Susan Sachs Lipman’s program in March gave me lots of ideas for my as-yet-uncreated website, and my needs-to-be-updated blog site, as well as the impetus to become an expert in my field (what, you didn’t realize you need to know about quilting science fiction?). I left the meeting feeling enlightened and energized. So what should I find when I arrived home? One of my quilt magazines had information on the same topic, but it added another item to the to-do list – work on my visual signature.
I know a little about color theory and design, which helped when I wrestled with cover art for my self-published novel. The article I read suggested that isn’t enough – artists need an unified collection of images that can be used for many outlets and projects.
It is hard enough to develop the skill set to produce a novel, then the skill set to publish it. Now I have to learn the skill set to present myself visually as well as in words? Create the sound bite and the thumbnail? This is taking the concept of the one-man-band to a level so far out of my comfort zone it might as well be another planet.
Since I write science fiction, the notion of other planets is oddly calming to me, and I started thinking about what my visual signature might be if it came from an artist born under green skies instead of blue. I haven’t come up with an idea, but at least I’m calm enough to pass the information on to you – there really is a lot more to do after you type “The End.”