Laura
0:01
Okay, we hinted this was coming in a previous episode, but I’m super excited to interview our very own Nikki May today on how she has literally gone big – as in three stories tall – with her artwork over the last year. And now she’s working on a special commission for her local airport. She is the perfect example of being a Startist. I know many of you are curious about how to even get started with getting your artwork in public spaces. And today’s episode will be all about that. So let’s dive in.
Hi, this is Laura Lee Griffin.
Nikki
0:39
And this is Nikki May, with Startist Society, inspiring you to stop getting in your own way and start building an art biz and life that you love.
Laura
0:48
We are artists who believe strongly in the power of community, accountability, following your intuition, taking small actionable steps and breaking down the barriers of fear and procrastination that keep you stuck.
Nikki
1:01
Follow along with us on our creative business journey as we encourage you on yours.
Laura
1:10
Nikki, welcome to the Startist Society.
Nikki
1:13
It’s a pleasure to be here with you today, Laura.
Laura
1:18
Okay, we already know a bit about your Startist story from past episodes, and what a fabulous, creative, funny and talented woman you are.
Nikki
1:27
Thank you, thank you.
Laura
1:29
But today, I’d like to hear about how you went from making artwork on your iPad to getting it shown in huge public spaces. I wouldn’t even know where to start. So why don’t you tell us a little bit about your first commission and how it came about.
Nikki
1:45
Okay. So before I talk about the specific commission you’re referring to, I want to go back in time…
Laura
1:52
Okay.
Nikki
1:52
…decades and decades. The first really big piece of art that I did was a mural in the open space on the second floor of my high school.
Laura
2:04
Cool.
Nikki
2:05
Yeah, I think it was probably something like 30 feet wide and eight feet tall.
Laura
2:12
Oh, my goodness, that’s huge.
Nikki
2:14
Yeah. Yeah, it was a jungle scene with trees and plants and animals and it wrapped around a row of windows. Sadly, I don’t have any photos of it because it was 1985 and we didn’t walk around with cameras in our pockets.
Laura
2:29
Wait a second. So I’m curious, was this mural black and white or did it actually have color in it, Nikki?
Nikki
2:38
No, at that time, it was full color. I’ve gone back and forth between black and white and color. Now, probably cameras back then were black and white, because I’m ancient. And in fact, the only photo that I do have from that mural, which I don’t think I can find, but it’s from the school newspaper. And it’s a picture of me sitting on the floor painting a tiger. And it is black and white. But even if I could find it, I wouldn’t show it because I had the world’s worst haircut.
Laura
3:11
Was it a mullet?
Nikki
3:12
No, but I did pretty much have a mullet later that year. Anyway…
Laura
3:18
So you said this thing was eight feet tall, too. How did you reach that?
Nikki
3:22
They did have ladders back then.
Laura
3:23
Okay.
Nikki
3:27
I climbed on the back of my dinosaur like they do in the Flintstones. So that’s how. Okay, so I loved doing that. And only partially because I got to skip half my classes my senior of high school to go paint the mural in the hall. Because they were like, oh shit, you’re gonna graduate and this thing’s not done. But unfortunately, I didn’t really get to do anything like that again after that, but it gave me a taste of how exciting it is to see your work larger than life, you know?
Laura
3:56
Right.
Nikki
3:57
Right. So I have done some large work in the design side of my business – billboards, banners, stage backdrops, and other signage for events and even a van wrap.
Laura
4:09
Okay.
Nikki
4:10
But the commissions we’re here to talk about today are very different. They are my art, not promoting somebody’s product or face or event.
Laura
4:19
Yeah. And those were also kind of graphic design type jobs, whereas this is really your own creative artwork.
Nikki
4:25
Yes, definitely. So the first one that you mentioned in the intro, went up in the spring of 2022. And it’s an image, one of my drawings applied to the windows of a three storey building in downtown Paducah, Kentucky.
Laura
4:42
And I can’t wait to share a picture of that with our listeners in the show notes because it’s absolutely stunning. So my first question for you is how did you even find out about this project? Did you pitch it or did someone pitch it to you?
Nikki
4:55
This particular thing isn’t that easily replicable, because I didn’t seek it out, it actually came to me.
Laura
5:03
Okay.
Nikki
5:03
But there’s some things I did that made that a possibility.
Laura
5:07
Okay.
Nikki
5:07
So somebody from the Paducah City Planning Department contacted me. She was familiar with my work, specifically the state flowers and insects that I’ve been drawing for the past several years.
Laura
5:20
Right.
Nikki
5:21
And she had this idea. It’s called the Broadway Mural Project, my building’s on Broadway. And the concept is to draw attention to the vacant buildings downtown that are available for sale or lease. And also to make them beautiful, beautify them, so that they’re not just empty buildings, to make an eyesore something beautiful to look at, and attract the attention hopefully of buyers. So as part of the City Planning Department, she works with our Paducah Main Street. And their tagline for Main Street and downtown development is “Local Grows Here.” And so she had this idea of using pollinators to beautify the spaces, to illustrate community supported growth and that sort of thing. So she immediately thought of the pollinators that she had seen me draw.
Laura
6:17
Right, bees and butterflies kinds of things.
Nikki
6:20
Yeah. So she approached me with the idea. And obviously, I jumped on it. She hadn’t secured the official permission and the funding, but she had floated the idea around and people liked it. So she contacted me to get me to help her figure out how best to do it. And to mock up what it might look like on a few of the buildings downtown.
Laura
6:45
Very cool. So you had mentioned that all of this artwork you did for your state flowers and insects started on your iPad? Was it in Procreate?
Nikki
6:53
Yes, they were all drawn in Procreate.
Laura
6:56
So that means they were raster. So how do you take a raster image and blow it up on a three storey building?
Nikki
7:04
Well, you vectorize it. And when I started this project, I didn’t have plans to do it this large, or to vectorize the whole drawings. So I didn’t really create the drawings in a way that made turning them into vectors really easy. Yeah, so it was definitely a challenge.
Laura
7:26
I can only imagine how many layers of vector little pieces you had, I think that would involve maybe not just glasses, but bottles of bourbon, Nikki.
Nikki
7:38
Much much bourbon was consumed. But I didn’t actually have a million layers. The way that I created these, the first few, I just kind of drew without thinking about how I was going to turn them into anything else. Because this was just something I was doing for myself, I didn’t have a plan for it.
Laura
7:58
It was a personal project at that stage.
Nikki
7:59
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And as I started doing it, okay, when you’re drawing something that you know you’re going to vectorize and turn into maybe motifs to do pattern design, you kind of keep each object separate. So like if my drawing had a bunch of flowers and butterflies, you might draw each butterfly as a separate element. So you can move it around later. But I didn’t do that. I drew it as one finished piece. And the only way I separated layers was I had a black inking layer. And I had a color layer. And so that was pretty much it, which made vectorizing the black outline really simple. But then when I went to vectorize the color – so I had to separate it. And then some of my drawings are super, super, super detailed, and some are more simple in terms of how I applied the color. So for this project I chose, and she chose, some of the simpler ones, just knowing how we were going to make it. But what I had to do was, so my original drawing is square, this overall building is not square, and it’s going in all of the windows. So it wasn’t just, let’s vectorize it and put it up as is. I had to go through and do what I didn’t do when I was drawing it and separate each of the… and the flowers, the flowers in the image came from a different drawing than the butterflies.
Laura
9:34
Oh my goodness. Okay, so there’s like a lot of technical information that’s involved in doing something like this. So stepping back a little bit – so someone approached you to do this. And to set it up. You said Yes, I’m on board.
Nikki
9:47
Yes.
Laura
9:47
Then they pitched it and at some point they got an approval, right? To say yes, we can do it.
Nikki
9:52
Yeah. So the first thing we did was we walked around downtown and she showed me, she wanted me to do three buildings in the proposal. And so I photographed all the buildings. And I went back and found different pieces of art that I thought would work for the different buildings and mocked it up in Photoshop, how it might look on the building, got it and put it together in a PDF and presented it it and the city loved it and decided to, you know, pay for it.
Laura
10:24
Awesome. So let’s talk a little bit about that process.
Nikki
10:27
Sure.
Laura
10:28
So you did basically these mock ups based on pre-existing work that you had, so there wasn’t too much work involved, you just had to mock it up on some buildings. And then you show that to them. So at the point where they said, Yes, we want to do this, then was this arranged in a contract that they gave you? Was this basically a licensing deal? Or did they outright purchase the artwork? How does that work?
Nikki
10:52
So this was the best, in some ways, I guess, the best possible way, because they had me put together an estimate and the terms.
Laura
11:01
Okay.
Nikki
11:02
The terms were basically that they were licensing it for this one use of being in the windows, and there was no time limit, because it’s, you know, one piece put up with the understanding that it’s most likely going to come down when somebody buys the building. And they had no ownership of the copyright, I retain the copyright, I can do anything else that I want with these images.
Laura
11:29
So that can be on calendars, that can be on print, it can be on anything like that, yeah?
Nikki
11:33
Yes. And the only thing that they could use it for would be promotional materials. So they’re not making any money off of any uses that they would show it on, but they could show it on, listing the building for sale or on the city website, just you know, saying, hey, look how awesome this is.
Laura
11:51
Right.
Nikki
11:52
But I also wrote in the agreement with them that if they decided that they wanted to make products with it, that we would then renegotiate a license for that.
Laura
12:04
Right. So you basically put that caveat on there that there could be the potential to expand it, but you would have a separate license.
Nikki
12:11
So that both protects me from them doing anything, but also gives them the idea that it’s a possibility.
Laura
12:18
Right, yeah, and you could potentially expand some income streams there.
Nikki
12:21
Right. And so I came up with a price for licensing the work. Because, you know, it’s it wasn’t creating work from scratch, because it’s pieces I already had. So there was one license amount, but then I also knew there was going to be a lot of production work in making it usable in the right format for what it needed to be. So I also added a design fee on top of the license, for my time in preparing the files correctly.
Laura
12:52
Oh, that’s smart.
Nikki
12:53
Yeah, yeah.
Laura
12:54
So there’s really two components to it. And then was there anything like you got some upfront payment, like a deposit or something? Or do you get paid at the end when it was all delivered? Or how did that work?
Nikki
13:06
On this particular thing, there was nothing upfront. And normally, I don’t do any work without some deposit upfront. But having worked with the city, and you know, government has its own rules about things. And they don’t pay for anything until it’s complete.
Laura
13:23
Understood. Yeah. And plus, it was a first opportunity for you to get into doing something this big. And, clearly it laid the pathway for some other cool things that we’ll talk about later in this discussion.
Nikki
13:35
Right. And, you know, I’ve worked with my city many times before, and I know they’re good for it.
Laura
13:41
Right. Okay, so you basically came to an agreement on the pricing and the licensing and the flat fee for the prep work you were going to have to do and then you had to start prepping the files. So this is going in windows. So I assume the windows aren’t connected. The windows are separate?
Nikki
14:00
Correct.
Laura
14:00
So how many files or panels did you have to create and deliver on this project? So you’re taking one, one or two files you’re compositing from from the work you did on your iPad? You’re memorizing those, which I assume you’re then working in Adobe Illustrator, is that right?
Nikki
14:16
Yeah, definitely.
Laura
14:18
Then how many panels did you create for this project?
Nikki
14:21
Um, I think it was around 60.
Laura
14:25
Six. Zero.
Nikki
14:26
Yeah, because..
Laura
14:30
That’s a lot of windows Nikki.
Nikki
14:31
Well, it’s a lot of windows and some of them are really, really big, like the the street level, the storefront, it’s going in really big panels and doorways. But then on the top, a lot of the windows are broken up into little small panes.
Laura
14:48
Oh, wow.
Nikki
14:49
So I think there were 60 files. And it was an interesting challenge because if you look at an image as a whole, and then you try to cut it up and where the building isn’t, it’s not a window, that’s a lot of information that you’re just cutting out.
Laura
15:06
Yeah, of course.
Nikki
15:08
So I had to do a lot of rearranging to make things fit, so that you could see the important parts in the windows, but still make it flow from one window to another. And all of this with not exactly precise measurements, because this is like a, you know, 150 year or more old building. Nothing is square.
Laura
15:30
Right, so it’s wonky and nothing is exactly at a 90 degree angle kind of deal.
Nikki
15:34
It was it was a challenge. It was a challenge.
Laura
15:37
Well, you mentioned something about moving things around. So it’s not like you were able to take one image and just cut it up into the 60 pieces and call it a day.
Nikki
15:45
Right.
Laura
15:45
Right, you’re having to say, well, there’s space in between here, so I don’t necessarily just want to take this and put the panel over because then if a leaf is going up, it’s not going to match on the other side of the window. So you had to basically create that space in between when you’re developing the panels to know how to look like at the end.
Nikki
16:03
Yeah. And you know, it might be that in my original a butterfly was in a place that’s completely obliterated by a wall. So, part of my prep was cutting those images apart, so they were separate elements, not just one whole image and moving them to where you can see them properly. So it was a lot of work. And I underestimated my time on that.
Laura
16:23
Of course you did. This does not surprise me.
Nikki
16:25
I underestimate my time on everything.
Laura
16:28
So I have to ask, how long did it take you to complete this?
Nikki
16:32
I don’t know, several cases of bourbon. Honestly, I have started recently tracking my time pretty religiously, because I was not. And so I’m gonna get better at estimating. But I don’t think I want to know how many hours it took me.
Laura
16:53
But it was a learning experience for you, right?
Nikki
16:56
It was a learning experience, for sure. And everything I learned on that is going to help me a lot on the next one we’re going to talk about very soon.
Laura
17:05
So just to finish up this one, though. So once you did all of that work, you had all of the editing complete, it was ready to go. How did you deliver that? Did you have an art director? Did they have to like approve it? Did they ask for revisions? Like what was that that process? And did you deliver it to a printer directly? Or? Or how did that? How did you deliver those files once you finished them?
Nikki
17:27
Okay, so first, I found the printer that was going to do it. Because nobody around here has ever done anything like that before. But I had seen at another one of my clients’ locations, vinyl window film that had – not fine art, but you know, graphic design on it, photographs on it. And I tracked down who printed that. It was a local business that really does office furniture and supplies, but they had just gotten into printing these vinyl panels. So I talked to them about it. And really I was the art director.
Laura
18:05
Well, that’s a good scenario.
Nikki
18:07
Oh, it’s fantastic. It’s fantastic. I mean, she had the concept, and gave me an idea of what she wanted. But really all she said was colorful pollinators. So I could go anywhere with that. But as far as how it fit together, that was up to me. There was no problem getting it approved. So yeah, so I created it in Illustrator. And I took that initial mock up I had done where I showed it in the windows, and I overlaid them on the new version to create a map. And I numbered each window…
Laura
18:42
What went where.
Nikki
18:43
Then I created an individual vector, fully-layered PDF of each one, naming it with that number and made sure that each one had some bleed in it because the measurements were not precise. And just delivered it that way and then waited, biting my nails.
Laura
19:03
Well, and I guess, so you didn’t have to give the original AI file, you gave PDFs and you had them all organized with the bleed and then I guess if the size of something came out being too big, they could just trim it down because it’s final, to make it fit the window.
Nikki
19:18
Yes. It took a while to go up because right in the middle of the process, they discovered one of the windows, the frame was rotten, so they had to get somebody who restores old windows.
Laura
19:30
Wow. Well, the new buyer of the building will be happy about that.
Nikki
19:34
Yes. And I’m in this terrible position of wanting them to sell the building and be successful, because actually another friend of mine owns the building. Because it’s Paducah and I know everybody, but I also don’t want it to come down you know?
Laura
19:48
Yeah, because it’s gorgeous. And I love it and I’ve seen a lot of people post on Instagram too like walking through downtown Paducah, look at this amazing building. It really is stunning and I imagine the feeling of seeing your art that big like..
Nikki
20:01
Oh, it’s amazing.
Laura
20:02
It’s gotta be amazing.
Nikki
20:04
There’s a restaurant that I like right across the street from it, and the restaurant’s on the second floor. So I always asked to sit in the window when I go there and just like stare at my building and everyone I go there with laughs at me. And I photograph it every time and they’re like, don’t you have enough photos?
Laura
20:20
It’s your building Nikki.
Nikki
20:22
Yeah, I mean, don’t you people have enough photos of your children and dogs.
Laura
20:30
All right, so you successfully completed this, the building still has your artwork in it for anybody who passes through Paducah they can go take a look at that.
Nikki
20:39
And then buy the building.
Laura
20:41
And then buy the building.
Nikki
20:43
Keep the art.
Laura
20:44
Let’s talk about what came from that. So you are now working on another project that we just announced on one of our recent episodes. And that is an airport project commission. So you are continuing to go large, which is absolutely amazing. So talk to me a little bit about how that came about. Because I think this one was a little different. Right? It wasn’t where somebody approached you.
Nikki
21:06
This was very, very different. Yeah. So I, how did I hear about it? We have a very small regional airport, we have one airline, we fly to one city. But it’s still very used. Because you know, the next closest airport is two or three hours away.
Laura
21:24
Got it.
Nikki
21:25
So we have this airport, very old, I don’t know how old it is. But they’re designing a brand new terminal. And they hired an architect and a public art consulting firm to put together what kind of art would work in this space. And they came up with three big areas in the space and three individual calls for art. So they put out a really impressive, professional call to artists. They worked with the the airport board, this consulting company, and they put together a committee from our creative and cultural commission in town to help select what they wanted. And they put a call out, they put it on social media, they put it on the airport website, they put it in the newspaper. So when it came out, probably 10 different people sent me the link and said, You gotta apply for this, and I was like, it’s already on my list. As soon as I saw it, I was like, yes, absolutely.
Laura
22:35
Alright, so the proposal came out. And you knew, yes, this is something that I want to do. So what was the next step? Did you do something similar to the first project where you had a mock up, and then you had to say, This is what the art would look like in that space, or what came next?
Nikki
22:52
Eventually, that happened, but there were there was a step before. So what they were asking for was, there were three different spaces. And one of them was meant to be a physically made created, fabricated piece. And the other two were digital. So, one was to be kind of inset in a huge alcove in a wall in the ticketing area. And that one had an enormous budget, it had $100,000 budget.
Laura
23:26
Wow.
Nikki
23:27
And out of that $100,000 is the artist’s pay, and any fabrication and installation, and contractors – that needed to be paid out of that, like the materials, the installation, all of that. Everything in that budget, but it’s a huge budget. And then the other two are going to be digital, one was printed on sort of an industrial kind of fabric, big rectangle. I think it was something like 27 by 8 feet. But that would be just a digital piece that would be printed on that. And then the third one, which is the one I really, really wanted, it’s a glass wall on the interior of the building separating the security area from where people come off the plane. So it is multi panel, I don’t actually have the exact dimensions, but something like 40 feet long and up to 15 feet high.
Laura
24:27
Wow.
Nikki
24:28
It’s like 950 square feet.
Laura
24:30
And I would argue that that’s where the most people would actually see the artwork in the airport, because how many people are standing in a security line, you know?
Nikki
24:36
Right, right. So that one – and this is why it appealed to me – is to be printed on film applied to glass.
Laura
24:44
Which was like the building you did.
Nikki
24:46
Which is very much like what I did. So I was like, Oh yeah, that’s the one I want. But I applied for all of them. So the first call was open to anybody, oh, and it was only open to people who lived worked or had, like some connection to the region, within 50 miles,
Laura
25:04
Which increased your odds a lot, by the way, that’s great.
Nikki
25:06
Yes, definitely. Definitely. So the first round was describe your thoughts about it, describe your concept. We didn’t have to create any new art in that first round. Describe your concept, and it had to relate to the region in some way. They didn’t specify how it could be really literally, or it could be really, you know, conceptually.
Laura
25:28
And clearly your concept was a wall of bourbon.
Nikki
25:31
Well, yes, it was. That was my first concept that I quickly set aside. Yeah, so describe your concept, and show us a certain number of other pieces that you have done that are in a similar style. So I really liked that they didn’t actually ask us to create anything on spec before, you know…
Laura
25:59
Yeah, that’s nice.
Nikki
25:59
All we had to do was think about what we might do. And it was like, I don’t know, 250 words or something like that. And so 70-something artists applied. And after the first round, they chose three artists for each of the three. So they would have nine finalists.
Laura
26:15
Got it.
Nikki
26:16
But I got chosen to be finalist for two of the three.
Laura
26:21
Oooh, nice. Which ones?
Nikki
26:22
The two digital ones. Okay, which made sense. My concept for the third was not as strong and I was not as confident about it, so that was fine. But I thought, you know, it doesn’t cost me anything to propose it. But I wanted one of the other two, and I really wanted to glass one. So then for the second round, they actually paid for the finalists to develop their concept.
Laura
26:48
Cool. So again, no spec work.
Nikki
26:50
Exactly. Exactly. And, and that’s a beautiful thing, because a lot of times, a lot of people would do this as a contest, you know? Submit your fully fleshed out drawn proposal, and then we’ll choose the one we like, and I wouldn’t have applied for that.
Laura
27:06
No, especially if something of that size, because it’s going to take work.
Nikki
27:09
Definitely. I mean, the proposal process itself took a lot of work. And they gave us, I think it was something like three months to work on it. But they paid us each to do that concept, and gave some pretty specific guidelines of what they wanted to see in it, we had to do just like an overall image of the piece, then we had some architectural drawings of the space, because the space is not finished being built yet. So there’s no photographs, and there’s not even precise measurements. But we had the architect’s drawings.
Laura
27:39
So you made a mock up on a mock up?
Nikki
27:41
Yes. Yes. But that was good, because they have, you know, little people in the drawing, so you could get some idea of scale. And they said, you know, describe this, and then show us how this fits into your larger body of work. And, you know, tell us how it will benefit the airport and the people going through it. And so there was some writing involved too,
Laura
28:12
Right, so you have a little essay basically, on why I should be picked, right? of the three finalists for each project. And then you have to give them basically a mock up of the mock up. So you’ve done a good bit of work, but you’re not doing all of the work that would be necessary. It’s just giving them a clearer picture of what your vision is for that project.
Nikki
28:32
Right. But the good thing is that a lot of that work that I had to do for the presentation, is stuff I can use in the final. So I’m not starting from scratch for the final piece.
Laura
28:44
And did you use anything that was pre existing then from the artwork, you’ve done?
Nikki
28:49
I did so. So my concept for the piece is, I mean, this is not going to be a surprise anybody, but it’s plants, animals, insects, birds, all flora and fauna that you can find in this region. So, I have already drawn a lot of those elements. So I will reuse the ones that I’ve already drawn, but I also want to add more because, you know, I didn’t have my flowers and insects were a lot of like close ups of flowers, not entire plants. And this being 15 feet tall, I want to have some trees in it. So I hadn’t, like I had drawn some dogwood blooms, but I want to include a whole dogwood tree, that sort of thing. And you know, so So for the proposal, I did some quick drawings of some of the other things like like an oak tree, and some birds that I want to include because I hadn’t drawn any birds. But yeah, and I included a list of other animals and plants and things that I want to include in the final piece.
Laura
29:49
So how long did you have to create the proposal?
Nikki
29:52
I think, I want to say we had three months
Laura
29:55
And then you proposed it and how long did it take for them to get back to you on who won.
Nikki
30:00
Well, they said it could be up to like a month. But fortunately, they came back to us, I think it was maybe around a week to 10 days.
Laura
30:07
Oh, awesome. And which one was it that you were awarded?
Nikki
30:10
So I got the one that I wanted, which is the glass wall.
Laura
30:13
Yay! Awesome! Congratulations.
Nikki
30:17
Thank you, thank you. And this one, this one is different than the windows in that it’s made to be seen on both sides. And you have to think about how it’s going to look on both sides. And actually, the company that they’re using is more sophisticated than what we used downtown. They have all different kinds of materials, some are opaque, some are transparent, some can go from one to the other. And some have texture. Some can be printed on both sides. So I have a lot of things to consider about how I want to recommend that that’s done. And the other interesting thing because it’s in the security line, in the airport, they want from the floor to person height to be more opaque. So there’s a little bit of privacy. I mean, it’s not totally private, but you know, a little bit of privacy, and it can be more transparent as it goes up.
Laura
31:10
Oh, that makes sense.
Nikki
31:11
So that’s another interesting thing to consider. Yeah.
Laura
31:13
Yeah. So it’s combining your beauty with functionality, you know, and what they require.
Nikki
31:19
Yes. Which the designer in me really, really likes that. Because problem solving.
Laura
31:24
And you’re getting to experiment with different techniques and different products, so that you have to think through, how does my artwork work for this? Or how does this piece work for this? So that is super cool.
Nikki
31:37
I’ve ordered samples from the company. So I have this little folder that has samples of their different products. So I can immediately rule out some that I don’t think will work and I can make suggestions of what will work. And then I’m also waiting for a phone call, we’re going to have a meeting with the manufacturers of the product and the architect and talk about which would be the best products to use, get a better understanding of how they work.
Laura
32:03
Yeah. And I actually come from a background where I develop lounges for airports in my day job. And so I’m very familiar with how construction projects work at airports. And so things always change. So having flexibility with that is going to be great. But, but I’m excited. I can’t wait to see what you create. And do you know how much time you have roughly I know, again, construction projects change.
Nikki
32:29
Oh, yeah. I know exactly how much time. My final designs are due March 1.
Laura
32:36
March 1. Well, you better get drawing, Nikki.
Nikki
32:40
I’m drawing, Laura. Everything minute you don’t see me, I’m drawing. Yeah, I don’t believe that either. But yeah, yes.
Laura
32:50
Yeah. So super excited. So let’s talk a little bit about payments. So you mentioned that when you did the original proposal, you were actually paid for that, which is fantastic.
Nikki
33:00
Yes, they, they gave us a deposit, half of the half of the amount upfront, and then half when we delivered the final proposal.
Laura
33:09
Okay. And then now for the actual project, I assume – Is this also considered licensing? Or is it considered a buyout or a flat fee unique to them? Or what is it?
Nikki
33:21
It is licensing, it’s pretty much the same terms as the downtown building, you know, they have the right to this image, it’s a little bit different because I am creating this image for them.
Laura
33:33
Right.
Nikki
33:34
So I can’t reproduce the exact image and sell it somewhere else. But all the bits and pieces I can use however I want.
Laura
33:43
Okay.
Nikki
33:43
I still maintain the copyright. And what would I do with the exact piece anyway, you know, but I but I, there’s no limitations on how I can use the elements.
Laura
33:52
You can take the tree from it, you can take a butterfly from it, you can use that in your own artwork to create prints or other things with it.
Nikki
33:59
I just can’t use the exact thing as a whole and they can’t use it for anything other than promotional uses.
Laura
34:05
Okay, so you mentioned that the building downtown was something that you didn’t have a timeframe on because you kind of knew that when the building is bought, it’s going to come down. But in terms of this airport, this is this a set licensing and then they can renew the license? Or is it just a…
Nikki
34:21
No, it’s, you know, as long as they want to.
Laura
34:24
Okay, so it’s a one time sort of licensing thing. But it’s essentially a license, because you’re keeping the copyright to it, and you’re able to do things with it, which is really cool.
Nikki
34:33
Correct. And they are not, you know, I wouldn’t have agreed to open ended license if they’re selling something and making conceivably more and more money, but you know, it’s decorating the space. So it’s, it’s a different thing than if it’s something that they’re selling.
Laura
34:50
And the cool thing is, is over time if they you know, if they get a lot of positive feedback on that and they might decide if if the film starts, you know, over time it needs to be replaced. Maybe They come to you with a different idea or wants you to create something new for them.
Nikki
35:04
That sounds lovely.
Laura
35:08
And then from a material perspective, are they covering those material costs? Or does that come out of your fee that they pay you or…
Nikki
35:14
No, this one is different than the, than the big-budget one, this one had a set fee that is paying me to do the work and for them to use it. And they handle the cost of getting it printed and installed,
Laura
35:29
And they will manage the installation so you don’t have to do that piece of it?
Nikki
35:33
Yes.
Laura
35:33
Awesome. Very cool. Now, did all this make it into a contract then, so you have sort of a signed agreement?
Nikki
35:41
Yes. In this case, they sent me a contract. And, and as soon as I signed the contract, they gave me 25% of the remaining amount, and I’ll get the rest when I deliver my final files.
Laura
35:56
Awesome.
Nikki
35:57
Yeah.
Laura
35:59
I’m so excited to see like the the end product of this. But what I’d love to get some some feedback from you is, what is one piece of advice that you wish you’d known before you got started on this, for somebody who wants to have their artwork in public spaces, what would be your advice to them?
Nikki
36:17
Okay, so this is advice that I’ve heard a million times, you probably have too – in relation to investing for retirement, that was originally a Chinese proverb that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best is today. And the same for investing, the best time to start investing for your retirement is 20 years ago, the second best is now. So the same thing. And it’s really what we talk about on this podcast all the time. Don’t wait until everything is perfect. Don’t wait till your work is perfect. Don’t wait until the opportunity is perfect. Don’t keep putting things off. Start now.
Laura
36:55
Yeah, and you figure it out as you go along. Like you didn’t know, how do I divide up all of these panels across windows in a building, you just figured it out?
Nikki
37:05
Right? And, and really, so this is interesting. So a very good friend of mine also was applying, you know, trying to get one of these pieces. And she also got called back for two of them. And she doesn’t have the graphic design skills, you know, the illustrator skills that I have. So she had already planned that, if she had got that one that she would hire me to do that production work for her. So don’t let one small part of it like that – even if it’s a huge part – don’t let that stop you. Because you can learn, you can get help.
Laura
37:44
That is such good advice, because I think that is super intimidating. Like I was listening to you talk about all the vectorizing and all of the dividing of the panels and the bleed and everything. And I was going oh my gosh, I don’t even know where to get started with that.
Unknown Speaker 37:56
Well, I’m at a huge advantage because I’m also a graphic designer. So, I do all of these kinds of things. But, but yeah, don’t let that stop you, because you can get help.
Laura
38:08
Just hire Nikki.
Nikki
38:12
Nikki’s busy. She’s got a commission to finish.
Laura
38:16
So tell me, Nikki, what was the biggest challenge you’ve had in the last year, especially with the pandemic happening? And sort of how did you overcome it as you’re working on all these projects?
Nikki
38:26
Okay, so, really, except for getting COVID myself last summer, I’d say that the pandemic didn’t really hurt my business at all. I’m really fortunate; I think that’s probably because a lot of people wanted to do more online. So my biggest challenge in 2022 was taking on more projects than I really had time to do.
Laura
38:49
Wait, just just 2022?
Nikki
38:51
That’s the year you asked about. So that’s the one I’m answering about. But 2022 brought me more opportunities than most previous years. So yeah, really, the biggest one, between client branding and website work, our beloved podcast, the largest art commissions that I’ve ever done that we just talked about, converting and getting settled in my skoolie, and all of this in the same year that I got an ADHD diagnosis. And I’m still figuring out what if anything, that changes – it’s still a whole lot to juggle.
Laura
39:31
Yeah, definitely.
Nikki
39:32
Yeah. So I’m still working on adapting my business and my life to all of this. So I’m not gonna say I’ve overcome the challenges, but but I’m well on my way and it’s because I’ve hired help… I hired, in the last year I hired an OBM which is an Online Business Manager.
Laura
39:53
Okay
Nikki
39:53
And she is helping me improve, document, delegate and automate a lot of the systems and processes and tasks in my design business. And so that’s, it’s an ongoing process, but it is helping me a lot, and will continue to help far into the future. The other thing I did was I hired two very part time contractors to help me, one to help me maintain client websites, do updates, and the other one to do some design work. All under my direction, of course, but I’m still learning how to delegate. Letting go of control is difficult for me. But
Laura
40:35
That makes two of us.
Nikki
40:36
If I’m gonna get done all the different projects that I have and want and love to do, I’m gonna have to get better at that.
Laura
40:44
Yeah, I suffer from the same thing. It’s so hard to delegate and to let go of control. The little control freaks in us just love it. So Nikki, the question is, what project do you want to do next? The Empire State Building, have you thought about doing? Have you thought about doing painted murals versus digital ones? I know you did that one back in high school. Like, what where does your big art go next?
Nikki
41:13
Well, I have always wanted to do painted murals. And I actually still plan to, well, not really paint but draw, all over my bus. So that’s pretty big.
Laura
41:24
Yeah, that’s huge.
Nikki
41:26
But I think I might be past the time where I want to do a lot of physically challenging painted murals, because my body is old. Climbing on ladders, and like crouching on the ground and being on my feet… I’m really enjoying the digital murals. So I’d like to do more of those. And, you know, I didn’t know that it was a thing that that people would want. But I got two projects in my little town in the same year. So clearly, there’s a market for it.
Laura
42:00
Yeah. And more to come.
Nikki
42:02
Yeah.
Laura
42:03
Awesome. Well, Nikki, where can our listeners connect with you online?
Nikki
42:07
Well, I have a little podcast called Startist Society. You can always find me there. But I’m also at nikkimay.com and nikkmay.com and I am nikkimayart on all the social media.
Laura
42:26
Well, to learn more about Nikki’s latest adventures and read today’s Startist Society show notes go to startistssociety.com/going big. If you’ve enjoyed today’s episode, we’d love for you to share it with a friend. Sharing helps us reach more Startists like you and keeps us inspired to create new episodes. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. Nikki, I’d love to have you come back sometime.
Nikki
42:52
Play your cards right. Treat me well. I’ll come back
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