Pubs/bars and restaurants are networks in themselves. We see it everywhere in Lancaster. Down in Soupanova the nice woman put up posters of local artists and musicians. She has up work, with prices on it. She literally has posters everywhere in her shop. She is very kind. So does the white cross. Penny street bridge where I work, also has a bit of work on the walls that is for sale. They have considered putting some of mine up too. Putting work in these kinds of places is kind of psychological manipulation. The get you to buy there drinks, put on comforting/ exciting/ welcoming music etc, then make you feel at home with beautiful paintings. When a person has good experience, say they’re on holiday and a song is play very often. Then it sticks. In future the song reminds them of the holiday. Its an anchor and I think it can also be true for art. Maybe not quite as forward however as it doesn’t shout out at you like music does. Obviously alcohol effects decisions also…

I have definitely found that hanging work in the homes of friends and family helps get attention. Because first you draw someone as a Christmas present. Everyone sees it and is amazed. A couple of family members are willing to pay (at a lower cost) for you to draw them. Then the cycle has got rolling. A friend spots it in the persons house and asked who did it. They are impressed, the bill sounds cheap enough. Then they get one, and it continues. However I have niticed, that this can also then (depending of the types of people, your friends and family are), one might like a piece for their wall at work. Maybe if that person is ‘high up’ other high up people may see it, be willing to pay more. Once your in that circle, you have the cv to show any actual job/ larger commissions, they see you have experience. But I think doing it this way alone by wrd of mouth can be very slow.

My work on deviant art http://www.wjlacey.deviantart.com has been seen 41,639 times. That’s intense!! That’s a lot of people. Think, if you piled all these people into a room, how many that would be. Its an army… and im only just starting out. These people add you to their favourites, then other people can see that. Basically, if I have 1,080 favourites, (so people can follow me) that’s 1,080 people who have me on their ‘my favourites’ section. So I am basically spread on the site. There are 1,081 places where you can get forewarded to my work…. That’s so much! Thing is. Many of these people are artists themselves…. Artists don’t often want to buy others work. Why would they when they may be able to try do it themselves. However. You do get the odd spotter. I got spotted over the summer. Gate Films of Manchester offered me a job to do a visual script, a graphic novel for their series. I entered my work and it then got placed in the last ten. Then the last three, and then between us three artists. I had to produce a page of script in drawings/paintings of course. I was the favourite apparently to win the job. However. I declined! After I drew the page, I realise that I was NOWHERE NEAR GOOD ENOUGH! No seriously. Ok, my work may look real, I may be technically sound with my drawing. But I had always missed the skills to produce imaginative work without the aid of photographs… I would have had to do 10 images a page, 82 pages… 820 drawings…. I would get a thousand pounds, it would be fun, I could put it in my cv… but I didn’t want to spend my time trying so darn hard to look like I knew what I was doing when I really didn’t… I struggled skill wise really much. I realised then that I need to proper concentrate. I need to put in my all, in learning how to draw the human figure beautiful and near perfectly. I had to have the enormous understanding that is required by me to produce visually sound work… I wasn’t ready, but I will be!

One of the only things with this illustration kind of work, was that they weren’t my concepts. I believe I have got a lot to say. I don’t necessarily want to be a human printer for somebody elses beautiful mind. I have my own, and my own stories to tell. And therefore I will start from the bottom up!

J