|
Darlene
Luckins |
||
|
Q. How did the idea of your web site come about? I wanted a way to express my interests and abilities to other people. After I had acquired a way to put pictures online, I decided to make it a venue for selling my artwork as well as showcasing some other artwork online. Q. What is your artistic genre? My medium is acrylic painting and photography. My genre would probably be landscapes and nature. Q. Where do you see the creative industry in five years? With all that has gone on in the world recently, I really don't have any clue. The arts have always been a means of expressing ones ideas or proving a point in an interesting manner. It depends on the worldwide climate. Q. What suggestions do you have for artists trying to establish themselves on the Internet? I would suggest that they find a host like Tripod, which charges no fees, or a company that charges a very low fee. This is because it may take a long time before your site really takes off. If you're paying too much to host and run your site, you're probably going to dig yourself into a hole. Also, join online art clubs and organizations and list your website with them. You should also visit other artists or art related websites with them. You should also visit other artists or art related websites and sign their guest book along with your web address. I've gotten visitors by doing all of these. I also list my web address or create a link on my auctions. Another thing I do is get some low cost business cards and hand them out to everyone I possibly can. If you have a bit more money to spend, you can list with the more popular search engines, but there are a few that will still list you for free. Q. What are some of the benefits and challenges to creating an online artistic community? One of the benefits is that it is like a roving portfolio. I used to talk all the time about my artwork, but unless I carried my portfolio with me all the time, I couldn't back it up. If someone has a computer, I pull the site up and show them the work. Or give them a business card to look it up themselves. One of the challenges is that there are so many other artists online and there are tons of websites. Q. What do you do in your spare time? This what I do in my spare time. Or, you can say that this is my job, and I do more traditional work in my spare time. |