It’s Friday! And with Friday comes Friday Favorites. This week we want to make a shout out to Drawing Day 2009, which is tomorrow June 6th, and the celebration of the fabulous weather we have been having here in Seattle!

Drawing Day 2009

Illustrators of the world unite! Tomorrow is Drawing day 2009 so get out your pens and papers (or whatever your preferred medium is) and start drawing. The goal of Drawing Day is to have over one million people upload images that they create on June 6th. At Imagekind we have created a group just for this purpose. Art can be uploaded at any point over the weekend but should be created on June 6th, 2009. To find out more about Drawing Day click here.

Join the Drawing Day 2009 Group Now!

Bring in the Sunshine

Seattle is known as a cold and wet destination, but the last few weeks have been absolutely glorious. We even had a hot weather alert go out this week due to the irregularly hot temperatures. Schools are taking this in stride and there seems to be an abundance of school field trips to anywhere that involves the great outdoors. The office, on the other hand, has been a slightly different story – it is hot and sticky. To help refresh us a bit, I have chosen some great images from Imagekind member artists that celebrate the sunshine and the pleasures of these hot long days.

Have a great weekend!

Eileen

Did you know there is an unbelievably easy way to keep people up to date on your artwork at Imagekind? It’s called RSS, which stands for Real Simple Syndication. Read on and I’ll show you just how “Real Simple” it really is.

With RSS, all you need is a link and an RSS reader, and you can keep up with hundreds of thousands (maybe millions to billions) of different content sources on the web. From blogs and news sources, to YouTube and yes, Imagekind Galleries and Groups. Just click and your RSS reader will automatically update every time there is new content to view.

At Imagekind, we’ve incorporated this same technology to make it simple for people to stay up to date on their favorite galleries and groups on Imagekind. Whenever someone adds a new image to a gallery you are following via RSS, or posts a new image to a group, the reader will automatically update and show you what image was included and other useful information about the artwork for sale.

So, whenever you encounter an artist’s work on Imagekind you particularly like, scroll down to the bottom of the gallery, and click the “RSS for this Gallery.” Next time the artist adds more images to that gallery, your RSS reader will update, allowing you to easily simply view the new content.

The Potential for Artists

Incorporating RSS into Imagekind provides huge marketing potential for Imagekind Artists. With RSS, artists can share their feed links with their friends, family and fans outside of Imagekind. That way, they can click and stay up to date when an artist posts new images to their galleries.

To share your RSS feed link, simply right click on the and select “copy link location.” You can then paste that link as you would any other URL. Once you have the link, share it on your favorite social network, twitter, flickr, blog or even send an email. Once someone clicks the link, it will ask if and how they would like to subscribe to your gallery via RSS.

See, a real simple way to share your content and keep people up to date on your artwork for sale on Imagekind.

Want to learn something else you can use your Imagekind Gallery RSS Feed for? Read the post An Easy way to Display your Art Online and discover how to market your Imagekind galleries with banners via RSS.

Note: please allow some time between posting new images and them showing in the RSS reader. There is an expected delay for the reader to update.

Reminder: This is happening tonight

Do you ever wonder if you have what it takes to make a living as an artist?

At Imagekind, we don’t want to just create a group of artists with no direction. We want to be a resource for artists as well; this is what we think it means to be a community. And when we hear of a great opportunity for our member artists that will help better their art careers, we want to pass it on!

Sign up now for this free event and listen in while Ariane Goodwin interviews Alyson Stanfield, the Internet’s Premier Art Biz Coach on the 10 qualities you need for promoting yourself and your art.

Sign up and discover

When: December 17, 2008
Time: 7-8:00pm EST
Where: Your own phone! You’ll receive more details via email.

This is a special free pre-event in conjunction with Ariane’s smARTist Telesummit 2009. We’ve joined up with the smARTist Telesummit 2009, hosted by Ariane Goodwin to bring our member artists helpful resources to better their art careers. I will be sharing more about this special opportunity in the coming weeks, but for now, reserve your spot in the free pre-event!

Now it’s easier than ever for SmugMug’s Consumer and Professional Photographers to have their photos printed and framed with the highest quality options out there.

You can read the full online press release here.

This exciting partnership will allow SmugMug’s community to easily print and frame their work, choosing from the widest variety of papers, canvases and framing options available online. We are truly excited and absolutely honored to have been selected to offer our print and framing services to the SmugMug community.

So, why’d they choose us?

Well, as Chris MacAskill, SmugMug’s co-founder said, “Our mantra is ‘Your Photos Look Better Here’, so we had to find a partner whose workmanship and service was unrivaled.” After a long period of testing and comparisons, Imagekind’s quality, selection, and service swept us away.”

We know their community demands the best; and we’re happy to provide it!

If you are a photographer on SmugMug, visit smugmug.imagekind.com and login with your account to discover how you can have Imagekind print and frame your photos on SmugMug.

Read the full press release here: SmugMug and Imagekind Announce Partnership

CafePress sent over some sweet gifts today as a way to welcome us to the team. They are cool boxes with a tile insert including both our logos.

We are all really excited to join forces with CafePress and look forward to the all the future opportunities to leverage the strengths and resources of both companies as we continue to grow.

Thanks CP!

- Nate

Note: this in no way represents the entire Imagekind team.

Imagekind is happy to announce an exciting collaboration with Debra Gould, the Staging Diva, creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program. With this strategic cooperation, Home Stagers are now able to find art quickly and easily when decorating their clients’ homes for sale. Prior to offering artwork from Imagekind, Home Stagers had few options when trying to outfit a home with specific and appropriate artwork. However, as Debra explains,

Finding appropriate art that will enhance the home without taking over and getting it in the size and framing needed has been challenging until now. I created the Staging Diva Home Staging Art Shop to make this easier and I’ve created specific art galleries for every key room in the house. So you don’t have to wonder if a particular work of art is more appropriate for a master bedroom or dining room for example.

Offering artwork from the Imagekind community for the Staging Diva network creates a valuable resource for professional fulfillment on-demand, and is another addition to our continued pursuit of building the best community for buying, selling and creating art.

About The Staging Diva:

Debra Gould, creator of the Staging Diva Home Staging Training Program, has staged millions of dollars worth of real estate, including seven of her own homes. Debra is the President of Six Elements which offers Home Staging, Interior Redesign and Color Consulting services, as well as the StagingDiva.com website.

Gould has gained international recognition and has been featured in major media in the US and Canada including: HGTV, CNN Money, CBC National News, CBS Radio, GlobalTV, CityTV, The Wall Street Journal, Woman’s Day, Reader’s Digest and more.

You can read more about this collaboration from Debra Gould on her blog, The Business of Home Staging.

Joe Barrouk, the founder of A Singular Creation, shares his insights into why he does, what he does. He is passionate about art and providing tools, resources and a community to share those with others. A Singular Creation includes a place for “art contests and competitions, call for entries, juried art exhibitions, art events, art workshops and classes, art shows, fairs and festivals and other opportunities for artists and photographers. We also have several options for artists, galleries and art businesses to submit an art related announcement of any kind.” Continue reading to see what drives Joe and A Singular Creation to keep going.

Image: Dawn of the Trees by Carmen Cordelia
http://ccordelia.imagekind.com

Why do you do this? Because I love art. That is the reason. Many people ask why I do what I do – why I spend so much time building a free site for artists with no plans of ever charging any fees. I tell them I do it because I can. I do it because someone should, because it needs to be done. Some other art sites out there ask me: Well how do you make money? My answer is: I don’t. This site is not about making money. It’s about building a community where artists can collaborate with other artists, get advice, learn, show their art, find opportunities, have fun and get to know other artists. That’s it. No strings. Don’t you wish everything could be that simple?

Read more…

Natasha Wescoat, one of our top selling artists, has recently contributed a few very interesting articles to the EBSQ blog. I found them particularly insightful and knew they were worth sharing as soon as I finished reading them. I especially like her DIY and whatever-it-takes attitude.

Image: Just Waking III by Natasha Wescoat
http://natashawescoat.imagekind.com

In Creating Your Success: Online Self-Publishing, Natasha says, “Being successful doesn’t mean it must be determined through traditional channels. Media moguls are cutting college to develop their successful technology, artists are fending off traditional education in favor of self education, and writers are finding they don’t have to go through publishers to follow their dreams.” I like her attitude and perception! I am glad to read how she has been able to successfully leverage all the resources available to artists to show and sell their work.

Image: Crystal Breezes by Natasha Wescoat
http://natashawescoat.imagekind.com

Check out both articles on EBSQ’s blog: Creating Your Success: Online Self-Publishing and Using Flickr To Market Your Art

I am excited to see how all of our amazing artistic collaborations are coming together! Not only does Imagekind have a great relationship with EBSQ but also a fantastic partnership with Flickr, one of the top photo sharing sites. It is fascinating to see how the artistic web continues to grow and spread!

Take a look at Natasha Wescoat’s art at Imagekind. Her whimsical trees are simply captivating and you can now purchase her art as greeting cards.