Hungry New Year!
I cannot tell the future any better than anyone else, but I gave it my best shot. One thing I know for sure is that The Hungry will be THE newsletter for creative business news, and nobody can stop us!
In case you missed it, The Hungry is moving back to once per week, and all the deep dives will be shared here... like this one:
The Future Looks Bright...Maybe
One person's brilliant outlook on the world might be another person's dystopia, but that didn't stop me from making my predictions about what 2024 will bring for creative people and how they operate in the future.
One poorly kept secret is that social media platforms will double down on their efforts to keep you within their ecosystems. Meta doesn't want you playing with Google or TikTok and vice versa. We may get to a point soon where we must choose...maybe.
Another thing that will happen is the return to blogging/writing/newsletters. Yes, this is a self-fulfilling prophecy for me, but because social media attempts to keep us locked up, many people will yearn for the freedom of self-expression on their sites... or I could be wrong.
Education, politics, and even the future of this very newsletter are all things I shared this week in my prediction post. Please read it and give me your view on what I shared.
Art Snacks: Aaron Beebe
Artist, designer, and founder of Plastikcomb magazine, Beebe is partially responsible for the resurgence of what many uptight graphic designers today would label as the worst part of design history... GRUNGE! We don't call it that anymore; opting for the upgrade: #NuArt
Biz Bites
I'm willing to bet you've thought about starting a podcast—we all have. Starting one today is much easier than when I created my first over a decade ago. It's also the easiest way to scream into the void without anyone noticing, but if that's your jam, here are some tips that will help.
Hyperallergic always comes with the fire when sharing their art grants and opportunities list. The January opportunities are no different.
Have you ever considered user-generated content for your business? You may have used it, and you didn't even realize it when you shared a photo of someone who bought it from you and posted it to their social media. Would you pay for that influence? Because influencer marketing is on the rise.
Selling on TikTok is about to get a lot more expensive, with processing fees going from 2% up to 8%. TikTok shopping hit significant benchmarks over the holidays, and their proof of concept has shown that users will buy from you... now for a heftier fee.
Printify has added A.I. art generation to their toolbox, and we should all be prepared for a deluge of really ugly print-on-demand products to overwhelm Etsy this year.
Art Bites
Stefan Sagmeister interviewed by Debbie Millman? Yes, please!
Gallery representation is still many artists' chosen path for their work, and maybe that includes you, but is it the right path?
"I'll show you how great I am!" Saatchi Art shares their bestselling works from December.
Commercial illustration is not for the soft. You need tenacious skill and sleepless nights (mainly because you're waiting to get paid).Creative Boom talks with illustrator Will Rea about how he's survived and thrived in a highly competitive field.
The second most popular thing designer/artists want is a Risograph printer so we can make beautiful posters like this 2024 calendar. The first thing on the list is a podcast microphone, or is that just me? (😉)
Happy belated 50th to Tina Roth Eisenberg (aka Swiss Miss). Without her, at least 7% of The Hungry wouldn't exist.
Dessert
RIP David Soul. You were my action hero.
