My Journey and how the magazine got to where they are today

 

At this time I didnt know how much of my personal life the magazine would take away and what impact it would have on my own artwork and its development.

I spent a lot of money, taking courses buying software, subscribing to hosting / membership sites and buying printed copies of the magazine that the published artists could buy to keep and show
friends and family all so that I could make the magazine into something special and to further help other artists (and myself).

Sadly the purchase of the printed magazines was a flop, and very few of the published artists bought copies, this meant I had a significant pile of magazines that I had to simply put in the bin and a fairly big loss financially. But no matter as it was a learning curve and it was a valuable lesson on how to setup the printed version that would help me with later developments. As I still wanted to be able to offer a printed magazine, but without the potential of ending up with boxes of unsold copies and the expense of buying them this then led me to explore a print on demand option which I now use. The main drawback of this is the cost of production means that the sale price of a magazine is in the region of £15.

As time moved on and a new magazine was published each and every month showcasing artwork from people that were on the same online course as me the number of submissions started to drop. I expected this as creating digital art isn’t for everyone and there was a core group of artists that continued to send in the work for inclusion in the magazine.

After 24 monthly editions i was approached by the platform that hosted the magazine and was offered the chance to do some beta testing on some of their new features. This progressed and developed in to a mutually beneficial relationship and they recognized the work i was trying to do on behalf of other artists and granted me Elite Status in September 2021. This was a major high point for me as it meant that far more people would now see the online magazine which in turn would be a benefit to the artists showcased in the magazine.

At this point the amount of work it was taking to create the magazine and run the social media pages was taking over my free time and taking me away from creating my own artwork or building my own art business. I was still working full time and ALL my free time was spent on making the magazine better and improving my knowledge on the software needed to create and maintain the magazine. This is where I reached out to ask for help from the group of artists I was supporting. Please bear in mind I do not charge anything to publish work in the magazine and that each one took me around 40hours work to create and publish not to mention the monthly costs of web-hosting, software and the subscriptions required to keep the magazine online and that I had done this now for 36 editions on my own.

The response to me requesting help was incredibly disappointing. This was a low point for me and the thought that I was being used started to niggle around in the back of my thoughts, but I shook it off and ploughed on. The lack of interest from the artisits that benefited from being showcased each and every month in becoming involved in helping the magazine grow started to pollute my mind and detract away from the joy i felt from simply helping others and this started to show in my day job and personal life.

So I started focusing on myself and my own artwork and exploring how to channel my negative thoughts and emotions into my own artwork. This was a period where I created some on the best work I have ever done and found my “why”. During this period of self discovery I stumbled across the world of Artificial Intelligence and followed with interest the advancements in AI generated Art.

Naturally I could see both the benefits of being able to create AI art to use in my own work in place of buying stock images and I could also see the ethical problems around how the AI’s were being trained to crate the artwork. I however took the approach that with all new technology there are pros and cons and lovers and haters so I continued to explore and get excited about the possibilities.

In March 2022 I published the first of a new magazine titled Creative Talents. This was similar to Mycreativeiamges but it focused on artist that were selling digital collectables via the exciting new blockchain technology.

In September 2022 I published what was to be the last of the mycreativeimages magazines in it current format. Why, well simply because of one comment from the group of artist that I have supported since 2018 and the lack support from them despite multiple requests.

What was the comment, well it went along the lines of “I the magazine supports the use of AI generated images and they feature on the cover I want no part of it and will not submit artwork to it”. To me thats like saying if you use the colour pink I dont want to be part of the magazine. This in itself wasnt what caused me to walk away from the people I had been supporting and helping since 2018, mainly it was the lack of support from them and the fact that not one person from that group offered any supportive comments to me when I replied to the treat of that one artist boycotting the magazine because I dared to use new technology to generate resources to create my artwork. So rather than getting into a public “fight” and writing endless comments and responses and trying to convince people from that artist group of the benefits of new technology I simply replied to the comment and left the group and closed off access to them to publish their artwork in the magazine. It was painful but I cant continue to support artists that aren’t progressive and cant see the wood for the trees.

Coincidentally 9 months after that that same group has subsequently received training from the mentor on how to create digital assets using AI and I have no bout are now sat at home making artwork in the same way I was using AI generated content blended into their own work. Funny how these things happen.

In the meantime the Creative Talents magazine has grown to 6 editions with artwork showcased from a range of emerging and established artists some of whom sell their artwork for thousand of $.

Along this journey I had learned a lot, some things negative, some positive:

– some people take and arent willing to give back
– some people attack when they are confused
– many people act like sheep and follow rather than taking their own path
– some people offer the world but then never deliver
– supporting others gives you an amazing feeling of satisfaction and joy
– if people dont appreciate what you are doing for them and dont understand the personal cost doing it for them takes from you, walk away
– something positive always comes from taking positive actions

So what I am doing now? Well thats easy, I evolving. The magazines are changing and my artwork and photography are developing.

Ive created a new business and and developing my artwork so it can be sold.

I and setting up a Community Interests Company to further help artists and to develop the magazine further with the focus being on helping new and emergingg artists and photographers.

In short I building something special, Im still trying to help other artists and at the same time Im helping myself.

If you want to be part of the CIC and want to help other artists now is the time to reach out to me.

I have created 62 online publications since March 2018 and showcased work from hundreds of artists, including myself, and I will continue to do this for as long as I can.  IN March 2023 the company the hosts the magazines did a Cases Study on me!  you can find it here:  https://issuu.com/blog/customer-story-my-creative-images

In the last 6 months alone the magazines have been seen 5,126,559 times and this is organic visits not paid ads.

One person can make a difference, can 2 or more more more of an impact and help more artists?