After a not very successful year on microstock I took a break for nearly a year to learn a bit more about art. Been doing some digital painting and 3D stuff. I'm back into photography again, and recently uploaded the first images in months. I'm more relaxed and more confident this time round. It will be interesting to see if I'm any more successful.

Wish you all the best!
Welcome back,

Claude

Would love to see some of your digital painting. Can you put up a link?

I'm still very much a beginner with the painting (and 3D), but my more arty stuff can be found on RedBubble

Thanks for sharing that!

I'll have a good look at it later.

Quote from: averil on May 01, 2009, 23:59
After a not very successful year on microstock I took a break for nearly a year to learn a bit more about art. Been doing some digital painting and 3D stuff. I'm back into photography again, and recently uploaded the first images in months. I'm more relaxed and more confident this time round. It will be interesting to see if I'm any more successful.

Might you be interested to share with us now, why you were not successful the first time around?
And what you would be doing differently this time that you think would improve your chance of success?
Just curious (as a cat) , after all a "bat" isn't too different from a cat, we each have whiskers and pointed ears, lol.

Quote from: averil on May 02, 2009, 00:45
I'm still very much a beginner with the painting (and 3D), but my more arty stuff can be found on RedBubble

You should be posting some of these on Flickr. I suspect you would get more exposure than you have on just Redbubble.

Quote from: batman on May 02, 2009, 01:16
Might you be interested to share with us now, why you were not successful the first time around?
And what you would be doing differently this time that you think would improve your chance of success?
Just curious (as a cat) , after all a "bat" isn't too different from a cat, we each have whiskers and pointed ears, lol.

My images have been pretty boring. I'm trying to be a bit more 'creative'. Not too successful at that so far, but I'm working on it. Also some improved equipment and technique.

ETA: I've had more rejections than acceptances from my recent uploads, mostly for lighting. Guess I can't get too creative.

Quote from: nosaya on May 02, 2009, 04:04

Quote from: averil on May 02, 2009, 00:45
I'm still very much a beginner with the painting (and 3D), but my more arty stuff can be found on RedBubble

You should be posting some of these on Flickr. I suspect you would get more exposure than you have on just Redbubble.

I've had over 15,000 views of my art on RB (no sales though). Pretty happy just to have an audience.

Quote from: averil on May 01, 2009, 23:59
After a not very successful year on microstock I took a break for nearly a year to learn a bit more about art. Been doing some digital painting and 3D stuff. I'm back into photography again, and recently uploaded the first images in months. I'm more relaxed and more confident this time round. It will be interesting to see if I'm any more successful.

I checked your Red Bubble portfolio and your Istock portfolio.

I somehow get the feeling that you are very creative and filled with ideas but lack the technical abilities...

First off why are you only on Istock? Get your work out there. Shutterstock, Dreamstime, Fotolia and maybe Stockxpert (that may be redundant if Istock dries them out) are a must.

I don't know if you are using hot lights or if you have a monolight. In any case I'd recommend a lighting class that shows you how to work with one or two lights. There are many ways to "cheat". I often illuminated an entire room with my external flash (which lacks contrast - but got my stuff accepted). You will also find a lot of tips and tricks online.

Ask for free models. Like I said you have the ideas. Post on Craigslist or in your neighborhood that you offer free portraits on a TFP basis. See if you can talk some startup models into doing one of your concepts and doing a few portraits for them for free.

Usually beginner models are open for such bartering offers.

Oh I almost forgot - most importantly keep working on the photography and illustrations. Your skills will develop over time. Just don't take too many breaks. The more you stay on top of things the faster you will see improvements which will motivate you in return to keep going!

Best of luck!

Thanks for taking the time to check out my stuff. I'll certainly keep working on it. I didn't start with much lighting equipment but I've now built up to three strobes so should be able to do something with those. It's the outdoors stuff I get lighting rejections for - I tend to like shadows and forms defined by shading much more than inspectors do.

As for other sites, SS told me never to darken their doors again after I closed an account because I wanted to change my username. I've had stuff on DT and Fotolia but never did as well as on istock. Besides, if I reach the position of going exclusive on istock I might take it just for the extra upload slots. Once I'm accepted there I can afford to be a bit more experimental.

My numbers are tiny (224 images online, 219 dls) but I think my restart is promising. My dls for this year have been 6,5,4,2 and now 7, not much to base anything on except hope maybe. My acceptance rate has improved considerably too. Interestingly, none of my recent sales have been new images. I'm guessing that buyers see my new stuff fly by in the New Uploads and then check out my port. Anyway, hope springs eternal.