Hi there, everybody. I was approved to join the group by Maya Fredo, and Ive been reading posts for awhile. Hopefully this post fits in here and I can share some advice. Though Im not currently living in the area that most of the people here seem to be from, I am a native of the area (I grew up in Martinsburg and my father and his wife live in Great Cacapon.) Before starting, Id like to introduce myself. My name is F. Tyler, or at least, thats the pseudonym Ive gone by since around 2006, when I really started doing a lot of things creatively. No one could accuse me of being short on creativity or weirdness, and this has led me to do some very odd things, and Ive received little or no training on any of it. This is going to be a novella of a post, so I hope thats acceptable. Im 27 years old, and I turn 28 in January. Artistry and creativity in any form has already eaten up 18 years of my life. As far as Im concerned, its my true calling and career - my day job is as a pharmacy technician filling prescriptions at a specialty pharmacy for dialysis patients. After 18 years of life as an artist and 12 years as a pharmacy worker, I can say that I know a tiny bit about art, and more than I ever wanted to know about insurance. When I was around 13, I started playing drums in punk bands and started a record label that I dubbed Blankmind Media. Playing shows locally when I was that age taught me a lot about the Do-It-Yourself ethic, and I already had some fairly specific ideas on how to do things back then. Ive never been one to compromise my creative control for wider exposure or to go the smarter route. - but I did it like I do everything, jumping in without any idea of what Im doing or where it will end up. Ive been very lucky that my very quick, dont think about it, just do it attitude has usually wound up being fairly successful for me. Sure there are failures, but my point here in this intro is to keep going. Here are some things Ive learned along the way. I will probably have to split this up into multiple posts, as Ive participated in many different creative fields. Music, writing, visual artwork, performance art, pretty much anything you can think of. To reiterate, Ive received no training, and anything Ive done has started and ended with the Do-It-Yourself ethic, which has kept me from losing a ton of money and has cost me only the investment of time and prevented a lot of extra landfill waste from piling up. Since this is already pushing the limits of Facebook length limits in, Ill continue with my first reply to this post, about promoting music, then promoting my visual artwork, and then promoting my writing - how I got to where I wanted to be in different cases, how I went about making contacts, and how Im continuing down the path of whatever it is Im writing about. Again, I hope this is an acceptable use of this group - and maybe it will give you some ideas. I dont want anyone to think that Im implying how Ive gone about doing things is the only or best way of doing it, and I would appreciate any feedback or extra suggestions that people have - I always welcome this, because its downright necessary as a DIY artist to have input from others, something Ive always been wary of. So buckle up, get a sandwich, soda, beer, coffee, tea, or whatever it is you like to drink or eat when you read posts, and prepare for the wild ride of a 20-something artist whos already considered a veteran in the amateur/DIY art scene.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 14:22:13 +0000