I'm really pleased to share some news.. I've been invited by the Association of Illustrators to be one of the speakers on 6th June, talking about my experiences... as a freelance illustrator working in the 'art licensing' field. Tickets can be bought from the AOI website http://www.theaoi.com/
Everyone should watermark all images they place on the internet.... professionals and non-pros :) If your images cannot be traced back to you, they can become an 'orphan work' which means no known owner. In the future, orphan works MAY be used by a company for an advert etc. (even low res images on the net can be used!!) It's possible it might be used for an advert (eg a political party / arms manufacturer etc) and you totally disagree with the morals of that campaign!
Also make sure you resize images so they are 72dpi (I tend to make the largest side 7 inches max) and save files with your name in the files name (eg Helz Cuppleditch Zoo 2013). This file data is stripped and replaced when you place an image on Facebook, so all the more reason to add a watermark.
To keep up to date with the news about the UK Government's Enterprise & Regulatory Reform Act, visit the Association of Illustrators campaigning page on a regular basis.
I'm looking forward to an afternoon at school tomorrow! I'm heading into a local primary school to teach the Year 2 children painting with watercolours. Here's the sketch I'll be working on....
And a couple of weeks ago I went into a secondary school to give a talk about careers in the arts.... did you know that the UK creative industries (including film, music, tv, games development) are worth more than £36 billion? They generate £70,000 every minute for the British economy, and the creative industries account for around £1 in every £10 of the UK's exports... We need to inspire our next generations!!
I've just picked up the March issue of Cardmaking and Papercraft magazine, and found they are offering new subscribers a free gift.... some of the Riverbank Revels papercraft goodies!
I have another little competition on my facebook page to win this little original painting and some of the Otter House stationery products... click here to go straight over to my page, then click on the PINK WIN button for more details. The competition runs until Thursday 28th Feb, so just a few days left to enter!
I received a lovely box of samples from Otter House Ltd who have licensed several illustrations from me. These included greeting cards, packs of notelets and some lovely magnetic pads. Pop over to my facebook page on Monday 11th (click the picture over on the right!) to find out how to win some of them, plus a little original picture from me!
Time for a new competition on my facebook page. Pop over to see how you can win some quilting fabrics... and don't forget this is a NEW FACEBOOK PAGE called Helz Cuppleditch Illustration!
It's not often I have reason to complain about anything.
However, I booked a threatre break for my family in November through Threatre Line, based in Uxbridge, who also are registered as Intime Tickets.... a real treat as we wanted to go to London for New Year's Eve, see a show and then watch the firework display over the Thames.
Two days before the trip, the company phoned to cancel the booking, stating the show Wicked had been cancelled for New Year's Eve 2012, so the company had to cancel the booking and refund me the payment.
On 1st January, I emailed Theatre Line to check on the status of my refund.... no response.
Today I have emailed them twice, no reponse, and phoned them 8 times to ask for an email from them confirming the refund has been actioned or status of that.
Each phone call has had a different response: 'phone back after 11 as that's when accounts personal are in', 'there are no accounts personel in on a Saturday', 'the refund was actioned on the day of cancellation' 'the refund was actioned on 1st January' 'my manager did the refund on 1st January' (however, from the manager: 'I've been away and only just got back in the office') 'we can't confirm the refund as our email system is down today' (I got a friend to email an enquiry to them, and guess what, they got a response!!)
Having spoken to my credit card company, there are no pending transactions from ThreatreLine or Intime Tickets.... so nothing had been actioned up to yesterday.
And having spoken to the hotel we were meant to be booked in to (booking made on 28th November with Theatre Line), and guess what.... no booking had ever been made in my name.
I will never use Theatre Line or Intime Tickets again, would never recommend them to anyone and certainly would suggest everyone gives them a very wide berth!