Hi Untapped Artists,

I hope you’re all doing well first and foremost. We’ve been continuing our work in earnest to keep improving the gallery. Our current major project is coming along nicely, which is the ability to control how your work shows up and sort your work into to different categories within your own gallery spot on the site. Below are the topics covered in this edition of our site update. Per usual I have tried to hl the main points for those of you who like to skim (slackers! jk, I use to do it in High School all the time…the beauty Cliff’s Notes!)

1.) Structural Gallery Control for Artists

2.) Crop Tool

3.) New Paper Type Suggestions

4.) Login ID Change Option

5.) Next Project on Tap: Search Functions for AAC and Retail Site

6.) Time Scales for Future Work

1.) In our effort to continue to evolve The Untapped Source Gallery Site, we have been working diligently over the past few months to create an intuitive way for artists to be able to control the appearance of their gallery. To put it simply, we’re working on giving you complete organizational control over the look of your gallery. When complete, you will be able to:

-create categories and place work within them

-sort categories

-sort artwork within your created categories

-feature certain categories on your profile page

-sort your artwork throughout your gallery

-decide which individual works you’d like to feature on your profile page

NOTE: In conjunction with our organization tools, we are completely revamping your profile pages as well! We are looking at Profile Page as a “gateway” to you as an artist, and we are re-tooling it as such. In case nobody mentioned it yet, everyone who works at The Untapped Source fancies themselves and artist as well…so we’re doing our very best to have an artistic flair as usual in all this work we’re doing. Hopefully everyone will appreciate and benefit from the results!

IMPORTANT NOTE!: This and all our new set of tools will only apply and function properly with work uploaded under the new upload system we implemented a few months back. To delete artwork uploaded under the old upload system (those works that appear as “Thumbnail Not Available” in your artwork list in the Artist Access Center), please send an email to us at artists@theuntappedsource.com and make your request and we will assist you with the deletion promptly so you can use the new upload system.

EXPECTED COMPLETION TIME FOR STRUCTURAL CONTROL WORK: 3 weeks for technical completion, 1-2 weeks for testing and making it look pretty:)

2.) We have a small note to mention regarding the Crop Tool. It’s not a big change, but now, every time you upload artwork, after the file upload is complete, you will be taken to the crop tool. This happens even if your work is created at an exact ratio we offer. Previously if your artwork was at our exact ratio specifications it skipped this step, but we figured we might as well allow this option to crop on every upload…just in case;)

3.) We are interested in hearing your opinions on particular paper type additions you’d like to see with The Untapped Source. Our future plans are to offer 5 paper types for general retail sale so as not to confuse the general customer base who isn’t super familiar with the substrates BUT, we see no reason why we can’t offer a plethora of other paper types for you as artists to purchase for your own use regarding your prints in the gallery. The way we’ll separate the two will become clearer…the Artist Buy Program is on our “revamp” list. One paper type in particular we’re going to be adding that we’re sure you’ll love is Epson Fine Art Textured…super rugged surface, super detailed results on a really thick paper. It’s sort of like the German Etching Paper on steroids:)

4.) Now hear this! If you would like to change your login ID, please let us know…we’re making TONS of changes to the site structure, and before we lock this option, we’d like to give you the opportunity to change your login ID if you’d like. If you change this, your login id AND URL will change (www.theuntappedsource.com/NewLoginID). Please let us know as soon as possible and we’ll work it out for you.

5.) Just a quick mention…our next project is Search Function Capability for both the Artist Access Center and the Retail Site. Yes, yes…my friends, we know it’s a little silly this isn’t in place already, but please understand the history of how The Untapped Source started. We started in 2006 with about 20 selected artists, and the site structure was designed around that. We’re now up around 500 talented Untappers, so please understand and bare with us as we make these modifications and improvements. We’re a small team so it will take time, but we’re quite capable…I promise;)

6.) As far as time scales go, we’re looking at 4 weeks or so max on the Structure Control stuff. After that we have the following projects are on deck from now until the end of the summer (in no particular order…yes we have an order, it’s just below:)):

-AAC aesthetic update (nearly complete)

-Profile Page Update

-Artist Cart System

-Search Function (aac and retail site)

-auto emails for sales and approvals

-close up functions and artwork viewing overhaul

-pm boxes

…and there’s more, but it’s a little confusing to explain without a dissertation, so I’ll save it for another update! Everyone loves updates.

Ok my friends, that’s all for now, keep the suggestions, comments, concerns coming. We’re here to have a dialogue and grow as a group.

best,

Drew
www.theuntappedsource.com

Check out what we’re working on: www.theuntappedsource.com/blog

ARTISTS: BUY YOUR PRINTS IN THE ARTIST ACCESS CENTER

Hi Untapped Artists,

Just a quick line…

We’ve added a new category! Panoramic.

http://theuntappedsource.com/results.php?&secondary=58

The Panoramic category is confined to works with the following ratios/sizes:

1:2.5

24×60

16×40

12×30

1:2

24×48

20×40

12×24

4×8

NOTE: Panoramic categorizations are not limited to any subject matter, but rather simply the size/ratio of the work in question. Panoramic categorizations apply to both vertical and horizontal orientations. You can find the Panoramic category now in your list of optional category selections in the upload process under the artwork details sections.

Please let us know with any questions, keep the LOOOOONNNNNG works coming:), and we’ll have some more updates on progress very soon!

best,

Drew

admin

TUS

Let us know with any questions, and keep the great artwork coming guys!

Hi fellow Untapped Artists,

Quick update:

Your URL at The Untapped Source can be found simply as follows…”www.theuntappedsource.com/YourLoginID”

In plain speak, type “www.theuntappedsource.com” in the address bar of your browser, than “/”, than whatever your login ID is.

Mine, for example, is “www.theuntappedsource.com/dgrundfor” because my login ID is “dgrundfor“.

Soon we’ll have all these links and more personalization options in the AAC that will autodirect you wherever you want to go which will round out our last update of the improved upload system and automation.

Soon we will be emailing you with the server switch update, which will allow images to be uploaded that are up to 100mb’s and ~9000×9000 pixels, which is plenty big for our largest sizes!

I know some of you are waiting for this to upload your images…I promise it won’t be much longer as we’re in the last stages of testing the new server. After that’s done, we’ll finish up the stats engine for both views and sales, than begin working on the next meaty projects of site structure control for artists, auto emails, close up functions, and some others we’ve mentioned in previous blogs.

Please let us know with any questions, and we’ll have another update very soon.

best,

Drew
www.theuntappedsource.com

NOTE: The Updates below and every function we have upgraded in the Artist Access Center is still in beta. Please let us know with any issues you have using the new system. Most of the bugs are gone, but some issues of function and clarity will inevitably pop up. Thank you in advance my friends and fellow artists!

Drew

Hi friends and fellow Untapped Artists!

It’s been a long time coming, and the base of our future work is finally complete. Below you will find the details about what has changed in the AAC, and why the system has become much more efficient, user friendly, and best of all completely automated for instant uploads and much more.

1.) You keep all profits above base price

2.) No restrictions on pricing Matte/Glossy/Luster prints

3.) Automatic pricing updates by dollar amount or percentage

4.) Sell one size, sell them all, it’s up to you!

5.) Many new sizes, small and large, have been added

6.) Artwork is up and in the gallery the second your complete your upload process

7.) Custom Crop Tool allows any ratio you wish to print at

8.) Delete, hide, or just display with no pricing

9.) Automatic Bio Updates

10.) What’s next?

1.) We’ve changed the profit sharing model at The Untapped Source to benefit all the artists in the gallery. There is no more 50/50 split on profits! You price your work at whatever price you wish above the base price, and you keep all the profit. All we will keep is the base price. Simple and better.

NOTE: Base prices have changed, and will apply to all artwork uploaded under the old system as well as the new.

2.) The old “Low/Medium/High” pricing restrictions for Matte/Glossy/Luster are now gone. You are now free to price your prints however you like, no matter the paper type.

3.) Pricing is now updated by either Percentage (%) or Dollar ($) amount. Pricing is done per paper type, and is done across the board per paper type to keep the pricing somewhat logical per size.

4.) Artists are now free to sell any number of size/paper type combinations they wish. You can sell one print on canvas, sell 2 sizes on Glossy and only 1 in Watecolor, or sell all the sizes associated with ratio assigned to your artwork…it’s completely up to you.

5.) We’ve added many new sizes…from 30×36 and 30×45 on the high end, to 4×6 and 5×7 on the low end, there are a plethora of new sizes for you to put up for sale on your gallery page or buy for your own use. We now offer 39 different sizes at 10 different ratios!

6.) Uploading is now a 3 step process (4 if you need to crop, the system will determine this). You upload the file, crop (if necessary), fill in the artwork’s details, and select your pricing options. Once you have completed these steps, your artwork is live and up in the gallery! Your artwork will be viewable in “manage artwork” after the upload process, and you will be able to adjust any details, including pricing, that you wish. You will also have a link associated with each file that allows you to see the artwork on the actual retail site!

NOTE: Artwork will not immediately be available for purchase because it will need to be approved for a Maximum Print Size by a print specialist at The Untapped Source. Pricing will go live within 24/48 hours. Other sites will allow you to sell immediately…this is not how we wish to work. We do not believe in selling work we have not already inspected for print quality/max size. We believe it’s irresponsible to allow a customer to purchase an artwork that may not be ready for sale at a certain size. This ensures customer satisfaction and artist peace of mind that your artwork will always be a product you can be proud of in terms of print quality!

7.) To avoid having to upload a perfectly sized file on the artists part, we’ve created a custom crop tool. If the size of your work is off a little bit, or a lot, the crop tool is there for you (it loves you actually:))! You are allowed to select any ratio from the crop tool drop down menu, and at the bottom of the page you can see all the sizes associated with each ratio to help you in selecting which ratio you would like to use. The crop tool allows you to select any portion of the image, and will also automatically tell you at the top of the page what ratio your artwork is closest to so you know off the bat how to keep the most amount of your image in tact before you complete the upload process! It’s really easy to use and super useful, I promise;) Of course, if artwork is sized exactly to a ratio, the crop tool will be skipped to save you time.

8.) The artist is now free to delete artwork permanently, hide the artwork from view totally, or just have the image up for viewing with no pricing available. Whatever you wish to do with your artwork is now up to you and automatic.

9.) Bio updates are now automatic. No more waiting for an admin to approve. You can update your text, update your av, etc…all on the fly.

10.) The next things we’ll be working on are as follow:

-Comprehensive Stats for Sales and Views (yes, we know the views function is down, yes, it sucks…yes it will be WAY better when done)

-Artist Cart. You’ll be able to buy your prints through the Artist Access Center simply and at the base price. No more requests or emails, just select your prints and pay via Credit Card or PayPal. We’ll still help via email if you like of course:)

-Auto Email System. This will be optional, and will notify you when an artwork has sold with details, when an artwork has been approved for sale and at what size, and in the future much much more as we add to our features.

-Close Up Function. Something completely unique to The Untapped Source, our close up system will have auto options, custom manual options, and a built in watermarking solution for increased image protection.

After all that’s done, we’re on to structurizing (mutiple galleries and categories in your own gallery), search functions for the AAC or Retail site, Quicker payments for artwork sold, and an FTP option…among much more. Our goal is to have all this complete by the spring…fingers crossed.

I’d like to point out that all of the above was mentioned by artists, so keep the suggestions coming, we’re all ears my friends!

To end this little informative rant, I want to make it clear that we’re really moving in programming the site and adding new features. We’ve added a new programming wiz to our staff who’s pushing things along nicely and much more quickly than before, and his attitude of “if you can think it up, we can do it!” is something we feel very confident has us moving in the proper direction.

Please be sure to let us know with any issues you have while using the new Artist Access Center, it’s been tested by us to death on our test server, but new eyes on new programming always yields some room for upgrade:) If you like something, let us know, if not, lay into us with your technical dissection of what we’ve done wrong…critique in the end will create the best result (We all learn that clearly through our own artwork!).

NOTE: Here is the only bad news we have regarding the switch to the new system from the old system. All artwork uploaded under the old system is not able to modified anymore. Meaning, pricing, thoughts, and images are all static. The work remains for sale, but your only options as of the switchover are deletion of the artwork or leave it as is. All current artwork under the old system remains for sale until you notify us you would like them deleted. Once notified, we will be happy to go into the old system and fulfill your deletion requests. You are allowed to simply tell us to delete all your artwork if you would like to start over using the new system, which does in fact give you MANY MANY more options than the old system. In the end, we just could not find a way to fuse the two systems together.

Keep the submissions coming my friends, we love seeing all the great creations!

best,

Drew

artist/admin TUS

Hi Guys,

Here’s a few tidbits of info for the coming AAC switch. Read below and send drew@theuntappedsource.com and questions, comments or concerns or leave a suggestion in the Artist Access Center suggestion box in the AAC Faq tab. The stuff we’ve been working on is the reason for a delay in blogs, but it will be well worth it!

The entire Artist Access Center is being revamped and should be done within 2-4 weeks (this has been a LONG AND FAILRY COMPLICATED PROCESS as some of you well know considering the custom nature of the programming work). When that is done, everything will be automatic, work will go up immediately, pricing completely under your control and updated automatically with no 50/50 split on profits!!!!, and no restrictions on pricing (well, a few, but much more liberal than the current method)…this step is the foundation for the mile long list of fun (and pretty darn useful) features we have in store.
Until that time, please let us know which photos you would like removed/pricing updates, etc.. if any and I will be glad to assist you with that. You can always email drew@theuntappedsource.com with any requests or questions like this in the future for a faster response.
There will be new rules and a few new caveats to the new system which will be explained in a blog update around the time of completion and at key points throughout the Artist Access Center. Overall the programming is being wrapped up, and with this groundwork we laid a good foundation to really begin the building process and features we’ve been compiling for a long time.
Please feel free to email us with suggestions or drop us a line in the FAQ section of the Artist Access Center. The changes will make life easier and better for us all! Easier and better are good most of the time too btw.

best to all,

Drew

TUS

Hi Everyone! Below is our June progress update with some interesting info regarding how The Untapped Source is coming along and what we’ve been doing to make the site better…Remember to use our suggestion box in the Artist Access Center and give us your thoughts or suggestions regarding the blog or any improvements you’d like to see regarding The Untapped Source. Thanks to everyone who have been contributing their ideas…

Per usual, I’ve highlighted the main points in Blue if you’re just a skimmer of text…

1.) Monitor Testing Tutorial UP!

2.) Canvas Stretching Tutorial UP!

3.) Taking Tutorial Submissions And Suggestions

4.) Color Profiling Per Paper Type

5.) 3 New Papers COMING SOON!

6.) Artist Buy Pricing Sheet Updated

7.) Big Projects Still In The Works

1.) There is now a Montior Calibration Tutorial up in the Artist Access Center! It is the first step in our efforts to create a comprehensive SOFT PROOFING system for you all to use in order to see what your prints from The Untapped Source will look like when printed. It will also show you how our prints will compare to your onscreen image, including how to make them print as you see them on the screen to a fairly exact point! Remember, monitors EMIT, prints REFLECT…that’s why we gotta bring the worlds together;)

Without a properly calibrated monitor, it’s impossible to SOFT PROOF your images for print. Along with our text and images for the tutorial, we’ve also added in a very cool Flash Application for monitor calibration at the very bottom of the tutorial text. Play around with it, very cool stuff indeed.

So check this tutorial out, play around with your monitor, and let us know if this was helpful and what we could improve upon using the suggestion box link at the top of the tutorial page.

2.) Thanks to our good friend and fellow Untapped Artist Wayne Benedet, we now how a custom Canvas Stretching Tutorial up in the Artist Access Center! It’s a very in-depth tutorial with extensive pictures to go along with very well written and clear text. This tutorial will help the newbies and more seasoned canvas stretchers among you to take stretching canvas artwork into your own hands in order to avoid the VERY costly proposition of having others do it! It’s pretty darn easy with Wayne’s new tutorial…he worked hard on it.

So check this tutorial out, buy some stretchers bars, canvas pliers, etc… and some canvas prints of your work from the Artist Buy Page in the Artist Access Center (soon to be Artist Cart System), and let us know if this was helpful and what we can improve upon using the suggestion box link at the top of the tutorial page.

Again, many thanks Wayne! We look forward to more of your contributions in both sporatic form and a usual basis!

3.) As stated above, we’re always taking suggestions on Tutorial ideas and general suggestions…we love to hear from everyone who thinks they have something that would improve The Untapped Source! Archan Nair (one of our good friends and fellow artists) has suggested we have more images of actual products for instance, so in that vein, we’ll be working extra hard to get the framing and stretching program up and running in the coming months, and from there, we will deck out the proper pages with pictures of actual work hanging from walls and the process of work being framed…so thanks to my personal e-buddy Archan for that idea!

4.) We’ve recently resent our paper types to a lab for creating custom color/printer profiles for you guys to use in conjunction with The Untapped Source for color matching and soft proofing purposes. In the next few weeks, you’ll have 9 new printer/color profiles for specific papers along with hopefully 1 generic profile to use. These will be located in the Artist Access Center. We will of course have detailed tutorials on how to use these from the installation process all the way through to how to use them properly and how to make the proper corrections to print files if necessary. Trust me, color profiles can be a little mysterious to the uninitiated, so we’ll try our best to give detailed info on what they are all about once we have them up in the AAC…they really aren’t that complicated…

5.) We’ve recently decided to add the following 3 papers for purchase by artists only, in the AAC. All are very nice, Fine Art Quality per usual, and add good options to our already good sized and simple paper offerings:

-Fine Art Bright White (330 gsm) - Big, thick, matte paper with a bit more texture than a normal matte, a bright white surface, and similar to texture of watercolor paper in terms of texture depth.

-Premium SuperGloss (190 gsm) - Superglossy, a bit thinner than our Epson Premium Glossy paper, and provides amazing detail in printing.

-Graphic Matte Canvas - a bit more rigid than the Water Resistant Canvas we currently also offer, but with a completely matte, no glossy surface. Excellent detail reproduction, amazingly white canvas!

We’ll have these added to our paper sample packet shortly after they are added to the Artist Buy Pricing.

NOTE: These papers are for Artist Purchases only, but made be added in the future.

6.) We updated the Pricing Sheet around the site, including in the AAC under Artist Buy Pricing. It’s a cool little sheet now that you can adjust using the different criteria headings at the top…we were a little bored and we’re still wrapping up a few other more complicated things:) Here’s a link: http://www.theuntappedsource.com/cw2/upload/UploadArtistPricing.php (just login in and you’ll be on the right page…scroll down)

7.) Big projects still in the works…kind of sick of hearing myself tout them, so you can read about the Automation, Artist Cart, Stats Features, etc…in previous blogs

Anyway, I hope all you guys are doing well, and keep the awesome artwork and suggestions flowing!

Drew

Artist/Admin/Founder

The Untapped Source

Hi Everyone! Below is a progress update with some fun bits of info regarding how The Untapped Source is coming along…Remember to use our suggestion box in the Artist Access Center and give us your thoughts or suggestions regarding the blog or any improvements you’d like to see regarding The Untapped Source.

Per usual, I’ve highlighted the main points in Orange if you’re just a skimmer of text…

1.) Homepage Updated

2.) BIO Page Updated

3.) New Tutorials Up In AAC

4.) Real Name/Site Name Update

5.) Smaller Size Artist Buy Program Prices Up

6.) Use The AAC Suggestion Box…

7.) Paper Samples For You and Customers

8.) Artist Buy Program Doing Very Well…Still

9.) Continuing Automation Work And Artist Cart System

10.) Link Back To YOUR PAGE Now In The AAC

11.) Filling In The Gaps With Usefulness

1.) So we’ve updated the homepage again, this time, with a New Category Side Bar for easy access to all the categories, a Paper Samples Link For Customers to Purchase Paper Samples, some pics of some prints, and we now feature 6 artists randomly on the homepage instead of just 3 to help everyone with exposure! This is an upgrade in usability with the side bar, and just the first step in our site overhaul while we continue back end work on the Artist Cart and the Automation process. You’ll also notice a link to the Artist Access Center in the top left corner of the page (every page now) for easy access.

2.) When you login to the Artist Access Center (We’ve added a link at the top of every page on the site for easy access) you’ll notice we’ve changed the layout for the BIO PAGE as well as adding the HTML stuff for making your bio info fancy. So re-update your BIO INFO with fanciness if you so choose.

3.) We’ve added the Tutorials Section in the Artist Access Center in order to get the ball rolling in making the AAC a learning center as well as a print selling/web display tool. Go ahead and check them out…Our staff and interested artists will be updated this section regularly, and TUS staff in particular will be focusing on functional and professional tutorials that have to do with more practical things in art. The limited edition tutorial has been particularly popular. We are accepting suggestions for tutorial additions, so send them our way through the Suggestion Box in FAQ section of the AAC.

4.) In the bio section of the Artist Access Center, you’ll notice a “real name” and a “site name” field…hopefully those are self explanatory, but basically the name you have inputed up to this point has gone to “site name”, and “real name” is now open to be filled with your actual name. Please fill in your “real name” and if you like, you can change your “site name” for display on the site. *NOTE: Subdomains CANNOT be changed at this point as we’re working on a new system for them currently.

5.) Smaller sizes are now available for purchasing your own prints in the Artist Access Center. The new sizes, in inches, are 4×5, 4×6, 5×5, 5×6, 5×7, 6×10, 6×12, 6×15, and 8×10. *NOTE: These sizes will not be available for purchase by general customers until our back rebuild is done.

6.) KEEP FEEDING US SUGGESTIONS USING THE ARTIST ACCESS CENTER’S SUGGESTION BOX. It is located under the “FAQ” tab. 90% OF OUR “TO - DO” LIST COMES FROM ARTISTS!

7.) GET YOUR FREE PAPER SAMPLES IN THE ARTIST ACCESS CENTER! Also, we’ve made our Paper Sample Program available for general customers as well on the homepage underneath the new categories side bar. You can refer your customers to that as well if they have questions on the papers. Customers pay a shipping and handlng fee.

8.) The Artist Buy Program, our service for artists to purchase their own prints at discounted prices is going strong! Use the paper samples as well as the new Limited Edition Tutorial in the Artist Access Center to get the ball rolling so you can start to take your print sales into your own hands…making yourself more profit using our printing services and delivering your prints to your customers can be a BIG HELP to your artistic sales endeavors.

9.) Work on the Automation of the site is STILL in the works…same goes for the Artist Cart System. Yes, we know it’s taking a while to complete these things, but we’re working VERY HARD and trying our best to get them right before we roll them out. They are both complicated systems to work out, but rest assured when they are done they will both be amazingly useful tools for everyone to use.

10.) In the Artist Access Center, the link in the upper right corner that previously went to our front page now goes to your page. This is in preparation for the Automation stuff so you can refer to your page when adding things to the site.

11.) You’ll notice as we move forward that we will be “filling in the gaps” around the site where there is usable space. We would love to hear from you guys if you have any particular places on the site where you think certain features might be handy, please let us know through the artist suggestion box in the AAC or by emailing artists@theuntappedsource.com.

Drew

Artist/Admin/Founder

The Untapped Source

Hi Everyone! Below is a progress update with some fun bits of info regarding how The Untapped Source is coming along…Remember to use our suggestion box in the Artist Access Center and give us your thoughts or suggestions regarding the blog or any improvements you’d like to see regarding The Untapped Source.

Per usual, I’ve highlighted the main points in orange if you’re just a skimmer of text…

BELOW YOU WILL FIND GRAPHICS THAT ILLUSTRATE WHAT WE’RE UP TO!

1.) Viewing the Artwork Update

2.) HTML in BIO Section

3.) New FREE Color Paper Samples!

4.) Tutorial Program

5.) Big Things Still in the works

6.) The Little Things

7.) PROMOTE YOUR WORK TO THE FULLEST With Our Help!

8.) Artist Buy Program doing very well!

1.) In keeping with our goals to update the viewing experience of the gallery, we’ve decided to change things up a bit in the way artwork is viewed. We’re working on a method that will be friendlier to viewing the artwork and with multiple views in mind. We are working toward a method where you will be able to show off the print image, as well as multiple CLOSE UP images so you can REALLY SHOW YOUR WORK OFF and let viewers/customers know what it’s really all about! It will all be in a very simple, clean format as well. This is something being worked on and incorporated into the automation process. Look out for this, it’s really gonna turn out to be a powerful tool.

2.) You will soon be able to use HTML in your Bio section. You will be allowed to format text and add limited images to your page as well. This is the first preliminary step to personalizing your page. More additions such as this are coming along well and will be available in the future. Bio’s will still come through our admin for verification, but in the future will of course be automatic when automation is complete. We’re still working out a few kinks with your personal pages to keep the formatting clean, but it should be up and running very soon.

HTML in Bio

3.) Order your FREE PAPER SAMPLES…NOW WITH COLOR GRAPHICS to show off the ins and outs of each paper type! The order form is located in the Artist Access Center under “Artist Buy Pricing”. We’ll send the samples out within 48 hours of your request! Here’s what the graphic printed on each sample looks like:

4.) We’ve just finished working on a few tutorials and are working on many more. Check out the tutorial tab now available in the Artist Access Center. If anyone has any tutorials they would like to submit, you can submit a link or send an email regarding the tutorial to tutorials@theuntappedsource.com.

5.) We’re still plugging away at the Automation of the site, and getting VERY CLOSE to finishing up the Artist Cart System which is going to be very cool and very useful. You’ll be able to buy prints that are currently available in your gallery at The Untapped Source…and you’ll also have the ability to upload files and get prints at ANY SIZE…IE, 5×35” inches if you like!

6.) The little things…really do mean a lot! Here are a few little things we’ve updated and added to make things better.- Portraits and Character Portraits now re-classified as “Portraits > People” and “Portraits > Characters“…we’ve also added the size 22×28″ to our list of sizes, so resubmit images you feel better fit that size, and make sure to make a note of it in the “notes” section…and just plain old keep the size in mind for the future!

- Crop/Border and Optimal Sizing Boxes in Artist Access Center

-In the Artist Access Center, when you add new artwork, you are now asked to state whether you would like us to Crop or Border your work if necessary, as well as what you feel might be the optimal size for printing that work. You can choose to border in grey, white or black if you chose border as your option. If your work is sized in the proper format (ratio) it will of course be left alone regardless of your crop/border choice

-We’ve removed photorag bright white from our paper type offerings. It’s much too similar to our premium matte paper offering. We’re looking into some satin papers at the moment to add to our listings.
-Groups/Studios page will be removed for the time being until we revamp the program

7.) Last But Not Least:
IMPORTANT: Remember to use your artist banners that we provide in the Artist Access Center in the FAQ tab for advertising your work at The Untapped Source. Those making the most sales and drawing the most users are advertising. The banners are great looking and come in all kinds of sizes! Here’s 1 example (there are 7 different sizes and designs to choose from):

Here’s the reference code:

<a href=”http://www.theuntappedsource.com” target=”_blank”> <img src=”http://www.theuntappedsource.com/link/artist-468×60.jpg” alt=”Buy my Fine Art Prints at The Untapped Source” style=”border:1px solid #cccccc;” /></a>

NOTE: you can replace http://www.theuntappedsource.com in the first line of the code with your direct link or subdomain to go directly to you page.

8.) Thanks to all the artists using the ARTIST BUY PROGRAM to purchase your own prints! It’s been a resounding success and a big reason we get to keep putting money back into making the design and services The Untapped Source provides EVEN BETTER! You can view the Artist Buy Pricing in the Artist Access Center to check out the great prices on the best printing materials available anywhere.

Drew

Artist/Admin/Founder

The Untapped Source

Hi Everyone! Below is a progress update with some fun bits of info regarding how The Untapped Source is coming along…

Remember to use our suggestion box in the Artist Access Center and give us your thoughts or suggestions regarding the blog or any improvements you’d like to see regarding The Untapped Source.

Per usual, I’ve highlighted the main points in orange if you’re just a skimmer of text…

1.) New Upload Method/Upload Issues

2.) Paper Sample Program

3.) Thumbnail quality now upgraded

4.) Framing Service Development

5.) Changing your name on the site

6.) Prints Make Great Gifts For the Holidays!

1.) We have changed the old upload method for adding print files in The Artist Access Center. Some of you were having issues with the old browse button so we’ve updated things to solve that issue. Basically, it was an issue with the new flash update put out by Adobe…a lot of applications across the web were having some functional issues with the update.

With the new method we have in place, you can now queue up multiple images for upload…which is a nice little feature. Our ultimate goal will be to combine the “upload images” tab with the “add artwork” tab in the Artist Access Center, but we have other larger items to accomplish before we work on that convenience issue.

2.) We are in the final stages of preparation for the Paper Sample Program. It will be COMPLETELY FREE for artists at The Untapped Source to get paper samples for your own knowledge base. We feel it’s a good program to offer everyone so you can understand what it is we are actually selling in detail, and of course if you’re looking to buy your own prints for your own purposes (limited editions), it’s a good idea to have a visual idea of what the different paper types will look and feel like!

Contact us via email for now at artists@theuntappedsource.com with your paper sample request, and we’ll ship you out an Paper Sample Packet absolutely free of charge! Please just make sure you let us know your current address in the email, your name, and that you’d like to see the paper samples.

In the future, we’ll have a form/button in the Artist Access Center for requesting your free paper samples.

3.) In upgrading the quality of the visuals at The Untapped Source, we’ve upgraded the quality of our thumbnails by 30%! The thumbnail images still load just as fast as before and now they appear much clearer and crisper. It’s still not perfect, but we’re going to continue to tweak it until we find the perfect balance between beautiful visuals and blazing fast download speeds. Thanks to Raydianze and Jacky Gerritsen for this quality vs. speed upgrade recommendation (and to everyone really because 70% of our upgrades to the site are from the artists who populate The Untapped Source)

4.) Framing Service Development has now begun. We have found a supplier to make framing affordable and will hopefully have this program up and running in the next 6 months. We’ve done initial testing with images and framing with 75% of the sizes we offer! We’re still not sure how many sizes we will be framing, but we’re going to aim for at least 1 size frame for each ratio offering at The Untapped Source. Any images we use(d) to test framing will be bought and paid for by The Untapped Source.

5.) If you would like to change your name on the site to reflect a pseudonym or ‘web identity’ and you currently have your real name up on the site, feel free to let us know. This will be an automatic feature in the future in when the automation process is complete, but you can change your name in the Artist Access Center under the “bio” tab if you so choose. Please also send us an email at artists@theuntappedsource.com to let us know you’ve done this to make sure the necessary offline changes get made on our end (not absolutely necessary, but reminders never hurt;)). And also be sure if you have selected to be paid by check that we need to know your real name, so just add that info in the ‘pay to the order’ of section of the bio section in the AAC.

6.) It’s the Holiday Season, and what better (and more meaningful) gift is there than a print of your own artwork for your friends and family! Fill out the Artist Buy Print Request Form in the Artist Access Center under ‘Artist Buy Pricing’ and we’ll send you back via email an invoice with the cost of your order, including shipping…after that, you can just pay via paypal and we’ll ship the order within 48 hours. Please let us know with any questions.

Hopefully you are all doing well and succeeding both personally and professionally. We’re still working hard at the automation process, the Artist Buy Cart System (which is gonna be REALLY custom and cool) for all of you guys to use for inch by inch custom printing and credit card payments, and a whole host of other items I could go on and on about in dissertation form (I don’t have time and neither do you;)). As usual, if you’re curious about backlogged updates/blogs, you can check them in the archives to the right of this blog…they have a BUNCH of interesting tidbits in them.

Happy Holidays,

Drew

Artist/Admin/Founder

The Untapped Source

Check out what we’re working on: www.theuntappedsource.com/blog
ARTISTS: BUY YOUR PRINTS IN THE ARTIST ACCESS CENTER