Twitter artists

I’m not claiming that I am great friends with these artists or that they would know who I was in passing but the use of Twitter has allowed me to talk to some of these creative people I admire in the short space of 140 characters. I have tried contacting artists via email before… I know myself that if I had some random stranger contact me via email I would be less inclined to respond but for some reason, the short sharp replies of twitter allows them to acknowledge you and start to build up a casual relationship. For example, after my chat with Alan Wardle, he tweeted my website address around and 2 other artist I follow responded positively to my work…

Aaron Miller : site

Ben & Fi : Ben's site


I think it is an excellent tool for getting yourself out there and introducing yourself to similar artists, I find some professionals and students are following me and vice versa but you also start to notice how small the world really is… a lot of these people know others from working together or through other people they know in common but god knows how many people could’ve been introduced to my work from Alan’s tweet. You can pair your twitter account with many other various social networking sites, which can mean you post a link on twitter of your work but it is actually sent 4 other websites allowing for more people to view it. I also get to view sneak peeks of other artists work via twitter and you get to see behind the scenes of some things, for example the Pictoplasm Totem project had a massive following via twitter with artists tweeting their designs, reviews and interviews of the show, pics of the exhibition etc etc. I don’t know if I will get chance to see the exhibit when it lands back in the UK (Birmingham) but I would very much like to.

Another artist I found through the medium of twitter for his t-shirt designs is Derek Deal. He has a very punk/skate style to some of his work utilising a limited colour palette and hand drawn lines... but also the same exaggeration I was talking about in Marc McKee’s work… Like many other artists I like, Deal uses characters as central elements in his work, allowing for a more direct image of the characters performing an action than some more abstract or representational execution by others. It is mainly his colour palettes and the exaggeration that drew me to his work but I also noticed that he actually undertakes a few differing styles… from hand drawn to vectors and cartoon to collage across his printed work, t-shirts and posters. I’ve always worried that I need to find one style in order to produce my work, one way of working that I will become known for and receive work with…. But seeing Deal make a living out of this creating lots of different pieces in different ways means I too could let the subject determine the style of my work and not worry about becoming known for just one particular way of working.

I seem to have found more and more artists using hand drawn lines or at least lines to make it look hand made... guess there's a few of them about then! ;) that would normally make me think what's the point in tryin if there's so many.. but everyone draws differently so it actually fills me with confidence that I can make a go of it! I love the use of colour too, very similar to the limited colour palettes of old skateboard and punk stickers/skateboards.