that you then sell as your artwork, that’s a little more difficult to charge a gallery as production costs. I’ve seen it but very, very rarely. What I have seen and what is becoming more and more common are labor intensive mixed media / sculptural works and film / video and sound because it really takes an army sometimes to make these works possible.

So how do you begin to track these expenses and ultimately get reimbursed for them? You must keep time sheets. You can do this on paper, you can do it in a spreadsheet, but there is really no other way to keep track of these expenses. I have several clients that have spreadsheets open on their studio computer, each person has their own tab in the spreadsheet and at the end of the day, they go in and type in that they spent 5 hours on one sculpture and what they did briefly (mold making, filing, pouring, architectural drawing) and then 2 hours on another sculpture and what they did. Then before the work goes to the gallery, the artist or studio manager or someone like me goes in and tallies all the time sheets and what their hourly rate is and all the receipts and provide a breakdown for the gallery of what amount went towards labor and what amount went toward materials. Then the final number is what goes on the consignment form for that work. Here is what my consignment might look like.

John Smith

Untitled, 2012

Latex, silicon, resin, paper and pigment

45 x 60 x 15 inches

Retail $10,000

Production Costs $2,000

Then the detail breakdown that would accompany the consignment would look like this:

Labor:

Paul Lane (60 hours at $20 per hour)                        $1,200

Materials:

Latex                                                                                $600

Resin                                                                                $100

Pigment                                                                           $100

Total Production Costs:                                               $2,000

I think I know what you are thinking: this is way too time consuming. I can’t track every hour that my people are working. And they are working on multiple projects all at once. And I don’t know which works are going to pan out or not. How can I accurately track their time and make it simple for everyone? There isn’t an easy answer. I find that when you set up systems in a work environment it is often met with resistance but you need that system in order to get paid, in order to keep your studio up and running and mostly importantly for your people to stay employed. So once a system like this is in place it becomes habit and part of the job. It is also really interesting to look back and see what works actually cost you in labor. Materials are pretty easy to track, but when you really factor in the labor, you will be astonished at what things are really costing you. I think this will be even more incentive to track the hours and get reimbursed for all the money you spend.

Next blog will cover how you protect yourself when it comes to Contract Labor.

Workmen’s Comp / Insurance / LLC

Production Costs - Get Organized, Get Paid

Let’s begin the New Year by getting organized and getting paid.

Have you ever asked yourself how much does it cost to make your art? There are a lot of expenses to factor in: studio rent, utilities, insurance, contract labor, materials. Let’s discuss the latter expense: materials. Your production costs can include contract labor and materials, but let’s just stick with materials for now. Did you know that a lot of galleries will split production costs with you? Some will pay once you incur the expenses and some will pay once the work is sold and paid for. But here’s the catch: you have to keep track your expenses, be able to provide documentation and submit them to your gallery BEFORE the work sells.

So the first challenge is keeping track of these expenses. Let’s say you are preparing for a show, you go to Home Depot and Ultrecht buy a bunch of materials and use them to make the work for your show. The bills total $2,000, and you produce 10 works. When you consign the works to your gallery at $5,000 each, that Consignment document will also list production costs of $200 each. So the gallery knows up front how much money they can make and you have done your due diligence and provided them with all the information before any sales occur. There are no surprises. You may, depending on your arrangement with your gallery, submit an invoice along with your consignment for half of the amount of the production costs. This is not uncommon, but if it’s your first time working with the gallery be prepared for them to tell you that you will be reimbursed upon sale and payment of the work. And when that happens, this is what the calculation will look like.

Retail $5,000.00

Less Production: $200.00 (Production is taken off the top of the sale)

Total : $4,800.00

50% Due to Artist: $2,400.00

Plus Production: $200.00 (It looks like you are getting 100% reimbursement here but I will show you another calculation that actually shows you are only getting 50%)

Total Due to Artist: $2,600.00

Another calculation perspective

Retail $5,000.00

50% Due to Artist: $2,500.00

Plus 50% Production Reimbursed: $100.00

Total Due to Artist: $2,600.00

Okay so now that you see how the math works, doesn’t it make sense to track those expenses? If all the work sells you just made an additional $1,000 that would have been lost. I will repeat this, most galleries WILL reimburse you for half of your production costs (not so much painters, but definitely conceptual, mixed media artists, sculptors, video / sound artists, and filmmakers). So all you have to do is get that information to them BEFORE the work sells. I guarantee you that if you try to present your production costs after a work sells, you will be met with a little fury:)

So it pays to be organized and timely.

Okay so now for the questions: what if I have some supplies left over? Prorate. Meaning see how much you have left over and then allocate the amount you used and the amount it cost and apply that amount to the work. It isn’t ever going to be an exact science, you do your best and you have a clear methodology of how you allocated and you can back it up. Just have sound logic.  

What if the gallery pays for my expenses up front and they never sell the work, does that mean that they own the work? No. They do not own the work. If the work never sells and you want it back, then you would be obligated (or whomever takes over the consignment if you ever started working with another gallery) to pay back the production costs they reimbursed to you.

Next blog post we’ll get into Contract Labor and how and when that can factor into your Production Costs.

Preparing for a solo exhibition at a gallery

I want to readdress an earlier blog post about the role that a gallery plays for an artist when it comes to their solo exhibition. Lately, I’ve been talking with a lot of artists that are having minor to severe disagreements with their galleries about their upcoming show. The disagreements surround the issues of what to show. Now this is an important role of a gallery that may get stretched a little too far in my opinion. Typically 4-6 months before a show opens, the artist has the gallery owner/director over to their studio to discuss his/her progress. Depending on how much production is involved this time frame may be up to a year before the exhibition is to take place.

So the gallery comes into the studio and sees how the work is progressing, and they are concerned. Either the body of work isn’t as cohesive as they’d like it to be, too conceptual and not enough to sell, or they think it’s going down the wrong track and maybe they should postpone the show. None of these are good responses to work in progress, especially when you hear it from your biggest supporter, your gallery.

What can you do as an artist? Your ego will say, “screw them, I’m the artist, what do they know.” So you could ignore the gallery. But eventually you want and need their enthusiasm. And if they’re producing your work, you need their credit card. So what are your other options?

Get a second opinion from someone you trust that’s in the art world that’s not your spouse or significant other. Invite someone into your studio with no preconceptions that hasn’t seen this body of work and get their honest opinion.

Do what they suggest and make the necessary changes. Ask yourself what are you really compromising by making smaller works or drawings, etc? Investigate the validity of what they are proposing. Ask fellow artists, ask gallery friends, ask curators. I think getting a second opinion, never hurt anyone, but getting a third, a fourth and fifth and you can’t make art by a democracy.

Trust yourself and stick to your guns and convince the gallery that you’re right.

Ultimately the decision is yours and yours alone. You are the artist, and this is your life and your career. Remember your gallery does not want you to implode. Include them in your decision process. But remind yourself that sometimes taking that risk is what you need to further your art making. Two favorite quotes on my two favorite topics: art and sci-fi. 

I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.  ~Pablo Picasso

Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down.  ~Ray Bradbury

Bottom line is you make the choice because you’re the one that has to live with the outcome. Whether you fail or succeed is totally up to you. It doesn’t hurt to listen to wise advice from people you trust. But you have to decide what is wise and who is trustworthy. That’s actually your biggest challenge.