Visual Ambassador

Creative Strategy: Grant Gilliland

Grant Gilliland gives you a peek on his approach to custom-painting a pair of Vans shoes. Grant really lets his sense of humor shine through in his running commentary .

Read how Grant produces a fancy new pair of painted Vans shoes which are showcased  in Van’s flagship store in Las Vegas. OK, even Grant h had to look up the definition of “flagship”  (according to Wikipedia) “the most important or leading member of a group”…it used to be just a sea-faring type word, but it has since crossed over to more common, everyday use. But basically, in sailing terms, this Vegas Store is like the Santa Maria…if pilgrims wore Vans…what?  Read more:

http://www.thegrossuncle.com/2009/10/finished-pair-of-vans-customs-from.html

http://scotthull.com/artists/gilliland/#http://scotthull.com/artists/gilliland/files/2008/08/portrait.jpg

Managing the Chaos: Right Brain Exercises for Artists

Learn to capture the essence of a subject with this right brain exercise.

The theory behind right brain exercises for artists is that the left brain easily gets bored and switches off, leaving the right brain ‘in charge’. This is not to imply that the right brain exercises are boring or dull, rather they may be something that feels ‘unnatural’ or that you can’t see the logic in doing. But try a right-brain exercise at least once, ideally twice; you may well be very surprised by the results.
Objective:

This right brain exercise is about making marks on a sheet of paper which track the way your eyes move across a subject, as if your eyes and hand were directly connected. The aim is make marks at the same kind of speed at which your eyes move, so as your eyes move up, down, across, so does your hand.
Time Needed:

20 minutes.

Art Materials Needed:

* A sheet of paper at least A2 in size; newsprint is ideal to start with, rather than expensive paper.
* A kitchen timer or stopwatch, so you can see at a glance how much time you’ve left.
* Pastels work very well for this right brain exercise. Alternatively use a waterbrush filled with ink rather than water, or hold a small container of paint in one hand and a thin brush in the other. A pen has the advantage over pencil that you don’t need to stop to sharpen it and it removes the temptation to stop and erase any ‘wrong’ marks.
What To Do:
* Choose a subject that’s not too simple, whether it’s a landscape, a still life with several, varied objects, a vase of flowers, or a figure (get the model to choose a pose they know they can hold for half an hour).
* Set the kitchen timer to half an hour and put it somewhere that you can see it at a glance. Try to refer to it as little as possible – it’ll ring when the time is up. Don’t continue after it’s rung, rather start another drawing and see if you can’t get more down the second time. Keep all results so you can compare them.
* Spend the first five minutes capturing the essence of the subject: the overall placement of the objects. Fill the sheet of paper from edge to edge, don’t make a tiny drawing in the centre of the sheet.
* Now work into the drawing, observing the subject closer and closer. On a figure for example, look at the creases in the elbow, the shadows around the collarbone.

more »

Art in Life: Car band-aids

Found a great low cost creative way to deal with a dent in an older car. Car Band-aids.

Bridging the Gap: Social Networking for Business

8 Tips on How to Relate and Communicate

Since the evolution of communicating online and the formations of social networks, many businesses have shut down the access from their locations. Some might say it is due to the prevention of wasting time and improving time management. Others might be weary of hackers or phishing scams that could possibly be associated with the social networks. Regardless of the reason, blocking access to social sites is hurting your business.

Why It is Important to Establish your Business Online

You need to begin branding your name. Branding is a way to reach various audiences and demographics that may be interested in what you have to sell. Firstly, you must remember that they are people, not customers. Establishing your name on social networks will already alert your fans of who you are and since the various social sites provide places such as info tabs, bios, hours of operation and more, there is no urgency to then turn your social networks into a constant feed of what it is you do. Just make sure that you have filled out all the information areas that each social network provides and those keywords will help people find you online. More importantly, in order for them to find you, you must exist and you must be active.

Why it is Important to Maintain your Social Networks

Many businesses think that if they have the links out there then people will come. This is not only wrong but can hurt your business. Yes, having Social links with your business’s name on them will have your name stretched across the internet and of course people will be able to find you. However, once they do and all they see are empty shells of what they thought would be a community, they will be disappointed and move on. People aren’t impressed with ghost accounts; they want interaction, knowledgeable information, and life breathing from these sites.

That does not mean that pushing links that are related to your business 100% of the time is going to be anymore effective than the empty accounts. Many businesses lose the fact that social networking is to relate and communicate, not to advertise like a pest, and than hope for the best. If you truly want your business to be valued you have to provide value.

Create a welcome video, find article’s online that pertain to your industry and not just your products (even write articles yourself), create a dialogue by asking questions, questions at the end of everything you share is one of the best things you can do. This way people have a choice to engage the page or not, and more so than not, they will.

more »