Diego Glazer was our latest guests on our BoldBrush Live! program. As a paid subscriber, we are happy to provide not only the video replay but the full transcript of the insightful session with Diego below. Please keep in mind the transcripts are generated by AI so there may be some typos.
Creatively,
Clint Watson
BoldBrush Founder & Creativity Fanatic
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Olya Konell 00:00
So again, share your questions with Diego. We will be asking him his input and his advice. Because the reason why we do these webinars is because there's a lot of marketing gurus out there and there's a lot of business gurus out there, but business and marketing for other industries is not the same as art. Art has a very unique way that it needs to be leveraged, and you know how to do certain things, it's just different. And so instead of, you know, giving you a marketing guru, we want to bring on our artists that are doing an amazing job, that are successful, that have gotten to where they are today. And this is a chance for you to learn of what actually works firsthand and how they did it a little bit about us, who we are. BoldBrush, we are a company that offers tools and resources for artists, and these are free resources and paid resources. This is a free resource. We do this every month. We have our podcast with Laura that is also published almost, I would say weekly. If you go to boldbrush.com you can actually view all the episodes. You could also find them on YouTube, Spotify, anywhere else you get your podcasts. We have our newsletter, we have the free and paid version. And then as far as products, we offer tech solutions for artists. And so the first one is Faso websites. So these are, this is a website builder that Clint designed from the bottom up, and it's made for artists that want to spend less time updating their website. They want something a little bit more plug and play. You know, you can technically launch a site within a couple hours. We also offer Artful Squarespace by Faso. This is for the artist that wants more hands on control, more ability to edit certain elements, and wants to be able to sell digital like subscriptions and memberships and things from their site, and you know, be able to do that from that location. We have a special offer for that. So go ahead and check that out. If you're interested. You get both of those. Give you access to the BoldBrush circle of marketing, which is a place where artists can ask questions, get art critiques, get access to the BoldBrush circles of marketing ebook and other marketing resources like the marketing calendar and all that good stuff. So you know, that's a little bit about us, what we do and why we do what we do. And now we're gonna go ahead and jump in and bring Diego on. Diego, thank you so much for joining us. And Angela, thank you so much for joining us. She is our Artist Relations Director. I would love for you just to tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do, and then we'll jump in.
Diego Glazer 02:44
Absolutely thanks for having me. So I'm Diego Glazer, and I'm a Mexican American professional artist. I focus on the representational arts in the form of oil painting. I was born in the United States, but I grew up in Mexico most of my life, and which I really appreciate, being bicultural, is really fed into my whole esthetic and my artistic pursuits. So I started, I mean, I've been drawing and painting ever since I can remember. I the very first art class I would say, I took was this Bob Ross style art class when I was about seven years old in my hometown in Mexico. And so I was in the unusual position of being a kid that had oil paints, which I guess is not very common for a kid to have oil paints around the house, but I did. So I experimented a lot as a kid, and eventually, when I was about 18 years old, I went to San Miguel, which is a very artsy town in Mexico, and that's where I started studying art, and eventually I found that these Atelier style schools existed, which is what I was looking for. I just didn't know it at the time. And the focus of these schools is to teach students how to paint like the old masters, basically. So it's not very focused on a theory. It's very much focused on technique. So it's like a three year boot camp where you focus half your time on painting the nude figure, and the other the time, we're focusing on basic exercises like bar drawings that you may have may have heard of cast drawings and paintings, and ultimately, still life painting and the combination of all these elements over the course of three years, taught in a way that builds. On itself and builds on itself over and over until you finish. The program has been invaluable to me. So once I graduated from art school in Florence, which was Angel Academy, I returned to Mexico, to my hometown of gereda, and I continued experimenting, but now with a lot more tool in my arsenal that I could experiment with. And eventually, I just decided, since I'm American citizen, I figured I'd try my luck as an artist in the United States. So I moved to Denver, Colorado, I believe in 2021 and I ended up finding an amazing group, a tribe of painters under the tutelage of Daniel sprick, who's an artist that I greatly admire. He's very well established at this point and very well respected. And so my current situation is that I'm sharing a studio next to Daniel spritz studio, with four of my best friends who are on the exact same path that I'm on, and this, that's the studio we're in right now, which is actually Quang Ho studio, another artist you may have heard of. Yes, he's friends with Daniel Sprick. They built their studios right next to each other, and Quang Ho decided to move to Pennsylvania for most of the year. So he said, You know what, why don't we rent the guys our studio? And so this is where we spend all of our time. And from time to time, Dan sprig pops over and he checks in on us, gives us critiques, and we get to watch him paint everything he's doing, which is just fascinating. And so that's my current life situation.
Olya Konell 06:58
Wow, it sounds, I will say, like a dream, because you, you have completely immersed yourself in the arts. You're not just, you know, you have art friends, you have your mentor. I mean, it's a dream to have that kind of a setup. So that is absolutely amazing. And I'm just going to throw out a little follow up question. I mean, based on your experiences, you know, going through the path that you went you you know, not all artists will, you know, some will go and get mentorship right away. Some will go to art, you know, an atelier or an art school, and then go and get mentorship. You know, artists get to where they are through these different paths. But for what would you would you say that your art path that you've followed, you know, and immersed yourself with other artists, has that also helped you on, like the business end, on the marketing end, has that been instrumental in some way? Is there any connection?
Diego Glazer 07:58
100% Yeah. First of all, being surrounded by people that have already made it. I mean, there's no better advice you can get than from someone who's been there and done that. So it's not only Quang Ho and Dan sprinkler in this community, but there's a lot of other established artists like Anna rose Bain and Adrian Stein and Robin Cole and all these people that either already made it or are making it right now. And between my closest friends, which is another four people that I share the studio with, a lot of the moves we make as professional artists, we always consult with each other. So we brainstorm with each other. If someone's going to have a sale, you can ask your studio mate who's right next to you, like, how would you do this? You've done this before. How would you approach that? And that's you know, that gives me a big sense of security, because back when I didn't have a community, I I wasted a lot of time and resources on these wild goose chases with these strategies that I was just kind of making up, and a lot of it were hits and misses, you know. So it's great having a community I can rely on to help with my marketing.
Olya Konell 09:24
Oh, for sure, absolutely. And I've heard a quote, and I'm going to butcher this, but maybe Angela or Diego, you guys, it was something, something, something along the lines of as, and this is from another artist that said it during a podcast, that artists tend to lift each other up. They kind of rise together. And historically, if you look back, that's just always been the case. A lot of these old masters were actually in communication, writing each other, you know, they you know. So there was a lot of back and forth, even back in the day, just in a different way, you know. You. Um, and I guess looking to the audience, guys, if you'd because I'm that's on my to do list, I need artist friends that are local, you know, something to think about. If you don't have a little circle of artists, put that as the top of your list, because that's going to help you with your marketing. That's going to help you, as he said, in your, you know, efforts, whether we creating the art, getting real feedback, getting connections to opportunities, like, Hey, there's this going on. You want to join me? Kind of a deal. Yeah, that's awesome.
Angela Agosto 10:31
I definitely agree with that. I think every artist that we've had on here has the importance. It's just so invaluable to have your tribe, especially when you guys are either on the same journey, or those who've already been where you're walking, can guide you. And I know, I think we had Lisa Lebovoski, she said that a lot of these opportunities she's had, like being in galleries and stuff, she said she wouldn't have gotten had she not stayed with the network of people that she's currently, you know, in studios with and Co-Ops, because she said they either recommended her or invited her or just told her, hey, you know what, come join us and just, you know, pop in. And then that led to other opportunities. Yeah, I think almost every I'm thinking Deborah Keirce, she absolutely because of all these artists, and she's in a museum because somebody else told her about an opportunity, Oh, come with me on on this, but, yeah, I think that's that's just wonderful that you have that community around you,
Olya Konell 11:27
Since we're on that topic, yeah, oh, sorry, I was going to ask you if an artist doesn't have that right now. I mean, do you have any advice on how to find your people?
Diego Glazer 11:42
Ah, oh, well, that's a good question, because it was, it was hard for me, and it was also a little bit circumstantial, the way I ended up in this, in this group, but I would say, if there's if there's the if there's shows in your area of the kind of art that you're making and that you're into, it's very important that you show your face in those shows. Like, as artists, I can only speak for myself, but you know, and friends that I know too, like, sometimes it's hard to drag ourselves away from the easel and go to a show. We just want to stay in the studio. We're home bodies or whatever, but going to shows, I've found, is invaluable. Like, that's where you meet people, that's where you where you're around things that are actually happening. Like, it's very unlikely that your community is going to just come knocking on your studio door and you're all going to have a party. You got to go to where things are happening, and that's where you start making connections. And if you're from a smaller town where maybe there isn't anything like that happening, I would rely more on online communication. So what I mean, if there's an artist you like or you relate to on Instagram or wherever, don't just follow them, but reach out, you know, send them a message, and you'll find that a lot of the time, they'll be pretty accessible, and they'll be willing to talk to you, and if you start commenting on their pictures, they might start commenting on yours, and this kinship starts to form, you can actually start having private conversations with different artists, and you Know, even asking for advice, I've found that to be, you know, a very cool thing about social media. I also find that I've made some friends on social media that I can rely on for advice, which is great,
Olya Konell 13:56
yeah. Oh, absolutely. I'm almost thinking too, if an, if you have an artist that you admire, and maybe they have a a workshop that they're doing or something, and if it's within your means, attend it virtually, because a lot of stuff is done virtually now, you know, participate in those things, because that would give you an opportunity to have that, like video conversation with them, or Other artists even so just a lot of artists on Patreon, or they have their own things. So,
Olya Konell 14:27
yeah, no, that's really good advice. And actually, while we're before we get too far in, I want to quickly cover your offerings. And this isn't just about what you're offering, but this also gives artists ideas of what you know, hey, what they could offer too.
Olya Konell 14:43
You know, one of the things that let me go ahead and share my screen, and I shared the link already, yeah. So, one of the things that Diego is offering on his site, and this is really cool, because he has, in two languages, the painting still life, course. And, you know. This is your knowledge that you've gathered over the years through the Atelier and onward. So it's not like a short, 30 minute video. It is a four hour, four hour course, and I think that's amazing. Did you want to highlight that a little bit for us talk about it? Or is there anything else you'd like to share?
Diego Glazer 15:19
Absolutely thank you. Yeah. So the reason I decided to make this course is because I think it's a great introduction to beginner and intermediate artists to oil painting. And I made it in English and in Spanish because, you know, my audience is divided between Mexico and United States and the rest of the world and the still life. I think it's it's a great starting point for several reasons. The first being is that it's a very controlled setting, extremely controlled, as opposed to landscape painting, where the light might change, or there's other factors, like, you know, bugs flying in your ear, tourists walking around and asking you questions. All of those are factors that make it more difficult. Figure painting, for example, not only do you have to pay the model, which can be expensive, but the model also moves a little bit. You have to know anatomy, which is or structure at least, which is a whole thing. And when you're doing still life, it's not moving, it's not charging you by the hour, the light's not changing. So everything is nice and under control. You can take as long as you as long as you need to to really get the drawing rights, find the colors, render the whole thing. And in this course, I walk you through the whole thing, from the actual setting up of this still life, which I think is a very fun process, to the drawing, the blocking and the rendering. And you get me, you get sorry, you get to watch me paint the still life from the first brushstroke to the last. So this is a comprehensive course. I also introduce you to the material. If you're someone that's never painted before, I introduce you to all the brushes, all the colors we use. And I just think it's a very good introduction for someone who's either never painted or someone who's a beginner or intermediate to really polish their skills with this course. I also think it's a great gift for someone you might think might be interested in learning how to paint. So yeah, I welcome everyone to check it out. And if you know anyone who struggles with English. You can get them the version with subtitles. Spanish, awesome.
Olya Konell 18:05
Well, and also, too, I think it would be as somebody who's a, I would say, a hobby artist. I've never really dabbled in still life, like, I mean, I've always painted from photos. So, you know, maybe that's not something that you've spent a lot of time in. I mean, I haven't that is on my to do list is like paint from life a little bit more, because that really helps you become a much better painter, whether it's still life or landscapes. But yeah, this is awesome. We've shared the links everybody, so if you want to check it out, we'll include these in the follow up emails as well if you forget to snag it. And the one thing I really want to highlight, one thing, sorry, go ahead.
Diego Glazer 18:47
Oh, sorry, just one thing I forgot to mention is that for people that buy the still life course, I offer a video call to clear up any questions or anything you might want to have cleared out, or any advice you might need. Once you get the course, we can hop on a video call and I'll help you with anything you
Olya Konell 19:11
need. Wow. That is awesome. Yeah, that is so if a person attempted it, they could ask, show you their painting and say, This is what I did. What advice do you have kind of a deal, or I struggled on this very cool, absolutely, yeah, really cool opportunity. If anybody has any question, well, actually, I have one question. Somebody asked, What palette do you use for your portrait paintings?
Diego Glazer 19:35
Actually, I don't have a standard palette that I use for most of my portrait paintings, or anything at all really. I I'm very experimental. So every time I paint something, I put out, you know, different colors, but I can definitely give you a standard palette that I think is extremely versatile and useful. So. So titanium whites, it's the whitest white that we have in oil paints. Yellow Ochre is a great earthy yellow, but it's chromatic enough for the purposes of flesh tones. Venetian red, it's an earthy red, but it's also chromatic enough for all the Reds we see in a face, raw umber, which is great for, you know, it's a brown, but it's a brown that leans more yellowish greenish. So it's great for certain hair tones. And it's also great for the turning tones that we might see as the light turns into the shadow, Burnt Umber, which is great for you know, the shadow colors, and also to mute some of the lighter flesh tones we might need to and ivory, black, and I might just add to that ultramarine blue in the case you you're painting someone with blue eyes or a blue shirt, or maybe you just want to add some blue accents in certain shadows. So I think that's a very friendly, permanent and versatile palette that you'd be surprised how many different colors you can come up with just using those five colors.
Olya Konell 21:28
That's awesome. Actually, I typed it out and I'm sharing it in the chat if anybody wants to copy it. So, yeah, there you go. Very awesome. And then kind of jumping into the marketing a little bit. So you mentioned that a lot of the stuff that you do, you know you're doing, you're in you're in the studio, you're able to bounce ideas off and things like that. What are some of the things that you maybe like you said you did in the past, that you were just kind of chasing these wild ideas and trying different things. What are the things that didn't work? I'm curious to hear
Diego Glazer 22:07
and well, one that comes to mind is so I found that there's a difference between the way you make you price and you market sketches and studies from Studio works. So a lot of artists, including myself, do sketches and studies all the time, little plein air landscapes, little portrait studies and stuff like that that take one session at the most, and even though they may be the same size as a studio painting, and by studio painting, I mean simply a painting that you spend more time on at the studio more sessions. If, if a study is the same size as the studio painting, I wouldn't necessarily price them the same way, because they take more time studio paintings do, they're more polished. And so I find that when I priced studies the same way that I did studio paintings, they were very difficult to sell because they might have been too expensive. So I would say studies are a great introduction for new collectors to start collecting your work. As long as they're good, don't, don't try to sell ugly studies. Not all of your studies are going to turn out great. So make your studies Good. Try to sell the best ones, but sell them for a lower price. And even, you know, you might even give people an extra discount, because you're giving them a taste of what it's like to live with your artwork, you know, and they're you're giving people a chance to support you. Because this, this isn't just a product like any other product, like some sneakers you might buy. When someone buys your work, it's not it is because of how nice it is, but it's also because they want to hop on your journey and support you throughout their journey. They want to or throughout your journey, they want to be a part of it. So make your studies inviting for people, even the layman, to own one of your works and support you. And if you, if you give, you know, pretty accessible prices, you might be surprised. Some people buy several at a time, and you can even give them a discount for that. The key is to not be super precious about them. I mean, at first it might feel a little bit eye watering to sell them for pretty low prices, but I think that's a good way to start, you know, and get some support behind you, some wind in your sails. And I. Yeah, that's, that's something I had to learn through years of not being able to sell them as well as I thought I should have, you know, you know, just swallow your pride a little bit and make them accessible.
Olya Konell 25:14
Yeah, and I love how you said it's an invitation for them to live with your work. And also, you know, we, we've all heard this, you know, you're once somebody buys from you one time they are on your list of collectors. Your next collector is probably your last collector. So if they spent, you know, if you know that they loved this, the next time you get a similar thing, you could reach out to them and be like, Hey, I just thought of you. I did this one recently, and just share, like an image with them or something, or they'll see it somewhere, and they'll want it that, you know. So it's, it's, it's a lot, like you said, it is. It's an invitation, and it's a chance for you to know who truly loves your work.
Diego Glazer 25:57
Exactly. Yeah, completely agree.
Angela Agosto 25:59
Great advice, because artists are always asking, How do I even start? I think this is a great, great advice for where to start. How to, you know, start building those collectors, yeah,
Olya Konell 26:07
do you so if you're going to price them less, in your mind, do you have a, like, a percentage of how much less it would be? Or is there, you know, a price range that you kind of stick to? Are you open to sharing that or
Diego Glazer 26:22
Yeah. So when I first started selling these studies, they would go an eight by 10, for example, would go for about 450 to $500 and depending on the sale, I might give between 10 or even up to 30% discount, especially if they bought a bunch of them at once, then I'd give a steep discount like 30% and as I've progressed and my prices have gone up currently, For example, a nine by 12 painting goes for about $1,000 but if you reach out to me during the right sale, I you'll probably find them for a little bit lower than that. I'll give them for a discount.
Olya Konell 27:15
That's awesome.
Angela Agosto 27:18
This sketch, do you ever sell, like a sketch with an original? Like, have you ever had a collector who bought an original buy one, because I'm thinking that would be, if I were collecting a big piece, I would probably also want the sketch, you know, kind of like, so do you do sketches become actual studio paintings as well?
Diego Glazer 27:36
Well, this kind of segues into another point I wanted to make, that is that you want to form relationships with your collectors and make them feel appreciated and make them feel special. Because it's like I said, it's not like other products. It's not like anything else you buy this. You have to form relationships. That's super important. And so what I'll what I'll usually do if I have a study that goes along with a studio painting, is, if they buy the studio painting, I'll throw in the study to make them feel appreciated. Yeah, it's like, I equate painting to music a lot. I think it's so similar in so many ways and so many different ways. But the one way that I think it's notice noticeably different is that if you're a musician, I don't know, Metallica for to give you an example, they have fans in London and Argentina and Tokyo, and they the people that collected their albums back when CDs used to be a thing. Weren't saying, like, No, I have to know the artist before I buy their CDs. You know, I have to have a personal relationship with them. No, they they just bought their CDs because they like their music. And if you're a famous painter, that might be the case. But when you're just starting off, collectors definitely want to know you. If they can have a personal relationship with you, that's what they want, and that's beneficial for both sides very much. So don't think of your the relationships with your collectors is, you know, just someone that buys something from you, but someone that's actually a part of your life and that you appreciate. And, you know, ask them about their kids or about their cats or whatever. You know, form relationships with them, and the longer that relationship is going on, the more they're likely to support you and carry you along on your journey. And eventually, once you're a very famous artist, you might start selling paintings across the world to people that don't even know you. Maybe even. At auction, but when you're starting off, I'd say it's a very important and smart move to foster those relationships.
Olya Konell 30:07
Yeah, that is such good advice, absolutely. And I think for us artists, it's hard, it's hard to think, like, why would anybody want to know me? Like, I'm, you know, maybe you're not a big social person. Maybe you're, you know, not a big extrovert, you know, maybe, maybe you feel awkward. Like, I know I feel awkward sometimes I'm better on camera than I am in real life. I feel more comfortable, for example. But like, you know, we all have our quirks,
Olya Konell 30:39
and it's, you know, to to the point that you made that selling art is kind of like a musician. I I can see where it even connects. If you're a brand new musician starting out, and you're starting in your local town, at your local diner, or your other or the local venue or the local bar, you know, you do form those relationships with your fans. They come over, they hang out. You sit with them at the table, you shake their hands. It's a small group, you know, those are the you know, those one on ones really do, do matter, and you know, so obviously you get big, you can't possibly do that. But there's other ways that people you know connect with their musicians that they like, you know, but they date. They don't just take interest in the music, they take interest in the person. And I would say, Yeah, artists have to get over the fact that they can just put their art out there and not any part of themselves. Your art is a part of your soul. You can't visit, you can't separate the two. You really have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, I think, with putting, like being being accessible to some degree, whether it be in person or online or something.
Diego Glazer 31:51
Yeah, really good. Yeah. And if you're a super awkward person, super introverted, well, guess what? People know that about artists. I mean, that's already a given. So they can expect, they can already expect it to be awkward when they meet an artist, so just embrace it and meet them and be awkward and it's okay. You'll be less awkward the more you do it well,
Olya Konell 32:16
and they probably appreciate the awkwardness. There's a guy that recently sailed from Oregon to Hawaii. I don't know if you guys saw that on social media, on the news, he quit his job, bought as a sailboat. He has some medical condition, so he just wanted to do this trip. And people loved him. There was millions of people following his journey. He sailed with his cat, and it was just him and his cat on a sailboat. He'd never sailed across the Pacific to Hawaii. He made it. But, I mean, people were so invested in his journey, and he is so socially awkward, and that is why, why they loved him even more. His videos were so awkward. He talks a little awkward, and he eventually kind of embraced it, and just started becoming more comfortable with being awkward. And every awkward person in the universe was drawn towards him because they're like, I feel seen, and you're doing something amazing, you know. So, yeah, if you feel I love that. If you feel awkward, just embrace it. That is what makes you you.
Angela Agosto 33:12
And I think everybody is at least a little bit awkward. I mean, I I'm definitely not an extrovert, but I know people who are, and I sometimes am surprised when I see that they can be a little awkward in certain situations, but so I everybody can relate to that at some point. You know the awkwardness, and like you said, they may just want to be a part of your journey even more, because they want to get to know why you're like that, or more about you. Yeah, it can be intriguing.
Olya Konell 33:37
Yeah, absolutely. Somebody
Diego Glazer 33:39
wants totally. I can speak from experience, I was the most awkward person you'll ever meet, and I've just worked on it. It's just putting myself out there. It ended up like going away a little bit. I'm still pretty awkward a lot of the time. But, you know, I can have a webinar like this at this point, and I feel fine doing it, because I've, I've just put myself out there enough to do it. And, yeah, I saw that someone wants to link to the sailor. That's awesome.
Olya Konell 34:10
I I'm going to find it. Guy sailed Hawaii. He was on the news and
Angela Agosto 34:19
stuff, not I've been away, so I did not. I haven't caught up with the names yet. Oliver, his
Olya Konell 34:24
name was Oliver, 29 year old man and his cat. I'll find the link. Guys sailing to Hawaii, sailing with Phoenix is what it's called. I'll find it, and I'll share it here. But really quick, since we're talking about putting yourself out there. One of the things that I noticed when I, for example, look at your Instagram, is that you put your art out there, but you also put yourself out there. Do you you know when it comes to your social you know what you do online, what you do on social media? Do you have any advice for artists? Do. Or, you know how to anything that you've noticed is working lately, because it's always changing. So we always like to ask, you know, what's working for you right now? What do you find useful that you'd like to pass on?
Diego Glazer 35:11
Well, first, a disclaimer that, like, things aren't exactly working on social media that well lately. And I don't think I'm the only one. I think the algorithm is punishing a lot of artists unless, unless you have it down tad like some, some artists are just great at it, you know? And some styles of art are very friendly with the algorithm. So very clickable stuff, very stuff you that's short form, and you can watch over and over, but I'm doing things that used to work for me a couple of years ago and don't anymore. So one of the things is what you mentioned is not only putting your art out there, but putting yourself out there, which you know, it wasn't my ideal way to do things like, if I could, I I would have just been the mysterious artist that just posts, uh, pictures or close ups on social media, and, you know, gets a lot of engagement. But you also got to be real with yourself. If that isn't working, then it's not working. So you might as well put yourself out there in the sense that, like I said before, people want to follow you on your journey anger, and if you're super if you're super aloof and mysterious, and that's working for you, then great. But if it's not, show the person that's behind the brush work. You know, at least show your hand in the picture, doing some of the painting or whatever. But if you show your face and use you say a little something about what's behind the artwork, or how your career is going lately, and stuff like that. I mean, it can really help to get people to engage with you. And I find that it doesn't matter so much, like the volume of people that are engaging with you, but the consistency of the people that are. So if there isn't that many people engaging with you, it's okay just engage with the ones that are and they're the ones that are along on your journey. And if, if you treat people on social media, you know personally, like, don't, don't just, if you get a comment, don't just say thanks, like, reply with their first name, at least. So they they feel like there's an actual connection going on, and they're talking to a person, not just this social media entity, and that'll make them feel more invited to come along with you on your journey. And yeah, a couple of years ago, maybe three or four years ago, I took this online course with Dena Brodsky, which is fantastic. It really changed my engagement. And I started doing reels because of that, you know, short form reels, and I started to get a lot of engagement from that. Since then, my engagement has gone down, probably because I haven't taken the updated version of her workshop, because, you know how fast the algorithm changes, you know, probably everything she told me back in those days doesn't even apply anymore. But if you're looking to improve your Instagram presence, I would highly suggest taking Dena Brodsky's workshop. She offers a live one where you can actually engage and ask questions directly. It's expensive, but it's worth it, or you can take a more affordable version that's pre recorded, but you can't exactly ask her specific questions as it relates to your career, but yeah, I'd highly suggest looking that up.
Olya Konell 39:06
I Another thing that I think might help too, because I've started doing that as of late, is following Adam Moseri, the CEO of Instagram, on Instagram, and anytime he posts anything new, he any anytime there's a new change, he talks about it. So I'm like, why would I? You know, I'll just follow the guy who makes the decisions and and fun one from last week that they changed. Now you have the ability to share another reel or post, you can share it, not in your stories, but share it into your feed to your friends. Basically, you can amplify other posts without it showing on your you know. You know where all where your personal posts are. There's a separate column for all of your like reshared posts. Why this could be useful is if you. Of artist friends, you guys could re share each other's posts get more you'd be like, Hey, let's do this for 30 days. We're each going to post at least three times a week. We're going to do our best. We're going to, you know, be and we're going to collaborate, and we'll amplify each other's content so it basically shows it to their followers and anyone it just in, and the more shares you like, that tells the algorithm that, hey, this is, it's not just going into stories, it's, it's just getting amplified within the space, I guess. But I thought that was really interesting. And like, Huh? That's a cool tool that artists can use to help each other. You know,
Diego Glazer 40:41
that's great to know. I had no idea that was an option to follow the guy that runs the show. I'll definitely do that well.
Olya Konell 40:49
And I'm going to spell his name, Adam moseri. I'm going to make sure I don't misspell it, Adam, but he always does the updates, like he always has the, this is his name, and this is oops,
Olya Konell 41:05
but I happen. It happened to pop up in my feed last week along with the map thing. So make sure your location set to private, sort of a
Angela Agosto 41:14
I saw this new share a feature. I just didn't know, but I think that's great, because it doesn't mess with your posts like work. So that's really, that's a nice tool.
Olya Konell 41:22
The other cool thing that he said in a different post that I so after watching that one, I went to his page, and I was like, I haven't looked at what he's been up to lately. What else is he saying is new? He shared another thing. He said that this was a long standing thing that has changed. People asked, if you engage with accounts covering different topics. So art, cats, food, travel, let's just say you, you, you are. You're an artist account, and you're following all these other accounts. In the past, it was advised to follow only art related things and only engage with art related things. I mean, I can see the benefit is you're actively talking, you're having these conversations and you're networking in the comments with people that are interested in art. That part still holds true. But if you are following a bunch of cat pages from your art account, it is no it is not going to impact who your posts are getting shown to. The way they analyze each post is based on the the AI. Can look at the video, look at the image, read your caption and decide what your post is about and who might it might be interest, who might be interested in it. So you could have you could literally, I'm not saying you should do this, but have a cat post and an art post, as long as your followers, kind of like both, you know, a large percentage of who Instagram shows it to is no longer just your followers, it shows it to anyone that it thinks might be interested in this thing. Again, I wouldn't do that. I would keep your page great professional. But it it the AI has gotten so good. I mean, it could generate images, it can process images. It can now look at your thing and be like, Oh, okay, this, this person might like it. So this is why accounts with a lot of followers have seen a large dip in engagement. Is in the past, if your account had a lot of followers that had a lot of weight, so if you made a new post, made a lot of followers, your post got shown to more people. Now they're getting treated the same way in an effort to give small creators an opportunity to kind of level the playing field, so each post is analyzed solely based on its own merit. What if your account is verified that might impact it in a positive way? But other than that, you know, it's, I think that's why there's been such a big shift. Is, you know, the followers were giving a boost in the past, and that no longer, I guess, makes much of a difference. Is, is what he said, at least, that's what came out of Adam moseries mouth.
Diego Glazer 43:52
So, yeah, that makes sense. But
Olya Konell 43:55
anyway, so in case anybody has wondered, and Lorraine writes, This is why I've avoided using Instagram. I don't know how to separate my personal Instagram from my art Instagram. From my art Instagram account. Should I only have one account? Delete my personal account. You don't have to delete both. You can keep both. You can keep them separate.
Angela Agosto 44:16
You can access both, you know, one from the other. Like, say, oh, you know, to get to know me personally or to see, you know, like, yeah, vice versa.
Olya Konell 44:22
LinkedIn, and also to like, what Diego was saying, share a little bit about yourself, put your personality into like,
Olya Konell 44:31
you don't have to show about what you're eating, but if you're in the studio and you're having a snack and you're painting, you could, you know, do a quick little video of of the studio that shows a little bit of behind the scenes. Do behind the scenes post, you know, there's my studio cat, you know, here's my setup, you know, show what you're working on. And you know, that could be so, you know, your personal life could sneak into your art related posts or stories, or, I wouldn't overthink it if it's on the topic of art.
Angela Agosto 44:59
If you have a still life set up, like Diego was saying, it's a great place to start for artists, maybe later, if you did a still life display of fruit or something, film yourself and you ate your still life, yeah, I think you could make a fun post with that.
Diego Glazer 45:11
Yeah, fun, yeah. You know, I got to get better at doing this, because I do think stories, stories help get engagement with your posts. Like, if you're constantly sharing stories, and they're most more likely to appear on the top of the list for people, and that they're constantly clicking on your stories, and your posts will appear, will appear on their feed right away. And there's so many things like the example you gave of like I ate my still life, like things that are so routine for us artists that you wouldn't even think they married a story, like, I'm gessoing some panels. I do that all the time so it doesn't worry about it, but it is, or washing brushes, or whatever it is you're doing. It's interesting to people, yeah, and it's maybe not worth a post, but it's worth a story.
Angela Agosto 46:08
Yeah, you're definitely onto something there. Because I know like cooking. Sometimes I don't like to watch the full cooking, but I will pause if I see a story that just shows, maybe just a certain part of the process that was just, like a cool process, maybe how they put, like a sort of Emboss, the food or something. So I think, like what you said about the, you know, your painting, or you're doing your the gesso boards, that would be interesting. I've seen people do the brushes as well when they're cleaning them, and it was just a really cool technique and glazing,
Olya Konell 46:38
yeah, or, like my I love seeing the glazing that deserves a post when you have your kind of dry, matte painting, if depending on what medium you're using, but if you're glazing, that's always cool. I just always satisfy so there's a I agree. I wish I could find it, but since we're on the topic of social media, there's an older woman. When I say older, I want to say she's like 70 or 80 or 90. She's older, and she wears these flamboyant kind of addresses these, like, bright colored dresses, and she's an artist, and she walks up and gets on her bucket in front of her massive painting, and she's just, just has random music playing in the background. That's all it is. It's just a real of her painting, her bright colored flowers. It's kind of, you know, abs. It's just such a cool visual to see. Oh, this is her studio. And, you know, you're looking around, so don't be afraid to just set up your camera, you know, to everybody listening, if you don't have anything, and just show people what you're working on, and walk in in front of it and just paint for a couple seconds, and then go back, turn it off, edit it on both ends. Voila.
Angela Agosto 47:42
Yeah, do a little walk through of your studio people love to see that. And I mentioned this before. We've had several artists tell us that they did that and a painting sold. Somebody paused it, and they're in the DM her and said, I want the painting at the very back. And she's like, I'm not even promoting that. I had something else on the, you know, on my easel. Yeah, so cool.
Olya Konell 48:06
Have a quick question for you. Do you use email? Is it email something because we have artists on both ends. Some are very active with their newsletter. Some are, you know, using it once in a while. Do you have any thoughts on how that's if that's something useful for you, or
Diego Glazer 48:22
what do you Yeah, I think it's the best thing you can do to have a email newsletter. It's like direct communication with your followers and collectors. It doesn't even rely on an algorithm. Can just email them correctly. I don't do it as often as I should. I've been neglecting that lately just I guess life gets in the way, but I do think it's extremely important. It's another thing that makes people feel like they're in more direct communication with you. Yeah, and I think the more consistently you do it, the better, and the same as with the Instagram Stories, you can put things that are, might be pretty routine to you, but that are probably interesting to your newsletter subscribers, like, I don't know today i i helped a friend stretch to Canvas, or, I don't know what, whatever it is, just turn it into a little narrative that people can follow and put anyone that's ever supported you on your email list. And that's another thing that will foster a relationship a little bit more like, think of all the people that have ever supported you in any in any way, and even though this might be a little bit awkward, you can reach out to them directly, either you send them a text or give them a call or sending a DM on Instagram. I did this a lot like I started taking notes of all the people that always like. Posts and always comment on my posts. And I wrote them like, Hey, nice. I've noticed you always comment on my posts. I really appreciate the support. I was wondering if I could add you to my newsletter. I'm not going to send anything that's not art related. It's just art related stuff. So you can keep up, so you can be in the loop with what I'm doing. And surprisingly, most everyone said, Yes,
Olya Konell 50:26
wow, I had that's awesome. I've done that too before, and I found the same thing. I love your verbiage. I love your verbage. It was sorry. I mean to interrupt you, I think the hardest thing we artists have is we don't know how to ask the question. And I love that your verbage was like, Hey, I've noticed you've been, you know, engaging with my posts, or I really support all all, you know, all of your comments. And means a lot to me. Can I that's just so simple?
Angela Agosto 50:52
Yeah, I've thought about it forever. But that verbage,
Olya Konell 50:55
yes, you're right. So you found that most people said yes. And do you get, you know, now when you do send, I think artists followed artists usually send things when there's relevant things to send, you know, and that's what I hear from a lot of artists, is like, there's seasons when the artist is busy and there's just no time for that, understandable. But when you do send, do you get pretty good so sorry, open rates and pretty good, you know, people clicking on things. Have you ever gone back and looked out of curiosity?
Diego Glazer 51:30
Oh, yeah, yeah, I use MailChimp, and it tells you everything about who opened it and how many people clicked on the link and how many people went to your website. It gives you all the analytics and for the most part, I I've gotten a pretty, pretty good open rates, and depending on what it is, is, I'll even get a pretty decent reply rate.
Olya Konell 51:54
Wow, that's awesome. One of the things I saw a question here from Beth, and I figured we could tackle it. She's saying, I'm considering having a website set up for my art, and have been worried that posting my works on it will allow them to be downloaded and are copied easily any suggestions.
Olya Konell 52:13
So Diego has a Faso site. One of the things about the Faso websites is we do two things, a we, I don't know if you knew this, but we have a AI scraper blocker, so we prevent AI from stealing our artists art. And then, which goes beyond what a lot of other sites have. And then the other thing is, is like as an artist, you have the ability, when you upload an image, you can, you can have, like, a more compressed image. For one thing you know, like, there's options, like, you can have alternative images. You can upload smaller images. You can put a little watermark on there, so there's ways of protecting your work when it's on your site versus on social media. You can upload a compressed image to like, a smaller size, but you can't really, you know, you don't have that other you don't have that other protection. So
Angela Agosto 53:09
I know some people at which we do also have it on Faso, they disable right click. We don't recommend it. I know Clint has said in the past, because I think he was trying to keep in his case, he was purchasing a painting he wanted to share with his wife, and he goes, I couldn't even send her the link to look at it. Link to look at it like everything blocked. So he's like, forget it. I just moved on. But we do have it, because there's some people who are really concerned, because they want to upload, you know, the high res actual images. So we do have where you can disable the right click, which is how they would be able to save the image. But most of our artists do not do that just because, like I was saying, we do have that capability where you don't have to upload the high resolution. And if you do offer prints, that's okay, because we do give you an option to for prints only, kind of behind the scenes. It the high resolution is there for printing purposes, but it's not going to show on your site.
Olya Konell 53:59
Yeah. And then I have a question for you, Diego, we get this a lot from artists, so I just wanted to hear your your actually, let me take care of the follow up. First, do you recommend 72 dpi? Angela, do you?
Angela Agosto 54:15
Oh, let's see we do have a recommendation. I think 300 dpi like for the high quality, but you don't have to do that. Yeah, we I know that you're smaller. Is a standard one too. I'll share the actual FAQ that tells you what's best. One of
Olya Konell 54:34
the things I was going to ask, Diego, do you because in the beginning I asked, What have you found that you were doing that wasn't working? And then you covered some of the things that are helpful you know, like engaging with your collectors and building those relationships. Is there anything else that you think you know deserves you know us? Like, you know, what is something that you found that would be very useful for artists that are just starting out? You know, specifically, you know, if there was, like, one thing they could take away from this conversation they're just starting out, what would that piece of wisdom be when it comes to, you know, marketing and getting your
Diego Glazer 55:20
You mean in terms of marketing or anything at all,
Olya Konell 55:25
mainly marketing or getting their art out there. But it over a lot of times. It's hard to say that, because your artwork is a part of that. So if you know what I mean, so they kind of go hand in hand. So either or, I guess, okay, because you can't market if your arts not where it needs to be.
Diego Glazer 55:45
Yeah, I agree with that. Well, I would say, because most people say, Oh, wow, you're an artist, it must be like living on vacation pretty much. But I wouldn't treat it like that at all like one piece of advice that I got from a professional artist very early on, is that it's not a cake walk, and this isn't just for fun. This is it has to be at least treated like a nine to five, if not more. A nine to five has to be the very baseline that I try to paint, more than that, and, you know, and painting is just a slice of what it is to be a professional artist. There's so many other things you got to do. You got to do the email thing, deal with galleries, framing, you know, putting shows together, all those logistics. So I would say, yeah, don't. Don't just, don't just embrace with the fun side of it. You know, there's, don't just engage with the fun side of it. It's it can also be tedious, and that's okay, you know, it's okay to spend time doing things that you know might just be laborious or even boring, you know, like, yeah, some of the things I just mentioned, if you're if you're fighting against that, then I mean, if you only engage with the fun side, you're neglecting the whole side of it, that it's that is the marketing, and that's what's going to feed you, you know, that's what's going to take you very far. So think of it this way, like most people have jobs that they absolutely hate. You know, day in and day out, they do the things none of which they enjoy. So if a good chunk of our work is stuff that we enjoy, like painting, and another percentage of it we don't exactly enjoy, that's fine. We still got a better deal than most people. So just like embrace that, I would say,
Olya Konell 57:58
oh for sure, that is such a good perspective, 100% and even if there's a job you enjoy, there's always tasks in that job that you're like, Oh, I gotta do this again,
Diego Glazer 58:10
you know? And yeah, exactly,
Olya Konell 58:13
yeah, that's really good.
Angela Agosto 58:14
Just part of the process, like, okay, I can this is what's next. Maybe, you know, you won't, it won't it won't be as bad. If you just see it, it's like, okay, this is step five in this, you know.
Olya Konell 58:24
And I, honestly, I hear it from artists a lot saying, Oh, I hate marketing, or I suck at it, or, I don't know, but I think if you take on your perspective that you just shared, you know, if you're feeling that way and you're listening, if you take on that perspective, if you start a new job, there's always new things you don't know how to do, and you have to go do some training, or you have to watch a video or read instructions. And I feel like it's the same way with those tasks. Running an art business, whether it's part time or full time, you have to dedicate time to learning, and the learning can take time, and that's okay, too. It's not going to happen overnight. I would say, you know, Diego, you've been painting for forever, and you didn't just wake up one morning and know all these things that you know now. You know, it took years and workshops and experiences. So, yeah, that's, you know, and I think I had two questions for you in the wrap up, the business insights and career shifts and the last words of advice. I don't know if you I don't, I think I mashed them together, but if you have anything else that you wanted to add, because you prepared, you know, kind of prepped for that, and I just butchered the questions,
Diego Glazer 59:41
yeah, oh no, it's all good. I mean, I would say so. I think it's a very good idea for any beginning artists to really go back to the basics. I mean, I think we could all agree that painting is a form of self expression. I. But you can't really express yourself if you don't know the language. It's just like a writer trying to write a novel that moves you and they don't even know grammar or spelling. It's just not going to move you. And people are too quick to default to self expression because they think that's all there is to art. But I would say, you know, again, like, swallow your pride and go back to the very basics. Do bar drawings. Do still life paintings. Do again, things that are not exactly the most fun. Some of them are actually pretty tedious, like a bar drawing. I mean, I did bar drawings back in the day, and they weren't fun, but they definitely got me to where I am today. They made such a big difference. Like you, you pay your dues, you pay homage to the art gods, or whatever you want to call it. And once that's behind you, you have that under your belt, and all of a sudden it just becomes second nature to you, and you can express yourself once you know the language. But like I said, if you don't know the language, you can't express yourself very well. There's exceptions to that. You know, there's outsider artists that have managed to express themselves very well, not knowing the exact grammar, so to speak, of painting. But I would err on the safe side. And, you know, learn the craft and respect the craft, and once you're a master of the craft, and you can decide what you want to take and what you want to leave behind. That would be my advice to a beginner artist.
Olya Konell 1:01:48
Yeah, it's, it reminds me of the saying mastery before marketing, and it's, and that's so true if you kind of, like, if you're a musician, you have to learn music notes and all the things that go along with writing music. If you're going to compose something, you might have the song in your head. You can't express it unless you learn the language properly, which is such good advice. And I've seen a lot of artists, and I'm obviously just speaking generally, and I'm including myself in that, you know, when things aren't working, like, like, oh, you know, I'm getting really good at reels, and I'm doing this and I'm doing that, but, like, nobody's really cares. Take a step back and focus on the art. You know, take a even if it means taking a little break, you know, maybe there's something there. Get an outside maybe, yeah, get a critique from somebody that you would consider a master, or something along those lines, because that's usually there's something missing, something needs to be tweaked or honed in, or something, you know, it could be a technical thing. It could be something else, you know, and that usually changes everything for, you know, for artists,
Diego Glazer 1:03:06
because you can't ignore, yeah, and there's resources for all these things.
Olya Konell 1:03:09
Yes, yeah, um, yeah. You can
Diego Glazer 1:03:13
take online workshops to learn how to do bar drawing, or you can ask for a critique from a professional artist in your town to someone on Instagram, and there's ways to there's ways to get a direct improvement, like that,
Olya Konell 1:03:25
for sure. And I know we're a little bit past our time, but I see a couple questions popped into the chat. Do you mind if I ask you those? Because they're kind of looking for some feedback. Of course, Dwight says, I feel like I've unintentionally posted art for camaraderie with fellow artists and art students, when my aim has been to generate interest from potential buyers, I think largely for not being clear about how to create content that attracts art collectors gallery curators and potential buyers. What specific framing tactics and strategies can an artist employ in their online presence to attract buyers instead of other artists, while other artists do buy art, but I'll let die go.
Diego Glazer 1:04:06
Yeah, that's a good point other artists do by art, especially in the form of, you know, small studies. I am no expert in this. Actually, I've only sold studio paintings very sporadically through social media. I would say your best focus would be real life, going to shows, shaking hands with people, introducing yourself like put yourself out there and introduce yourself. Sometimes you can sort of tell at a show who's a collector and who's not. Break the ice. Introduce yourself and say, Hey, I'm an artist, or just spark up a conversation with them. Give them your card, maybe even get their email or get them for. Get them directly to follow you on social media in person. Say, Hey, this is let me show you my work. You can give me a follow if you're interested or whatever. Because, yeah, I mean, in my experience, and this isn't the case for everyone. There's a lot of artists out there that sell out through Instagram and whatever. But it's not been the case exactly for me. It's worked very well for me, for, you know, smaller studies, but still, even better than that is the way I sold them in real life, more consistent.
Olya Konell 1:05:37
Yeah. And that is so true. I mean, I think as humans, we forget when we think of marketing, we just think of digital. But marketing is everything we do online and offline, to meet other people that like our work or like art, which could be at a, you know, a barbecue, and you meet a person, a friend of a friend, who happens to be an art collector. It could be at a show, like you said. That's really good advice. I hope Dwight that is helpful, and then Juliet asks. I've neglected the business side of art because I don't like it, but I've tried to embrace the Buddhist idea of not categorizing things like and don't like, instead just I cannot say, I can't even pronounce the word in cult I can't include maybe the ability to do what needs doing next with as little categorizing and commentary as possible. So I guess that wasn't a question, but that was a feedback. It's a really good perspective. Julie, thank you.
Olya Konell 1:06:34
And then Lorraine says, I have many artists followers, probably because I enjoy teaching and I do videos about my process, but I don't have as many collector followers. Do you have any advice for any artist who lives in a remote area and can only engage with collectors when I do plein air events away from home, as as to how I can build an online following of collectors? So
Olya Konell 1:06:55
like, like you said a very similar, I think, to what you answered for Dwight. But do you have any other thoughts for a plein air artist? Because you do plein air as well.
Diego Glazer 1:07:05
So I do, and there's, there's several plein air events around the country that are pretty great. I've only gone to the plein air convention once, and I haven't done any others other than that, but I know there's regional ones which are great. And yeah, I guess you start making one connection after another. So you could go to one of those events and make a deliberate effort to spark up conversations with your fellow artists, and then when they have a show, go to the show. And then at the show start, you can ask them to introduce you directly to collectors you know, put yourself out there, or spark up a conversation with a gallery owner whenever your friends have a show. So now they know your face. You're not just a name or not just someone on social media, but it's all about, you know, if you're awkward, embrace the awkwardness and still put yourself out there. If you're charismatic, I mean, milk that for all it's worth you know,
Olya Konell 1:08:18
right? Yeah, that's so good. And I was going to say, if you're talking to somebody and your phone is and their phone is listening, maybe their Instagram will suggest to you, if they don't give you an instant follow,
Angela Agosto 1:08:29
I was gonna say that I know one person, I won't mention who, but they are remote, so they do try to go, like you said, Diego to a lot of you know, in person stuff. But then, you know, it was during the pandemic, they said, Well, I really couldn't go to these places. But what they did is they contacted some of the galleries that they had met, and see what the gallery was doing. So the gallery agreed, and they did an online show through Facebook Live. And she said, now that's my go to like, now epidemic is over. She said, when I can't go somewhere, I'll do a little Facebook Live. And she said, “I sell my paintings on there!” and I actually have another artist that I think the gallery contacted him. They were just kind of doing a show. They needed several artists. And he said, Oh, okay, sure. And he ended up doing because he was far away, kind of like a, like a presentation, I guess, of his current work. And he said, all of my pieces sold, wow. And so Facebook, wow. Well, and now I'm not surprised that they do not use Instagram. They said I'll do it to kind of post what I'm doing, but that's about it. They're like, I've never sold on Instagram, but Facebook is where they sell their stuff,
Olya Konell 1:09:34
which makes sense, because Facebook is a certain demographic of age wise, and I'm not categorizing people, but I'm just saying there's just maybe more people.
Angela Agosto 1:09:44
It is still the biggest platform. It's also easier to still get your work seen because there isn't that big of an algorithm on there. Invite people directly, and then those people can invite their friends to invite other people. You can create an event. Some friends ask if they have a new business. “Can you send it to your followers, and so on and so on?” And they're like, “oh, I had such a good turnout. Thanks.”
Diego Glazer 1:10:04
Interesting. Yeah, I completely agree about the demographic. And one thing I'd add to that is that, you know, collectors, a lot of them aren't like these billionaires, like you might imagine, every collector is, you know, a lot of them are, you know, laying in their their people from your town, wherever you might live, and they're not necessarily going to buy from the artist. They like the most. They're going to buy from the artist, though they like that they know. Okay, so if you're someone that they know they're going to buy from you, rather than from some stranger on the internet. That's what I found, at least, you
Olya Konell 1:10:47
know, so good, yeah. I mean, that makes sense, that that makes complete sense. Yeah,
Diego Glazer 1:10:55
yeah. I have friends that have very few followers on social media, and they sell out because, you know, they, they're just really good at having these relationships these people. And they bought, they buy from the artist. They know that also happens to be good, you know, yeah, I
Olya Konell 1:11:13
think a good book for us artists to read would be, what's the one? How to Win Friends and Influence People? Or there's some old good people books out there? Yeah, exactly, I think. But those are such good points. And I feel like speaking about technology, becoming more common, becoming more as a source of entertainment and all of that stuff. I feel like if artists, if we go back to the basics and scale the unscalable. You know, do the really hone in on on those relationships, like you said, and building those connections that's going to help you stand apart, you know? Because if collectors are looking for those, if they're going to buy, they're going to buy from someone they know and they like their art in them, you know, get yourself out there. Guys, absolutely, yeah, such good advice. Thank you so much. I very grateful. And I have actually, sorry, one more question from Brad. I have to ask you, because your paintings are incredible, where do your ideas come from, and how are the compositions conducted? Maybe, well, he has a painting right behind him because he says, maybe show a painting as an as an example. But, yeah, where do your ideas come from? What what? Look at that. That is amazing. That's a nine foot painting. Thank you.
Diego Glazer 1:12:36
It is, yeah. So a lot of my ideas come from travel. I would say I like to think things that I find exotic even I even travel vicariously through painting other people's trips. You know, like my mom sometimes will take a trip to Turkey or the Himalayas that she's traveled to different places, and she'll show me these pictures. And I'm like, Well, I don't know when I'll ever go to Turkey. I might as well just travel vicariously through painting this beautiful ruin, you know, yeah, or these beautiful mountains. So I'm inspired a lot by exotic esthetics from around the world. I'm currently working on work that that's inspired by Maya archeology, ancient Maya sites and artifacts. I'm really into that whole esthetic right now. I think it's very mysterious and beautiful. And as for composition, I try to think of it as two main values interacting with each other. So just light and dark shapes, like if you really, really squint your eyes and look at a painting, you can usually just reduce it to a couple of light shades and a couple of dark shades. And that's really what I'm looking for, couple of simple light and shadow shapes that are balanced with each other and and anything that's a mid tone is usually a transition between a light shape and a shadow shape. Yeah. So yeah, that's that was pretty much, I don't think, a lot about what elements they are. I just think of them as shapes, really, when I'm thinking about composition.
Olya Konell 1:14:29
Yeah, that's a really, really good advice. And Brad, I hope that that helps answer that. And yes, that is the Mayan pyramids right down in Mexico. Yep, yep, yeah, that's right, that is beautiful. Um, and such good advice. Thank you guys for all your questions. And sorry they we got peppered you at the very end
Diego Glazer 1:14:51
there. Oh, my pleasure. Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks for asking guys
Olya Konell 1:14:55
Yeah. And thank you so much for sharing your experiences, your honest thoughts. Um. And giving some really good feedback that I think could be life changing. If an artist was to jump in with both feet and just go for it. If anybody wants to connect with Diego afterwards, reach out to him. He's very accessible. He has his video course that you can also get and get some feedback from him directly. So if you don't have anyone to give you some advice, you know that's a really good way of, kind of getting getting started learning and then getting some feedback. So and then last comment from Lorraine. She says, Thank you. Maybe she will meet you at Pace next year in Branson. So she signed up for that. So, yeah,
Diego Glazer 1:15:41
amazing. Yeah. I hope I'm able to go. That would be fantastic. Yeah?
Olya Konell 1:15:48
Well, thank you so much. Everybody. Feel free to if you have any thank yous or comments to share with Diego. I'll give you just a second to drop them into the chat. I will pass them on to him after the webinar, I'll shoot you an email. We will have the recording sent out sometime next week, usually, usually a week or two later. So keep a lookout for that. For our Faso customers, we have our monthly ask us anything in two weeks. And then we also have our our next guest on September 11, Samuel Hoskins so and then all of our again, all of these, all of these recordings. You can go to boldbrush.com and you can view them. You can engage with them and give, give Diego a follow, just a simple, free way. We can support each other and our artists. So I appreciate everybody, and thank you for your feedbacks. So thank you, Diego. I hope you have a good rest.
Diego Glazer 1:16:45
Thank you so much. Thank you, all you. Thank you, Angela. Thanks to everyone that commented and asked questions. It was a pleasure being on here, but we can do it again sometime.
Olya Konell 1:16:54
Fascinating interview, says Kathleen, thank you for sharing so much. So awesome. I appreciate it. I feel the same way. Awesome. Yeah, take care, everyone. All y'all help you
Angela Agosto 1:17:00
Thank you Diego and thank you everyone! Bye.
Diego Glazer 1:17:04
Well, thanks everyone. Thank you. Bye.
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