New Manga Art Range

We are proud to present a brand new Manga Art Range that we have launched, all canvas art & prints are exclusive to WHoArtNow.

Manga, in case you didn't know, are hugely iconic cartoons & comics (They are known as komikku コミック), in Japanese and conforming to the defining & unique style that developed in Japan at the end of the 20th century. If you look back far enough, you can find Manga that date from just after World War II, but have a long & complex history in earlier Japanese Art.

Manga, literally translated, means "whimsical pictures". The word came into usage in the late 18th century with the publication of works like the Santō Kyōden's picturebook "Shiji no yukikai" (1798) & the hugely celebrated Hokusai manga. There a a various different theories about the origination of Manga comics, one of which is that when the US occupied Japan (1945–1952), Manga Art was influenced by U.S. cultural aspect, including U.S. comics brought to Japan by the US Army and by images & themes taken from U.S. television, cartoons & culture, like Disney for example.

The other other school of thought is that Manga is a direct continuity of Japanese cultural & traditions, which has been developing for thousands of years.

Which ever way of thinking is right, and who knows, it might be both, we at WHoArtNow don't really mind. It is great art and we love it - we love all things Japanese and Kitsch in fact. Manga is huge in Japan, enjoyed by people of all ages. It has a certain iconic status in the West too, the USA in particular. Manga are typically printed in black-and-white, although some full-color Manga exist. Our take on Manga Art has a bit of a twist on Modern Art, where we have re-drawn and re-created some sections of our favourite comic strips. Colours are bold, vibrant, and even garish in places. It's that whole Japanese, Full-on colour palette. Think Fluorescent Japanese washing power boxes on acid, and you're about half way there. There's no messing about with subtle colours or black and whites, it's Fluorescent Yellows, cerise pinks, on Black backgrounds like the Cerise design, and if you like it even brighter, check the Fluro Hentai design.

Having said that, there is a more subtly coloured piece of art we slipped in, and it's one of my favourites too. Komikkutu mixes two deep green tones to form the background with a chocolate brown / latte foreground. This wouldn't look out of place in most walls, it's subtly is the key here to a half way commercial piece of art.

As you may have noticed, a few of the designs are a little rude.! This is a certain type of Manga, aimed at adults, & called seijin ("adult," 成人) manga. These designs were able to come into fruition with a relaxation of censorship in Japan after the 90s, where a wide variety of explicitly drawn sexual themes appeared in manga, intended for male readership. And we at WHoArtNow decided to take advantage of this lack of censorship and design some ourselvess! jū hachi kin is just one of these designs. In Japan, sexually explicit material is often called "jū hachi kin" (18禁; prohibited for sale to persons under 18). So please do not try to make a purchase if you are under 18!

So that it for now, more bits of Manga art will be added as and when. As usual what this space by subscribing to this News blog if you want to keep informed on what Art we are putting out, and don't forget to check the new Manga Art range!

How To Sell Your Art (pt1)

Introduction

For many years the only way to successfully sell your artwork was in art galleries, however with the rise in the Internet there are now numerous ways to sell your art. Deciding which of these techniques should be the first thing you do. You can of course do both, however your more likely to see faster sales on-line as many art galleries book their shows a year in advance and its hard to get an show if your unknown. There are many different ways to sell your artwork on-line. There are many sites set up for you to sell your artwork, you could set your own site up or you could sell your canvas on one of the auction sites.

Before you start this process, ask yourself the type of person you want to buy your artwork. Are you after an art connoisseur (usually a lot of money for a 1 off piece of art) or are you more interested in selling to the average person (less money, but you might sell a lot of the same image and make more money) ? If you want to sell the one off art to the connoisseur, look to a real world art gallery for that. If your more interested in selling as many copies of your art to the average person, look to get on-line.

You need to realise however, that selling on-line is not as easy as putting your art up and leaving it that and it will take some time to get your first sale. If you don't mind working hard at it, the rewards will be worth it.

A vital piece of information that you should live by is watermark your work. This will limit the chances of someone stealing your artwork, publishing it on another site and claiming the credit for themselves. Worse still, some will steal your art to make money off it themselves. DeviantART allows you add a Creative Commons License which adds a DeviantART watermark with your DeviantART URL. This is a simple yet effective way to watermark, yet why not make your own? image.

Art Galleries

Go to your nearest city or town and you'll see the amount of art galleries there are about. Art Galleries are the holy grail to an artist. Being able to watch people admire your work and give you instant feedback is amazing. Sadly only a small number of artists these days manage to exhibit in an Art Gallery.

So how do you go about getting exhibited in a gallery? Start with some research, find local galleries that work with your style and topic. It doesn't matter how amazing your art is, if your trying to sell stencil canvas art to a gallery that specialises in sculptures, your going to get a no straight away.

Its a good idea to go into the gallery before contacting them.Have a general chat with a member of staff about some of the art, get a feel for the gallery and staff. You need to be able to trust the gallery, and get on with them. If you get an appointment, be well prepared and dress smart. Always take a sample of your

work. If you produce large Canvas Prints, make some digital re-productions, as long as they are good quality and high resolution copies kept neat and tidy in a portfolio. Aim for a minimum of A2.

If you get an exhibition and some or all of your artwork sells, the gallery will take their commission. This varies from gallery to gallery, but I've organised and visited galleries and exhibitions in galleries taking as little as 20% going all the way up to 60%. this might seem like a lot, but small inner city galleries have huge overheads and can often only fit small numbers of images on the walls. Remember, there a business, not a charity so they are trying to make money.

The rest of this little 'How To' will follow, in three more parts so watch this space or feel free to subscribe - you can now even have email subscribtion to our News.

New Search Feature

We've just released a new and improved search feature for the site. Using Google's world class search engine technology, you can now search for our art through a variety of avenues.

You can search for canvas art by colour, for size, shape or style. It doesn't have to be art either, you could search for articles & text based goodness, like our news, tips and frequently asked questions.

So you can now start getting smart on your quest for your perfect piece of art. If you searched for art by colour & style for example you could come up with some interesting results. Try combining, for example "chocolate floral" for an interesting result. You could be very specific, say with "New York Skyline". In fact, all of google's advanced search operators exist, as if you were using their search engine. If you still can't find what you are looking for, then you could request a print from us.

Give the searching a bash if you like, feel free to give us some feedback too if you like. It's only early days, so much improvements will be greatly appreciated.

As usual, feel free to hit us up if want to chat to us about anything, or give us a bell. You can even subscribe to these posts too... Have a good day!