Why it's free.

I once heard someone say that no artist would trade hard work for recognition and no pay. That is odd because that is exactly what the most successful artists do.

Some people are opposed to putting their work out for free and tire of people claiming their samples without paying for them. Now, you would think that means if you want to make any money with art, then you should hoard it all as much as possible. From what I observe, this is completely wrong. (Unfortunately, these are personal experiences, and I am not really going to go into academic or journalistic citations.)
Talking to artists at conventions, they say that their biggest sellers are the bound collections of their works, despite the entirety of the artist's archive being available for free online. Other artists, who also put the entirety of their work online, will get hounded by their fans to add a donations page to support their work. That is right, people approach them and and ask for a means of giving them money.

So, the question is, "Why are some people paying for content that is readily available while others won't pay for content that is being carefully guarded?" The reason is that people do not pay for content. They don't value it, especially when they can call it up on a screen whenever they want. It doesn't matter who owns the copy-write or where the disk is located. Once it is published, people can just pull it up Willie-Nillie! (Willie-Nillie. always gets an exclamation pint in my book!) So, what are they buying? When it comes to print copies there is a certain pride and utility of owning a physical book. People are willing to pay for that. When it comes to donations, people are not paying for the art they have already viewed. They are paying to support the art that will be made and viewed in the future. They are buying a future experiences. That is the lesson. If you want people to pay you have to trade them something they don't have.

Then the question is, "How does one get them to want it?" The rules of supply and demand would say to make it scarce. There is one problem with that; there are far too many content creators out there for art to be anywhere near scarce. One cannot even find, let alone process, all of the GOOD free content in a lifetime. So, what does one do? Well, one advertises, and good products advertise themselves. In this digital age, it doesn't even cost anything to distribute the entirety of an artist's portfolio. Well, it costs server time, and hosting fees, but those are negligible compared to printing fliers and cards. Also, the time invested in creating the content, as much as it was, is already sunk. Hording the work cannot recover that. One might as well put it out there.

Why would one do this? The reason is simple; make people want the work. Put enough out there such that they form an attachment to the work and the artist. The previous work only exists to make future sales. These sales can be physical sales such as prints and merchandise, sales of service such as commissions, contracts, and consulting fees, or overall traffic generating ad revenues and donations.
Every professional and semi-professional with whom I have talked follows this model. Now, they are mostly web-comic artists and illustrators, but I also know an up-and-coming author who just started distributing the electronic version of her first novel for free. Print copies still cost you (I have bought multiple print copies because I give them away as gifts.)

So, if you are hording your work, why are you doing it? Obviously, people don't want to have their credit stolen to or to have someone profit off of their hard work, but other than that, why are you not trying to distribute it? Are you not confident that people will love it and ask for tangible collections? Do you think they won't like it enough to want to pay you to produce more? If they don't love your work that much, then they will not pay you anything to begin with, and if they do love it that much, then they will throw money your way, sometimes without you asking. Until, you get to that relationship, just keep working on your craft and building your audience. Even when you get there, keep working on your craft and building your audience.

Anyway that is about all I have for you, and that is why I license the content on my site the way I do.
 I want people to see my work. I want to use it to connect with my audience, and if they like it enough, I will try to sell them something tangible.

Links to people who follow this model:
Here is the completely awesome author about whom I was talking, Tominda Adkins. Read her books. They are amazing, and the first one is free. 
http://www.vesselbooks.com/p/about-vessel.html

Every webcomic I read in the list on the right side of the screen has a complete archive for free. Many of authors make a living off of just that. I have purchased their books just because I love having a physical copy in my house and because it is a way to support them while they make more awesome web-comics. Also, some authors have been contracted for side-projects because of the notoriety they derived from their comics.
Special note: Axe-cop is available for free in it's entirety online, and it gained so much notoriety that it now has it's own cartoon show on a major network. http://axecop.com/

My Friend, Ill-Esha, is a professional composer/performing DJ who just put out an album awesome album Download it here and pay what you want: http://gravitasrecordings.com/ill-esha-open-heart-surgery/
Her main site is here: http://ill-esha.com/

Further arguments of why people don't value content:

People still purchase music despite being able to download and distribute it rather readily. Also, people still purchase concert tickets, despite being able to pull a youtube video of all of the songs whenever they want. The reason: people are buying the experience, not the music.  The music is readily distributed (Both legally and illegality) Also, they are buying the right to say that they support their favorite artists.

People still purchase books despite there being libraries because people enjoy having the books in their house even after they have read them once. That is why the remaining bookstores let you read for hours without being disturbed. They aren't selling content. They are selling physical books. Even electronic books have a certain attachment to them, because, gosh-darn-it, those paper-whites are so cute.

People still pay for movies despite already knowing the story going in (especially when it is adapted from a book) The reason is that they are paying for the experience, not the content.

People buy sports tickets despite being able to turn on a TV from the comfort of their home. They want the experience of game-day, and the pride of saying they were there.

EOS 70: A for Effort

I think this joke has been a long time coming. Strangely enough, it was a short enough time to make, to where I get the rare pre-midnight update!
For those of you who are guessing, it's a math joke. Deal with it.
Also you can tell, I've been playing with Curt's face a bit recently.

In other news I am going to try to compile the different written stories on this site into an anthology that I might be able to sell at conventions and whatnot. I actually have quite a bit of text from the past few years. Now I just need to learn a bit about printing and securing selling space. Progress, I guess.

Any advice would be useful. I can compensate you in baked goods.

Log scale.

Seriously what is happening?

OK, I don't know why I keep on getting hits from the Ukraine, but if I do have an audience, can some one please explain to me what is going on in your country? The news sites are doing a terrible job of actually outlining the conflict, and even the paper is doesn't give the history of the problem.

Why are there protests? How long has this been happening? What do people want? Why is the government so unpopular. In the world of soundbite media and sensationalism, good informative investigative journalism is a thing of the past.

Anyway, feel free to leave a comment, or even a link to a decent news source if any are left.

I am starting to think that my most unrealistic character is Sylvia, not because she is a princess from a magical land constantly hounded by fairy-tale creatures, but because she is an investigative journalist with some actual integrity.

Andrew

EOS 68: Standards

Since all of my current endeavors involve creating things. These kinds of thoughts pass though my head a lot. Anyway, it's Friday night, and I feel a need to do something that doesn't involve a computer screen.

EOS 69: Why I don't do much.

I generally do not get political. Even though I am getting political in this strip, I am explaining why I don't. I am doing a full color strip this week (#68), so it will take me a few days. This is what I have now.

Transcript below, because I love writing really small and really sloppily. I looked Guinness does not accept submissions for the world's smallest handwriting.

Yeah, I mope and complain a lot. I can complain feel guilty about anything. I can buy a nice instrument and hate myself for it. Do I have the money? Yes. Will I play it? yes. Do I need it? No. It is dumb, but that is how I feel.

Then I read about the world. In plain view of the world spotlight political dissidents are being harassed and arrested for potential peaceful protests. The world does nothing because they want to pretend they can play their games in a vacuum.

In other places, it only gets worse. I didn't need a 400 page report about people digging their own graves to tell me a country was committing atrocities. We brush it off as a joke because it poses no threat.

The thing is that this does not make me feel better about my situation. There is nothing I can do. I mean, as an artist I can use my voice  to shed light on these things, but even if it worked, I have lost my faith in humanity. No matter what I do, the cycle will repeat itself. So, I make art. If it helps, I will enjoy it. If it does nothing for anyone but me, I will enjoy it., but it does not restore my faith in humanity. This world is sending itself to hell quite nicely. I can only hope to maybe reach someone before it is all through.

Even so, I will be here doing what I do. Making sense out of things as best I can. It's not really what I want I want or what I need, but it's all I can do in this world where people try to get what they want by taking what other people need.

EOS 67: The Price We Pay

Woo Hoo, I have officially been at this for two years! As you can guess, I am rich and famous by now.

Anyway, thank you friends and family for being with me from the beginning, and thank you whoever keeps on visiting my website and adding to my hit count, especially you, random servers in Israel and Malaysia!

OK just for clarification, Mildly Miffed is kind of the brand under which I put all of my creative projects, and Eyes of Solace, is one particular series of comics. I am not sure if I would put most of my short stories under the EOS heading, even though they do mostly include EOS characters. Whatever.

Now I have to figure out what to do with the rest of my weekend. I suppose I could head out and be social. Nahh.

EOS 66: Your Worst Fears Revealed

OK, I don't have much to say. Apparently, everyone is panicking around here because, Oh no, more snow.

EOS 65: Unnoticed in Academia.

Here you go. I am trying to draw my characters a little more naturally, and a little cuter. we will see how this transition goes.

I really wanted to use a female moose for several reasons, I think Moose without antlers are fun. I think antlers are kind of cliche, and then I wouldn't have has to draw the moose with pants. That being said, I can't resist a good reference joke. So, there you go.

I am tired and I have two more strips to complete by Friday. I also have this thing called a day-job and I should probably be semi-coherent for it tomorrow.

EOS 64: You Look Different

OK, as per the precedent laid down last year, I will do a series of quick strips leading up to Singles Awareness Day (SAD). What this means for you my dear reader is that you get a five strips this week, as a SAD/2nd Anniversary present. Aren't you lucky?

Also, if you are keen on such things, I totally adjusted the width of the this site.

EOS 63: Clearing Things Up

I don't generally share social political views on this site, but I feel it is time for me to say this one thing.
I didn't do anything more than read a couple of Wikipedia articles, but I think it's enough to distinguish the two.

If you are at all interested in gender representation in media, or if you ever plan on creating a story with characters who have genders, then you might want to check out www.Feministfrequency.com

EOS 62: East Coast Gripes

Well, you can tell I still haven't honed my skills with ink yet. this was a speed run anyway. I am sorry, but I am a digital artist for a digital age.

What is that I didn't lose power, but as they were fixing lines last night, they dropped us down to 64 volts (it should be 120) Yes, I measured. So, what that meant was that neither my computer nor my furnace would turn on.

Also, I may be saying goodby to my trusty laptop bought back in 2008. It won't even turn on. Goodbye, Professor Plum, you will be missed.

EOS 61: Internet Quizzes

Comment if you want me to draw one for you.

I was going to grip about how silly living in the Northeast is, but I decided to grip about this instead. I might still have that up by Friday. Tune in Next week where I explore what it would be like to work for a rodent.

Andrew

EOS 60: What Else is There?

So, I am posting this relatively early. I love the concept of being able to devote realistic hours to cartooning. I also love the idea of being able to just digitally ink drawings all day. If anyone wants to hire me.

I will totally do it. Anyway, this is my first full-color cartoon in a while. I admit that it was a bit rushed, but I hope you like it.

In case you are wondering David and Sylvia are there, but I think they got bored with the game and are making out in the next room. They also haven't gotten their pie, yet.

Video Tutorials

In deference to something I saw today, I will provide you with this little rant.
What I saw was the amazing Doghouse Diaries.

http://thedoghousediaries.com/5623

How to make a video tutorial.

1: Make a bulleted list of all important steps in chronological order.
    Include any neccessary details and explainations under each main step. This will prevent you from skipping them in the video.

2: Include important images in the list.
   (Screenshots, before-and-after, what have you.) This will keep you from not glossing over or omitting an important visual cue.

3: DONT MAKE THE VIDEO! Just post your now completed list to the appropriate forum with good search traffic. No-one wants to re-watch a video ten times to catch every little detail. Also, you stink at editing. The sound and camera work will be bad, and it will be at least three times longer than it should. There, I just saved everyone a whole lot of time.

4: Do not give the history of the problem, and stay off your soapbox. We are here for information not your opinion on an esoteric topic. If you find yourself getting preachy, then just stop right there.