An Honest Glimpse
This introduction to my blog is an honest glimpse into an artist’s experience with online marketing his art at the definitive website devoted to custom on-demand products and marketing, Zazzle. I say it is a glimpse, since it is inevitable that I cannot “tell all” of any given experience. That would be far too exhaustive and exhausting to both me and my readers. I say it is honest, for that is one of the things that matters most to me. Truth is the second most important thing in the Universe. The first is Love. I'll approach this blogging experience in an almost roughly chronological way, with a little of my philosophical views on life peppered in here and there. All of the images of my work illustrating this blog will be active links taking you to where products are available using them.
The Yin and the Yang
The Face of Lorvious
Life includes duality, the yin and the yang, the good and the bad, the positive and the negative, the beautiful and the ugly, the light and the dark; okay that’s more than enough to get that point across. Anyway, some people say this whole duality thing is an illusion and that there really is no duality; instead all is one. I’m not one of those people. I understand where they’re coming from, but I’m also a pragmatist, and a bit of a rouge philosopher. Whether this dual nature of our reality is an illusion or not doesn’t matter, it still is, therefore we must deal with it as it comes into our lives. As a good friend of mine says, “Just Accept It”. That’s not always easy to do. Life sometimes delivers bitter pills, difficult to swallow; yet swallow them we must. If we refuse, we’ll be spiting into the wind, and you know what happens when you do that. We must accept both the good and bad, or we’ll go mad.
Life is like a River
Fractal Me a River Version 2.0 Variation 1
I think of it like a river. On one side of this river we find the land of harshness, illness and bitter things. On the other side is the realm of wonder and beauty, where life is sweet and all is well. The river meanders through these domains, often taking us back and forth between them. If we fight against the current flow of this river we will certainly fail. We simply don’t have the strength necessary to overcome this current. It is driven by forces much stronger than any Human being. So rather than fight against the flow of life, we must learn to accept it, and in the process nudge ourselves along with the river’s current toward our desired goals. Going with it, we can lean more in the direction of the positive side and thus give our lives more sweetness and maybe a little less of that bitterness. But make no mistake, the bed of the river is composed of a mixture of both sides, and no matter how close we may drift toward that beautiful shore, we will always be subject to both the bitter and the sweet, as long as our lives endure.
Accept the Good and the Bad
Quetzalcoatl Blossom V 1 iPhone 5 Case
But enough philosophy for now, moving on to our primary topic, Zazzle, and more specifically my Zazzle store, which you can find at: Bill M. Tracer Studio. As my Blog title implies and my philosophy reveals my experience with Zazzle has both positive and negative elements. Everything in life is like that. Zazzle is no exception. I’m not going to candy coat it, or deny reality and suggest that it is all good. That would be dishonest, and therefore not me. But since I prefer, like in my river analogy, to lean more toward that gleeful shore, I’ll not put too much emphasis on the downbeat side, especially here at the beginning of this blog. It is always best to start with the positive, and then after the mood is elevated that’s when you give the “constructive criticism”. It’s more effective that way. I know from experience; you don’t start with the criticism, for that destroys the mood, making no one receptive, resulting in no affirmative change. Constructive criticism can be a good thing bringing about real positive change, if embraced, but it has to be delivered diplomatically, or it will only accomplish turning people off.
I originally started my Zazzle store back in 2009 with a line of fractal skateboard deck designs, Bill M. Tracer Studio Skateboard Decks. It is now just one of my many departments. Designing them was a lot of fun, however being primarily an artist, not an internet wiz kid, there were a few struggles for me. But I overcame them and ended up with 42 distinct designs using a combination of my fractal art and various filter effects in post. I still intend to add more designs to this department, especially now that my art style has grown, but right now that intention is firmly sitting in the back seat. There are other priorities.
I originally started my Zazzle store back in 2009 with a line of fractal skateboard deck designs, Bill M. Tracer Studio Skateboard Decks. It is now just one of my many departments. Designing them was a lot of fun, however being primarily an artist, not an internet wiz kid, there were a few struggles for me. But I overcame them and ended up with 42 distinct designs using a combination of my fractal art and various filter effects in post. I still intend to add more designs to this department, especially now that my art style has grown, but right now that intention is firmly sitting in the back seat. There are other priorities.
Double Award Winner
Tuning In Variation 2
Much to my delight, one of my skateboard deck designs, Tuning In Variation 2, received 2 awards on the day I submitted it, November 30, 2009. It got the “Today’s Best” and “Top 10 Skateboards” for that date. Personally, I felt that Tuning In Variation 1 was better, (same fractal forms, different color theme), but I have often been told that I am not the best judge of my own work, which is why I've always encouraged my friends to be as honest with me as they know I will be with them. If they think it's crap, then don't be afraid to tell me, but when they really like it, let me know that, too.
Sometimes Letting Others be the Judge Can Work to Your Advantage
Fluctuations of Emergence
As an example of that, a few years back I was preparing for a local art show, trying to decide which works to put in the show. One of my best friends was looking with me on my computer at a directory of my art, and he saw a thumbnail of a piece that I had basically rejected. He insisted that I click it so he could see it up close. I did, while saying that I’d decided not to show that one. He was adamant, “You must include this piece!” So, even though I didn’t think it was all that good, I followed his advice and put that one in the show. It got the first place blue ribbon for best abstract in that particular art show.
Go figure.
I have not made any Zazzle products with that image, since 3 years before I even started working with Zazzle, I had already set up a Cafépress shop devoted to that particular blue ribbon prize winner, titled: Abstract Image 183: Fluctuations of Emergence.
This page marks the first step of my blogging on this subject. Over time, I will add entries bringing us up to date with the progress of my Zazzling experience, sharing along the way, my many art products available online. Invariably along the way I'll also find myself comparing my Zazzle experience with that of Cafépress.
Go figure.
I have not made any Zazzle products with that image, since 3 years before I even started working with Zazzle, I had already set up a Cafépress shop devoted to that particular blue ribbon prize winner, titled: Abstract Image 183: Fluctuations of Emergence.
This page marks the first step of my blogging on this subject. Over time, I will add entries bringing us up to date with the progress of my Zazzling experience, sharing along the way, my many art products available online. Invariably along the way I'll also find myself comparing my Zazzle experience with that of Cafépress.