My Collaboration with Artists
- Jasper Woods
- Feb 28
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 7
My Instagram feed is full of amazing art made by people. As I continue the slow slog toward publishing my debut speculative fiction novel, The Granite Letter, I started reaching out to artists to make a trailer for the book.This turned out to have numerous and mutually beneficial rewards.
When I began messaging artists, I wasn’t sure anybody would be up for collaborating with me. I’m not a known author and was upfront about The Granite Letter being my first novel. But over 25 artists committed and threw down in big ways.
Of course, there was a fair amount of ghosting. I reached out to at least 3x as many artists as responded. Totally reasonable and expected. I mean, who can you trust on the interwebs these days? But trust they did.
And there were times when artists couldn’t create for tragic reasons:
I’d be interested in doing in the future but right now I’m very occupied dealing with the loss of my house (burned down in Altadena).
I kept sitting with the message, thinking of all the art they must have lost—their supplies, their memories, their home. And then I thought, how amazing of them to respond, to take the time in the midst of all the tumult they and their family were experiencing. Ironically, a similar tragedy is referenced in The Granite Letter which is focused on the choice of climate change and hope. I wrote the scene five years before I got this artist’s message. Speculative fiction about the future is getting too close to the present.
My process was to send them a snippet of text or the whole scene, as they preferred. Most went with the snippet. I would post the text from The Granite Letter on IG and on my website along with their art. They would get additional exposure and I would get very cool art.
I got the idea from Akira Kurosawa. One of my favorite films is Dreams. It was later in Kurosawa’s career and much of his critical successes were past. No one wanted to give him the money to make Dreams. The images he couldn’t film were eating at him and so he started to paint the movie. The pieces he created informed the visuals in the film after Spielberg, Coppola, and Scorsese saved the project. Kurosawa was their hero and when they found out he couldn’t make his movie and they were like, Psh. We’ll back it. Scorsese even does a cameo as Vincent Van Gogh.
I always accepted what the artist sent without revision requests even when some offered. Receiving the art was like opening a present when you were a kid and what you got was better than you wished. The message would come and a thrill with it. Never were the pieces anything I could’ve imagined especially given the artists only received a few lines of text. This created a dilemma. The images didn’t depict what I envisioned.
But then I realized this was perfect. It’s a trailer for a book not a movie. The images didn’t need to depict because they evoked. This was true of every piece I received. Every image had a vibe that matched the text. I love that about the art. What else is a writer attempting but to evoke a vibe, a feeling, an image.
The artist were so gracious and would send me notes after. Here’s a few:
Thank you for the distraction. I needed this.
I appreciate you reaching out and believing in my creative process!
I have had 2 pieces in the works for a while but wasn’t fully happy with them. Working on your piece got me off my a— to finish them, so thanks!
And more expressions of gratitude and kudos for my writing and on.
I have no favorites. I love all the art and appreciate (so much!) all of the artists sharing their gifts with me and, now, with you. You can visit the art they manifested here and when you click on their name you’ll go to their Instagram where you can follow and support.
(Also, if you’re an artist or a voice actor and want to partner, hit me up. I’m releasing some flash fiction here and there and would love to feature your awesomeness.)
Cheers,
J
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