#Digital artist does traditional art 100% real no fake

[itisstillnotme]

Red Guy because I like dhmis and it's June 19

[writingquestionsanswered]

Tattoo Shop AU - a quick, practical guide for writers

Guest Post by lebanon-hangover

lebanon-hangover said: this is based on my personal experience with the industry only, so depending on the era and country you are portraying, it may not be 100% accurate for your setting.

Hygiene

It may not be obvious at first glance, but most tattooists are clean freaks. We work with human blood every day, and we get clients from all ages, ethnic and social economic backgrounds, with all sorts of medical conditions.

We usually mop frequently, bleach the sinks, wipe down everything, and use cling film or bags to wrap everything. I mean fucking everything. We also scrub in, and sanitise the area on the person we work on.

Needles are collected in a sharps bin, and handled very carefully. Medical waste goes in yellow bags, and both are collected by a professional service.

Used ink caps may look full, but the ink gets diluted by blood. Like you dip the inky needle into the person, but you also dip the person’s blood into your ink. These are medical waste too.

Cleaning up must be done promptly after the session. Bin everything disposable, put things through the ultrasonic and the autoclave, and sanitise the area. We may take machines apart, but more for maintenance than cleaning, sometimes we swap parts in them too.

We have two sinks, one for hand washing, one for cleaning.

All inks and needles have use by dates.

The internal dynamics of a studio

Depending on the country, some tattoo shops tend to have ties to biker gangs, and some of those internal dynamics and unwritten rules are often present.

There’s a pecking order and it’s dead serious. Basically the longer you’ve been in a shop, the higher ‘rank’ you are, you get the better positioned stations, first pick of walk-ins, etc (Unless the client is asking for someone by name). Regardless of your actual experience in the industry, like if you move into your old apprentice’s shop, they are still senior to you. If the owner or their partner is an artist, obviously they are on top of the chain by default.

We are self employed, but we have a boss. You are only making money if you are working, but you still have set work hours.

We get paid by the clients, and we pay the studio a cut. In return, there are some items provided by them, and some we buy for ourselves. Usually the chairs, tattoo beds, gloves, cleaning products, clip cord covers, masks, aprons, ink caps, vaseline, green soap, and some basic ink is provided by the shop. We buy our own machines, arm rests, stations, pedals, power supplies, clipcords, tips and grips, needles, special colours, stencil fluid…these are a personal preference, and often depend on the artists’ style.

We totally ask to try out each other’s equipment sometimes, or ask for a certain type of needle if we ran out.

The receptionist is usually just one of us, maybe a piercer, but it also can be a hired person in top studios.

The apprentice in the traditional system is often mistreated, and they have to pay for their education, have to be there multiple days a week and don’t make any money. It’s kind of like a tear them down, build them back up again thing to see if they are really serious about the job. Times are slowly changing, but 99% of them will always need a second job. Most of them are working as bar staff.

When you open a new studio, you must visit all the existing local ones and introduce yourself, otherwise you may get a brick through the window. Otherwise there’s not much beef among individual artists, they are often friends, go to conventions together and party after, etc.

The Artists

Tattooing is a fairly physical job, stretching skin is very important. We have to also keep our clients safely still, so we often use positions to pin them down a bit. Sometimes you hit a reflex point on the foot or under a knee, and you don’t want to get kicked. Sometimes you have to pull away super fast, cos they are sneezing, yawning or giggling.

Most tattooists drink a lot of coffee, tea or energy drinks.

Some people are all rounders, some have specific styles, but we recognise each other’s art styles. Sometimes we delegate work to each other, if we think our coworkers style fits the concept better. For example if there’s a person who does script well, we give them those projects.

We don’t like when people come in with designs from other artists. Art theft is frowned upon, and we work best with our own drawings.

Most apprentices practice on their own legs, and sometimes we tattoo each other when it’s quiet. Most people have cover ups, or bad pieces from their early days. The artists’ own tattoos sometimes are in a different style than what they do, but we like to collect ink from friends or colleagues we admire.

In the first 1-2 years one is an apprentice, then junior artist. At 5-8 years of tattooing, you have earned your stripes and are considered an experienced artist.

Conventions are really fun, but can be stressful. You can make good money working at one, and sometimes get awarded for it too. We can also spend a lot at a convention.

Sometimes we poke our fingers by accident, and it’s a scary thing. Good case scenario is just some random dots on your fingers. Let’s not go into the bad case scenario.

We do guest spots sometimes, just to meet new clients, and change it up a bit.

We spend a lot of time drawing up things, and designs are meant to fall on specific muscles, stretch with the skin a certain way, so they are tailored to the body proportions of the client. A good tattoo is also an optical illusion, complimenting the body shape.

Social media presence is like a second job, you need good photos, and you need to market yourself.

Tattoo ink does not wash out, so some stains are inevitable when pouring it out. Those ink bottles get stuck so easily, and we wrestle them a lot. We try to avoid it, but wearing all dark colours is a thing for a reason.

The Clients

Tattooists need to have a good ‘bedside manners’ too. We get nervous or self conscious people, and we are told personal things during long sessions. For example scar coverups and memorial pieces can be very emotional.

We have pretty good poker faces and first aid trainings. People can faint, get shaky, throw up, some have seizures, have b.o., get sweaty, etc the same way as at a blood donation event? It’s no big deal really. We sit them down, give them some water and some sugar, and re-book them if necessary. Most artists keep some wet wipes, mouth wash, deodorant, sweets, maybe even some clean clothes at work, just in case.

If someone comes in with a wild idea for a jobstopper, we would sit down and have a long talk. If they haven’t got many tattoos, we usually try to stir them towards more safe choices, offering them creative ideas. It’s like those jedi mind tricks sometimes.

If someone is undecided, we show them our own hand drawn flash sheets. Once its gone, its gone tho, we don’t use the designs twice.

Pinterest is full of photoshopped fake tattoos, some that won’t even work as real ink. Many people also touch up their work digitally on photos, so some clients have really unrealistic expectations.

We can totally tell if someone is intoxicated or hangover. It thins the blood, and they bleed out the ink, and it’s super annoying. if it’s bad, they will be sent home and rebooked.

Some folks are self conscious about body hair, their size, stretch marks and scars. Chances are, we have seen similar, and we aren’t bothered by it, because it’s work. Surgery scars, scars from accidents, self harm scars, burns, we see it all the time. We shave some really hairy dudes all the time girl, your legs are fine. Seriously. If something makes tattooing you dangerous we will tell you.

Fit, muscular people are harder to tattoo because they are really firm. Its a workout for us.

Everyone gets midnight messages about the aftercare from nervous clients, and drunken booty calls about getting inked right at this second. We have copy paste replies…

We get creeps sometimes. Stalking, weird conversations, tmi info dumps etc.

Other things to include (for fun, or for plot reasons)

We sometimes have those “oh fuck” moments. We all do, but mistakes can be fixed, and we play it cool.

Tattooing takes time. Usually 30 minutes to multiple sessions though years and years.

Healing tattoos takes about 2-4ish weeks, and your characters shouldn’t go roll around in dirt, sunbathe, swim, pick at the scabs. Nasty infections, and messed up tattoos would be the results.

If you have a strong immune system, and you get a lot of work done in one sitting, you may get a brief bit of a temperature. It’s normal, and will go away.

Its a lot easier to get seriously drunk after getting a tattoo. Be careful.

We sometimes draw on each other for practice with our marker pens.

Tattoos are inside the skin, not on top of it. Imagine a low opacity, skin toned layer over the ink, adding to the healed tattoos’ colour. Please stop making your characters skin fully transparent.

Heavy blackwork and palms are done in multiple sessions.

You can’t cover up moles, because if they develop skin cancer, the dermatologist can’t see the signs.

There’s a stereotype about piercers having blacked out sleeves.

Stencil fluid looks just like cum.

You get that annoying itch on your face when you scrubbed in, put on gloves and finally ready to go.

Some artists have a strong preference for coil or rotary machines, and they bicker about it a lot. Coils are louder, more punchy, and more traditional, perfect for lineart. They can be customised, and they last forever. They are also called glorified doorbells by people who prefer rotaries. Rotary machines are smoother, lighter, and often use needles that are pulled back into the cartridges for safety. They are better for shading and delicate line work. Older tattooists often say they are dildo or butt plug shaped, overly delicate and are for “soft millennials” only.

Every artist owns like 5 to 20 machines, and they have specific machine builders they are loyal to.

The “which cable is broken and cutting out” guessing game. Clip cords and pedal cables get worn out easily, and that results in your machine running really jerky.

Walk-in always show up 10 minutes before closing.

We often look quite silly at work. Sleeves rolled up, folks use all sorts of plastic ppe, headlamps, and we tie up our hair. Add couple of purple smears from carbon paper, and we aren’t scary at all.

[madstheghost]

Is AI Generated Art “Real” Art?

This is a question that has been plaguing the art world online ever since AI generators like Dall.e and Starryai gained popularity on TikTok and DeviantArt.

As someone who earns their living through art, I wanted to throw in my two cents on this issue. A vast majority of my income is from comic cons, art events, and commissions, and I am proficient in both traditional art and digital art. Many of us who create digital art have been a little bit nervous to speak up about this, because even now, a large portion of the traditional artist community take every opportunity they can to claim that digital art is not real art. There are numerous reasons they attempt to cite, but the most frequently heard excuse is, “Well, if you do digital art you can easily just trace someone else’s art and claim it as your own.” The fact of the matter is, you can also easily trace and steal traditional art, and this is more an issue with individual morality than it is an issue with the medium used to create the art.

However, I can see why being written off as thieves or fake artists may make other digital artists hesitant to speak negatively about AI generated art, but I am not someone who generally decides to shy away from controversial topics. The absolute fact of the matter is that traditional, digital, and AI generated art all have their place in the world. Each of them have their uses in art, and, unfortunately, all of them can be exploited.

So why does the art community seem to be more offended by AI generated art than they are by any other art form? To put it simply, it is due to the fact that a vast majority of AI generated artwork seen online is not actually art. At least not in the traditional sense. Most of the people uploading AI generated art to websites like DeviantArt, Tumblr, and Instagram are simply plugging a prompt into a generator, picking the design they enjoy most out of the many that the generator gifts them with, and then uploading the work. While it is good that most of these people do mark the work as “AI Generated Art,” there is still a big problem that is completely unique to AI Generated Art, and that is the fact that if you use an AI generated piece without making it your own in any way whatsoever: it’s theft. It is pure; blatant art theft.

Let me use the human brain as a metaphor for AI art. When you have a dream that involves a person you have never met before, and you can clearly see that person’s face, you did not come up with that face on your own. The human brain is incapable of inventing faces. All faces in your dreams came from your real life. Even if it was simply someone you passed by on the street. Your brain retained that face and stored it away in your subconscious for later. AI generated art works similarly. Computers cannot invent their own art. Rather, they use the prompt you give them to scour the internet for examples of the words in your prompt. I can say from my own experience that sometimes the generator just gives you someone else’s entire piece, with only slight style differences. Other times it gives you a few different art pieces that it has Frankensteined together to create what it thinks you want. Either way, these pieces still belonged to someone else. Someone poured their heart, soul, and most probably several hours of work into those pieces and now they are sitting in front of you, free for the taking.

This is why it is so important to remember that if you want to use AI generated art as a tool in your own work, it is just that: a tool. It should be used as a reference or a guide, not its own entire work. I have recently seen entire comic books that were made of 100% AI generated art, and I immediately recognized some of it. I have also seen a “creator” online who watched a man who was live-streaming himself painting, and they took a screenshot of his painting, ran it through a generator to change the style, and posted it as their own. If you are using AI generated art, please either only use it as a reference for things like backgrounds, or change it as much as you are feasibly able to. 

I honestly believe, from what I have seen online, that most of the people who are posting fully AI generated art do not realize that it comes from stolen art. That is why I wanted to talk about this. I know I would be completely devastated if I went to a convention and saw an AI artist selling something that was obviously originally my work. As I mentioned before, AI art does have its place in the art world, just like digital and traditional art, but you need to proceed with caution before using it. Always consider whether the way you choose to use a reference will hurt another artist.

[betadereader]

It’s “just” fiction.

How many of us have come across the typical phrase "it's just fiction"? Starting from a personal basis, I have always found it as a justifying sentence of an author with its content. And if the author has to get away with this defense, it is because someone has previously questioned said content. 

To begin with, I will clarify a point. Writing about a murder does not make you a murderer, just as writing a rape does not make you a rapist; role-playing a sadistic and abusive character does not make you that character, acting in your real environment just like them. 

In the world there are people who know how to separate the line of fiction and reality very well, while others do not. However, this is not the focus of this essay. I wanted to focus on the undervaluation of fiction in that very phrase "it's just fiction." I am going to articulate it with several examples that have occurred or continue to occur in reality, in addition to raising a series of questions. 

For better or for worse, the news media have configured a heritage of History. We are aware of History because there is written and / or audiovisual material, but the story offered by the media may not represent History itself. We know the version of history that they tell us. 

If I have gone to a very current example, the simple fact of creating a story in the format of an informative speech does not always reflect 100% of the object that occurred. 

With information abuse (the saturation of information) and so-called fake news, they also have the possibility of affecting the user's conscience, despite being a totally invented, fictitious story. 

Again, for better or for worse, and putting history and the media together, people tend to learn history more easily with fiction series. The fictional discourse can be educational and, at the same time, not represent History as such, trivializing some political aspects or creating a polarized world of black and white; good vs. bad. 

I also wanted to highlight a sociological experiment that was carried out on television, replicating Milgram's experiment. 

Milgram's original experiment, now cataloged by several experts as immoral, reflected very favorable results for the scientific community in its day. His main objective was to study the forms of obedience and whether they could find connection with those condemned during the Nazi era. Translated to the television world, in the documentary The Game of Death, they wanted to see to what extent a game show could become an authority, in addition to coming up with several theories. 

Like the original experiment, an agentic state (sometimes conformism too) was found in the contestant, relegating all authority to the guidelines of the program. There is an additional theory that mentions “belief perseverance”. In the contest, electric shocks are given to a subject who cannot be seen but can be heard. As the program progresses, the greater the intensity of the shock. Obviously it is an experiment and the pain is acted out, but in the participant —who did not know that they were part of the experiment— the following belief came up: "I can't really be hurting him because this is television."

“This is television” as a synonym for prior planning and pure spectacle; as a synonym for falsehood; just fiction.

I mentioned this example because, especially at the beginning of the documentary, it denounces a normalization of violence and physical and emotional torture on television. It denounces, also at the end, that commercial televisions, in their desire for money, "teach us that it is normal to humiliate, eliminate and be sadistic." (It’s an old documentary but if you want to see it, click here. It’s in French, I’m sorry).

Continuing with sociological experiments, how many experiments have tried to study the link between violence and video games? Or sexism and video games? Or xenophobia and video games? Or nationalism and video games? 

It should be said that the last mentioned are more common in the attitude of the player, using the video game as an expressive way to say whatever they want. However, we cannot ignore that, like historical television series, video games can also serve for nationalist discourses by demonizing the enemy and sanctifying themselves (especially when talking about video games which main topic is war).

I do not wish to dwell too much on each of the questions raised, since the emphasis is not the result of these experiments, but the undeniable interest and concern on the community of experts, as well as more and more students who are interested in these problems in order to analyze and debate them.

We are not indifferent to the images or books we consume. No matter how invented a story is, it stirs up real emotions. We grow with the media (traditional or digital media) and the content they have to offer us. There is socialization with the media at a very early age, and when we grow up we continue to learn from them.

Media acts on our emotions. And the stories that are told to us through media help to frame a collective imagination that even affects the vision of reality itself. Reality can also help build fictional worlds. And so the cycle would begin, since new ideals in fiction can act as a mirror for a future society and/or perpetuate harmful values (especially when under romantic treatments). They are two worlds that feed into each other.

For this reason the famous so-called "romantic love" has been so analyzed and criticized for promoting toxic ideas such as 1) love is the final happiness of every person and we are not complete otherwise, 2) we must to depend on someone else consider ourselves a "whole", 3) "for love everything is forgiven", "true love is eternal" and more idealizations that impacts on society and its perspective of love.

(Closely linked to romantic love, monogamy has been accused of being toxic and I wanted to make a small point that the decision of a closed relationship is as valid as an open relationship, and that an open relationship can be as toxic as a closed one. Here everything is said).

If fiction lacked that power, censorship would never have existed. The witch hunt in Hollywood or censorship that existed in the USSR for the control of the media and its content should not have happened. And many more historical contexts that I am ignoring. Governments were afraid of a content contrary to the predominant ideology, because it could break and violate their established values.

If fiction lacked power, propaganda would also lack power. Propaganda, especially in the context of dictatorships, offers a cult of personality; they idolize, endow dictators with divine values.

We just have to see the television advertising: it is all an idealized, invented version of the product. Don't give me that you've never been disappointed in buying the real product because "it wasn't like it was on TV."

We just have to see how certain groups in society (racial groups, different sexual orientation and gender identity groups, cultural ...) demand to be participants in fictional stories because fiction configures a mirror of the real world, where they are already participants.

Okay, taking a step closer to the "it's just fiction" statement ... so why do film academies exist? Depending on the film, they work with fiction to a greater or lesser degree, but it is still fiction. Why would there be jobs that are dedicated to worlds which work with fiction, if that is worthless? If "it was only fiction" nobody would pay for a movie or a book. And the same happens with television and animation series; no one would consume them. Any story that contains fiction, that is, any made-up story (depending on the needs of the script and the historical context), has no value.

By the same logic, any literary work would not have survived in memory and the writers we know as the "classics" would no longer be. By the same logic, any artistic movement (theater arts, literature, audiovisual and more), would have fallen into oblivion and its formal codes by which they acquire identity, would not be worthy of analyzing and studying. 

Because what difference does it make. It is just fiction. Nothing happens for the massive creation of very questionable content (the topics of which this blog will address later). 

Continuing with this essay, does anyone remember 50 Shades of Grey trilogy? Yes, that mess that originated (if I remember correctly) as a Twilight bad fic. How much movement was there on social networks denouncing an abusive and toxic relationship? Apart from BDSM and the criticism that it was painfully written (I started reading it by laughing and ended up wanting to tear my eyes out), there were countless posts in which the relationship of the characters was analyzed. Many voiced their complaint and amazement at how a book that focuses on and romanticizes a toxic relationship could hit the market.

I suppose that something problematic is even more when it becomes popular and it is about making money with it. And probably publishers don’t give a damn because they're going to make money anyway. Although the world of FanFiction is not destined —in principle— for commercialization, the fic that romanticizes problematic subjects is not "less important" for this reason, because it can do the same damage. There is a vast "FanFiction culture", and more than one fic has made the jump to the market. We have all seen a book with its brilliant promotion of "phenomenon on Wattpad".

Fickers —writers of FanFiction— are not film or television producers. It is good that FanFiction (and like FF we have Wattpad and AO3) is not a strictly professional universe. A fic, like a movie or a television series or a video game, can narrate very murky and dark things from life. A story can talk about drugs (or other types of addictions), the inhumanity of war, torture, sexism, rape, pedophilia and more that I’m ignoring. You can do it from the critical perspective of the characters and their actions, or from the point of view of the addict, inhuman, sadistic, sexist, rapist or pedophile respectively with the aforementioned.

Why if the producer/writer who whitewashes the image of pedophilia or terrorism (for example) or romanticizes them is considerated as a pedophile or as a terrorist but nothing is said against romanticization and the subsequent normalization of rape in the FanFiction world?

That question is one of many examples of harmful behavior by content creators, which toxicity can be seen thorugh fiction. That question is one from many others that this Tumblr account wants to develop as essays.

Because fiction is not “just” fiction. Whoever wants to rely on this phrase, is the equivalent of being a shameless person... as something to begin with.

[houseofvans]

SKETCHY BEHAVIORS | MARINA MIKA (CROATIA)

Inspired by childhood storytellings of fairy tales and folklore, artist and illustrator Marina Mika creates beautifully detailed pen drawn works that are not only skillfully executed, but also a “real reflection” of the artist herself–her emotions, experiences, and impressions from life. A self proclaimed “perfectionist,” Mika’s elaborate drawings can take days to weeks to form, and only will be completed if the artist feels 100% about it.  And, we’re 100% stoked to chat with this talented artist who shares with us her process, her influences and provides some great advice for any emerging artist in this month’s Sketchy  Behaviors. 

Photographs courtesy of the artist. 

Introduce yourself?  Hey, my name is Marina Bitunjac but known as Marina Mika over social media. I just got my MA degree at at School of Design university (visual communication – graphic design) in Croatia, Europe. But my expertise was always illustration and illustrative graphics. 

When did you first get into drawing?  I was drawing for as long as I can remember actually.. but the scene that will always be stuck in my head as the most vivid memory that got me into drawing is when I asked my mom to draw my favorite toy for me. (My mom had a natural talent for drawing but she lacked true creativity and ideas.) But, yeah, I had this  beautiful  white  fairy tale  horse toy with long  gold hair and a cape full of beautiful pattern and gold details. I really loved that one ,and was very proud of  owning it, so I asked mom to draw it. I remember her drawing  being (in my eyes then) the best thing ever! It was gorgeous and I fell in love with the skill of drawing, the beauty of it and the so-called magic around the whole process of creating. It is  interesting how peaceful and quiet it is to create but how powerful and ‘loud’ the result can be. 

What were some of your early influences? My early infulences were also the fairy tales that I was told before going to bed. They  had a huge impact on my ideas  since they were so  strange, yet so captivating and  ‘alive’. Also, for some reason I always had  japanese pierrot illustrations (artist: Mira  Fujita) around my room. I don’t even know  how I got them but I still have them with me wherever I go. That is why I tend to like drawing pierrot-like  characters. 

What’s your art background – were you self taught or did you go to art school? In primary school and high school I was drawing for myself, learning and studying art was a hobby. I was always known as ‘the girl who can draw’ but it was never serious. I knew I was not at my best and that I need to learn A LOT more, to find my own illustrative voice. And so, I got accepted to School  of Design after finishing high school. I spent my early uni years discovering myself,  experimenting (with life and drawing) and I really kicked off in my later uni years, after realizing who I was, what I want, and how I want to express myself. I finally figured out how to control drawing with what feels natural to my thoughts  and emotions of highlighted life experiences and memories or impressions. Of course, design school helped  me a lot to figure out ‘how to think’ and how to sort out ideas (what to keep and what to give up on, and more).

Do you keep a sketchbook or work your ideas as you go along? I don’t keep a sketchbook. I never got used to drawing in a sketchbook, so I gave up on it. I sketch when working on and developing  ideas for graphic design, but for illustration I just wait for an impression, emotion or taught to grow really ‘loud and clear’ in my mind and then I just get to work. My illustrations are really just an extension of my mind, they are basically a visual diary.

Your work is beautifully detailed, meticulous and rich in pattern and textures. What is your process like? How long does it take from your idea to a finished piece? Hmm.. well, my process is strangely so similar yet so different for each piece. I really like them to be ‘true’. Meaning, a real reflection of myself, not structured to be ‘just pretty’ because then, they would be somewhat fake and shallow, and people always sense if something is true or not. So, there is really no point in ‘faking it’. Sometimes it takes days or weeks for an idea to form, and sometimes it just hits me with ‘That’s it. Do it.’ I have to feel it is 100% the right one before even starting. And then, sometimes  it is difficult to translate the idea that is so clear in your mind to paper, but I redraw it and redraw until I get it. So some drawings are done really quick and some take time. Also, it depends on how much fine detailing it takes. I care about details in real life too. Details are very important to me, as they define the whole picture (in life and in art), so I spend a lot of time perfecting it. Basically, I am a plain perfectionist. 

In terms of mediums, you work mostly with pen and paper, correct? What are your favorite mediums and are there other mediums you hope to one day utilize more? Yeah, I work with pen and paper. Since I am a perfectionist I like the clean and controled lines I am able to make with pens. But, before I seriously started working with pens I worked with them because I could afford them in any paper shop. As a high school student and in uni I didn’t have time, space and money to buy fancy art supplies just for practice, so I worked with what was affordable and what felt right to work with. I ended up somewhat ‘mastering’ it and created my illustrative style with these mediums, and I am pretty happy with working with them. I would like to try to go digital eventually. All my works are hand drawn and I will continue in creating that way but I love learning and pushing limits. There is no point in being stuck to one thing, change is good, and it is important to discover and re:discover yourself and your abilities.

Folklore plays a part in your works, what about these early stories do you find yourself drawn to illustrating? Do you have a favorite tale you’d like to share? As mentioned before, traditional fairy tales were always told before bed time when I was a kid. We had a lot of fairy books and fairy tale movies at home. So it is natural that I developed a strong bond with them. Also, the place where I grew up is quite like a fairy tale place itself: by the sea side  with lots of nature and woods. You can easily imagine these tales to be true when you are a child in such an environment. I don’t have a favorite tale, or at least I can’t think of any at this moment. Depending on my mood and on what I feel at a certain period of time I bond with a specific tale.

What artists past and present are you really into at the moment? I grew up with Mira Fujita’s work hanging in my childhood room, so she is the first one that had a huge influence on me. Later I discovered Kay Nielsen’s beautiful works and was completely in love. After that, I got hooked on Yoshitaka Amano’s and Erte’s work. They are the 4 artists that influenced me the most. But, I admire so many different atists it is impossible to name them all.  I also love children illustrators, since their work is so creative and imaginative, as well as contemporary chinese art.   What has been a highlight for you as an artist? A certain show, a project or collaboration? The best thing ever, so far, was when I recieved an e-mail from SHOWstudio with an offer to illustrate Paris Haute Couture. I love fashion, I always have. I love the art of designing clothes and I love how beautiful the models are, but I never had the true desire to be a fashion designer. But, also, I always wanted to be a part of that world, and by getting the chance to illustrate it - I was ecstatic.   What would be your ultimate collaboration be like? What’s your experience been like collaborating with companies or other artists, if at all? I don’t have a clear idea what the ultimate one would be.. I approach every collab as the ultimate one. Every single one is different and therefore a new experience. I tend to seek new and fresh experiences trough illustration as it helps me to develop as an individual, what is directly reflected on my work.   What’s a common misconception about artists? And what has been your biggest challenge? From my point, I think the common misconception is that every artist can draw anything and with anything. Personally, I work with pens and I spent so much time perfecting this type of work that I don’t know how to control working with brushes for instance (and it just does not feel ‘natural’). Artists have a certain expertise in what they draw and what tools they use. They spent a lot of time, emotions and personality in perfecting it and making something new and original to offer to the world. 

Also, in my opinion, the common misconception is that anyone can be an artist or an illustrator. I think that artistry is a work field just like any other. I do illustration, since I worked and studied long and hard for it, my mindset is ‘programmed’ to work in an illustrative way, therefore I am not able to make a groundbreaking painting as someone who works as a painter can.  My biggest challenge was discovering myself and reflecting it to a certain style for sure. After I discovered the ‘true me’ and my own way of illustrating I was able to be confident in what I do and what my abilities are. That is when my work started gaining popularity with others.    What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t an artist? If I was not an artist I would work with animals  100%. I have always loved animals and if I was not watching cartoons  as  a child it would be a documentary movie about animals. Also, my family has always had foster pets. All our pets are from the street, so it is natural for me to help and care for them.   What are your favorite Vans? Since I personally mostly wear timeless and classic pieces, I have to say the original ones. But I LOVE all the new and contemporary prints and design you do.

How are you not just ONE thing? What other creative things or hobbies do you find yourself also doing when not drawing? What do you do to unwind in your down time? This is a difficult question.. I do many things, depending on my interest at a specific time. For the past year I am interested in working out and the gym (in my free time), and I found myself discovering the beauty of classic cinema (b/w movies) these past weeks. But, that will change for sure. I tend to spend some time learning and discovering about a specific theme and after gaining enough knowledge I seek for something new.

What are your thoughts on social media? How do you find a balance between work and keeping up with all of it?

Ah I love social media haha, I am hooked on it for sure. Especially instagram. I made an account there quite late actually, and did not use it seriously, but after I got somewhat used to it I started posting my work and it grew. It is not hard to balance work with social media, since it is an extension of what I do. I love the interaction that I am able to get with different people through social media, and the fact that I can discover so many talented and inspirational people with the use of it.

What advice would you give someone thinking about art as a career? I would say: be 100% yourself. Think of what you do and don’t do something just because you saw somebody else do it. When you are true to who you are, it shows, and people recognize it. Also, study hard and practice harder. Learn about your field and interests, get to know the past behind it and after building a strong base: launch something new to the world.

Things are not made over night and it is always quality over quantity. 

What’s on the horizon for 2017? Who knows.. As my mom always likes to tell me when I feel overwhelmed: ‘Marina, always one step at a time.’ So, I guess it is the best to focus on delivering the best of what I can do now;  while growing and discovering new things in life. Anything can happen ‘tomorrow’, let’s be the best of ourselves now.

Follow Marian Mika Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/MarinaMikaArt Instagram | @marina.mika

[theduoseries]

Why is the NFT market important? Briefly describe the value of NFT in neuro-scientific crypto art and games

The NFT marketplace has begun to take shape, and investors have to have an in-depth knowledge of specific NFT market segments and take part in games, digital art collections, domain names and other markets. Recommended reading: "Determined Good Articles from Chain News flash | Understanding Encrypted Games and Art Paradise NFT" Original title: "NFT Market: Exactly why is it important? �n Author: Blue Fox Notes The NFT market continues to be small, and there is not enough attention. However, as the worth of NFT will be steadily discovered by people, it could show explosive growth in the next few years. The NFT marketplace has begun to attract people's attention in the encryption field, mainly starting from the CryptoKitties. The most expensive crypto kitty dragon in history, Source: Cryptokitties The cat in the picture above may be the most expensive cat in NFT history. It had been named DRAGON (Dragon). It had been born on August 19, 2018. The transaction cost has been 600 ETH. Based on the market price in those days, it had been about 170,000 US dollars, which exceeded 1 million RMB. The purchase price is 110,000 USD). The record-breaking former most expensive crypto kitty FounderCAT, Source: Cryptokitties So, how to understand NFT and what is its value? Why is it important? First of all, what is NFT? NFT is the abbreviation of Non-Fungible Tokens, which means non-fungible tokens, which is relative to fungible tokens. Non-fungible tokens may also be called non-fungible tokens. Exactly what is a fungible token? For example, BTC, ETH, these tokens are homogeneous tokens, so that they are interchangeable. That is to say, among your ETH and one of mine are essentially the same and have the same qualities ,price. Non-fungible tokens, or non-fungible tokens, are unique, just like artwork, each differs. They can not be replaced with one another, so that they are known as non-fungible tokens or nonhomogeneous tokens. Generally speaking, NFT has unique, scarce and indivisible attributes. It can't be split into 0.01BTC like BTC, it exists all together. However, NFT itself can also be tokenized. Of course, this is another subject, so I won't increase it here.

Secondly, in which encryption fields does NFT primarily exist? NFT apps are found in games, artworks, names of domain, collectibles, virtual resources, real possessions, and identities. Included in this, games, artworks, and names of domain are developing most rapidly. The following briefly introduces NFTs in the field of games and art. The field of NFT encrypted games in encrypted games has a natural relationship with NFT. One of the biggest problems in the current game industry is that gear and props cannot be transferred and can't be really privately owned by users. NFT is a private home based on blockchain, which is totally controlled by customers and can be transferred and traded freely. At present, with regards to encrypted video games, Axie Infinity, Decentraland, Gods Unchained, Cryptovoxel and several other games are continuing to expand the market. NFT trading marketplace begins to get shape *Currently, you can find a lot more than 20,000 Opensea users about the NFT trading market. Opensea has more than 20,000 customers, Source: DUNEANALYTICS Opensea can be an NFT marketplace swap. It has a lot more than 20,000 users. Weighed against popular DeFi tasks, it is second and then Uniswap, kyber and Compound, and higher than maker, 0x, etc. This user scale is not any longer small. *The transaction volume on Opensea is also considerable. On Opensea, there are 706 NFT projects, 285 tasks with a transaction level of 1 ETH or more, 59 projects with a deal level of 100 ETH or more, and 24 tasks with a transaction level of 1000 ETH or even more. The top CryptoKitties and Decentraland have got transactions of up to tens of thousands of ETH. NFT overall transaction volume ranking on Opensea, Supply: OPENSEA In addition to the data on Opensea, we can furthermore see from nonfungible that the full total transaction volume of NFT exceeds 100 million U.S. dollars, the number of transactions exceeds 4.7 million, and there are a lot more than 16 tasks with cumulative dealings exceeding 1 million U.S. bucks. The full total transaction level of NFT exceeds 100 million US dollars, Source: NONFUNGIBLE The worthiness of NFT in crypto games Why is the fastest developing NFT in games? The NFT in the overall game has a organic uniqueness and usability. For instance, Axie in Axie Infinity each has different attributes. Axie is a fantasy creature. Players can use it to battle or gather and cultivate. Various attributes determine the various functions of Axie in the fight. Axie has 6 areas of the body: eyes, ears, horns, mouth area, back, and tail. The horns, mouth, back and tail determine which cards Axie can use in fight. It gets the status of wellness, morale, skills, and acceleration. Each Axie also offers another type. Each type is more powerful or weaker compared to the others. Axie has different characteristics and areas of the body, Source: Axie Infinity In addition to combating, as a fantasy creature, Axie may also be cultivated and can provide birth to offspring. Raising offspring can also be used to fight, or continue steadily to possess offspring (the utmost number is 7). In order to provide birth to offspring, Axie needs to spend some ETH or SLP tokens. SLP tokens are usually interchangeable homogenous tokens. In addition to purchasing on the open up market, it can also be obtained by participating in the overall game in the game environment. This gave rise to a fresh model of blockchain games: making money by doing offers, because the earned SLP can be marketed through the open market. This model also escalates the need for NFT (Axie). SLP approved 4chan's meme a couple of days ago, which caused it to rise rapidly and attracted people's attention. If Axie Infintiy could be favored by users on a more substantial scale, then the scarce Axie will be more valuable. In the future, when there is an Axie that sells more than US$100,000, it should not be surprising. Of course, this will also commute the requirement for SLP. Lately sold Axie, source: Axie Inifinity Along with Axie Infinity, there are more encrypted video games on the path to be discovered. NFT in neuro-scientific digital art Only in the Superrare digital artwork market, performers have earned a lot more than $1 million and released a total greater than 7,000 NFT artworks in 178 countries all over the world. Musicians on Superrare earn more than $1 million, source: Superrare How come NFT valuable in the field of digital art? NFT inside the game field, due to its use value and scarcity, it is relatively easy for everyone to have the value of its NFT. Nevertheless, NFTs in the digital art market are relatively challenging to understand. Even so, several million US bucks of digital art have been in love with the Superrare system alone. So, how to understand NFT in neuro-scientific digital artwork? Why it may be very useful in the future, and even desire to be hand and hand with NFTs in the overall game field? From a macro perspective, the NFT marketplace for digital art may catch up with or even exceed the traditional physical art marketplace later on. The most important decisive factor here's, what is the main element to determining the worthiness of art? Authentic. In the art market, authenticity may be the core of worth. If it is not Van Gogh's legitimate product, even if the imitation is really as high as 99.999999%, the counterfeit product is of little value. Of course, there is a more core issue here. Regarding the valuation of the value of the artwork itself, this is a even more ambitious theme and will not be expanded for now. We've seen plenty of pictures in Superrare. Some electronic art photos are costed as higher as hundreds, hundreds, or even tens of thousands of bucks. What's the value of the digital art? People buy physical artworks, such as for example paintings, which can be useful for appreciation and display. And digital art is just an image file. What's the worthiness? The question isn't whether it could be appreciated or shown, because fakes possess the same effect, and ordinary people might not be able to distinguish the difference between fakes and genuine ones. But the genuine product has value, and the counterfeit product does not have any value. Individuals can imitate Van Gogh's "Sunflower" and create works which are barely distinguishable by the naked eye. The phony "Sunflower" can be used for appreciation and screen, but this "Sunflower" does not have any great value. Artists in the original physical world indication the authenticity. To be able to identify the true and false, the participation of experts is required, which requires large costs. On digital artwork carriers like NFT, there is absolutely no such problem. Because NFT can't be forged. The artwork in the actual world may be forged, however in the field of NFT, it can't be tampered with. In this way, as long as the digital function of any performer exists in the form of NFT, it is unique, and even the creator himself cannot tamper with or duplicate it. It provides unique scarcity. Of course, in the end, NFT is a carrier, and the core is the discovery of the artistic worth behind it, which is the ultimate factor that determines the NFT of digital art. But don't be worried about this, because every era has its own artistic creation carrier. Over time, because the digital indigenous generation gets nearer to digital artwork, as performers create more electronic art (NFT), The brand new generation will generate "Sunflowers" owned by this era, and future art collections may shift its concentrate to NFT. Selling digital art on Superrare, Source: SUPERRARE NFT investment The expense of NFT itself is more like the investment of collectibles. Thus, when it comes to NFT investment, it's important to have an in-depth knowledge of particular NFT market segments to make a good investment, specifically for hobbyists. One is to enter earlier, and the other is to take part in the marketplace of games, digital art collections, domain names, etc., and penetrate into market requirement. Concerning the value evaluation of NFTs, there are many factors involved. Blue Fox Take note also has a related post "How exactly to Valuation of Virtual Resources" before. As well as the NFT itself, the task that bears the NFT is also an important section of the NFT investment. The task that carries the NFT includes a better potential for capturing the value of the complete ecological development than the NFT itself. Needless to say, this furthermore depends upon the economic mechanism style of its project token. Glowing blue Fox Take note will continue to pay attention to this kind of project.

[jeffsalbumoftheweek]

The Bitter Roots Waning Days Interview

As it happens, my would be band, The Bitter Roots will be releasing our 5th Album, Waning Days, on October 27th.  Whenever I put out a new album I like to blog a few words for those lucky few that may have the time or inclination to read more about what went into making the album.  Despite what some folks may believe, it does not take 3 minutes to record and produce a 3 minute song.  An album usually takes me a few years to write and record.  Art is the labor of love.  So if you might indulge me...

This time around, instead of aimlessly ambling on of my own account, I thought it would be fun to do an interview.  With all the fake news floating around out there, who better to trust, who better to conduct this important interview, than my old friend Yale Kaul.   All star drummer, fellow Missoulian, Go Griz, former moderator of the most excellent pre-social media blog Yalestar, and also a frequent contributor to the former Missoula music scene, fanzine, Shat Upon.  So take it away it Yale, give me your best shot.  Order Up.

Y: Congratulations on the new album. What is this, your fourth or fifth one with this band?

J: Thank you.  Yes, this is the 5th full length TBRs record in 10 years now.  I really like to stay busy writing new songs.  I love to make and record new music, and so does Ben.

Y: Where's that on the cover? It looks like Central Washington perhaps? 

J: You have a keen eye.  That photo was taken looking due north off the I-90 overpass at the Templins exit just east of Ritzville.  I took it through the windshield with a cell phone.  I was driving back to Seattle by myself shortly after the death of my Mother in Law as it so happened.  I think the image captures the state of our crumbling and adrift former American Empire rather nicely.

Y: Is our crumbling empire a theme of the album overall?

J: You know, at first it was, because the album started to come together around the tracks Informed Consent, I am Nobody and Cuddly cats.  We had been jamming those out live quite a bit before they went to tape.  They are all pretty dark on subject matter lyrically, heavy rock sounds, and you have to remember this album was recorded in the 1st 6 months after the disastrous election.  But as we added more tunes to the album I think it went more from the Dark to the Light. 

Y: About that baritone guitar: is this the first time you've used one on an album?

J: It is.  For the uninitiated a regular guitar has a 25 1/2" long neck and is generally in standard tuning of EADGBE. The Baritone has a considerably longer neck, mine is 28 5/8" and is tuned to CFA#D#GC.  The main driver for it is to create more space in the mix for my vocal range, which tends to have more contention with standard tuning.  Also tuning down 2 full steps from E to C allows me to appear to have a larger upper vocal range, it is easier to hit the high notes when you tune down.  Led Zep did that for that last big reunion show to make it easier for Robert Plant to sing some of their tunes.  As you age, there is no escape for it, your vocal register tunes lower.

Y: Yeah, your voice definitely sounds lower, especially on the first song. So do you guys play live as a two-piece, i.e. bassless? If so, I'd imagine the baritone guitar can fill in a lot of the lower frequencies?

J: We have played out as a duo quite a bit, but not in 6 years, because we had bass players.  I have played the baritone out as a trio and it sounds rad.  For the Duo live, the best rig we came up with is an Acoustic brand 100 watt head, a mesa 4x12 slant cab, using just my acoustic guitars which are a '78 Guild F50 and a '87 Guild JF-55. Those are big concert grand guitars, it can be hard to manage the feedback live, but we dialed it in a few times to good crowd effect.  Neither us much prefer the duo live, there is something about needing that separate low end to really lock with the drum kit, we prefer it with 3 pieces and 2 voices.  I also have a lot of harmonies I need someone to sing with me for the full intended effect in the live setting.

Y: The recording itself sounds very pro! You guys did the whole thing in your home studio right?

J: Thank you.  We do the tracking in my studio which is 24 track tape, it is a good sized studio, it takes up the entire basement of my house.  It has separate rooms for guitars and drums as well as a control room.  Then we take the tape and the machine to Studio Litho where we dump it to pro tools and mix it down from 24 tracks to stereo 2 track using Litho's gorgeous vintage API console.  We do no digital editing or correcting, nor do we use any auto tuning.  We master the mix as well at a separate room that is now called Resonant here in Seattle, where final volume level and EQ adjustments are made on the stereo mix down.  The advantage to tracking at my place is that we can do it as many times as we like because we are not on the clock, under pressure, spending money to use another room.

Y: So when we were younger men, back in the Burnin' 80s™, I knew you were big into Hendrix, Bad Brains, Soundgarden. Obviously your music palate has developed over the years. What's turning your crank these days?

J: Excellent Punk Rock Talk question right there.  I try to check out newer stuff as much as I can.  There is a rock band from Scotland, Biffy Clyro, they sell out arenas in Europe in minutes, they are very very talented, and fun to see live too.  There is a band from Bend OR called Larry and his Flask.  They are the craziest punk bluegrass rag time rockabilly thing.  The Rev Horton Heat are big fans of those guys too, we saw Larry open for both The Rev and Fishbone, so that is saying something right there, they do fish style durges too, its super cool.  But with streaming, I have been able to delve deeply into catalogs of one artist or another.  We could not dream of such access as kids when records were 7 bucks, that was a lot of money back then.  Renting at Rudy's was what 2 bucks?  With streaming I can listen to for instance lately in chronological order as I prefer, the entire back catalogs of Steely Dan, Tom Petty, David Bowie, B-52s, REM.  All the Fat Wreck chords bands Strung out and Lagwagon, those are great bands.  Stiff little Fingers, Smiths, System of A Down, Audioslave, Rage and others.

Y: Also, Ben: he and I went to high school together, although I never knew him back then (he's 3 years ahead). Where's he coming from musically? Is his use of the traditional drum grip any indication? [I may have that wrong, but I thought I recalled him using that grip in early Silkworm shows... And is he involved much in the song smithing?

J: Ben has super eclectic tastes in music.  He loves the Rock, loves to play Rock, also a huge Soundgarden fan, Tool, Stone Temple Pilots etc... But he also listens to a lot of classical and plays a lot of classical music on the piano as well, J.S Bach is his favorite, he also follows all the session drummer dudes and he goes to the clinics and demos they do in music stores when they come around Seatown, guys like JoJo Mayer for instance.  He switches his grips depending on his mood or the song, he also switches at will, left and right handed orientation to the snare and hi hat, sometimes in mid tune, he is that good.  In albums past I have gotten some fine keyboard parts and bass parts from him as well, but for this record I did all the music and words and then as always we collaborate on the drum parts, the tempo and the final arrangements.

Y: So the album is called Waning Days, which immediately reminded me of the book "Dark Age Ahead," Jane Jacobs' last book before she died, where she goes deep on five areas where the west (but mostly the US) is pretty much clusterfucking itself into oblivion (culture-wise, financial, higher education, climate, etc). The book is just over 10 years old and it's looking more and more like she was spot-on. HOWEVER: it must be noted that aside from the album title and cover photo, there's not a real pessimistic outlook in the songs, or at least not that I could detect. So I ask you: am I missing some overarching theme of cultural and institutional decline among the songs?

J: Perhaps.  Track 1 Informed Consent is a song about sexual assault and in particular the demise of Bill Cosby, and Trump pussy grabbing, so there is that.  Track 2 I am nobody is about how as you age and your youthful self aggrandized importance in society wanes, as you just become another average Joe going to the mall and getting loaded too often, the lament of many as you grind into middle age and realize, yup, this is it, this is living, this is all there is.  Whatever you make it or can afford to make it.  Track 4 Cuddly Cats is a direct statement against the music business and the music business in the internet age, where music itself has become window dressing after thought for other commercial ventures, where kitties get more attention than actual artists trying to convey a meaningful message, where fake and sexy imagery is all that matters, trying to sell you stupid crap you don't need anyway.  Those messages are there in the lyrics, however subtle.  So there is some darkness but on the whole the message of the record is counter.  Yeah we are in some Waning Days, but there is hope and light, all is not lost.

Y: You've been at this a long time. Inasmuch as you're able to say, what are some of the lessons you've learned about navigating the music industry, especially now as a man in his 40s with a job and family and so forth? Obviously until about the 2000s people still made a living playing music, but now that number is vanishingly small, and those people make most of their money playing live shows and slinging merch. But at least nowadays it's easier than ever to at least get your stuff out there, right? So what's a person to do?

J: I have never had a record deal, never had a manager or an agent, and although I have played a ton of shows and used to promote out of town shows even in Missoula back in the day, recorded now 11 albums, I never felt like I was part of the music industry.  I have never made any real money from music. I think of myself the same way I am pretty sure most of my good friends think of me too as just an artist and a huge music fan, a recording artist. 

There is no budget in the music industry anymore.  Floyd, our Mix and Master friend of many years now, he is one of 2 guys left in Seattle makes a living just recording people as a hired engineer on a project.   There is no investment in new talent anymore.  Way way back for instance, Journey put out 3 records before they got Steve Perry and then became huge.  Today no record company would give you budget for 3 records in the hopes you hit on the 4th one, no way.  You would be surprised how little playing live pays these days as well, even for artists with hits in their back catalogs.  There are only a few corporations that control nearly every live venue of any size in the entire country who book pre-paid package tours at venue capacities of 250 all the way to 40,000 people.  These companies take a lions share of the revenue, especially in the smaller rooms.  It is corporate parasitic control of the medium and the media, fuck them all.

Despite the relative ease of self publishing these days, It may surprise you that It is not really easier to 'get your stuff out there' anymore because of the complete information overload now, music is just 1s and 0s just like all other commodified information, entertainment and or otherwise.  It is just not worth much anymore because there is just too damn much of it out there, new and back catalog alike. A small needle in a million haystacks.  You can have the #1 record in America buy selling a mere 50k copies in a week.  To contrast, when Nevermind came out in the weeks to follow they were selling 100K an hour, dig it.

So the thing to do is just to be your creative self and do it because you love to do it, because it is a part of you, and be glad you don't have the pressures of an industry telling you what you should sound like.  If you don't get famous in your 20s, chances are, you are not going to get famous playing rock music, so just don't worry about it, don't quit, keep playing, keep creating.  As Tolkein said in the beginning there was light, and there was music.  We are of light and music.  There will always be new songs to write and share.

Y: Well yeah, by  'get your stuff out there' I meant anyone can put their entire creative output somewhere where 3+ billion people could potentially get it, and with very little upfront capital outlay, but then of course it's effectively commodified. And whether anyone ends up giving a shit... that's another matter of course. It's a paradox of unforseen consequences.  

J: Totally.

Y: Well hell, I don't have any other specific questions other than the usual "what's next for the Bitter Roots?" So what's next for the Bitter Roots? Any other hard-fought wisdom you'd like to impart to other independent artists, or to the world in general?

J: What is next for us is more songs and more recording.  We have already started in on a new set, probably take a few years to put out.  No shows planned at this time, maybe in the future, who knows.  I don't have any profound words of wisdom other than, as an independent artist trust your own judgement and don't worry too much about external validation, cause these days the state of shit is as hollow as Facebook.  Stay positive, Trump's days are numbered and we the good, the meek, the thoughtful, the artistic and domestic alike will rise again and steer us all toward a more equitable future in the fashion of MLK and Obama.

[hub-pub-bub]

‘How does your marketing have to change,’ asks Maks Giordano, when the exponential growth of apps and web content takes attention away from books?

By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

‘Start With Exponential Change’

Functioning almost as a show-within-a-show, the second annual THE ARTS+ program at Frankfurt Book Fair focused, in particular but not exclusively, on robotics and virtual reality within the creative industries.

In addition to 54 exhibitors in THE ARTS+ area, some 120 speakers from nearly 20 nations were heard on two stages. Their topics invariably addressed aspects of cultural and technological connection, correlation, and sometimes collision. And if anything, these experts’ observations were just as invariably varied in their approaches, both analytical and artistic.

While many of us today celebrate the range and reach that Frankfurt’s Holger Volland and Britta Friedrich and Europeana’s Jill Cousins can bring to bear on a program of this kind, there’s always a moment in which even the best of the culturati and technophiles wonder if things aren’t moving too fast.

And when it comes to marketing and what publishing needs to consider, says Maks Giordano, don’t slow down.

‘Innovation Can Have Super-Acceleration’

Maks Giordano

Publishing Perspectives had a chance to talk with one of the marquis speakers of THE ARTS+, the managing director and co-founder of Bonn- and Berlin-based Kreait. Giordano, whose insights come from more than 23 years as a digital strategist, arrives with a term for book publishing today: hyperinnovation.

“If you work in digital for a long time,” Giordano says, “it starts so slowly. One, two, four, eight, sixteen. But once it gets into an exponential curve, 30 steps adds up to a billion.”

He’s talking about the surprise effect of scale and exponential growth in the digital space. The amplification of digital channels creates a vastly bigger capacity for multiplication. In fact, he says, “I had mobile projects already in the early 2000’s for publishers” before there were many people who would download them. When the iPhone hit the market, he says, the pace changed completely. That “iPhone moment” suddenly enabled the growth of mobile content at a new level of growth, needless to say.

“In 2007, the iPhone came,” he says. “In 2008, the App Store came. Then apps like Google Maps and Candy Crush, all of a sudden, were there, as factors that were accelerating each other. You had flat rates from your mobile operator. You had mobile bandwidth.

“It’s really an exponential curve now,” Giordano says. “Currently there are 158 billion-dollar ‘unicorns’ on the planet,” he says, referring to startup companies that attain a valuation of US$1 billion in the tech sector.

“People need to be aware,” he says, “that now with these flat rates and app stores and iPhones and millennials, I’m strongly convinced that here in 2017, we’re on this curve. Now innovation can have super-acceleration, and that’s what I mean by hyperinnovation.”

This is what can give Airbnb, he says, a market valuation higher than that of many hotel chains. The word-of-mouth dynamics of a digitally connected community triggers not linear but exponential growth.

And it’s up to publishers today, Giordano says, to start by coming to terms with the realities of exponential growth and then to embrace and engage in the hyperinnovative possibilities.

Image provided by Kreait

‘Publishing Is About Brand as Your Ambassador’

“I’m strongly convinced that here in 2017, we’re on this curve. Now innovation can have super-acceleration, and that’s what I mean by hyperinnovation.”Maks Giordano

“How does your marketing have to change?” he asks, amid short attention spans, fake news, and a plethora of content.

“First, we have to acknowledge,” he says, “that millennials are there” as a major part of the most desirable demographic today. “They’re glued to their iPhones, and the concept of linear TV is over for them. A 30-second ad at 8:15 is over for them.”

Step Two, he says, is to acknowledge the supremacy of quality. “It’s all quickly written, quickly researched, no fact-check. I’m a big, big fan of brands these days.

“Publishing is about brand as your ambassador. A publishing brand in Germany has become important in journalism, and the same goes for books. With self-publishing, everyone can be a publisher in this environment. So as a publishing house, you need to stick it out” and stress the quality that trade publishing brings to the table.

The question of trade publishing’s typical speed to market, however, is a particular challenge, Giordano says. In expert nonfiction today, he says, by the time a book has been edited and prepared for release, “There are 20 articles on the Web” about the topic by competing specialists. What’s posted online may be of quality, too, at times and can present a real difficulty for a relatively slow-moving book publisher.

“The need is not to make the author go faster,” he says, “but to speed up the process internally at a publishing house.” Otherwise, “do I want to publish an ‘old book'” that’s outpaced by the surrounding chatter online before it comes to market?

The answer, he says, is to learn from the example of startups that may work out of garages but are able to move quickly because they’re basically replicating the Eric Ries model of “lean” development.

“They’re forced to do things differently,” he says. ‘They create the ‘minimal viable product,’ the MVP. They know they’ll run out of money if they take the time to build a ‘perfect’ product. But in this environment, it’s not about being perfect but being agile, fast, being out there to test the waters. See if people like it, don’t like it.”

Maks Giordano speaks at THE ARTS+. Image: Britta Friedrich

‘Absolutely, You Must Focus on the Customer’

“The new thinking should be, ‘Let’s talk to readers. How can we reach them? What do they expect?'”Maks Giordano

Giordano recognizes the quality vs. speed debate to be difficult for many parts of trade publishing, many houses are struggling with this. But where publishing is learning to embrace digital marketing, he says, is in the use of data-driven guidance for development of what the consumer base wants.

“Amazon, Uber, Airbnb,” he says, “are all examples of what data-driven companies can do to use data on an hourly basis. These companies make data-driven decisions, not based on assumptions but on observations.

“And user-centricity is my next point. Absolutely, you must focus on the customer. Many companies I talk to say, ‘Yes, but we’ve been doing that for the last 100 years.’ But no, they haven’t.

“Yesterday, I had a long layover between flights, and I was sitting there in the airport lounge and I realized that the lounge looked nice but it was the total opposite of what the traveler needs,” geared, perhaps, he says, more to a leisure mentality of service and accommodation than the set of workaday needs that a business traveler might have.

“So if I’m Lufthansa,” he says, “I want to spend time in the lounge, speak to frequent travelers, ask their opinion, do a co-creation workshop, then try to create the best lounge concept that, in 2017, includes USB chargers all over, power sockets all over, standing desks: this is customer orientation.”

“Use MVP thinking. Don’t spend $100,000 on Snapchat. Try something locally, see if it works. Did people like it, how did they react?”Maks Giordano

And what is customer orientation for readers, for publishing’s frequent flyers?

Giordano’s work as a digital strategist and consultant approaches publishing from outside its core. He has worked with, sometimes mentoring, such companies as Red Bull, Daimler, eBay, Munich Re, Lufthansa, Deutsche Telekom. But he’s sensitive to how publishing needs to widen and accelerate its approach to a consumer- and data-driven environment.

“We have to acknowledge that, coming back to publishing, you have a new book, you want to try reaching millennial readers over Snapchat. The old thinking would be, ‘Let’s hire a consultancy,’ get an agency, have an agency pitch, do a proposal. Maybe half a year later, they have something. In 2017, that doesn’t work anymore.

“The new thinking should be, ‘Let’s talk to readers. How can we reach them? What do they expect?

“There’s a new Dan Brown book out,” he says, referring to Origin, the new release, in Germany from Bastei Lübbe. You can think of many ways to advertise for a Brown book because it’s always cool topics. But use MVP thinking.

“Don’t spend $100,000 on Snapchat. Try something locally, see if it works. Did people like it, how did they react? Improve it, if it works, roll it out nationally. If Instagram worked better, cool, use Instagram. Did a podcast with Brown have the biggest impact on iTunes? Try it out with other authors. If not, let’s try something with YouTube influencers.”

At Frankfurt Book Fair’s THE ARTS+ 2017. Image: Johannes Minkus

‘Doing Nothing Is Not an Option’

“Social is real. Mobile is real. Millennials are real. These things have an effect on each other, they accelerate each other. So that leads to this exponential disruption” of a market.Maks Giordano

Some of this is already happening among small and large publishing housers. Much more can be done, however, Giordano says, if publishing can release its concepts of tried-and-true traditions, be willing to engage at ground level with the readership, and use the trial-and-error iterative process of a “minimal viable product” in terms of marketing approaches to generate response from consumers rather than assumptions about them.

“This is what’s happening in 2017,” he says. “Social is real. Mobile is real. Millennials are real. These things have an effect on each other, they accelerate each other. So that leads to this exponential disruption” of a market.

“Doing nothing is not an option. It was an option a few years ago. Before the iPhone, it was a super-valid option to just wait on mobile. ‘Let’s see if people read on mobile phones. Do they download apps?’

“Now, waiting is not an option.

“So look at startups. Learn from them, from their concepts of MVP” and their capabilities in terms of speed-to-market.

“Start with exponential change,” says Maks Giordano. And then respond. “With hyperinnovation.”

A version of this story ran in our Thursday (October 12) Publishing Perspectives Show Daily at Frankfurt Book Fair.

You can download all of our Frankfurt Show Daily magazines here.

    Porter Anderson

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Porter Anderson is Editor-in-Chief of Publishing Perspectives. Prior to that he was Associate Editor for The FutureBook, a channel at The Bookseller focused on digital publishing. Anderson has also worked with CNN International, CNN.com, CNN USA, the Village Voice, the Dallas Times Herald, and other media.

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Research - Fine Art Photography

I believe that in order to make this project the best it can be and to fully engage with it, I need to do some research into the type of photography I want to create. After all, I am fairly new to fine art and have mainly focused on fashion for as long as I can remember, unless a brief stated otherwise. When I have attempted fine art work in the past, it ended up being incredibly cheesy and amateur and I want to avoid this at all costs! I started off by doing a simple Google search typing in ‘Fine Art Photography’, to see how the world perceives it and here are some of the results:

Obviously there are a lot of cliches surrounding the topic of fine art photography and often people believe that the images must be in black and white with lots of surreal editing, to be considered fine art, but this is not the case at all. Fine art is also often categorised as being work shot for the purpose of displaying it in galleries, museums and exhibitions. But imagining your work hanging on the wall of a gallery, does not make it fine art. Most of the time people think they are being so creative by taking edgy images and adding filters to them for their Instagram, but in my opinion, there couldn’t be anything more cliche and completely unoriginal, that hasn’t already been done 100 times before. However, these images from Google do have a certain softness to them, which I would really like to create in my own work.

I like that fine art doesn’t really have any limits and is an open concept that the photographer can dive into and make their own, not being restricted to just a portrait, landscape or still life. Everyone will view and understand fine art in their own personal way and to me, it is a simplistic, meaningful and visually beautiful way of working. In the fine art work I have produced in the past, I have always tried to convey a strong message or emotion, to create a deeper meaning than what is shown on the surface. I believe I’ve personally always created work somewhere between fashion and fine art, as that is where my artistic interests lie. 

It is not uncommon for surrealism to be combined into a fine art image, using digital editing software to create dream-like scenes. Brooke Shaden is a perfect example of this. The American photographer creates mostly self-portraits in which she creates bizarre scenarios, using extravagant props, clothing and locations. I remember being fascinated with her work in college, but when I look at it now, I cringe! I really cannot stand images that look so fake due to a huge amount of work in Photoshop, almost representing a painting, and I think that is why I love Polaroids so much, as they are so real compared to work like Shaden’s. Fine art photography has definitely grown into a modern medium, due to the progression of technology, however I personally think images like this put great artists such as Francesca Woodman, Joel-Peter Witkin, Don McCullin, Robert Mapplethorpe and Sally Mann to shame. I am a big believer of authenticity in photography and I feel that using analogue methods, like the above photographers do, compliments fine art very fittingly. 

Fine art painting and drawing is even more extensive than fine art photography. Artists such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Salvador Dali, Rembrandt, Johannes Vermeer, Gustav Klimt and Vincent Van Gogh could all fall under the fine art category, but there is sometimes a line between traditional and abstract/surreal work. Fine art painting has huge historic value, as it was one of the only ways of artistic communication before more modern methods such as photography were invented. 

When I think of fine art, traditional paintings are usually the thing that crosses my mind first of all. However, fine art extends to all types of artistic mediums such as painting, drawing, sculpture, mosaics, photography, calligraphy, and even performing arts such as dancing, acting and singing. I feel as though new technology has lessened the value of fine art, and that is why I like to strip back my own techniques to simple analogue processes. I will still have to be extremely careful not to get caught up in modern perceptions of the topic, which is very hard to do, but I believe I can create tasteful and meaningful images without them becoming cliches.