Start here. There are so many amazing photography tutorials for free online via YouTube. This series is my favorite (and extremely interactive). This will teach you all the basics and more. It’s awesome and by the same guy who made this famous viral vid (haha).

2. Inspiration Sites

Listen - the most important thing you can do to improve your art (any art) is to get inspired by others. You need to be a consumer and lover of art by others. The more you consume, the better your creations will be. Get inspired and then innovate. Plus, it’s fun. Here are some places to get started:

• ffffound (really well curated image bookmarking site)
• behance (just browse the featured projects for endless inspiration)
• butdoesitfloat (a personal favorite with a lot of unique ideas)
• nonsensesociety.net (our community gallery! updated often with work by you guys)
• dribbble (for design, but still very helpful – see tip #4!)

3. Photoshop Curves

Photoshop curves are a very easy and effective way to give your photos a little “pop” and personality. If you don’t have Photoshop you can try Pixlr online for free. You can see their popularity as programs and apps like Instagram appear with built-in curves, actions, filters, textures, etc. I’ve noticed that some of the up-and-coming photography stars are easily recognizable by the tones they use in their photos. It’s kind of like a signature that sets them apart. In many cases this is done using Photoshop curves. Here’s how you use them (this is not meant to be a curve tutorial, so I’m going to assume you know how to use Photoshop already):

1. Open your photo in Photoshop.
2. Add curves as Adjustment Layers over the photograph (this lets you adjust the opacity of each layer, giving you more control and customization).
3. Play around with the curve editor until you get a feel that works for your photo (if you’ve added the curve as it’s own layer you can adjust the opacity later so it’s not as intense). Remember to use the drop-down menu and adjust the reds, greens, and blues individually.
4. Alternatively - You’ll probably want to look at existing curves so you can learn. You can also mix and match existing curves to create your own unique combination. Here are some places to download curves:
   • FREE – Here’s one from me.
   • Julia Trotti – She’s a Nonsense Society member who gives away free curves every Friday! She’s super nice too.
   • Nonsense Society Curves – More from us to you.
   • Alexandra Sophie – Another Nonsense Society member who gives away curves from time to time. She’s also super nice!
   • The Color Shop – by Nonsense Society member Nirrimi Hakansan. She has a very popular curves/actions shop and is very cool.

4. Learn About Design

Every good photographer should know elements of design. Whether it’s to add a classy signature to your work, utilize photo-manipulation, add texture to photos, or create design elements for your clients – it’s important. You don’t want to be a one-trick-pony. You want to be an eclectic powerhouse of creativity. Here are some places to start:

• Dafont – Get awesome fonts/typefaces for free.
• Brusheezy – Get free Photoshop brushes
• Zen Textures – 100s of free textures
• Design Tutorials – Do tons online for free!
  • psd.tutsplus
  • smashingmagazine
  • tutorialized
  • abduzeedo

5. Social Media Is Your Best Friend

For the love of god, get out there! Be a part of the community that you want to love you. Spread your work around the Internet (intelligently). This is so important! Otherwise you are like an artist hanging her/his paintings in their house and pouting that the local museum hasn’t approached them. The Internet isn’t magic. You have to take action and have fun with it. I wrote a whole article a while back on how to do this! Read that and get started.

Thanks for reading! If you liked this article please share it!

Banner photo by NS member Nicolas Polli

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His work borders on magical, transporting us into a new world of characters and emotions. I feel that each portrait has its own unique voice and history. However, it’s difficult to settle on what the characters are saying. I imagine that it’s different for each viewer.

Griffiths uses the medium of tea and ink (sometimes graphite, vodka, whiskey, and others) to create these pieces. He lives on the fringe of normal and is constantly helping push the next generation of art forward. The pieces have drips and intentional imperfections that only add more character to the work. I find that each composition melts into the page and leaves me wanting more. Really, that’s what we want in art. We want to be hungry for whatever else is floating around in the artist’s imagination and he does just that.

Griffiths grew up in the UK outside Liverpool, emigrated to New Zealand for a few years during childhood, and returned with his family to the UK. Traveling was a big part of his childhood and something that likely influenced his creativity and overall perception of life. He confided in me that his childhood memories (both good and bad) have been extremely important and what make him unique as an artist/person.

“My most vivid memories are of exploring the creeks and woodlands in New Zealand.”

Art became a large part of Griffith’s life at the early age of four. He recalled to me that becoming an artist was his first and only professional aspiration in life. Now, no one can deny that he is indeed living his dream and inspiring tens of thousands of people. Griffiths can now proudly say that he lives and survives through his art (he has no other job). He’s a living example that art is alive, well, and can indeed support a comfortable lifestyle.

Tea and ink as a medium has become a trademark for Griffiths in the art world. While unique on its own, tea has helped him develop a palette of colors that he is comfortable with. It goes without saying that Griffith’s work has a distinct feel. The tea provides a delicate saturation and texture that draws viewers in.

“I enjoy automatic drawing, my work is a form of escapism.  It’s necessary for me, I think if I didn’t do it now I’d be at a loss.”

Griffiths takes inspiration from the world around him, but mainly nature. He believes that humanity’s connection with nature is falling apart and will ultimately hurt us in the future. Therefore he spends a great deal of time hiking and cycling in the forest or countryside. Nature helps him reflect and (not unlike drawing) lose himself for hours. These experiences both consciously and subconsciously influence his art and in turn influence others.

I’m amazed, not only by the talent and beauty of his art, but also by his dedication and passion. When I asked Carne what his dreams and goals were, he just told me that he wants to draw more. He wants to push the boundaries of his art and create work that is even more inspiring. Simply put – Carne Griffiths refuses to waste a single moment of his life. That’s why he has and continues to create some of the most inspiring work I have ever seen.

Find Carne on the Internet:

• Website/Blog
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Behance Portfolio

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Create

We create as much as we can and learn from every new project. Nonsense Society members grow with every new project and are always proud of where we came from. We love what we do and work at it constantly.

“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney, Entertainment Entrepreneur

Never fear.

Nonsense Society members aren’t afraid of what could be if they fail. We put ourselves out there as much as possible. Fear is our worst enemy. Instead, embrace it and convert it to something helpful. Be loud. Go crazy with your passions (all the best people do).

“Because of their courage, their lack of fear, they (creative people) are willing to make silly mistakes. The truly creative person is one who can think crazy; such a person knows full well that many of his great ideas will prove to be worthless. The creative person is flexible; he is able to change as the situation changes, to break habits, to face indecision and changes in conditions without undue stress. He is not threatened by the unexpected as rigid, inflexible people are.” – Frank Goble, Author

Befriend

We network with our tribe and appreciate them. We learn from every new person we meet and are never afraid to ask for help. We realize the value of awesome relationships. Nonsense Society members are always ready to start new projects and make friends.

“Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” – Albert Einstein, Theoretical Physicist

Never criticize

We aren’t haters. We never use unhelpful criticisms to attack someone. If someone attacks us, we take whatever helpful feedback we can and move on. We realize that helpful feedback is ten times more powerful than negativity. Critical attacks are hurtful and insensitive. We just don’t take part in it. You know those people who leave nasty comments on your blog? Yeah, that’s not us.

“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.” – Benjamin Franklin, Author Inventor & Politician

Watch your pride.

Humility is important. Your ego is gross, gets in the way of growth, and makes people hate you. The best people find a healthy balance of humility and confidence. The world doesn’t owe you anything. It’s up to you to leave your own legacy. Nonsense Society members are confident yet humble.

“Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation.” – Saint Augustine, Philosopher & Theologian

Observe

…and admire the world around you. Learn from it and get inspired. Nonsense Society members are active consumers of art, music, film, word, and all over creative outlets. All “new ideas” evolve from something that already existed. We’re always looking to innovate and improve.

“Genius means little more than the faculty of perceiving in an unhabitual way.” - William James, American Philosopher

Perfection

…is subjective. We invent ourselves. Don’t let anyone try to tell you what you should be. There is no right way to do anything or a right way to be. Nonsense Society members know this.

“The human story does not always unfold like a mathematical calculation on the principle that two and two make four.  Sometimes in life they make five or minus three; and sometimes the blackboard topples down in the middle of the sum and leaves the class in disorder and the pedagogue with a black eye.”  - Winston Churchill, British Politician

Have fun.

Our artists have fun. We make jokes. We don’t take life seriously. Life is fun, art is fun, and we’re having fun doing what we do. Otherwise, what’s the point?

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” - Mary Lou Cook, Artist & Activist

Dream.

Believe in yourself. You are your own brand of outstanding. Do something with your life. Be hungry to grow and make new things. Nonsense Society members dream big and keep dreaming. Our drive and passion is unmatched.

“Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow the talent to the dark place where it leads.” - Erica Jong, American Author

Never give up.

Have courage. Have tenacity. If you never give up, you will achieve more than you ever thought.

The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.” – Amelia Earhart, Aviation Pioneer and Author

With that being said. Get to creating, Nonsense Society.

Contribute?

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Let me start by saying that everyone’s style is different. I personally have a messy style of drawing. Take what you want from this tutorial and leave the rest.

Step 2: Draw the Outline

Lightly draw the outline of an eye. Many people think an eye looks just like a football. It doesn’t. Look at pictures of eyes to get ideas and practice. Some people use the method where you draw a circle where the eyeball would be, but I don’t do that. Don’t worry about messing up. Sketch the outline lightly. There’s no reason why this has to be a neatly drawn outline because you are going to draw all over it in a couple minutes.

Step 3: Add More Outlines

Draw a circle for the iris, the tear duct, the upper eyelid crease, and the edge of the lower eyelid. If you look at pictures of eyes you will see the lower eyelid has a ledge that usually shows. This is important.

Make sure the iris is not dead center. Usually the iris is cut off on top, but not always.

Step 4: Outline the Pupil and Highlights

Most eyes have a reflection of the light source. The size and shape of the reflection can vary, so fool around with it. In general, pictures of eyes with a little glare are more eye-catching (pun intended). Don’t worry about overlaps in the outlines as long as you erase them later.

Step 5: Add Texture To Iris

Every eye has a unique pattern, so add yours. Use light pencil strokes and make sure they are even coming out of the pupil (like the spokes of a bicycle wheel). However, keep them messy and unique. Straight lines are boring. I’d suggest loose and light strokes because they create a natural texture. You’ll notice that this almost seems sloppy, but that’s on purpose.

Step 6: Darken Around Iris and Around Pupil

Using the same stroke style as step 5, you should darken the edges. It’s almost as if the strokes are fading into the center of the iris. This is very important! It will make the iris POP. Don’t worry if you draw into the pupil because we are going to draw all over that…

Step 7: Fill In the Pupil and Darken the Outer Edge

Now you fill in the pupil and trace the outer edge. Make sure that the iris and pupil form clean circles, but you want the darkness to fade into the rest of the iris. There should be very few harsh lines (if any) in this drawing! Also remember to keep the reflections in the eye white.

Step 8: Shade the Top of the Iris and Around the Highlights

Darken the top of the iris (see below) and around the highlights to provide contrast. You’ll see this makes the eye look a lot better already! Make sure that the original outlines around the highlights in the eye are no longer visible. The shading should blend all the outlines into the drawing.

Step 9: Give Shading to the White of the Eye

Don’t be afraid to shade the “whites” of the eyes. Ideally, the only part of the paper that should remain white are the highlights. Use light strokes. Again, I draw a little messy, so if you want to make the shading a little softer, please do. I find it helps to draw with the contour of the eye. That will help make it appear round.

Also shade in the tear duct in the corner of the eye. The center of the duct is almost like a little ball, but don’t make it too defined or it will look weird. See below to get an idea.

Step 10: Start to Give Shading Around the Eye

Deepen the shading around the eyelids. Look at photos for reference. Every eye is different.

Step 11: Deepen Shadows and Add Wrinkles or Whatever

Here’s where I tell you to put more graphite on the paper (and I’ll say it again later). Deepen/darken the shadows and decide on any characteristic wrinkles or shading that you want to include.

Step 12: Draw Some Clumpy Eyelashes

Listen up: eyelashes are usually not gorgeous and perfectly curled. In almost every case, eyelashes stick all over the place. I’m sick and tired of seeing unrealistic drawings of eyes with evenly placed curving lashes. They also don’t all come out of the skin in a straight line! Look in the mirror! That’s why I want you to start by drawing lashes as if they are sticking straight out of the paper and uneven. See below to see what I mean.

Step 13: Now Add Some Nice Curvy Lashes

Add some thin lashes that do curve up nicely. The combination of these two steps will create a nice set of natural-looking eyelashes. Make sure they are drawn darkly enough. Feel free to draw lashes that look clumped together (that happens, you know…)

As a guideline, check out the angles below.

Step 14: Add Some Thin Lower Lashes

Gently add lower lashes. These should not be as dark or thick as the top lashes. They should be thin and light. Don’t be afraid to make them uneven.

As a guideline, check out the angles below.

Step 15: Keep Going

Here you have a very nice eye drawing, but I wouldn’t stop here. Chances are it’s TOO LIGHT and lacks character. So here’s where you LIGHTLY add more and more depth to the drawing. It may take some practice to get the light touch down, but once you do it will really help.

Below are different stages of the drawing over the course of 10 minutes. I am barely touching the page, but sketching very quickly. By allowing myself to almost lightly “scribble” I give texture and depth to the drawing.

Again, this is my style, so feel free to add your own touches to the eye at this point.

Pencil strokes give the illusion of skin texture.

Darken shading that you might have missed before.

Look at other pictures of eyes to see how the light falls and shapes over the eye.

Add more details & styling…

Stop When It Feels Right

More from Chris?

Send Me Your Eyes!!!!!

I’d love to see your eye drawings, so send them to chris@nonsensesociety.com ~ If I get enough, I might post them on the website!

Join the Nonsense Society

• Post your work to nonsensesociety.net
• Join our flickr pool
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I wish I could say to you that I was a published authority or blogosphere big shot on the subject – something that could give me a sense of credibility. But unfortunately I am writing on a topic that I find myself in the midst of: finding my own niche. What is a niche and how does one find it? To the former: a niche, in the sense that I’m describing, is the place where your art comes from. It is not necessarily a physical place. It’s where your creativity, style, and influences come together to form the essence of your art. It is your way of putting a stamp on a piece of art. Your niche is limited by nothing and enhanced by everything. Finding the niche is much more difficult than defining it.

I’ve bounced around creatively going from project to project, idea to idea. Starting each one with a sense of vigor only to wind up walking away quietly, locking the project up in the attic to gaze at later with a mix of regret and embarrassment. I’ve tried my hand at prose, poetry, pencils, photography, often times walking away feeling miserable. Like a failure. And that this isn’t for me. But why then do I feel this urge to create? Well that’s simple: like you – like most people – I’m a creative person with ideas. How we get them from our brains to others’ is what it’s all about.

Bullshit

I’ve recently taken up cartooning because I love it and always have. On my quest to become a serious artist, I dismissed cartooning years ago as fun but ultimately not artistic enough to express the true complexity of humanity’s struggle over its capacity for good and evil (or something to that effect). Total Bullshit. The first step in finding your niche is to just say, “Total bullshit, man.” Use it as a mantra if you like, but first let’s explore the meaning of this particular variety of bullshit.

Never tell yourself, or believe that, any avenue is not right for you, or that any avenue is not artistic, because that is total B.S. The second you start closing doors is the second you lose your ability to appreciate any form of art. So take this Portable Ram of Bullshit Bashing +1 and open any and all doors that you have ever closed on yourself. You’ll find it is both liberating and enlightening. Just a few examples of how I’ve used the Ram:

• I used to think cartooning, while funny and oftentimes thoughtful, was not a serious artistic medium. Bullshit. I now can see that not only is this completely false, but cartooning allows us to express artistic themes in ways that other visual mediums fall short. It is also becoming my preferred artistic medium
• I used to believe that all poetry was artsy-fartsy crap and that real poets became lyricists. Bullshit. First of all, poetry is beautiful and plays a game to communicate an immense amount of feeling in an abstract way. Also, poetry is harder to write than lyrics, if only for the fact unless you’re doing a reading you have to communicate your rhythm on the page alone.
• I believed minimalism – in any form – is a lazy attempt to be artistic. Bullshit. Minimalism in any respect is an impressive display of expression in simplest terms. It’s like the equation: y=mx+b (the function for a line) – so simple but capable of expressing so much. See the article on minimalism by Nick Collins for more!

These are just a few things I’ve learned with the Portable Ram. I’m sure that we could make a list together that could stretch to the international space station and back. So keep the Ram handy, and use it well. With the doors opening, what’s our next move on the road to our niche?

Exposure

Expose yourself to different artists – even if they’re not in your “genre” of art – especially artists that you love and art that you had previously dismissed. You really can only get a net gain out of this, even things you don’t like point you in the direction of what you do. Different styles will not only give you an idea of how to make your niche, but you may find inspiration in an unlikely place. Perhaps a poem will inspire you to paint or a painting will inspire you to compose a song. Who knows? You may ask, “But if I over expose myself to get my sense of style, how will I ever be original?” Fear not, true believer. First, we all know that style has been passed down from artist to artist for generations. And though they are similar, every good artist puts their own stamp on a style (because they’ve found their niche!).

So the best way to build your art is to study others’ work. Fall in love with it, let it inspire you. You will add your own “me-ness” when you pick up your horn, brush, pen, word processor – the originality will take care of itself. No one makes art like you, just like no matter how hard you try you will never be able to reproduce the feeling from Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, without blatantly plagiarizing, of course. In my humble opinion: Art survives – but more importantly thrives – on this exchange of ideas (and it’s what the Nonsense Society is all about). So through exposure, you take. The next step on our journey, naturally, is to share.

Share

This can be the most difficult part of any inventive endeavor, particularly for artists. We put a lot of time and though into this. When we show someone our art, it’s like showing a part of ourselves. Letting people see that can be scary enough, but throw in the fact that you could be rejected, laughed at, and told flat out you suck is petrifying. There’s an age old secret to get around this though: suck it up and put yourself out there! Sometimes you’ll get roughed up – but scars make great stories. You will never know how good you are until you share. Sharing helps you improve. It lets you know what you need work on. It is the single most important part to finding your niche. If you share, you learn your strengths and weaknesses and adjust your niche appropriately (in any way that fits you. Accent your strengths, improve your weaknesses, I don’t care just share ).

Remember, there are approximately one gazillion ways to share thanks to the internets (See this article about Internet Marketing for artists). But these cyber city squares are perhaps best used to connect you to the ultimate sharing space: a real place in real space with real people. The best way to share your art, for maximum niche finding, is face to face. You can talk about a guitar lick after a live display, discuss intricacies in colors that would be lost on the scanner, or experiment with rhythm in your latest poem. So do it up! Don’t be shy. Show others. And I mean, that’s the point, right? To see what others think. (In this I’ve always thought it takes a little bit of an egotist to forge a truly great artist. We are, after all, saying, “Look at how good my stuff is.” Which is fine!). When you do it, you open the door for criticism, which you use to critique your work and improve on your own style.

As you develop your style, your influences, your avenues of communication, you will one day put down your implement after a long day’s work to discover a truly beautiful and unique thing: Your niche.

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Techniques

Conceptual photography requires that I plan my shots before going on the field. Sometimes the concepts pop up in my head out of nowhere, whereas other times they are well thought and elaborated. The hardest thing is the passage from idea to reality; the implementation of the photo is sometimes harder than expected and it may have limitations, that’s why it’s important to think of these limitations ahead of time. After taking the photo, I pass to editing the photo. I like creating dream-like pictures, which is why post-processing is very important to me. The editing completes my vision, and allows me to change reality by giving it a new mood. I work with Photoshop CS4. My editing technique is mainly based on color treatment. I adjust the color depending on the mood I want to convey.

If it’s a sad or dark theme, I tend to desaturate the colors and use cold tones (blue/cyan), like in the photos below.

On the other hand, if it is a happy/joyful mood, I use warm and vibrant colors (red, yellow).

My editing techniques can be summed up to the following: color balance, curves, brightness/contrast, vignetting and adding textures sometimes.

BEFORE/AFTER:

In the photo above, I used mainly the curves tool to change the colors and contrast. I aslo added a texture for the light beams. I played on the light to make the photo’s mood more dramatic and add some feelings to it.

In this picture, I accentuated the white of the fog (created by the fog machine I used) and brightened the photo to create a positive mood using the curves tool. I also added a vignette using the lens correction tool on photoshop.

The 2 versions above are edited in a different way. In the first one, the colors look more natural. However, the second one is dreamier. I like the second one better because I like this un-real dreamy mood. You can find more of these (before/after or editing1/editing2) on my Facebook Page.

Links

• Website
• Facebook Page
• Flickr
• DeviantArt
• Twitter
• NS Posts

Email: lara.zankoul@gmail.com

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Use the time you have!

You may think that being young is a disadvantage when it comes to photography but you couldn’t be more wrong; the best thing about being a teenage photographer is that there isn’t pressure to make money. If you do make money then that’s great but it’s not like you’re going to be missing mortgage payments at 15! You can use this time to develop your techniques and prefect your photography.

It’s you that takes the picture, not the camera you own

I often hear people say things like “If I had the same camera as *insert photographer here* I would take photos like that as well!” and it frustrates me. I like to think of it in terms of art: having a £50 pencil isn’t going to make you any better at drawing. Having a top-of-the-range DLSR isn’t going to automatically improve your techniques and what you take photos of. I’m not saying that DLSR’s aren’t necessary as they will improve the quality of your images and the amount of control you have over the settings, I’m saying that you should remember that the camera is simply a tool and how you use it is more important than what make/model you have. Don’t worry if you have a compact camera and just have fun with what you’re doing!

[this Nonsense Society member takes pictures with a $12 camera]

Don’t compare your work with other artist’s

I think the worst thing you can do as a photographer is compare your work to other people’s as it only leads to self doubt. Take pride in your work and have faith in your talent! If you see another photographer that you envy just remind yourself that they didn’t start out as perfect and they had to work hard to get to where they are at. You work will get better in time and with practice so don’t let it get to you.

Social networks are your best friends

Social networks are good for many reasons:

• Inspiration
• Publicity
• Tutorials
• Making friends/contacts.

There are so many sites out there and I advise you to join at least a couple of them because they have so much to offer. My favourites are Deviantart and Facebook because I find them the most personal but other great ones are: Flickr, Tumblr, MyShutterspace and Model Mayhem.

[more about the best Social Networks?]

Have fun with what you’re doing

I sometimes find myself frustrated at shoots and when that happens I know I have to take a step back and just smile. Yes, photography can be frustrating especially when you have art block but at the end of the day it is a lot of fun. You’re young so just have fun with what you’re doing as there will be plenty of time in the future to get stressed over things.

Selections From Bex’s Portfolio

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My wife and I both really like the art style in Tintin. Anyone here remember Tintin? Not the uncanny valley, CG Tintin movie that’s about to come out. The original graphic novels. Something about the clean lines and bold solid colors just communicates so much with so little. And it’s a phenomenal, albeit often overlooked example of minimalist art.

from Tin Tin by Hergé

It’s not just deliberate strokes, sometimes, the most arresting thing about an artists work are the simple sketches they do to prepare for a painting. There’s something to be said for knowing just when to stop.

If an artist can tell a story in one line, it just seems so much more riveting.

Given that I run a blog about minimalism, I guess it’s no surprise that I would find myself drawn toward an art style that reflects the person I try most to be, but what’s interesting to me is, I’ve felt the pull toward minimalist art long before I knew what minimalism was.

Painting by NS member, Lawrence Yang

I was drawn to Tintin when I was 12 years old, the idea of an anti-consumerist philosophy bent around making the most out of what you have was so far out of my range of thought. All I could be bothered to care about as a 12 year old was getting the next booster pack of Star Wars cards for my dark side deck, well that and trying to cram in one more page of Tintin’s epic adventures before I got carsick on the way home from the library.

When I was slightly older, in middle school, I started to learn what minimalism was. We were studying the Greeks, and they explained that Sparta coined the term Spartan. This was the first I’d heard of it, but it appealed to me even then.

Photo by NS member, Martin Stranka

This is certainly just my opinion, but in my mind, one well placed picture can deliver far more emotional impact than a roomful of amazing pictures.

Minimalism in art takes many different forms. It can be the clean, perfectly drawn lines of comics, creating the image of a person as quickly and abstractly as possible, cutting to the core of human expression

It can be the raw emotion that’s present at the tail end of a brush running out of black ink.

Classic Chinese Painting

It can be sketchy and unfinished, an uncharacteristic insight into the mind of an artist

It can be soft and flowing, like a water color, or deliberate and bright like an oil painting.

Minimalism in art isn’t simply monochromatic single subject portraits and paintings, it’s about clarity, focus. It’s a single minded pursuit toward an emotional impact, everything within the frame exists there to tell part of the story, no space used is wasted on triviality. It’s raw, it’s simple, and when effective it affords the viewer a more pure and invasive look into the heart of the artist than one could ever hope for otherwise.

It’s all signal, no noise.

And It’s Beautiful.

Photo by NS member, Nicole O’Connor

Nicholas Collins (“Paco”) writes at Finding Simple, Paco the Sage, and 5 Bad Bananas. Keep your eyes open for his upcoming novel as well.

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“Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” - George Bernard Shaw

As an artist you’ve probably heard it before, “What makes your style different?” Yeah, yeah blah blah BLAH. We all have our own style, and it grows and changes. First thing is to get comfortable with your style and learn to love it. After all, it’s what YOU like to create. YOU like to draw predominantly Buffy the Vampire Slayer Fan Art. YOU like to take only photographs of hipster girls bashfully looking at their feet. Why should you care what other people think?? The point is, there will be plenty of Buffy-lovers and sad hipsters out there who DO care, so stop changing your style and instead find people who love what you do and who you are.

“To thine own self be true” - William Shakespeare

Your thing is your product. Don’t market to the wrong people. For example, if you love landscape & wildlife photography but find that everyone else is obsessing over fashion photography you might be hanging out in the wrong tribe!

Disclaimer: Your “thing” can involve a variety of styles or mediums (if that’s you).

Make friends with your tribe.

“Surround yourself with only people who are going to lift you higher” – Oprah Winfrey

Try every social network you can and find what feels good. Here is a giant list of websites you should experiment with. You’ll find communities on all of them. Perhaps you can get involved? I’ll star (*) my favorites.

• Forums – Topical conversations online.
• Twitter – Worldwide interactive news feed.*
• Facebook – You know what Facebook is…
• Google+ – Brand new social network, super cool.
• LinkedIn – “Professional” network. Basically an online resume + social media?
• Tumblr – Blogging platform, but awesome for community building.*
• BlogLovin – Share your favorite blogs!
• FormSpring – Ask each other questions!
• Flickr – Image community. Awesome.*
• DeviantArt – Art community + more teenage angst than you can handle!
• Behance – Amazing portfolios posted by artists.*
• Myspace – Bands use it. Others… don’t?
• Last.fm – Music lovers community
• YouTube – YouTube. Get involved, but in a good way.*
• Vimeo – Like YouTube, but more hip & professional.*

You will go insane trying to use all of these, so make sure you find the ones that work best for you.

Quick Tip: Use tags! On many of these sites you are prompted to add tags to your post. Do it! People will be searching tags. For example, if you take a picture of a cat you should definitely tag it “cat” and “kitty.” The market potential for the crazy cat lady demographic is unbelievable. They are looking for you.

Develop Your Voice

“As for myself, I’m not really sure who I am. It seems that I change every day.” - Leonardo DiCaprio

The key word here is “your” voice. I have spent years of my life admiring how other people do things and trying to emulate that. It’s important to be yourself when marketing/selling your work. People can see right through your act otherwise. Once you realize that you are best at doing YOUR own thing life becomes easier (and better).

“He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.” - Lao Tzu

Still, there is a lot of value in researching how other people do things. You can still be yourself and maintain your voice while researching and growing. Look around you and take account of what is annoying online and what works. You’ll find that certain posts compel you to look further. Take what you learn and apply it to your voice.

Don’t Spam!

“To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above them.” – Charles de Montesquieu

Never “spam” your tribe with too much self-promotion. Maybe I am using the word “spam” a little loosely. Regardless, here’s the golden rule.

Talk about others at least as much as you talk about yourself - For example, if you post to Twitter three times per day make sure only ONE of those posts is promoting your stuff. Be a real person. Too many people talk about themselves all day and wonder why people don’t care. Your ego is gross.

Traffic Builders

When using these sites, remember not to spam. Don’t ONLY submit your work to these sites. Make sure you submit other people’s work as well. You could get banned, or simply be labeled a big jerk-face. However, if you participate in these sites fully and sprinkle in some of your work, you might be in for some nice traffic! I’ll star (*) my favorites.

• Flickr Groups – Took a picture of a fluffy dog named Sam? There’s a group for that.*
• Blog Features – Go find blogs that will like what you do and email them!*
• Podcast Features – Do the same for podcasts.
• StumbleUpon – You can surf the Internet like TV. Participate and occasionally submit something of your own. I’ve gotten hundreds of thousands of hits this way!*
• Digg – Share awesome articles & blog posts.
• Delicious – Similar to Digg.
• Reddit – Similar again…
• WeHeartIt – Awesome photo-sharing site. I’ve gotten lots fo traffic from here too. It links back to the original source.*
• ffffound – Like weheartit, but you unfortunately can’t submit unless you are an editor.
• vi.sualize.us – Similar to weheartit
• imgfave – same
• pichaus – same
• enjoythin.gs – same
• picocool – same
• photoree – same
• vidque – similar but for videos
• Abduzeedo User News – Awesome design site that allows you to post stuff in a user section.
• Nonsense Society Flickr Pool – This site has a community flickr pool that puts your work on the front page sidebar of the site.
• Nonsense Society Tumblr – Our tumblr gallery. Anyone can submit and join the Nonsense Society.*

Have An Effective Portfolio/Blog

Create your own brand and be consistent. Have it make sense and be easy to browse. Here are some methods to make portfolios (some repeats from above). I suggest having a professional portfolio website and also a blog. How you do this is up to you.

Tip: Vertically-scrolling portfolios are more pleasing to the average brain.

• CarbonMade – Pretty portfolios, easy to make.
• 4ormat – Very popular portfolio builder, especially in Europe. I love the look of these.*
• WordPress – A blogging engine, but can be used to easily make websites and portfolios. Also has a lot of SEO benefits.*
• Tumblr – Another blogging platform, but great for sharing individual images, videos, songs, and text. It’s also built to share virally. Awesome!
• Squarespace – Another blogging platform that costs a bit of money. It’s professional and some people love it. shrug…
• Shown’d – This is new to me, but apparently pretty good for building portfolios.
• Google Sites – So easy to build a free website with a free Google account. Not the prettiest thing in the world, but with a little creativity you can make a killer site for the cost of a domain name.
• MobileMe using iWeb [soon to be iCloud?] – I’ve used iWeb a lot. It’s an excellent (and simple) website builder for Mac computer users. You can also make a blog (albeit ugly) and podcast.

Once you have an online space for your work, you can have a link to it on your social media platforms. Hopefully this will help you avoid constantly linking to your portfolio when you should be starting a movement.

Get People Involved

“Without leaders, there are no followers. You’re a leader. We need you.” - Seth Godin, Tribes

Love every fan/friend/colleague you have. Try to create a movement around what you do. One of the best examples I can think of is explodingdog.com, a site where the artist asks people for phrases and makes a drawing out of them. His fan base is huge and he has a blast doing it! He’s had live drawings, books, merch, everything! He doesn’t talk at people. He INVOLVES people. Imagine sending in a topic for a drawing and seeing it on the website. Imagine how awesome that must feel.

Be creative! If YOU can gather a couple thousand fans, you will be 10000000x more influential than any of the chumps who accidentally created a viral video on YouTube that reached millions. You don’t need millions. You shouldn’t want millions! You don’t need empty satisfaction. You want something real, and you can get it. Definitely.

Be Patient + Have Faith

“I quit being afraid when my first venture failed and the sky didn’t fall down.” - Allen Neuharth

These things take time. The worst thing you can do is get bitter and act like the world owes you something. Do all this stuff, be genuine, have fun, make friends, and it’ll all start coming together for you.

Thanks for reading! Please share your ideas in the comments.

Want to write for us? Get in touch.

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The “glamour” you might have seen in films such as “Blow-Up” is almost non-
existent. Fashion photography is all about hard work. That means you won’t be on location (or in the studio) shooting all the time. It means, mostly, that at least 65% of your time will be spent in marketing yourself, sending emails, making phone calls and suffering from anxiety attacks (Will I make it? Will I break through? Will the booker answer my email?).

You have a camera (whatever DSLR) but don’t have a model?

You’ve probably reached the point where your friends might have said: “Enough, I’m not
modeling for you anymore!  All I wanted was to have a beer with you…” or maybe you want them to do certain things only a pro would do.

Before panicking and thinking your career is over before it started, you should know most serious modeling agencies are more than happy to make a “trade” with you. They call it “Test Shooting”. They will lend you a model and in return they will expect your photos.

Developing Your Style

Some agencies have certain “standards” they would like you to follow, but that doesn’t mean you can’t develop your own style. A good tip is to shoot according to their guidelines of “less is more” and then, by the end of the test shoot, take a few pictures you created the concept for. It’s a great way to know people in the business and also improve your portfolio.

Also, never stop shooting your personal editorial work. When you are out on go-sees with publishers and editors, they aren’t really interested in single shots. They want to know if you can handle a complete shoot with thirteen looks or more, a full team of creatives and their own demands. You can brainstorm with most editors, but always stick to the theme they proposed if you’ve been assigned to an editorial shoot. It’s not the end of your creativity!

Get Noticed

In photography, or whatever sub-genre, it’s very important to be seen. That’s where self marketing kicks in. Some photographers are great, and others aren’t so great. Some just like to show off! This is often very irritating according to a lot of editors and creative directors. Your history in photography is important, but you don’t have to praise yourself. Business cards, a clean and user-friendly website, and Z-cards (like model cards) are good marketing tools.

I use all tools, but I personally like Z-cards and have been assigned to many jobs after sending them to the right people within the industry. They could be in print or virtual, it doesn’t matter. What matters is knowing who to send it to and when to send it (timing is everything).

Z-cards should contain your best 4 or 5 photos and your full contact information (website, phone number, email address). Please note that you will have to change the design according to the client you’re sending it to. If you’re sending your Z-card to a swimsuit label, your best 4 or 5 shots should be related to beach couture. Here’s an example of a Z-card:

Keeping profiles on leading photography sharing websites and communities is also very important. Some brands and magazines keep discussion groups or scouts in these websites, and you can always have a pleasant surprise in your mailbox because you’ve been seen there. Also, nowadays, getting your work published in leading online magazines and fashion blogs is extremely important. Keep in mind that whenever you publish something on the internet, you will be seen. Just make sure you use good channels to be actually seen by the right people. Start with Flickr, DeviantArt, Ben Trovato, and other blogs that feature photographers. Google search!

Deadlines

Deadlines are extremely important in fashion photography. If you’re shooting for magazines, make sure you deliver the proof photos and the retouched photos on time. Coming from a journalistic background I know how hard the day-by-day in a magazine is, editors are often on the fast lane. Don’t make their offices resemble Hell by forgetting to deliver the photos on time. It doesn’t matter if the power in your house is off or if your dog is catching fire, find a way to deliver the photos. Seriously.

Backups

Always keep backups. I have a relatively safe system for backups you could also use. First thing I do after coming back to my office from a shoot is to save all RAW files (if you shoot RAW, of course. You can do the same if you shoot JPEG) both in my computer and in my external hard drive. After retouching, I save all the PSD files and retouched JPEGs on the hard drive and I also burn a CD or DVD with that job. As my computer has little available space in its own hard drive, after making sure everything is backed up twice (external hard drive and DVD), I delete only the RAW and PSD files from it, keeping only the JPEGs to make room for future shoots.

It’s a boring job to do, but I’ve had clients asking for the original files and the retouched files 1 year after the shoot. That happens often, but when signing a contract make sure to put a limit of usage (1 or 2 years). Otherwise, you’ll have clients asking for photos you don’t even remember anymore 5 years later.

Be Honest With Yourself

Unfortunately, fashion photography is not the ideal match for everybody. You must be willing to:

• Work at crazy hours
• Get phone calls from editors wanting you to be in location for a last minute shoot in 1 hour or less
• Sort your files into the night and the next day if you’re that messy
• Retouch yourself numb
• Wrap up a studio shoot at 3 a.m. only to be up again the next day at 6 a.m.
• Hear a lot of “NO” in the beginning without getting your spirits down.

I’ve seen amazing people rise and then abandon the business to pursue something else. Any kid with an internet connection nowadays must have seen the crazy amount of “fashion photographers” populating the web lately. I find that fascinating. There is so much creativity and energy going on, but unfortunately for some it’s just a phase.

With talent, hard work, and good contacts you hopefully will go far.

Questions and other inquiries: larissa.felsen@gmail.com

Samples from Larissa’s Portfolio

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