What Is It Worth To You?

What a month it has been. I have had some highs, some lows, really lows, and an incredible high! Where do I begin. As some of you may know I am partially disabled, and my income is quite limited. Even so I found a way through hardcore budgeting to make sure each of my kids were covered with at least 2 gifts each. Nothing huge, but I know it's going to be a great Christmas morning. I really thought I was going to be able to do much more this month as my exposure was through the roof, and the word is finally getting out with all the hard work I have done this entire year. I was really wondering if it was all worth it at all, or if I was just fooling myself. Honestly I am still a bit iffy about having a full time career in the art industry.

A while back I wrote a blog titled Never Give Up, and it was viewed here and there, but no more than any of my other blog posts.Colored Pencil Magazine read it and asked me if they could do a feature about my blog post, and of course I said yes. I really love this Magazine, they have supported me more that any company by posting my comments, art lessons, even my work on their Facebook Page. I was thinking this was going to be a spot light feature including my name and a picture of my work, but to my surprise they decided to give me a two page large print feature. I am still floored, and don't know how to thank them. They made sure they printed my website in the magazine, and featured me again on their Facebook page. The featured image was my  large 22 x 28 inch Bird in Bloom Piece, and I couldn't be more proud of this piece, and now it  was in an international printed magazine. Things were really looking up big time.

Or maybe I just got my hopes up a bit too much. As far as exposure and reaching out to many great artists who enjoyed my article that was a true success. I am very honored to have a lot off the big guns coming to me for advise and help. I cannot wait until I can contribute more. For now I am looking forward to making a sale. But as of right now I am really hurt, by not only the community of artists and collectors, but close family and friends that have made me really question the value of my work.I have put a whole lot of work into creating these large works of art, months for some. I have four children and a two bedroom apartment so to find time to draw alone is a challenge. But I do it. Not only do I do these works for my portfolio I also find the time to draw and write free art lessons and make sure they are available on multiple social media platforms mainly because I know how rough times are and I know many people of all ages can use them. For that I will continue making more. How much more work am I going to put out to realize that no one wants to buy.

Last month for Cyber Monday I had taken off 50% off every original signed piece of artwork I had. Not only that I did the same for prints, commissions, graphic design and well all of it. Here I am with over 7,000 visitors to my blog, several hundred per social media outlet, and I nothing. No sells, no orders, not even a request. I extended it for an entire week. And nothing. I am in a national magazine with thousands of readers. Nope nada. I think the nail in the coffin was a comment made to me last week by a close family friend was that i was asking WAY too much for my artwork. The piece was was talking about was my Bird in Bloom piece. Keep in mind Bird in Bloom won Best in Show in a live judged gallery competition, and is currently being featured in a national magazine. The piece is large for a colored pencil piece and took me several months to create with a wrist that was still healing from a torn tendon. At the time he was interested the piece was half off for the Cyber Monday deals at $350.00... Basically to me he might as well have said it was worthless. Did he really think a drawing of that size was worth a hundred bucks or something? Was it only worth a hundred? Being that I haven't sold anything it kind of made me wonder deep down if I my artwork was worth selling to the point of making a living.

Right now the way I see it is people like that are going to come and go. Sure he hit me hard with that one comment but I know he was wrong. Am I upset.. Sure if your reading my rant here you know I am pretty upset. Something I am going to take from all this is I am not going to let it stop me from enjoying what I do. I am not a rich man now. I have much more hard work to do. I am not getting paid for the work, but you know what I get something else from everything I do. I get the experience. I get to meet people around the world. I get to help young artists find art lessons that they can use to learn how to draw with. FOR FREE! No sign ups, no membership, no fees. If you want to donate feel free, but don't feel pressured. I get to make people laugh again for free. My online comic strip Twisted Fate is also available on my site. And you know what there will be a day, probably sometime next year, where I'll be so busy I am going to wish for the days when I didn't have a job booked. And so will you.

So what is art worth? Honestly I still do not have that answer yet. I have read formulas, went into forums, and asked many many artists, and they all say what's it worth to you? If you have a piece that you won't part with for less that $600.00 then don't. Do not let someone talk you down because they don't understand the time, pain, love, and everything you put into that piece. They don't see the part of your soul that aches just thinking about selling it. A lot of times they are just trying to get you to question your worth so they can save a buck. I am worth more and so are you. Stay busy, stay positive, and step back and price your work to what you want to because in the end you are and artist, which means you are your own boss.

Thank you for listening/reading,

Derrick Rathgeber
http://DerricktheArtist.com
DerricktheArtist@Live.com

Purchase your own printed or digital copy of the December Issue of Colored Pencil Magazine featuring my article Never Give Up by clicking the link below. Thank you for your Support. 

http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/663632 

The Flight of the Macaw: Colored Pencil Drawing by Derrick Rathgeber

The Flight of the Macaw

by Derrick Rathgeber

Price $400

http://derrickr.webs.com/apps/webstore/products/show/4079072

The Flight of the Macaw was one of my greatest pictures as an artist. I not only completed this piece in a good time-frame but I used over 40+ colored pencils. Composing this image was no easy feat at all either. The reference shot I had was small and blurry, but the pose fit what I was going for. I used other references such as encyclopedias, and zoology books to get the bone structure, and muscle movements down. In this blog I will be giving you a day by day play into the creation of this piece. 

DAY ONE

And the macaw spreads his wings. There is something releasing about sketching the picture on the paper. It can be difficult to start a new project sometimes, and I know once I start to draw the piece I know it's on. I found a good composition in this image that followed a line of action. It gives the illusion of the birds movement, and flight path which is right off the page. I started to color the head and saw the clock, time for a break. 

DAY TWO

I really jumped right into this piece. I felt an immediate connection, and after the success with the Bird in Bloom piece I really wanted to improve more. I used about 4-5 pencils to get a good bone color in the beak. I started to work on the creases and noticed that after I colored in the eye, I felt him staring right at me with almost a grin. Although the camera I used picked up more white than it should have, you can still see the layers of colors I started to put in. I wanted to give this bird a bit of my personality, and you can see that with the yellow to red flame coloring I put in his feathers. 

DAY THREE

Something happened today that was a bit unexpected for me. I found detail that was not in the reference picture. My dad in Costa Rica took a far away shot of this bird in flight and it was very blurry. You could say that I winged it...pun. Seriously though I stopped looking at the photo at this point and just colored. I saw the form of this beautiful bird and knew where I wanted the muscles to flex, and even more I wanted to feathers to fluff out as if he had just flapped his wings, and you get that hint of back-draft. I also went right into the shading too. I don't usually do this until I shaded all the base colors, but like I said something just came over me today, and I was on fire looking forward to tomorrow. 

DAY FOUR

Back to what I was talking about in day three. The muscle definition. I think that was my primary focus on this piece. Not only did I want to see how many colors I could put in it, but I wanted to see how many feathers I could ruffle, and muscles I could flex. The one small challenge I found was the molted white feathers on the legs and by the wings. With colored pencils you cannot just color white over red and expect white. So I had to color around these areas using negative space, and then using small strokes to add the detail of them being white feathers. I did this with grays and browns. After adding some lights and shadows to this point I think I was done for the day. 

DAY FIVE

Today the macaw started to fly. Can I admit one thing, I actually go so nervous before I started the wings that I took a day or two away from this piece. after I put so much detail into the body I couldn't mess up on the wings. That would be the end of it. So I started on the feet. Believe it or not the feet were harder than the wings. I had to get a movement that made sense as well as give them some texture. The color was interesting to, I would say between the blues, grays and tan colors there were about 7-9 colors in the feet alone. That's why I love colored pencils. Just by adding one more color in a different direction or stroke you change the look and feel of what you are coloring. It may take longer, but you have total control. As for the wings I think the most difficult part was the angle of the feathers and showing the wind pushing down on the top feathers, and lifting the bottom. to do that I added a curve at the end of each feather, and moved them as I visualized the bird in motion. You have to do this, create a line of action and engage the audience. You have one image to capture their imagination, by drawing them into yours. 

DAY SIX

Ah the right wing. This wing was killer. I almost made the mistake of thinking the macaw's feathers were blue on the top and bottom. After looking it over I found they were just a darker color of red. The feathers are actually layered, and their blue feathers are on top. That being said I really thought I would have more blue in this picture, but If I am going to make it believable you have to do your research, even if you are making it your own. Now if you are drawing directly from your imagination, which I love, then all bets are off. This is the funny part I made sure that I placed the blue on the second wing anyways. I changed to composition to have this wing come off the border. It solved two problems for me, One I needed the wings to match up in color, and Two this was a perfect line of action that made this draw much more interesting. Now I was ready to move forward. 

DAY SEVEN

This is the phase where most of artists start to crash. The final lap of the finish line, and you fear finishing. Part of you wants to push harder just to end it, and the other halve just wants to put it away and never finish it because you fear the success or failure of possible messing up. This is where you have to be cautious and take breaks. For me I told myself I would just do the log for the day, and as hard as that was I did it. I added the shadows, and different colors of browns to get the color I wanted. A voice poked in to my head saying just color in the shrubs and be done with it, I know that would have been a big mistake. I was tired, and my wrist was hurting, and I know I would have skipped details, and just rushed it. So I gave it one more day. I originally attempted to draw this 18" x 24" colored pencil piece in 7 days, but I would rather add one more day and be happy with it, than ruin it but trying to hit a deadline that I placed on myself. 

DAY EIGHT

And with the large brush in the background with the skyline, this piece is finally completed. I think this piece cemented me into a good spot as an artist. What I accomplished fore myself was just priceless when I finished this macaw piece. I used over forty colored pencils, and I did it in eight days. It was a good feeling to know I did that, and I wanted to do it again. I continued making new portfolio pieces here on out, and rebuilding everything. If you think about it The Flight of the Macaw was me. I was spreading my wings and letting the wind take me. All the way trough I animated him in my head watching him move, and I think that made the picture take form and move with me. 

Thank you for stopping by. 

Derrick Rathgeber

Originals and Prints for Sale! Starting at $40.00

https://www.facebook.com/DerrickRathgeber/app_309028460694

Prints and Originals starting at $40! 

Shop today right on Facebook!! 

You can also visit my site at http://Derrickr.webs.com for more great artwork to choose from. 

Featured Art: The Fallen Angel by Derrick Rathgeber

Featured Art: The Fallen Angel

Title: The Fallen Angel
Artist: Derrick Rathgeber (Feel free to like my Facebook Page at http://Facebook.com/DerrickRathgeber
Medium: RoseArt Colored Pencils/ Strathmore Medium 18" x 24"

The fallen angel was one of those images stuck in my head. I imagined what it would be like for an angel to fall into darkness. Cast out by God, but as he felt remorse and tried to catch him is was too late, the dark already had a hold of him. I drew this when I felt myself slipping into a really dark place in my life, and I was waiting for an answer, I am in that better place now back in his hands.

Visit more of my work at http://derrickr.webs.com/
Prints are available at http://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-fallen-angel-derrick-rathgeber.html

Featured Art - Bird in Bloom: Never Give up

Bird in Bloom 

by Derrick Rathgeber

Bird in Bloom this piece is so nostalgic to me as an artist. I think it means more to me that most of my art pieces, and for good reason. I went from a very dark place to a new brighter future with this one picture. 

Back in 2008 I was in a severe accident on the job, as a cable technician, that left me completely disabled. I was crushed by a faulty ladder and my entire body was bent backwards like an accordion and what was worse was the 150lb 14ft extension ladder landed on my right wrist. My chances of ever drawing again were not looking good at all. What made things worse was the fact that my injury was on the job. The insurance company never took my injuries seriously, and to this day they are still refusing treatments. 

In 2009 I continued to work on these injuries due to the insurance companies doctor. Although my treating physician placed me on full disability the insurance company sent me to a "wrist" specialist. This doctor examined only my wrist and hand, and not the rest of the injuries which included my back, lumbar spine, hips, shoulder, neck, and so on. Based on his report my work limitations were decreased and I was sent back into the field. I continued to take it easy and do only disconnects, and simple installs for a while. Until May 1st 2009, my co-worker called in sick. It was his week on call, and they had me take over his work load despite my limitations. I argued, but they threatened terminating me, and I had a family to think about. I really wished I listened to my gut. That day I pushed myself too far. I did two line drops, a trench, full house install, and multiple line repairs. I worked from 8:00am - 8:00pm with no breaks. In Blythe the weather that day was 110 degrees. Needless to say I just went home and passed out for the night. 

May 2nd 2009, Probably the scariest day of our families lives. I woke up from the day before completely drained and exhausted. I was constantly dizzy and couldn't focus. I felt really sore so I tried to do some yoga to stretch out a bit. I put the DVD in and did about half of the warm-up but that was too much. I told my wife that I was just not feeling well and went back to sleep. She watched the kids, and I went to lay back down. I woke up again around the evening time and went to the rest room. Sorry if this is a bit graphic but I peed what looked like Coca Cola. It was black. By the time I was able to look what happened I was already blacking out. My kidneys were failing. I got to Palo Verde Hospital and they were a bunch of retards. They made me get out of my wheelchair, and walk. Took their time to get me a room. And when the blood results came back they thought it was an error, and almost sent me home with Gatorade. You see with all the injuries I had and me working myself to death the day before in the heat I got Rhabdomyolysis - (the breakdown of muscle fibers that leads to the release of muscle fiber contents (myoglobin) into the bloodstream. Myoglobin is harmful to the kidney and often causes kidney damage.) 

My CK levels were over 90,000, and they are supposed to be within the 150 range. I was literally off the charts and should have been dead. After being transferred to an actual hospital in Sun City Arizona (another 4 hour ambulance ride.) I had to stay there for a good two weeks until my levels were in a respectable range. And finally I was taken off work for the time being. 

It's now 2012 and that day still haunts me. I am in a huge fight with this insurance company as I imagine most people are. I can still feel my body degrading, and falling apart. My wrist has developed carpel tunnel and signs of arthritis. My elbow, back and shoulder hurt with every use, and I now require a cane to walk. Did I mention that I am in my 30's. I had about given up any hope of ever draw or have a normal life ever again. I was in such a hole that I really wanted to just give up. I wasn't getting better, I wasn't getting paid anything, and it really hurt to do anything I liked to do. Even sitting down for longer than 20 minutes would kill my back. I didn't know why I was left to just rot, and I lost all faith in people.  

I bought me a new sketchook, it was suede covered, and very nice. At this time I hadn't drawn a picture in years. Not so much a doodle. I felt like I was losing myself, and I needed something to change. I had to make myself some rules. I draw what I want. I don't judge it, and I don't share it with anyone. Just draw. 

And I did. I found small times where I would just sketch, nothing fancy or great, but I did it. My hand was shaking, my wrist was in severe pain, and my back was straining, but I was drawing. That's the only thing I focused on. I noticed over the next few pages that I was slowly getting it back. I noticed that I was actually getting a bit better. Because of the pain, and shaky hands I had to slow down. I couldn't draw for hours anymore, but with the time I gave myself to draw I was completely focused, and really looked closely at the drawings. I was no longer the fast artist I once as, who learned to animate and draw accurate lines with one stroke, but a new kind of artist that drew sketchy lines, and slowed down quite a bit. It wasn't worse, just different. 

Towards the end of the year I was at the store and I came home with a large poster board. I said to myself, I am going to full this paper up with color. I was going to to a full 22" x 28" colored pencil drawing no matter how long it took. I grabbed reference shots and compiled it together. I chose the Gerber daisy because it's my wife's favorite flower, and this picture was dedicated to her belief in me. And the humming bid was because well we see them all over our back yard, and I thought it would look great in the picture. For the next three months I worked on this piece, and I was shocking myself. By the time I was done, I didn't believe I did it. I almost didn't want to finish it. After posting it online I was approached to place it in a show. At this time aside from the fairs, I had never been in a show, or a gallery. And this showcase was a juried show with professional artists. 

Something funny happened at this show. I won Best in Show. I didn't expect to win anything to be honest. Now this wasn't a money winning category, but I won. Part of the reason was my colored pencil drawing was categorized as a painting. They thought I colored this piece so well that it was a painting. Even better the judge couldn't believe the size of the piece, and he told be that he himself couldn't do it. Me I thought nah he must be buttering me up or trying to make me feel better. That was until people were shaking my hand. They were respecting me as an artist, and calling me their equal. This was all new to me. I wanted to do this all my life, and now it's possible.

So with this piece I was able to start new. I am still in a lot of pain, and may never be the same again, but now I have a future to look forward to. I have drawn many more colored pencil pieces since then, and I continue to do much more. I may not have a lot of money, or completely healthy, but I have a great family backing me, and I feel so successful as an artist because I am able to draw again, and share my work with all of you. I hope if something ever happens like this in your life that you use it to better yourself too. Don't let negative people, and negative events in your life take away your life. I wasted a lot of time in sorrow, and pain. I can't imagine where I would be now if I just gave up. I probably wouldn't be around to see how much  great things I would have missed out on. So Thank you for supporting me everyone, you make pictures like this one happen, and you make me continue to fight.  

Thank you for reading, 

Derrick Rathgeber 

http://derrickr.webs.com

This image is now available for a live viewing at the Artscape exhibit in Riverside, CA. 

Spring - Summer exhibit from March 2013 - September 2013. 

To view my work visit the Artscape exhibit located at:

The Riverside County Administration Center

4080 Lemon St.,

Riverside, CA 92501

For more information contact  Rachael Dzikonski via email at rachael@riversideartscouncil.com.