CrashOctopus Blog

Friendly Octopus by Meg Lyman

One of the biggest business questions I’ve pondered recently is: “Hobby or business?” The IRS lets you count art income (and loss) as part of your overall income, provided that you can prove it’s a legitimate business venture. But why do it? And when? Here’s what I’ve learned so far.

• If you don’t make a lot from art, it’s counted as a hobby. You don’t necessarily have to claim your income, but you can’t deduct your expenses.
• If your art income gets large enough, you’ll have to start paying taxes on it eventually. They’ll find you.
• If it is your intent to grow your art business into a profitable endeavor, and perhaps make it your only source of income, it’s good to get the tax part started a year or two beforehand.
• This is why: switching from an undocumented hobby to an official business when your business is still starting, struggling, and in the red means you can deduct your expenses from your day-job income, using a Schedule C.
• Eventually you’ll make a net profit each year, at which point you’ll have to pay more taxes than you did with just the day job, and it’ll be beneficial to ditch the Schedule C and incorporate.
• In order to accomplish all this, you’ll need several things. First, excellent records for at least the past year. Second, proof (if the IRS demands it) of intent to increase profit. Finally, a good accountant.

I have done those last three things and decided to make the switch for 2007. I started keeping detailed records in mid-2006, so I have all of 2007 documented. The records include sales, expenses, training, travel, and mileage. My “proof” of intent includes art show attendances and a shiny new business license. I got it earlier this month. It doesn’t do much of anything except make the business legitimate in the eyes of the IRS, but it only cost me $85.

I’m still really new at all this, but if anyone has questions, fire away!

Dinner by Meg Lyman

8×10 colored pencil and ink

$35 – e-mail to buy

Furry Weekend Atlanta was very much fun. I had a blast sitting all weekend in the stuffy little room they set aside for “Artist’s Alley.” For those unfamiliar with this type of convention, they’re set up with a Dealer’s Room where merchandise and art are sold. Tables need to be reserved and paid for in advance. Often there will also be an Artist’s Alley, where table space is free, but first-come, first-serve, and only art can be sold.

I met a bunch of awesome people and sold prints, hats, commissions, and originals. I sold two pieces in the art show, volunteered to help with checkout, and ended up getting an offer to perhaps run the FWA Art Show next year because I’m “organized and focused.” These are apparently rare traits in the fandom.

One of the best things about a local convention is the local people you meet, giving you many opportunities to socialize with kickass people (artists and otherwise) throughout the year. Every time I meet artists in the Atlanta area, I feel more at home.

Cupid by Meg Lyman

8×10 ink, colored pencil, and gouache on Canson

SOLD

I know it’s all generated by Big Corporations Who Want to Sell You Cards, but happy Valentine’s Day! May your lives be full of love all year ’round.

I was recently introduced to the work of an interesting musical artist. Not only is the video art 100 kinds of awesome, the tune and beat are catchy, and you (or your kids) will probably want to play it again, and then the song will be stuck in your head forever. You have been warned.

This line in the song really caught my ear: “Live your life until love is found, or love’s gonna get you down.” I think you can apply it to most everything in life. Art, for instance. Being an artist is a roller-coaster relationship. Complete a wonderful painting, but get passed over for a gallery. Sell a big original, but run out of inspiration on the next one. Up and down and around. And there’s rarely an art cupid to magically work things out. But you can’t let those things stop you from trying, from improving yourself, from finding joy while living your life… or art’s gonna get you down.

Nautilus Trap by Meg Lyman

Ink on notecard

SOLD

First, I updated my website with the three meager paintings I did in January. Go look! If you want to be on my mailing list and get notified when I update the site, send me a note.

Something fairly exciting happened this week. I got a call from someone writing a childrens’ book who said she and her partner saw my website and were interested in having me illustrate the book.

Cool, I thought. Let’s see what they have to say. They took me out to lunch and pitched their book to me. It seems like an awesome book, and is nearly finished. Their next step is getting art and a publisher. I’m on track to do some character design for them, and potentially illustrate the whole book.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

The coolest thing about it (besides the characters being right down my alley) is that they found me in a fairly obscure local newspaper. The awesome artist who organized our participation in the boat show had us write blurbs about ourselves and got them into the local paper. Lesson: do as much as you can, even shows that may not mean a lot of sales, for the exposure. Never let an opportunity pass you by!

Elsie by Meg Lyman

5×7 gouache on Pastelbord

SOLD

Well, the show was really good, but in an unexpected way. Most of us didn’t sell much of anything; it was the first year the show had an art gallery, we weren’t well publicized by the show, and our location was obscure. That, and people came to buy other things. Like boats. They had three houseboats that were bigger, better decorated, and three times more expensive than my house.

I sold a few prints and one small painting (featured above, painted during the show yesterday). So sales were “meh.” However, I handed out a bunch of cards, got lots of names on the mailing list, and talked to a bunch of people. I even got a couple e-mails already inquiring about purchases! But the best part of all was meeting the other artists. You’d be hard-pressed to find a nicer bunch of gals (and guy). Everyone was fun to talk to and learn from. The show was well worth all that effort for that alone. And I already have an invitation to another show. Woo!

Here are the awesome people I met who have work online: Anne Brodie Hill, Anita Elder, Jose Portilla, Amanda Carder, Cathy Little, Rhea Metcalf, and Cheryl Hardin, who took a bunch of my money for one of her fabulous paintings.

My booth setup was a bit haphazard; we had more room that we thought we’d have, so I only brought water-related art during setup. The first night of the show, I brought more art to fill out the panels, which is why it’s sorta shoved into the bottom.

I have never been a good people-person; being in crowds makes me a bit nervous and I am horrible at small talk. Doing conventions and this show has helped a lot with that obstacle. I even volunteered to stand out in the hall and heckle passers-by, asking if they wanted their faces painted. I only asked the young ones, their parents, and the really old folks. Only the kids said “yes.”

Mondays by Meg Lyman

4×6″ gouache on Bristol

SOLD

Well, here they are… my art goals for the year. Read, take note, and be prepared to write a performance review for me at the start of 2009.

• Register my business by March
• Redo this blog to greatly expand its content and interactivity
• Trim my website into a portfolio
• Time all my projects with the new stopwatch Santa got for me
• Complete the 100 Cephalopods project*
• Promote my art on MySpace, etc.
• Obligatory really vague goal: strive to always improve and learn
• Do 10 shows and/or conventions

I’m off to work on that last one – the first show of 2008. I’ll talk to you next week, hopefully without all the art I hauled downtown yesterday.

*exciting details forthcoming!

Beach Mollusk 2 by Meg Lyman

35mm slide

Prints: available

Hey everyone, happy 2008! I enjoyed my lovely, languorous 2-week break, but I missed you guys. I hope your holidays were peachy.

As soon as I got back, I began preparations for the Atlanta Boat Show. They have a gallery room with about a dozen artists, including my friend Rhea. We each have a booth to run, but most of us are only working the show part-time because it goes all day, Wednesday through Sunday (Jan 9-13). I’ll be working every evening and all weekend, so if you’re in the area, come by! Tickets to the show are cheaper if you buy them online before Jan. 8.

All the art is water-themed. I have plenty of cephalopod art to show, but I also dug out some photographs. I have a bunch of them that actually show water (gasp) so I framed them up.

I probably won’t get to post during the week (or next weekend) with the chaos of the show, but as soon as I can, I’ll give you a report. With pictures!

In preparation for the Atlanta Boat Show’s Gallery next month, I had a few originals framed. Usually, I do it myself with either custom-cut or standard mats with standard frames. However, I had five pieces that just wouldn’t fit into standard frames, no matter how I crammed.

I headed to Silver Dog Digital, the local place where they do prints, signs, framing, you name it. They did a beautiful job with my custom frames. Forgive the photos; the frames are wrapped in plastic for protection.

The first one is a pastel. I’ve tried building my own spacers, but since I am not equipped with a mat cutter, I have always done a horrible job. This one is spaced so close to the mat that it’s hard to see the gap, but it’s not touching.

Cuttlefish Eye by Meg Lyman

The second one involved a lack of foresight. I used a 5×7″ piece of Claybord, but I painted all the way to the edges. This’d be OK if it were cradled, but this is just a flat piece. Put a standard 5×7″ mat on it, and it cuts off a key part of the composition: that tiny strip of ground on the bottom. I had this mounted on a mat so the edges weren’t cut off.

Hawaii Sunrise by Meg Lyman

This one was just a weird size. Sennelier Hot Press watercolor paper comes in blocks of 4 1/8″ by 9 1/2″ or something like that. Custom frame required.

Chicago Skyline by Meg Lyman

I got two others framed: a 6×6″ stretched canvas with staples on the sides, and an ACEO. ACEOs are tricky, because at that small size, the 1/8″ required for a frame takes up a large percentage of the real estate.

It was expensive, but they’re beautiful – way better than I could have done – and I didn’t have to use the drill, hammer, paper cutter, scissors, or Windex. Also, the frames all match, which is part of what Casey recommended to me (sorry the mats don’t all match too… I couldn’t resist). I’ll price them for the show so that I’d get what I want for the original and have the frame completely paid for. And as long as I’m hypothesizing, they’ll all sell and I’ll get several big commissions and convert a horde of new patrons.

Bontebok Sketch by Meg Lyman

So, does anyone know how to clean a scanner? Mine has been very good to me, but recently, the dirt on the glass has reached annoying levels. No longer do I have to use the Gimp to clean one or two dots; now they’re everywhere.

When I look at the surface, I notice two things. First, it’s foggy. The fogginess isn’t on the outside, but on the underside of the glass. I have no idea if it needs to be cleaned, or how to do it. It has slowly gotten worse throughout the scanner’s short life. Second, I see little dirty dots. They look green, presumably because of the way the scanner reflects light while it’s idle. But when I go to brush them off, I find that they’re sticky and need to be chiseled off with a fingernail, and mostly they smear all over.

When I scan, I see two undesirable things, both of which have gotten worse recently:

1. Grey areas on the edges. This admittedly may be a problem with the cover.

2. Spots in the scan, per the second complaint above.

I have a nice, soft monitor cleaning cloth that I use on the glass, but it won’t budge the sticky spots, and obviously has no effect on the fog. I keep the scanner covered so well that even cat hair never gets inside.

Does anyone have any words of advice? I paid a lot for this scanner, and I want to run it into the ground – many, many years from now.

Now that I’ve finished my laundry and unpacked and tidied everything, I’m finally ready to go on with my post-convention life. I haven’t done much art since then. I know art inspiration often comes in cycles, but this is a lousy time to be unmotivated. I have three big pieces to finish by Christmas.

ANYway, my business participation in the con consisted of two areas: the Art Show and the Exhibitor’s Hall. The Hall was already full when I decided to register, but friend and CotC mastermind Andy Hopp granted me table space in the hallway. Although we had to haul everything into a room to be locked up at night, the location was great. We had a lot of foot traffic.

I shared a table with my friend, artiste extraordinaire Kelly Brighbill. This is my half of the table. I should mention that I completely forgot to take any photos of the table or art show setup, so I pilfered these from the Wandering Men, whose table was right next to mine. They had a mini catapult set up and were shooting candy at a toy castle. It drew a lot of people and I ended up with chocolate in all my boxes – a win-win situation.

See the big banner at the top? That was ~$50 at Kinko’s, and it is sturdy and awesome. Under the banner is my box o’ originals, all matted, bagged, and priced. I sold 3 items from the box. The sign on the front of the box displayed print and commission prices. I also had a price sheet sitting on the table.

On the left is a jar marked “DONATIONS.” I was giving away free business-card sized prints of cats and dogs, but asking for donations to my local no-kill animal shelter. I also sold raffle tickets for $1 (which went in the jar) for a free print. The jar made about $18. I gave a free raffle ticket to anyone who bought something.

Here I am at the table, watching the catapult action. I wore my CrashOctopus hat the whole time. Good advertising. Sold 3.

On the left side of the photo, between Kelly’s head and Nathan’s shoulder, you can see the corner of one of my prints. I put one of each in a portfolio-type binder that was sturdy enough to stand up on its own, sort of like a tent. I had 8×10, 5×7, and “mini” prints (~3×4) for $15, $10, and $2, respectively. Art prices are pretty low at these types of conventions, and even so, I only sold about 10 prints. In front of the prints, I had another portfolio full of loose originals and sketches. I sold a half-dozen of these.

I rented 3 art show panels for $12 each and hung 28 originals, ranging from ACEO to 18×24. Each piece has a silent auction bidding sheet, so I was able to hang these and forget about them – no tending required. The minimum bids I chose were less than I’d sell them for outright, but not so low that I would cry if they sold. Of these, I sold 6 (including Felipe), all at minimum bid. Not too bad!

It was great sharing a table; each time I wanted to go to a seminar or look at the other tables, Kelly watched our table, and vice versa. Overall, I sold more than I expected, got a lot of mailing list sign-ups, and had a blast! True, most things I sold to friends or people I met at CotC last year, but I converted a lot of new customers, and all of last year’s customers were repeats this year. Plus, a few people I didn’t know at all bought things.

If you’re remotely near Akron, OH, around November 6-9 next year, I highly recommend attending Con on the Cob. You’ll have fun, I guarantee it.