ART/VIDEO – Becoming a Pro Artist Part 06: Beyond Artistic Skill
Probably the most important of these series of videos I’ve posted because it deal much more with mindset and drive. These are the keys to success in anything, not just art.
In this video I answer these two simple questions:
Asides from artistic skill, what do you believe is required as the most important part/s of becoming paid in the industry?
What do you believe it takes to be a successful professional artist?
But the answers are critical and I don’t even begin to crack the surface.
Links to the resources I spoke about in the video can be found below the video.
Once again, the visuals of this video will show me digitally inking a panel of my Black Terror Kid Comic:
Resources Mentioned and NOT Mentioned in the Video
(Some of the links below are affilate links. Thanks for your support)
Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story: http://amzn.to/2aBHK9k
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles: http://amzn.to/2aBHAPu
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich: http://amzn.to/2aZgNSH
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ART/VIDEO – Becoming a Professional Artist Part 05: Artistic Income
What were your sources of income after first breaking into professional art? (crowd funding, sponsor, customers, job etc.)
Were you able to provide for yourself from your income initially?
Now that you’re full time, are you making, subjectively, a comfortable living?
What kind of income can you expect once you become a professional artist in a studio. This is the type of questions I’ll be answer this week in this video.
Meanwhile, the visuals on the screen will be of me digitally inking a panel of my Black Terror Kid comic using Manga Studio:
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ART/VIDEO – Becoming a Pro Artist Part 04: Financial Resources
What were your living conditions like?
How was your time spent? (job? Working on portfolio/projects?)
How did you survive (as in paying for living expenses)? Were you supported? Did you have a job?
How did you establish your network at this stage/make yourself known?
Did you have the equipment you wanted/needed? Could you afford it? How did you afford it? How did you work without it?
What did you use in terms of equipment and software?
In this week’s video, I answer the questions above. Basically, does it take money to be able to learn to draw? The answer, as you will see is yes and no.
Visually you will also see me finish up a logo that was designed for me by Omar Jones (aka. Distrakt). If you’d like to hire him or work with him, the links to his websites are below the video:
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Just be aware that my Patreon patrons get their questions answered first and they get to see the videos weeks before anyone else.
ART/VIDEOS – Becoming a Professional Artist Part 3: The importance of Networking
How did you acquire your network of people to rely on? (School, work, other interesting circumstances?)
What kind of people do they consist of? Are they all artists? Do you have people in other areas? Businessmen/women, people in marketing, IT for example?
How did you make yourself known? What did it take to get your name out? (social media sites, art sights such as Deviant Art, other ways?)
How has your network helped your artistic career? (Both people and promotional)
These are the questions I’ll be addressing this time around in this video. The visuals you will see it of me adding in the blacks on page 8 of a Black Terror Kid comic.
If you’re new to these videos, an art student recently contacted me and asked me these questions about becoming a professional. I recorded my answers on my iPhone and sent them to him. Then I realized other people might benefit from listening to my responses.
I’ve decided to make videos from the recordings. I hope you find my answers helpful:
If you liked this video and would like me to discuss something you think I might know about…
If you want to ask me a question about drawing that you might be struggling with…
If you want to suggest a character or drawing you’d like me to draw, feel free to ask or suggest away, either here on my comments or anywhere else you’d like to contact me.
Just be aware that my Patreon patrons get their questions answered first and they get to see the videos weeks before anyone else.
ART/VIDEOS – Becoming a Professional Artist Part 2: How Long it Takes to Become a Pro
In regards to your first job/when you first started making money from your art, how long did it take to get to that point from deciding to become a professional artist? What was that first job/sale? How did it come about? What did it take to become a paid artist, what was it that resulted in the success? Was it your portfolio? How much time did you invest in your portfolio?
How did you get your current job/what pathways did you take to become a full time artist?
How long did it take to finally become a full time artist?
Do you have any plans for the future of your artistic career? What steps have you taken towards them?
I answer these question in this video. The visuals is me trying to come up with a Patreon Banner. I soon abandoned it and took a different approach.
If you’re just now coming into these videos, an art student recently contacted me and asked me these questions about becoming a professional. I recorded my answers on my iPhone and sent them to him. Then I realized other people might benefit from listening to my responses.
So here it is:
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ART/VIDEOS – Becoming a Professional Artist Part 01: What to Learn
How did you go about honing your skills as an artist? (Were you mentored? Self-taught?)
Practice is often regarded as the most important part of improving artistic ability. What was your preferred method/s of practice? What did you find to be the most effective method/s?
What would you consider to be the most important skill/s to understand and hone? (for example: perspective, line work, composition, form, value and shadows etc.)
How much time did you invest into your training on a daily or weekly basis?
In this video I answer these questions.
An art student recently contacted me and asked me these questions about becoming a professional. I recorded my answers on my iPhone and sent them to him. Then I realized other people might benefit from listening to my responses.
I’ve decided to make videos from the recordings. I hope you find my answers helpful:
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ART COLLECTING – How to Get Started Collecting Comic and Pop Culture Art
You’ve decided you want to start collecting art but you’re not sure where to begin. However, you don’t want to simply collect any art, you want to collect nerdy art, geeky art.
Art with your favorite superheroes, time traveling doctors, star trekking crew, lightsaber wielding Jedi, face hugging Aliens, ring bearing Hobbits, glasses wearing wizard boy or many other things you’re a fan of. Well to start, you can first read the following article from the Invaluable website giving you advice on starting a fine art collection:
There’s plenty in the article that will help you to collect comic and pop culture art too. However, collecting the nerdy art is also a bit different and this article is about getting started collecting this less traditional kind of art.
Below you’ll find out, what this type of art collecting is, what you can collect and places where you can find the art.
So lets get to it…
What is Comic and Pop Culture Art Collecting?
Collecting comic art is simply collecting art related to your favorite comic books or Manga.
Collecting pop culture art is simply collecting art related to your favorite Science Fiction, Fantasy, or Superhero movies, TV shows or books.
The reason I’ve included them both together, is because this art is more often than not, found together.
What Types of Art Can I Collect?
There’s a broad range of collectible art types within comics and pop culture.
If you’re not sure where to start, let’s take a look at some of these types. This is not, by any means an exhaustive list. It’s meant to give you an idea of the possible types of art you can collect in this art field:
Sculptures or Maquettes – Now a days it’s possible to find some bust or full on maquettes involving your favorite characters or scenes from comics, movies or TV shows.
Make sure you have plenty of room, this one takes up more than just wall space. However, these collections can be very fun to display.
Original Comic Book Pages – If you have a favorite comic of all time or favorite comic artist of all time, you may be able to own the original pages from said artist, comic or Manga
Original Art – If you’re into a specific comic, movie, TV show, book character, artist or artists, it’s possible to collect hand drawn art of that character or from that artist or artists.
Sketch Covers – This is an offshoot of the Original Art collecting. This is unique in that you’re actually collecting published comics, but unlike most comics, the covers on these comics are blank and are made of art paper.
The idea being that you either give it to an artist to draw a unique original drawing on the cover, or an artist sells you one he’s already drawn a unique drawing on. In other words, you’re collecting one-of-a-kind comics. Which are the rarest comics of all.
Sketch Cards – Similar to the sketch cover idea, this concerns collectible trading cards. What you’re collecting here, are what used to be blank cards that have an original hand drawn drawing of your favorite characters or drawn by your favorite artist. They can be collected directly from the artist, can be found in special trading card packs, or can be found sold in various websites.
Hand Drawn Stickers or Post Cards – These two are a bit more rare but they’re out there. An artist get’s blank post cards or blank sticker paper and draws on them, giving you one-of-a-kind stickers or post cards.
Original Art In A Themed Sketchbook – This is a more evolved version of an autograph book. The collector buys a blank sketchbook and take it around to artists so they can draw something on a page. Depending on the artists and how long the artists are allowed to keep the book, these type of books can have some amazing art in them.
Sometimes the collector has a specific theme or topic they want the art in the book to be about. When it’s all said and done, you end up with a very unique book.
Limited Edition Prints – Simply a print with a limited print run, usually signed by the artist.
Prints or posters – The most common of all the art types and the least expensive. An artist draws something and makes prints or posters of the work, which they continues to sell, as long as there’s interest in it. These prints are often signed and may even have an original sketch on them.
This may be the best starting off points if you’re looking to display your art collection in your home. It’s also a very good way to support the artist.
Where Can I Find This Art?
Alright, once you’ve decided what kind of art you want to collect, it’s time to help you find places to get it.
This is a tricky subject only because even though there’s often a lot of crossover among these art types, you can’t always find all of these art type together in every recommended place I’ll point out. What I’ll do is write in parentheses the type of art you can find in each place.
Again, this is not an exhaustive list. There are many, other places I simply may not know about that didn’t make it on this list:
Comic and Pop Culture Conventions – (Sculptures or Maquettes, Original Comic Book Pages, Original Art, Sketch Cards, Hand Drawn Stickers or Post Cards , Original Art In A Themed Sketchbook, Limited Edition Prints, Prints or posters)
Probably the best place to find every collectible form of art I put on the list above is a Comic convention or Pop Culture show. Examples of these conventions are:
There are far too many shows to name and new ones are popping up every year. See what you can find that’s going on in your area.
Collector Sites – (Sculptures or Maquettes, Original Comic Book Pages, Original Art, Sketch Cards)
These type of website specialize in selling original art of some type to collectors, like the collectibles section on Invaluable. Sometimes the artists themselves sell them in the site.
Below is a list of great sites for original comic book art and pages (I got this list a long time ago from a specific site and I wish I could credit it, but I didn’t write it down and now I don’t remember it):
Ebay – (Sculptures or Maquettes, Original Comic Book Pages, Original Art, Sketch Cards, Hand Drawn Stickers or Post Cards, Limited Edition Prints, Prints or posters)
Similar to the a convention, you can find pretty much everything here. Lots of artists and art shops sell art on Ebay. You can find a lot of good deals here.
I sometimes sell my art on Ebay. You can check up on what I’m selling by clicking the link below:
Social Media – (Sculptures or Maquettes, Original Comic Book Pages, Original Art, Sketch Cards, Hand Drawn Stickers or Post Cards, Original Art In A Themed Sketchbook, Limited Edition Prints, Prints or posters)
Although this is not a direct way to buy art, this is great way to follow artists who will often link to where you can buy their art. You can also contact them via social media if you want to commission them:
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
Collector Facebook Groups are also a great resource. Especially if the group allows artists to post work for sale. Here’s a link to some groups:
Deviant Art – (Original Comic Book Pages, Original Art, Sketch Cards, Hand Drawn Stickers or Post Cards, Limited Edition Prints, Prints or posters)
Deviant Art is a website for artists to put up and show off their work. Lot’s of comic artists show their art there. Like with social media, you can contact artists for commissions. But you can also buy prints of their work directly from Deviant Art.
In case you’re interested, the link to my Deviant art page is below:
Personal Websites – (Original Comic Book Pages, Original Art, Sketch Cards, Hand Drawn Stickers or Post Cards, Limited Edition Prints, Prints or posters)
Of course, many artists sell their work on their website or have shops linked to their website. I do!
This is probably the best way to get work commissioned or to simply buy what the artist is selling. Here’s a list of a few of my favorite artists who sell their work via their website. And yes, I’m totally gonna include a link to my shop too:
Patreon – (Original Comic Book Pages, Original Art, Sketch Cards, Hand Drawn Stickers or Post Cards, Limited Edition Prints, Prints or posters)
Patreon is a site where you basically become a patron of the arts. You sign up and financially help your favorite artist create the art you want them to create like the patrons of old.
In return the artist gives you, some sort of direct value in return. This can be videos of the making of the art, art tutorials, private chats, or different kinds of downloadable content.
For the most part, they give you access to high end digital files of some artwork. This can then be printed out by you to make canvas prints or posters. Or you can use it as desktop wallpaper.
However, depending on the artist and the tier of the rewards, you can also get original art sent to you by the artist. This is the case for my patrons on Patreon. Every month I pick a name at random of one of my patrons and send them an original art postcard via mail.
Check the social media or website of artists you like and see if they have a Patreon account you can join to support them. In case you’re interested, my Patreon link is below:
Alright, now you have enough information to get started. The best thing for you to do now is to hone in on what you really want out of your art collection.
What do you want to collect? What will be the thing that gives you the most satisfaction?
Once you’ve got an idea, try going to some conventions or give some of these links a try. See how it goes. Have fun.
I hope this has been helpful to you. If you’ve read this and you think I’ve missed something or you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below.
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ART/VIDEOS – Handy Figure Drawing Tips and Book Recommendations
Studying figure drawing is a big deal. Being good at it really helps you grow as a artist. It’s one of the most difficult things you can do as an artist because it forces you to use every drawing principle you can possibly know.
From perspective to gesture. From observational drawing to imaginative drawing. From anatomy to shading. From spacial relationships to storytelling.
Everything that you can know about drawing is all rolled up into this one skill.
In this video I talk about some good ways you can study figure drawing and some great books you can learn from. The affiliate links to the books I talk about are in the links below:
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ART/VIDEOS – Figure Drawing Tips to Keep in Mind Part 2: Torso Construction
When figure drawing, the torso is the largest area of the body. It takes up the most real-estate. For this reason, when you get it wrong, it’s pretty obvious.
I continue going over fellow artist Andrea’s drawing. This is part 2 of two videos where I help her solidify her figure drawing. In doing so, I also hope to help you see learn from this video as well.
I specifically go over the torso in this video using my interpretation of my figure drawing teacher, Steve Huston’s formula for drawing torsos. I’ve found it to be a very handy formula draw torsos with.
I hope you get a lot out of this video:
Links Mentioned in the Video
Steve Huston on drawing torsos:
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ART/VIDEOS – Figure Drawing Tips to Keep in Mind Part 1: Concerning Gesture
Gesture is important for figure drawing. It’s arguably the most important thing to get right. Especially when you’re learning to figure draw.
I made two videos in order to go over fellow artist, Andrea’s figure drawing. This is part 1.
By going over her drawing, I’m hoping to show her and by extension, you what she did well, and what she could improve. I wanted to show her and you what to watch out for when approaching the figure.
In doing so, I hope that you can learn from this as well:
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