The Seven Heavens Single Release Party!!

The Long awaited single has hit the music stores! 

The Seven Heavens by Derrick Bruno is available for purchase for only $0.99!!

ITunes, Amazon Music, Spotify, iHeart Radio and many more!

#HalfEvil333 #thesevenheavens #derrickbruno #music #album#singlerelease #instafamous #instalife #latergram #HalfEvilProductions#grammyartist #awardwinning #99cents #love #instagood #me#photooftheday #beautiful #share #subscribe #worldwide #spotify#itunes #amazon

Break the Chains That Bind Your Artwork

Breaking boundaries and becoming more creative than you ever thought you could be. That is what today’s blog is all about. I’ll be the first to admit that I changed my entire drawing style to build myself as a professional artist. I honestly felt no one would take me seriously if I kept drawing characters, and creations out of my mind. I tried, I really did. I would post my work online and got nothing back in return. Was this because I wasn’t good enough, or people didn’t like what I had drawn? Now that I look back on it I don’t think so. I think it was because I didn’t believe in myself enough. I held back in a lot of my work and it suffered dramatically. I would spend hours creating a lot of detail in the beginning, and then just tire of the drawing because it wasn’t me. It just didn’t represent me as an artist.

I have felt really chained down as an artist these past few months and as I was looking up a reference shot for my next piece I asked myself why? This picture I am about to draw has already been captured on photograph it’s done. What about all the great pictures in my mind that are trapped in there. I literally had thousands of images screaming to be released onto paper, and I was scared that I would mess them up. There is pressure to create; I always wanted to be original and draw different than everyone else. Even when I would draw from reference I wanted to find a way to change the image, but I really felt bound to make the image look like what I was drawing just because. I know it’s not a good reason but the pressure to be great, and build a portfolio got me thinking I had to make everything believable and real. And then it hit me just the other day why can’t I have the best of both, and make the imagination real and believable.

I found myself with a dilemma. Do I continue to build my portfolio with realistic colored pencil drawings or do I draw for fun. In the end I answered with my gut feeling to do it for me. So my next piece is called Beyond Imagination. At first I started to collect pictures of things I would add to my work I thought to myself that I am doing it again. I was already judging myself, and holding back by using images as a crutch. If I really wanted to release my talent I had to just draw. So in this image I am drawing it from left to right adding all the detail as I go. I started with a dragon, and a witch, and a phoenix. I have no idea what is next, and I don’t care if it makes sense. It’s imagination and fun. I hope you can do the same.

I propose a challenge to everyone. On your next piece, if you want to find out how much you have evolved as an artist, I want you to use everything you have learned to this point and just draw. Lay it all out on the paper. Don’t think about judgment from peers, or from yourself just go. Whatever comes into your mind go for it. The only other rule I ask for is to not use reference shots, photos, or any previous artwork. Make it yours, make it new, and take your time. Sometimes when you hit the professional level you get a following who love your “style.” If so fantastic don’t change. For me although I have gained a lot of praise for my work, it’s time for me to take a step back for a while and brake the chains that bound my imagination. I plan on growing, and releasing all I have to give, I hope you do too. Take the limiters off, and be creative again.

I hope to see some great new creations. Find me on my Facebook page at http://Facebook.com/DerricktheArtist and share them with me.

Thank you for reading,

Remember to Share, Comment, and Subscribe.

Derrick Rathgeber

http://DerricktheArtist.com

It's time to Rise like an Eagle and Fly

It's time to Rise like an Eagle and Fly

_________________________________________________________________________________

Hello my name is Derrick Rathgeber, and all of you know me as a colored pencil artist. Not only that I am known for using what tools I can find lying around to make big works of art. For years ever since my accident I have been drawing on 32 cent poster board, printer paper, and using a collection of RoseArt pencils donated to me. I am very thankful to the company RoseArt for sending me this great gift, I was completely out of black, and certain reds I needed to finish my last piece. They gave me an opportunity to share my lessons on their blog page and ignited my own blog page here. It's funny I thought that was my ticket to getting more traffic to my website, and possibly sell some work so I can buy frames and do some shows, but people never came. 

Over the last year I have posted my work all over the web in every free way possible. I put in a lot of hours linking these pages together. If you search my name you get pages upon pages of results. I am on Pinterest, Tumblr, DeviantArt, Facebook, Twitter, FineArtAmerica, and the list goes on and on. I have been featured on a few other sites as an artist, and I am currently in a showcase here in Riverside, CA. The problem I am having with all of this work I put in is it seems to go nowhere. I haven't sold one thing. I am literally all over the web, and I am not getting traffic. I wanted to prove to other artists that struggle in ways that I do, that it's possible to make it without putting in money you don't have. In a sense I have been doing well, and I do have a small hand full of great fans, but most of them are other artists that are not into buying work from another artist. I don't blame them it is kind of counter productive. But I have been invited to several shows, and I have had to turn them all down because all of my work is without frames, I don't have setup fees, transportation, or money to give as change for that matter. It's embarrassing to continue putting these shows off, and calling yourself a "professional artist." 

In my own way I do want to continue helping out. So in this case I am going to continue keeping my work FREE to view. I don't have a lot of money, and I know other artists do not either, so I will continue to help all of you for FREE. I will be honest and say this it gives me a great pleasure to see even 1 like on my comic post, or one fellow artist sharing their results from my drawing lesson with a thank you. I get a kick out of it. That money cannot buy. So what will change. 

In my many years, before I was placed on the shelf as a disabled employee, I worked for many different companies and learned a whole lot of trades. I made a lot of companies a great deal of money with innovative ideas, and advertising strategies that placed them on top. It was easy they gave me an amount to use, and I turned it into more. They gave me a product and I sold it. The had a number and I beat it. Recently I fought with myself asking why can I not market myself in the same way. I have placed myself EVERYWHERE, I made contests, I made ideas, and I advertised myself to the brim, so why can I not sell me? It recently dawned on me that I never invested in myself, other than time. I never put in the money. I thought what I was doing was enough. Hell I stood toe-to-toe with big named artists with a pack of $1.29 colored pencils, and a 32 cent poster board and won. It's time for me to rise above my own fear and doubt, and invest in myself. In return when I do that I know this investment will pay off for mine and my families future. 

By the end of this month your going to see a whole lot more of me. Starting with a new Twisted Fate comic strip. As the ink is drying, I want to say come back for that. And before they go "viral" you get to say you saw it here first. Before I get new materials you get to go through my web page and share my work saying check this guy out he didn't need to spend hundreds on art supplies, and he made it. You will be able to say I saw these comics before they were in a book. And I'll remember your faith in me and return it ten fold. Because everything I do on here is meant to be shared with the world. So I will end this as saying thank you for everything, and helping me keep my eyes on the prize. I am going to fly. 

Thank you,

Derrick Rathgeber

http://DerrickR.Webs.com

Find me on Facebook at Http://Facebook.com/DerrickRathgeber

Selling Tragedy for Likes

The advertising game has changed in the last 10 years. I have moved merchandise for several companies in my life, and worked on advertising campaigns that were very successful in a multitude of business’. It used to be so much different. You would create a creative slogan, or do mass mailings, possibly a banner on the highway to improve the number of people who see your product. Now it’s all about social media. and public relations.
When I was younger there was a thing called business ethics. The way you would promote yourself and your company would represent your character as an organization or company. In this day and age that concept seems to go right out of the window. One of those examples is the way Blogs, and some business’ promote themselves on Facebook. I have seen several Facebook pages use a tactic that is completely un-ethical, and deceitful  I feel this practice needs to be regulated more, and seen as spam and illegal.

When I am scrolling along my feed I too often come across very disturbing images of a child with a serious illness, or being seriously abused, and the worst I have seen was an open casket of a deceased infant. Sure you see these images everywhere in the news and on the web, but what makes these images more disturbing is the pages that post them are soliciting likes from these disturbing images. For example the image below is stating that if you like this picture it equals 1 prayer for the child.

It sounds like a very enduring act. But in reality it’s the most deceitful ugly way to promote your Facebook Page, blog, and or business. Facebook uses a feature called “Edge Rank” which is used to increase the likelihood that your products or services will appear. Edge Rank is increased by adding “Weight” to your page. Weight is a word for anything you post that enables an interaction such as a like, or comments. So lets say someone has a website that sells goods/ services, and they want to promote something new. Before they would start promoting the new item/service They would need to add weight to my page. So will they do this is the ethical question. In this case a blog posted a child in pain, still at the hospital in the attempt to recieve more likes on their Facebook page. I have seen others use abused children, and worse. These companies are profiting on the suffering of others.

A good majority of the companies and bloggers that use this practice don’t even own the picture. In one instance the child in the photograph(Seen Below), who was attacked by another child at her pre-school nursery. The photograph of the child was apparently stolen from the Daily Mail article or elsewhere on the Internet and reused in this utterly pointless protest message without the permission of her family. They went on to spread the image across the net asking for likes to stop abused children. This in no way fights abused children anywhere, all it did was increase this criminals page rank and set them up to increase sales or hits on their blog.

These individuals need to be stopped. They are distributing these children's photos across the internet, and in many cases lying about the situation in the picture. In one case an infant was just born, and the doctor was holding her up for the camera and all you saw was his hands holding him/her up. In the caption it claimed the baby was being choked, and asked for likes to stop abuse. They took a happy moment and turned into a nightmare and gained over 500,000 comments and 50,000 likes on their page. What a joke. It's disgusting, and does not need to continue. To them someones pain is opportunity, and that is the lowest form of advertising. 

So what can we do about it. Well first off do not respond to these posts. That means do not comment or anything. Instead report them to Facebook as abuse. Something else we can do is gather together and ask for Facebook to implement stricter guidelines on images, and create rules banning this practice. I hope to see more action, and less of these images. If you are too, let Facebook and other media outlets know. 

Thank you for reading I hope I have been some help.

Derrick Rathgeber

Visit me at http://derrickr.artist.cm