The below article is a guest post from blogger Cory Huff, who produces TheAbundantArtist.com where artists can learn better techniques to sell their artwork online.

In 1937 Napoleon Hill published the book Think and Grow Rich. In the book Hill outlines 13 principles that make people successful. He created these principles after spending 20 years studying the most wealthy people of his time. One of my favorite principles is the idea of the Master Mind. Hill makes a comparison between the human brain and a battery. The more cells a battery has, the better it works. Also, the more batteries you have working together the better they work.

Hill is not the only person to draw this type of conclusion. We all know that we need other people to help us. That’s why we hire specialists in different fields. Hill, however, gave the guidance that it is necessary for people who desire success to cultivate associations with people who can help them.

Artist Salons

In 17th century France artists and academics began a system of academies and salons, holding each other accountable, and generating positive energy aimed at raising the level of success for each artist involved. These artists became friends, confidants, and business partners with each other. While outsiders criticized the salons, those who were part of the salons enjoyed recognition and financial success.

There’s nothing all that complicated about getting a group of friends together to discuss art. You probably do that all the time in your immediate circles. There is a big difference, however, between having a group that discusses art and having a group of people together who are focused on helping each other succeed.

Band Together for Success

It is an acknowledged principle that those who succeed do so with the help of those around them. Successful business professionals purposefully seek out mastermind groups. I am a member of a mastermind group that consists of people from several different industries. We meet together to discuss obstacles that hold us back from succeeding and to share resources & ideas. Artists can and should be doing the same thing.

I hear so many artists talk about how they don’t know anything about being in business and that’s perfectly fair. Having a mastermind group, or a salon, is a way of making up for some of your weaknesses in business. I have found that once you get a group of artists together and start talking business, they often find that together they have a lot more knowledge of how to be in business than they give themselves credit for.

How to Organize

Many art critics and art coaches advise having a group of like minded painters together. There is certainly value in having other painters around to critique your work, but what about artists from other disciplines? A great deal of brilliance comes from getting artists of different disciplines together.

Having an agenda is a good idea. Artists together have a tendency to chat about topics not related to business. An agenda that is distributed beforehand complete with what you’ll talk about, when the meeting will start, whether there will be food, and how long you’ll spend on each topic is a good idea.

Who you organize a salon with is important. Don’t go for variety just for variety’s sake. You should find other artists who you are inspired by, who are focused on their business, and who you trust to do things well.

What to Talk About

Some art salons simply talk about art. That’s all well and good, but you need to focus on your business if you want to be a successful artist. If you want to talk about the finer points of Existentialism, put that at the end of the agenda. Good topics for your art marketing salons include: incorporating as a business, building Web sites, selling at art fairs, pricing models, taxes, health insurance, and many other topics.

Even if you can’t find a few artists in your area that you can band together with to form a mastermind or artist salon, you should be able to find at least one person with whom you can brainstorm. The idea is that we don’t work alone.

I’m interested in hearing from Imagekind users – are any of you part of an artist salon or mastermind group?

Cory Huff is an actor, husband, and producer of TheAbundantArtist.com, a site dedicated to teaching artists how to sell their work online. He firmly believes the starving artist is a myth that must be dispelled. He is available for individual consultation on Internet marketing and business planning for artists.

Friday Favorites is a weekly feature on the Imagekind blog where I share some of my favorite things found on – or related to – Imagekind over the past week. Sometimes there may be many, others, perhaps a few. It might be a single print, an artist, a group of artists, an article, different art styles; who knows! In any case, check out some of the cool happenings around Imagekind every Friday on the blog.

I love the style of vintage-looking photography. So naturally I was thrilled when I saw this post on Twitter the other day: 13 beautiful examples of vintage 1970s photography.

I thought I’d share some of the photographs I’ve found on Imagekind that have a similar style. It’s becoming a common technique in photography to manipulate photos to have this same kind of vintage and retro feel to them. Some artists use antique cameras to achieve this look, while others utilize digital techniques to pictures they have already taken. Check out this tutorial if you are interested in how to give your photographs that weathered, vignette effect.

The desaturated colors and grainy textures are what really make these photographs appealing. Whether framed or on canvas, they really help set a room apart; great for conversation starters!

Seagull in Winter by FA Photography

apple for the day by Vanessa Ho

Atmospheric by Nancy Coyle

Gold Rush by Linda Plaisted

Do you believe in fairies? by Irene L

bird convention by Julie Kruger

Succulants by Vincent-Field Photography

Everything has been figured out. by Damien Rudd

Swing by Emily Baier

365-18-Motel-04-05Small by casey365

You can find more vintage style photography through the various Groups in the Imagekind Community

We’ve all seen it. Heck, whether an amateur or professional, we’ve all probably fallen victim to it ourselves. That’s right, the PSHS – Photographer’s Shaky Hand Syndrome.

Natalie Norton, over at dps, shares How to Reduce Camera Shake – 6 Techniques and end those unintentionally blurry photographs. You don’t need a tripod or other special equipment to pull off her techniques, just some trusty appendages.

I thought it would be a helpful resource for all the photography artists here at Imagekind and wanted to share it.

- Nate

This little blog post has pretty much exploded on Digg and I thought I would pass it on. There are some fantastic sites on here that all artists should check out, whether your medium is photography or not.

Take a look:

60 Photography Links You Can’t Live Without

Stuck In Customs, the photo blog of our own Trey Ratcliff, gets a nice mention as being “probably the best known HDR artist out there. He creates amazing, artistic HDR creations.”

And surprise, the authors love Flickr and share some sick Flickr tools and widgets.

- Nate

Have a missing link that should be there? Leave a comment and add it below. Let’s aggregate our own list to share.

Does Brian Auer ever sleep? He seems to always have something new going on!

It is really amazing to see how some of our innovative member artists come up with new ways to show and sell their work. Brian Auer has collected seven fine art photographers to help contribute with his endeavor to increase the world’s collection of breathtaking photography. As Brian explains in the Fine Art Photo Blog Press Release,

…seven internationally acclaimed fine art photographers work together, publishing a work of fine art photography daily; every day another photographer, each photographer once per week. The works will be up for purchase in two variants…as high-quality but unsigned prints… [and] …as definitive and collectible signed prints.

Image: Colors of the Canyon by Brian Auer

You can also find it at the Fine Art Photo Blog

We at Imagekind are amazed at the level of quality and artistic ability each of these seven photographers exhibit and posses. Each of the artist has the choice where their print orders are fulfilled and we are thrilled and honored at many of the artist’s choice to select Imagekind for this function.

We are proud that our quality is superior enough for such amazing photographers to choose that their spectacular images be printed with us! It is truly amazing how artists are utilizing Imagekind’s print-on-demand service to build their own art businesses.

Take a look, www.fineartphotoblog.com.