How to support your favorite artist, up front and honest (with how to do it for free)

You walk down the street without a care in the world. It's a good day. The sun is shining and birds are singing. You hear music coming from just around the corner and there he is. His hat is overturned on the pavement and his fingers work that guitar like he was born holding it. He plays to entertain the masses and will take anything you care to drop. Some drop change, others drop dollars. He even gets the occasional ham and cheese sandwich from the deli next door. He's a busker, singing and strumming for a dollar.

Ah but those days aren't so common now are they? Well, sure, there are still buskers and street performers in plenty of places. Some pay them and some mock them, but they still exist. I'm kind of like them. I apply my talent (what I have left) to your entertainment, I just do it online. And you get something you can print out right at home or order at your leisure through a website like Amazon. You see, there are new ways to be that busker guy with things like paypal and patreon. And why not?

Alas, I still get asked how a person can help out their favorite artist and these don't seem to be a common knowledge as they should be. The idea is this when it comes to today's starving artists like that fellow with the guitar: if you enjoy it... support it. There are several ways you can even better than on that street corner.

DO IT FOR FREE:

Every so often someone says to me: "Just imagine when you go viral!"  I want to say if everyone who said that, shared my work, I probably would. And that's the key, sharing is caring. No place allows for it better than right here on the internet. You have Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc and if you would share that work you enjoyed today, you would help take that one more step toward making it go viral. You increase visibility of the artist and get more people to stop and take a look. And if you want to do something only slightly more awesome...

COMMENT. Yeah, don't just lurk silently. Say something. Posting a comment also increases visibility and more than just sharing does (although both is freaking phenomenal). And it takes seconds to do either one! But let's say you want to be a big freaking help without spending money you don't have (hey I understand).

You want to contribute some serious golden effort? Grab the link to your artist's work page and post some of his work on your twitter or pinterest or instagram with that link attached. On pinterest, that's absolutely GOLD.

Okay, so now we talk about your options to support an artist for costs. Well, you can do it just like with the busker on the street if there is paypal involved. For example,

thewildeman2@yahoo.com

is my paypal email. Feel free to drop a dollar in my "hat" anytime. It helps me cover small costs and keep providing some content for free for everyone.

Love it enough to do more? PATREON. If your artist has one you can subscribe for as little as a dollar a month and score some niceties in thanks. You can cancel at anytime with no questions asked. That link is to my personal patreon of course. Or maybe you need something you can space out even more... well

Does your artist have an ETSY page? Books on AMAZON? Buy their products, and post REVIEWS.  Reviews are a big help that few people come back to post.

See. All sorts of ways to support an artist of nearly any kind. The more you support, the more that artist grows and expands their content. Through you, someone could be the next JK Rowling or Marvel Comics of the age. Wouldn't that be awesome?

Yes, all those links are for my works as I've been asked many times how to do all this. That's why I'm posting it all together right here for quick and easy reference. If you love it, support it. Just like you support any other favorite business in your town. Now you know.

UPDATE FCCP: Bethesda says NO to a coloring book..sort of.

I am writing today's post in response to multiple requests that I compile actual coloring books for the Fallout Community Coloring Project. As I answered before, I could only do what would be a commercially sold book with support and agreement from Bethesda. I wouldn't serve to go through all that work to make a book and put it up on Amazon if I wound up head to head with Bethesda's legal department.

So I wrote to them. I explained how the project is 100% community supported and how much interest it is gathering. I gave them every positive point I could think of and they responded pretty quickly. They listed it as an "incident" with an identification number and said the following:

Greetings!

Thank you for contacting Bethesda Customer Support. 

Bethesda Softworks appreciates our fans and generally does not discourage posting of non-commercial fan created tributes.  Any use of our intellectual property for commercial purposes, however, including The Elder Scrolls® or Skyrim® names, logos, branding elements, artwork, etc., is strictly forbidden without a written license agreement.  We regret that we are unable to grant licenses for the commercialization of fan fiction.

 

We also cannot accept unsolicited manuscripts or other material.  Please do not send us any submissions.

 

Please be advised that any commercial use or exploitation of our intellectual property rights is not permitted.  Bethesda Softworks will strictly enforce its rights.

 

 I hope this information helps! Thank you for your interest in Bethesda Softworks.

Kind Regards,
Bethesda Softworks

So, as I understand this, so long as I keep doing the project more or less as I'm doing it, which is not for profit, I can keep on drawing the coloring pages for the community. If I try to put out an actually coloring book... that will be responded to in a negative fashion. 

Let me be clear, I want to keep drawing your pictures. This project has been a source of great positivity for me and I love that I'm doing something so many are enjoying. So I am going to continue giving you guys and my coloring book page this source for something positive and different.  This of what I do, shall remain as free. Should anyone wish to support me as an artist, there are several ways to accomplish that and you need only ask. I have a patreon and other books as well.  You can share me in all sorts of ways. All things that help out wonderfully. 

In further news, this Saturday's release of new images will be my biggest one yet. Thank you all for being part of this project and it shall go on!