Something that's a little scary to me: it seems that an artist who wants to earn money on his art may have to learn new media and communication forms to do so.
I never thought that comics and novels and paintings might go out of vogue. And probably they will never disappear totally, but it seems that what the new generations spend money on is not that, but... well, videos, video games, and ringtones!
I've been chastised about being always surprised at the march of times and technology, and there's something to that, I guess I have a less flexible mind that I thought.
But at least I'm willing to look at the new forms and maybe even to try to work in them. Many people just shut it out, for example comics creator Dave Sim, I don't think he even owns a computer.
Actually ten years ago Dave Sim wrote about how you could never view art on the web, because it was "postage-sized" pictures. I wrote to him then that it was just a matter of time and resolution (both kinds). And it was. I'd like him to see photos and paintings displayed on my fabulous 30-inch monitors, and then compare it to his tiny black/white comic book pages.
Of course it would not change his mind, because he was not giving the actual reason for his dislike of the new technology, nobody ever does, even if they think they do. Perhaps it's just fear, who knows, but he just can't approach it, is the bottom line.
2 comments:
Interesting comments about art and new methods of production and distribution. A few comments:
A musician makes a recording, and sends it to the record company as a computer file. The record company sends the file to Apple. How much is that worth to the musician?
A writer sends a Word document to the publisher. The publisher sends the document to Amazon, who converts it to ebook format. How much is that worth to the writer?
The big technological change for artists is that distribution costs are close to zero now. I'm not worried at all about recording and publishing companies. Record companies and publishers *should* go broke. They are not necessary any more. To survive, they better start looking for other ways to help their artists, like publicity or tour support.
There is another side of the equation to artists disliking new technology. I'm never happy with how my new phones look. In the past I had Sony-Ericsson phones. I found that I could download themes that others have created. Then I found that I could download free software and create my own themes. So I did, then I uploaded my creations afterwards, and other people downloaded them.
Recently I got an Android phone. I made some themes, as usual. But now I am selling them through Google's Android Market. I am now a professional artist, and Google is my publisher.
So yes, technological change in the world will leave some artists and some art forms behind, just like it leaves some industries behind. Change will also make it easier for other people, like me for example, to become artists.
You can *sell* phone themes?!
Can you give me a rough idea of how much you make on that? Like it buys your drink for lunch, or one could live on it if one lives cheaply, or it makes a very good living... ?
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