The mission of a commercial artist is to help put a roof over your head. Get you a better home. Improve your quality of life.
It's about harnessing artistic talent to do work and fix problems standing in the way of success.
I don't paint portraits to hang in art galleries. I could. I can paint, draw, sculpt. But fine art doesn't interest me. I'd rather do something practical that helps people in a direct way.
There are plenty of artists in the world doing fine art already. I love what they do. But I would be bored just doing what they do.
I enjoy using my skills to make a commercial enterprise go. Unlocking the secrets of snarled marketing. Turning the tables on propaganda or hostile marketing efforts. In fact, that's where I really shine.
I can do a lot of things at a high level of competence. There's a trick to competence, you know. The attainment of competence begets more competence. I.e., the more competent you become at any thing, the more compentent you become in general.
In addition to being a commercial artist, I've been an entrepreneur since I was 8. I've directed a manufacturing corporation with products in Target and Wal-Mart. I've organized production facilities in the US and liaised with factories abroad. I've been to China to troubleshoot manufacturing and negotiate prices. I've resolved problems in product design and production, managed supply chain logistics, and worked with Customs officials. I've designed hundreds of booths for trade shows, taken orders and driven sales.
Unlike Ivory Tower creatives who have never owned a company, I know what it's like to invest your heart and soul into a business and how badly you need it to succeed. It's not about sales trophes. It's about enabling better lives. Unlike people who can design but cannot write, who can write but not design, who can direct photography but not build a website, who can do print but not television, who know marketing but not public relations, who can talk marketing but not write a campaign, I do all these things better than most specialists.
Benefits:
- Success
Features:
- Strategic
- Creative
- Cross-disciplined marketing skills
Creative skills:
- Creative Strategy
- Web design
- SEO
- Print ads
- TV spots
- Copywriting
- Marketing
- Public relations
- Branding
- Brochures
- Logos
- Photography
- Pay Per Click Campaigns
- Product Design
- Prototyping
- Packaging Design
- Book Design
- Typesetting
- Merchandising
- Display
- POP
- Scriptwriting
- Promotional Products
- Guerilla Marketing (I own BreakThruDesigns)
Programming skills:
- Downloadable Products
- Shopping carts
- Subscription Systems
- Quote/Invoice/Order software
- Auto Responder
- Security/Firewalls
- Backup software
- Photo gallery
- Video gallery
- Slide shows
- Social Media (Twitter/Facebook, etc)
- Registration
Marketing Skills:
- Business names
- Product names
- Product line design
- Prototype creation
- Product R&D
- Pricing strategy
- Survey anaysis
- Market research
Scriptwriting Skills:
- TV spots
- Infomercials
- Marketing videos
- Sales videos
- Public relations videos
- Educational videos
- Instructional videos
Technical skills:
- Joomla 3.x
- Photoshop
- InDesign
- Illustrator
- Final Draft
- Movie Magic Screenwriter
- iMovie
- Final Cut
