the TATTOO ZINE.com

Home Studios can be even harder to manage than a full time working Big Biz art studio! That's the truth! It is nearly impossible to work in a separate area at home because there is so much going on in the home that you don't want to miss!

So what is the answer? I am not sure, I personally am beating my head so hard against "The Wall" that my creativity is coming out my ears...but still no money. The answer that I keep coming to is a change in our artists.

That is right, like so many things, Big Biz is dependant upon us. If we become stronger, stand harder for our rights and DEMAND more money then we will have it tough...at first. If in unision we sing our praises, DEMAND our respect and require our position in the totem pole of life then we just may get more in return.

Specifics: Take heart in what you do. It is the very best that is around. The customer would not be before you if they could find another that was as good, cheaper...otherwise they would be there. MAKE the customer understand that they are getting original art, a lost art. That their work is WORTH MORE every second they have it, than mass produced crap that is actually WORTH LESS the longer they are in business.

Network, talk and communicate with others around you doing the same thing. Determine what is a fair for your work and STICK TO IT! The more artists that have a lion of a heart, the longer us artists will be able to LIVE!

EDUCATE the customer. Tell them just WHY your work is better than a mass produced print or image. Originals vs copies, artists vs Big Biz, artist vs slave labor...those are the key issues to discuss and inform. Those are the areas that break an artist and a consumer apart. Those are the issuses that are being abused by Big Biz today.

And until we as artists stand up and become our OWN MIDDLE MEN for our own art, and DEMAND in unison that we are treated the way society SHOULD treat us we can only hope that Big Biz will slide us enough crumbs to feed our own children.