My work “Buffalo Hunt” appears on the cover of the new book by Rick Gilmore. You can check the book out here: Echoes thru the Thunder
Echoes thru the Thunder
Echoes thru the Wind
My work “The Long Journey Home” now appears on the cover of the book “Echoes thru the Wind” by Rick Gilmore. Check it out on Amazon!
Mammoths in a Live Science Article
This work is turning out to be the go-to image for Mammoth related news articles in science publications. You can check out it’s appearance in a Live Science article here: Woolly mammoths survived on mainland North America until 5,000 years ago, DNA reveals
My Dire Wolf is now on a book cover!
My work, Dire wolf appears on the cover of Deep in the Wild: Dire Wolves, a novel by author Gerry Griffiths. You can check out the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Wild-Wolves-Gerry-Griffiths-ebook/dp/B09CZHD8CP/. The work is altered a bit for the cover, but if you want to see what the original looks like: https://daniel-eskridge.pixels.com/featured/dire-wolf-daniel-eskridge.html.
By the way, here is what my original looks like:
Mammoths in a University of Cambridge Article
It’s always nice to spot one of my art works in my newsfeed. This one is in an article on Phys.org by the University of Cambridge. Check it out: https://phys.org/news/2021-10-humans-woolly-mammoths-extinctclimate.html
Also, the same image is being used in a similar article on EOS.org: https://eos.org/articles/mammoths-lost-their-steppe-habitat-to-climate-change?mkt_tok=OTg3LUlHVC01NzIAAAGA-uNkx9a4-H3pgLOr9CBdgse2spAgJ2ziob1qVeAHvtYUVztplHm8Gmuq73Y8w18sQKTETxsn927MVUBshsH9eEvIYWKT4lwSrHPOsQ
I’m on Rarible now :D
What the hell is Rarible?
Rarible is a marketplace for digital collectibles. That means you can buy digital art there, but you are not just buying copy of the image. You are buying a certified version, that is the “original” (…or limited edition)
Wait? What? How do you do that with digital images? …Enter NFTs
NFT (Non Fungible Tokens)
They sound like some sort of medication for curing toe fungus. But, no, are not that. Rather, they are akin to crypto currency. You’ve probably heard of Bitcoin, the most famous of these. There’s another kind called Etherium. Etherium however is more than just currency, it’s also a record keeping system. In the case of NFTs, the Etherium network keeps track of who owns an NFT.
So, in effect, and NFT is a virtual Certificate of Authenticity (and ownership). So if you buy the NFT, then you own the digital image that is attached to it. It’s much like owning the original of a real world painting. You own it (but you don’t necessarily own the copyright).
Buying and NFT
To buy an NFT on Rarible is not quite as straight forward as providing your credit card number. You have to use Etherium to make a purchase. That requires installing a digital wallet like Metamask, and then funding that wallet using an exchange like Coinbase.
It’s analagous to exchanging U.S. dollers for Euros, then having a special purse you use when traveling in Europe to hold those Euros.
Anyway, it’s new and interesting. Right now, I only have one work there: Sorceress and Dragon. As it cost about $45 to list a work at the moment, I’m not going to be putting much there. You can find my profile on Rarible here: https://rarible.com/danieleskridge
I’m featured in Wild West Magazine!
In the June 2019 of Wild West Magazine, I’m the featured artist! They show several of my works, some with full page displays. What’s really cool is that I was able to actually find this on the newsstand at my local Barnes and Noble.
Apparently, there are quite a few subscribers who liked what they saw. I had quite a nice bump in print sales almost immediately.
There’s a short interview with me included as well, but here are a couple of the works that were featured.
My First Work to be in a Museum
I have my first museum piece! One of my artworks, Anhanguera appears in a traveling show for science museums about pteranodons. Here is a shot of me in front of it at the Fernbank Science Museum in Atlanta
Better IPhone Pictures: The HDR Setting
One feature you might find on your cell phone camera is the HDR setting. IPhones have had it for years, and I see that the latest Galaxy phones as well as Google Pixels have it, too. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. What it does is that it gives a better range of color values in your pictures. For instance:
In this image that I took with my IPhone, I had the HDR setting enabled. It recorded both a regular image (left) and an HDR image (right). At first glance the two images look the same, but if you look at the sky, you’ll see that it was totally washed out in the regular image. Whereas, in the HDR image you’ll see that the blue of the sky has returned. If you look even closer you will see that the dark areas are a little less lost in shadow as well.
It’s a subtle change, but such small differences can make the difference between a good photograph and a great photograph.
On IPhones, you enable the HDR setting directly in the camera app in two touches, first select “HDR” at the top or side (depending on the orientation, then select “On” :
You may have noticed the “Auto” option. That’s on newer IPhones and, in theory at least, has the IPhone determining when best to take an HDR photo. I tend to not trust the auto feature, and prefer to force the HDR setting to on.
There is one other setting on the IPhone involved with HDR. If you go into the Settings app and down to the camera settings, there is a toggle switch that you can enable to keep both an HDR and non-HDR version of any photos you take while the HDR setting is enabled. I suggest keeping this toggle on as sometimes, the non-HDR photo turns out to be the better of the the two.
Yours in Art,
Daniel
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Print On Demand: An Easy Way to Sell Art
How can I make money with my art?
As an artist who does a pretty good business selling prints, I get asked this quite often. There are in fact, quite a few ways, but the one I prefer is via print on demand websites. It does not promise riches (though that isn’t impossible), but it is very easy to do.
Digital Art, such as art made in Photoshop, goes particularly well with Print On Demand (POD) websites, but if you can digitize your traditional art with a scanner or digital camera, that will work as well.
What exactly is Print On Demand?
POD sites are websites where an artist can upload their artwork. The site then sells prints featuring the artwork of the artists. Whenever a print sells, the site creates an inkjet print and sends it to the customer while the artist gets a piece of the profit.
For example, I have an account on FineArtAmerica.com (Daniel Eskridge – Artwork Collections) – one of the more popular such sites.
A LOT of artists currently use such sites. So competition is quite fierce and actually having a print sell with your art may not happen as often as you’d like. It’s also up to you to bring potential buyers to your profile on such sites. They don’t tend to do any marketing for you; however, with time and effort, it is possible to make money.
In fact, I’ve put together an eBook on on just how I go about doing it:
One of the big positives about such sites are that you can sell an unlimited number of prints of the same work. If you can find that one works in your portfolio, that is eye catching, and that everyone loves, you could do rather well.
Also, if you have a big following on social media, you already have an advantage that could make POD work for you.
If you’re an artist whose looking for a way to get into selling art (particularly if you art is digital), then I suggest giving a print on demand site a chance. Here’s a few of the top sites you can check out:
- FineArtAmerica – This is the one I use the most. You can try it for free, but have to pay ($30/year) once you submit more than 25 artworks. There are additional little benefits to having a paid membership as well.
- RedBubble – I’ve used this one a little bit. It’s probably the next most popular behind FAA. It’s free to use.
- SaatchiArt – This one is well reviewed, but I find that they tend to focus more on traditional art. As a digital artist, I don’t particularly feel at home there. This one is also free.
Yours in Art,
Daniel
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