The Digital Artist International Online Gallery Reaches Major Milestone, Profiles 800th Exhibitor
The Digital Artist is pleased to announce that its online exhibitor list has passed the 800 mark. The Digital Artists 800th exhibitor is Stephanie Manner Wagner, of Joliet, Illinois, USA, a freelance illustrator. Exhibitors hail from more than 50 nations, represent more than a dozen art and design specialties, and range in age from teens to seniors. The recent upsurge in new exhibitors at The Digital Artist is due in no small part to a recent upgrade in service that allows new exhibitors to sign up and display within minutes.
The Digital Artist is pleased to announce that its online exhibitor list has passed the 800 mark. These exhibitors hail from more than 50 nations, represent more than a dozen art and design specialties, and range in age from teens to seniors.
The Digital Artists 800th exhibitor is Stephanie Manner Wagner, of Joliet, Illinois, USA, a freelance illustrator. Stephanie grew up in Joliet, IL attended the University of Iowa as an English major, married a nice Iowa boy, moved to Kansas City, moved back to Joliet, had three children and somewhere in there she began working as a web and graphic designer as well as a freelance illustrator. However as a mother of 3 busy children, Stephanie feels her official job title would currently be best described as freelance illustrating chauffeur.
Stephanie enjoys working in a variety of different mediums including acrylic paints on canvas or mural style, but favors doing digital illustrations on her graphic tablet. The ability to save and come back to her work at any time with zero cleanup is a big plus to this mommy artist.
Stephanie's overall style has been described as whimsical and sweet. Though an occasional "yummy bad guy" has been known to sneak into a piece when needed. Her illustrations work well for topics relating to children, parenting, and for what is currently described as the "chick lit" genre.
Asked how she got her start in illustration, Stephanie replied, My mom wanted to do something really special for her mother (my grandmother, or Nana as she goes by) for Christmas one year and had come up with this really great idea. Nana had been writing children's stories for years, and for a while she had even tried to get a few published. Nana eventually gave up on physically trying to get them published but had never given up on her desire to see it happen.
My mom decided she wanted to "publish" one of Nana's books and make extra copies for the the rest of the family. She wanted it to look as professional as possible within a reasonable budget of course. (I should probably mention she came up with this plan in mid-November.) We ended up using one of those kits you can buy for kids, where they can write and color their own story. You send the completed kit in and they turn it into a hardcover bound book. So far so good, but the book was going to look pretty lame without any pictures.
We decided to enlist the help of some of the younger grandkids and the great-grandkids. We thought it would be really cute if they each drew something for the book. Even after all those, we still needed several more illustrations and a cover page. My mom ended up talking me into doing the rest, including the cover. I was doing some web and graphic design work at the time, so it wasn't a complete stretch but it wasn't within my normal comfort zone.
The book turned out great. Nana loved it. I ended up really enjoying it, and I am now pursuing some illustration assignments."
Combining a career as a freelance illustrator with her life as a wife and mother, Stephanie recognizes the value of the Internet in marketing her work.
The Internet clearly is the perfect career tool for people like myself. Every artist should have their own website and email address in today's world. While I'm off chauffeuring my kids around Chicagoland, someone can be discovering my work on The Digital Artist. They don't have to wait for me to mail them further samples of my work, they can browse several more pieces on my own website if they want. I can be making sales via my own online store while I am sleeping. I can search the web for leads at any time convenient to my own schedule. I can write and answer my e-mail inquires without fear the kids will make too much background noise. What's not to love?
Asked what she found most useful at the site, she commented, I think it's a great site and clearly the most useful aspect of it is the artist listings themselves."
Stephanies exhibit can be accessed at http://www.thedigitalartist.com/artist.phtml?uid=swagner
The recent upsurge in new exhibitors at The Digital Artist is due in no small part to a recent upgrade in service that allows new exhibitors to sign up and display within minutes, instead of days. In addition, all current exhibitors are now able to directly access and edit their exhibits using a password and user id. Exhibitors may log in and view and edit their contact and biographical information, artist's statement, and display image. Updates take effect immediately, so art and design buyers can always have the latest information about emerging and established artists, artisans and designers worldwide. (Anyone interested in exhibiting at the site should go directly to http://www.thedigitalartist.com/signup.shtml.)
This is the first of a number of upgrades to the site, which will soon include expanded mini-portfolio and portfolio sites, as well as online galleries where members can sell work online directly to clients, without a commission.
The Digital Artist is a professional exhibit and portfolio site for artists, designers and artisans worldwide. Exhibits include name, contact information, biography, artist's statement, link to a personal web page and an image of the artist's work. The site is extensively marketed to art buyers including art directors, creative directors and gallery owners.
Current exhibitors are working at all levels from students to established professionals. Category listings include animators, artisans, cartoonists, digital artists, fiber artists, graphic designers, illustrators, multimedia, painters, photographers, printmakers and sculptors. The home page and index pages post arts and culture headlines, updated daily, with links to complete stories. The Digital Artist also offers an arts and design bookstore, free special interest monthly newsletters for creatives and art buyers, and online articles about the business of art.
|
