Knight Nautilus by Meg Lyman

Ink and pencil on ACEO paper

$20 – e-mail to purchase

Happy Holidays! See you again in 2010!

Love, Meg

Just a quick sketch for now – I hope to have a nice colored piece finished before Christmas. Happy Holidays!

I am a fan. Uplifting but not sappy. Go see it!

Sketch commission, don’t ask by Meg Lyman

Art slumps. We all have them. We usually have reasons. But they’re rarely good enough to be anything but excuses.

I have been busy, so much so that I’m rarely at home. I’m keeping in shape at the gym and playing sports, and cultivating my social life by hanging out with friends. I don’t regret making the decision to go out instead of staying in and doing art, because I’m creating some great memories and spending time with people I love and enjoy. But I miss being productive, too.

Even though I’ve been busy, I could still slip in a little sketching here and there, but I haven’t much. I’m beginning to understand how I operate – make something a habit, and you’ll want to keep doing it. Stop doing it for a while, and all of a sudden it’s a habit to NOT do it. I need to work hard on making art as much of a habit as brushing my teeth or feeding my cat.

Hippopoctopus by Meg Lyman

Free sketch commission

On several art gallery websites, you are given a statistic called “pageviews.” It’s an inaccurate counter of how many times your main gallery page has been viewed. It’s also tradition on these sites to offer free art (generally sketches) to people who can “screen-capture” a nice, round number on the pageview counter. Typical numbers include 1000, 10,000, 55,555, 100,000, etc. I decided to participate and offer a free sketch for the 5,000th pageview on FurAffinity.

I’m not doing it again.

Due to those aforementioned inaccuracies, four separate individuals captured 5000 on their screens. Being the kind-hearted, wanting-to-please-everyone person I am, I did free art for all four. It was fun – no outlandish requests, hippopoctopus included – and it ended up being great marketing. Plus, I know I have at least three more pageviews than that stupid counter says.

Sometimes you can really get your sketch on. Other days, not so much. Warm-ups help, but even so, some days you’re just not feeling it.

Recently I’ve been frustrated with my lack of ability to imagine a certain perspective or viewpoint of something that exists only in my head. Practice makes perfect, but I’m fairly sure I’m never going to have a racquetball squid to draw from life. Still, drawing from life really helps hone your skills… and you can apply that to drawings of real or imaginary things.

So, to ease my frustration, I headed off to the zoo this morning to do more life drawing. I really didn’t have my sketch on today, but I made myself keep doing it. I didn’t improve much throughout the day, but the general practice really helps. I noticed it was easier for me to sketch today than it has been in the past. Go, me! Experience points!

The best part of being a zoo member in Atlanta is that you can get in half an hour before the general population. I was the first guest inside the zoo today and got some great one-on-one time with the animals who usually have crowds of screaming children blocking the view and idiot parents telling their children “look at the bobcat!” instead of reading the sign right in front of them that says Clouded Leopard.

Lady and the Tramp Squids by Meg Lyman

8×10″ graphite OmegaCon doodle; SOLD

OmegaCon was a first year fantasy/sci-fi convention in Birmingham. I had art in the art show and a table in the dealer’s room next to the Wandering Men. The dealer’s room was huge and fabulous and the turnout was phenomenal. The art show organization was abysmal, but it all worked out in the end.

I sold enough to cover my food and my half of a hotel room, which is more than I was expecting! Most of my sales were prints and originals. I took some older illustrations (~5 years old), because they were on-topic for a fantasy convention, and actually sold some of those old ones! It doesn’t hurt to try, especially if your prices are reasonable for older work (unless your old work is really horrible). I didn’t put any old art in the show – it was all in a binder at my table. I was pleased to see it sell but a bit hesitant putting old work out there, even if it was hiding in a binder.

What are your thoughts on selling older work?

Happy Roo by Meg Lyman

Happy March! This kangaroo is smiling because it is sunny and 70 degrees here, and I’m about to go play soccer. I love the south!

I want to answer some questions asked in my last post about taxes – but I need a disclaimer. I am no expert. I don’t know a Form 1120 from an abacus. Please do not take these tips as law. My best advice: talk to an accountant.

That said, here’s what I learned about hobbies this week:

• As far as I can tell, there’s no maximum you can earn as a hobbyist before the IRS takes notice. You can offset your hobby gains with hobby losses. The catch: the losses (expenses) have to be at least 2% of your adjusted gross income before you can deduct them. So you have to spend a lot and make a lot on your hobby for that to work in your favor.
• I’m not sure about years of consecutive loss, but a legitimate business (in the all-seeing eyes of the IRS) will show a profit in at least 3 of the last 5 years. There are exceptions to this (me, for example, since I’ve only been doing it officially for one year) – you have to pass a type of “legitimate business test,” witch factors in things like reasonable attempts to make profit, how much time you spend on it, and if you rely on it for your livelihood. Go here for some great advice.
• Confused yet? I am. See above advice about an accountant.
• How is it that smart, educated people have trouble figuring this stuff out? I think they make it hard on purpose. Makes me want Fair Tax even more.

You have now completely exhausted my knowledge of art and taxes. If you have any further advice, let us all know!