Download pdf - How to Create & Submit Your Best (Engage) Art | eCourse • TOC • … · Choose Your Own Art-Venture Choose Your Own Art-Venture How to Create & Submit Your Best (Engage) Art |

Engage Art eCourse Engage Art eCourseChoose Your Own Art-VentureChoose Your Own Art-Venture

How to Create & Submit Your Best (Engage) Art | eCourse • TOC • Page 2

Engage Art eCourse Module #1

On Your Mark 1.1. What is Engage Art?

1.2. What is a Plot? Topic? Theme?

1.3. Your Turn

Module #2 Topic/Theme/Plot

2.1. Engage Art’s Topic: The Spiritual Battle

2.2. Topic Exploration

2.3. Theme Exploration

2.4. Theme Mind Maps

2.5. Choosing & Refining Your Theme

2.6. From Theme to Plot

2.7. Setting/Exposition

2.8. Characters

Module #3 Understanding Art

3.1. Revisit the Basics

3.2. Art Thinking

3.3. Why Build Your Art Thinking Muscles?

Addenda

Module #4 Skills, Supports &

Surprises4.1. Build Your Art Skills

4.2. Practice Smart

4.3. Stand on the Shoulders of Greatness

4.4. Create a “Right Now” Art Space

4.5. Experiment

4.6. Collaborate

4.7. Feedback

Module #5 Reflect & Write

5.1. Who Are You Writing For?

5.2. Thinking About Your Art

5.3. Writing About Your Art

5.4. Writing About Yourself & Your Team


How to Create & Submit Your Best (Engage) Art | eCourse • TOC • Page 3

A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

1749-1832 Statesman and greatest German literary figure of the modern era. Poet, novelist, playwright, scientist, theatre director, critic, amateur visual artist. He also wrote, “The man who sees beauty may sometimes walk alone.”

.

Table of ContentsModule #6

Submit!6.1. Before You Submit

6.2. Top 10 Tips for Engage Art Submissions

6.3. Submission Walk Through

Module #7 Marketing & Promotion

7.1. Art Business Skills

7.2. Keeping Track

7.3. Reclaim Your Time

7.4. Copyright—A Business Essential for Artists

7.5. Marketing & Promotion Strategies

7.6. Ways for Novice & Emerging to Engage with Audiences

7.7. Ways for Mid-Level & Established Artists to Expand Their Earning Power

7.8. Your Values and Goals Should Power Your Life

7.9. How Analog Artists Can Thrive in a Digital World

7.10. Pricing Your Artwork

7.11. Basic Multi-Purpose Marketing Materials

7.12. Style

7.13. It’s a Plan!


How to Create & Submit Your Best (Engage) Art | eCourse • Intro • Page 4

Introduction


How to Create & Submit Your Best (Engage) Art | eCourse • Intro • Page 5

Introduction

Life is an adventure, and your life

is your adventure.

This workbook is meant to help

you along your journey as a

creative being.

• You can use it to figure out how to begin to create things.

• You can use it to further your life and career as an artist.

• You can use it just for fun.• You can use it to help you

create a business from the things you make.

It is specifically designed to

help you create the best visual

artwork, music video, film, or

performing arts piece that you

can for the Engage Art Contest.

We hope it benefits you, and we

hope you win!

Tips: • Print out this workbook if you like to

jot in the margins, fill in the blanks, etc. When you’re in the thick of making your amazing art, it might help to be able to go back and review your thought process. When you are ready to submit to the Engage Art Contest, you will definitely want to refer to and pull from the things you have written for the exercises in this workbook.

• This workbook is not meant to be completed all at once. Work through it at your own pace and in your own time. Take weeks or months, if you’d like. Watch movies. Go to museums. Live a life worth making art about. Rinse and repeat as needed.

• Skim each section before you start following the links or doing the exercises. That way, you know where you’re heading.

• You can work on Module 3 at any time. Really. Any time. During this process, and during your entire life. Repeatedly.

• Seriously consider collaborating with others on this project. A dancer will probably need a videographer, for instance; a filmmaker may need actors and musicians, etc. Be open to the talents and ideas of others.

• Have fun! After all, this is your very own amazing, choose-your-own art-venture!


How to Create & Submit Your Best (Engage) Art | eCourse • Module 1 • Page 6

On Your Mark

Go into the arts. I’m not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable.

Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake.

Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem.

Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.~ Kurt Vonnegut Veteran, Prisoner of War, Bestselling Author

Module #1





of anyone who is interested, into

ministries and classrooms, into

public and private spaces.

Engage Art is a lot of different things at once.

First of all, it’s FREE. Each Entrant

(that’s you!) can submit one artwork

in each category.

It’s also:

• An art competition for original

performing and visual arts with

more than $100,000 in prizes.

• Exposure opportunities, whether

you win or not.

• Encouragement and growth

opportunities for artists (hobbyist

to pro) in both their personal and

professional lives.

• A program to integrate visual

and performing arts into the lives

1.1. What is Engage Art?



• A whisper in the ear to remind us

that we are all creative beings.

We are happier and more fulfilled

when we have creative outlets

in our lives. Engage Art is one of

those outlets.

• A program to promote creative

people to new audiences in a

variety of ways.

• A reintroduction of the church to

artists. Do you know how many

historically famous artists used

scripture to inspire their work?

Why wouldn’t you do the same?

• A reintroduction of artists to

the church. Do you know how

Visit EngageArt.org• for more information about the Engage Art Contest.

• to enter your submission to the contest.

• to sign up for updates on the contest.

• to sign up to get free “art infusions”—curated collections of the submissions.

valuable visual imagery can be

to hold people’s attention? To get

them to remember something?

To get them to listen to unfamiliar

ideas, or to familiar concepts in

a new way? If you don’t, try this:

Ask the next 10 people you see

between the ages of 8 and 28 this

question:

“Watched any great videos lately?”

Expect an immediate, long-winded

answer. Then ask,

“What was the sermon about this week?”

Expect a blank stare. Get the

“picture?”

Curious? Awesome!

http://EngageArt.org



1.2. What is a Plot? Topic? Theme?

Understanding what a theme is and

how it is based on a broader topic

is key to your success in the Engage

Art Contest.

The concept and production of your

submission should stem from this

“theme work.” It doesn’t matter if

you are choreographing a dance,

sculpting, painting, creating a

concept film, or making music—for

this contest, the theme is where you

begin.

In the future, you may not start with

a theme when you begin a creative

project. Still, all your original work will

benefit from thinking deeply about

how the theme relates to other parts

of your art-making.



Plot

At some point, you probably

watched or read a story and talked

about it. You probably talked about

what happens in the story. This is

the plot:

• A young boy is ripped from his family and trained in a brutal Battle School on the chance he will become the leader to save humanity from alien invaders. (Ender’s Game)

• An unlikely ground dweller discovers that only his ring can save Middle Earth from the Dark Lord. (The Lord of the Rings)

• A Russian submarine captain runs from the Soviet navy in a quest to deliver the latest Soviet sub to the Americans. (The Hunt for Red October)

• A hotshot banker is sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit and strikes up an unlikely friendship. (Shawshank Redemption)

A story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way . . . You tell a story because a statement would be inadequate.~ Mary Flannery O’Connor

1925-1964, American Novelist & Short Story Writer, usually about the rural American South. Won the American Book Award for Fiction.



Topic & Theme

Then the conversation may have

turned to the questions “What does

it mean?” and “Why does it matter?”

That’s when you were talking about

the theme. When you hear an

author, playwright, director, etc.,

talk about a specific work and they

say, “I had something I wanted to

say about [whatever the topic is],”

they’re talking about theme, too.

The theme is seldom stated outright,

and it is often an opinion or a way of

looking at the topic. As a consumer

of culture, you have to figure it out,

and not everyone will come to the

same conclusion.

• Judgment is not justice. The Scarlet Letter Cry Freedom To Kill a Mockingbird Hunchback of Notre Dame

Someone might have asked, “What

is this story really about?” This is the

topic or subject. The answers could

be almost anything:

• Impossible Choices Sophie’s Choice Old Yeller The Little Mermaid Matrix Reloaded

• Dysfunctional Families Matilda Hamlet Gone Girl Wuthering Heights

• Annihilation/The End of the World Legion Jumanji War of the Worlds Terminator

• Beating the Odds Bad News Bears I Am Malala I Know Why the Rudy Caged Bird Sings



Want to go deeper?Spirituality and religion are a

prominent place where many

people explore deeper meaning.

Many stories in popular culture

are based on the same topics and

themes explored in church. Explore

this link to find popular movies

based on themes found in Christian

liturgy:

http://www.textweek.com

On the next four pages, we

outline the plot, topic, and themes

for various works of art. Feel free

to record your own thoughts in

the right-hand column. Then

there are pages for YOU to

analyze artworks of your choice.

• Love is an eternal truth . . . and also very complicated.

Twilight Angela’s Ashes Shrek Life is Beautiful

• Good and evil exist at the same time, in the same place, and sometimes in the same person.

Harry Potter A Few Good Men The Devil’s The Lion, The

Advocate Witch and the Wardrobe

• People reveal who they are through their deceptions.

Liar, Liar Jakob the Liar Huckleberry Heart of Finn Darkness

http://www.textweek.com/movies/themeindex.htm



Tortoise & the Hare | fableWhat is the PLOT of the story?

What is the TOPIC of the story?

What are the THEMES of the story?

EXAMPLE

Your Notes:



Your Notes: Your Notes:

Romeo & Juliet | play/movieWhat is the PLOT of the story?

What is the TOPIC of the story?

What are the THEMES of the story?

EXAMPLE



Your Notes:

Turn! Turn! Turn! | songWhat is the PLOT of the song?

What is the TOPIC of the song?

What are the THEMES of the song?

EXAMPLE

Your Notes:



Your Notes:

Girl I Left Behind Me | painting

What is the PLOT of the artwork?

What is the SUBJECT of the artwork?

What are the THEMES of the artwork?

View a 3 minute talk about “The Girl I Left Behind Me” by Eastman Johnson.

EXAMPLE

Your Notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL7gn_68Hr4h9KzVIeuI0MeMQwK47qKZFi&time_continue=173&v=zkjpFFDS9pA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL7gn_68Hr4h9KzVIeuI0MeMQwK47qKZFi&time_continue=173&v=zkjpFFDS9pA



1.3. Your Turn

Ready to try? Over the next several

pages, there are worksheets for you

to consider a story, a song, and a

visual artwork of your choosing and

to identify the:

• plot

• topic

• theme

Then you can think about whether

the title of the work gives you any

more insight into the theme. There

is space for you to consider why this

particular artwork is compelling for

you.

You can use these worksheets for

other sorts of artworks, and you can

fill them out for as many artworks as

you want. This work of understanding

more deeply how artworks impact

you, what they are saying, and how

they are saying it will help you as

you consider creating your own

entry for the contest.



Plot/Topic/Theme—Story

What is the PLOT?

What is the TOPIC?

What are the THEMES? Are they stated outright or implied?

Think of a story that has really had an impact on you. It might be one you remember vividly, even though you read or saw or heard it many years ago. It might be a story where you identified with the main character or one that spoke to you profoundly because of when or where you experienced it. Explore the plot, topic, and theme of the story below. Reuse this page to explore as many stories as you would like.

What is the TITLE? Does the title illuminate the topic or theme further? If so, how? Why is this story so compelling?

YOUR TURN!



Lyrics/Topic/Theme—Song

What is the PLOT — whether it is explored through music or lyrics?

What is the TOPIC?


Think of a song that has really had an impact on you. It might be one you remember vividly, even though you played or heard it many years ago. It might be a song where you identified with the singer or the lyrics or one that spoke to you profoundly because of when or where or with whom you experienced it. Explore the plot, topic, and theme of the song below. You can do this for as many songs as you would like.

What is the TITLE? Does the title illuminate the topic or theme further? If so, how? Why is this song so compelling?

YOUR TURN!



Plot/Topic/Theme—Visual Art

What is the PLOT?

What is the TOPIC?


Think of a piece of visual art—painting, sculpture, mural, fiber art, etc.—that has really had an impact on you. It might be one you remember vividly, even though you saw it many years ago. It might be a piece where you were struck with the form or the color or the feeling you got when you looked at it. Maybe it spoke to you profoundly because of who you were with. Explore the plot, topic, and theme of the artwork below.

What is the TITLE? Does the title illuminate the topic or theme further? If so, how? Why is this artwork so compelling?

YOUR TURN!