I don’t recommend becoming a freelance illustrator.

lexxercise:

bentheillustrator:

I got an email from a graduating illustration student last week.  This is pretty normal, I frequently hear from students, in fact I invite it, and I love it, I enjoy conversing and will advise or support however I can.  However this one student asked a question that really threw me, and that’s why I’m writing this.  This new young talent asked me “Would you recommend becoming a freelance illustrator?” which I thought was an odd thing to ask me, since I’m a freelance illustrator who loves his job, why wouldn’t I recommend what I enjoy doing?  I thought about the answer for some time and, to be honest, I’m sorry to say that my answer is actually no.  I don’t recommend becoming a freelance illustrator. 

 As a professional freelance illustrator with a decade or so experience, why don’t I recommend becoming a freelance illustrator?  Here’s why…

 1 - It doesn’t pay straight away, no matter how amazing you are, it can take months, or years, before you get enough regular commissions to make a living.  And even once you’re established and well-experienced, you’ll still go through dry patches. Then even when you get your first commission, there’s a chance you won’t see the payment for a month or three!

 2 - We all lied to you, I’m so sorry, we all lied, we made it look so easy.  Magazines, blogs, professionals, we all went on Twitter and did some interviews and just talked about how much of a blast it is, how easy it is, how busy and rich and satisfied we are.  But that was a lie, I’m sorry.  Just because someone is appearing to be super busy and showing some amazing projects, it doesn’t mean all is well behind the scenes, it doesn’t even mean they’re paying their rent. 

 3 - This industry sucks right now, honestly, there’s not a huge amount of work around.  There is work, and some people are getting enough, some people are getting loads, but behind them there are a lot more illustrators who aren’t getting much at all.  We’re still rolling out of a recession, some potential clients have low budgets for things like illustration, and can easily to turn to stock for a cheap option.

 4 - You are not a superhero.  As a talented student with huge aspirations, it’s easy to get over-confident.  Your tutors praise your work, you’re showcased online or in print as a future talent, your peers envy you and your parents think you’re a prodigy, you can do no wrong, you’re an illustration superhero!  No, you’re not.  There are thousands of brilliantly talented young illustrators and you’re just one of them.

 All that said, it really doesn’t mean you shouldn’t want to be a freelance illustrator, and if you can’t solely do illustration full-time now, it doesn’t mean you can’t ever do it, trust me, career paths flow in mysterious ways.  Here’s how you can help find the path you dream of…

 1 - It will pay if you do it right. If you don’t have a magic pot of money to fall back on, find yourself a full-time job while you start promoting yourself and networking in your free-time, any freelance commissions that do come in become pocket money on the side of your wage.

 2 - We’re very honest and supportive.  We may glamourise the truth a little at times, but we’re still able to give honest, truthful advice.  Get some industry experience, if I could have my time again I’d do at least 3 years in a design studio from the off; learn the business, find out about pressure, and stress, and clients, and self-promotion, and answering a brief, and everything else you can only really learn on the job from people who have experience.

 3 - ‘Illustration’ is not the only industry.  You can more than likely do more than just illustration, diversification is a wonderful thing for any creative and being open to freelance work in other areas (photography, animation, graphic design, branding) can bring in a lot more work.

 4 - You have to work at being a superhero.  I’ve known incredibly talented young illustrators get featured on every site going, they’ve even illustrated the covers of top design magazines, but that doesn’t directly lead to a queue of clients at the door, you can’t rely on hype to make an income, this isn’t X-Factor, this is business. Be humble, understand how many talented illustrators you’re up against, keep your mind very broad and be ready to work, strive and fight harder than you have ever even considered before.  A successful freelance illustrator isn’t just a creative heart and a technical hand, they’re a professional, business mind.  Be a super business.

 Being a successful freelance illustrator is a rollercoaster ride, there are some wonderful ups and some very hard downs, luckily every down is a learning experience.  It’s not easy to survive as a freelancer, I’ve been self-employed for 12 years now (working in animation, design and illustration), and I’m still learning, evolving and developing to work in a better and better way, year after year.  You will have to do the same, the industry moves at breakneck speeds at times, be prepared to keep up.  Don’t feel that not ‘making-it’ in your first year working means you’ve failed, you haven’t, there is no such thing as ‘making-it’.  There is no point where you have created enough successful work that you are suddenly perfectly stocked with pens, software, knowledge and clients forever.  It’s an on-going process of change and learning, new aims and new experiences.  It’s all ahead of you and if you’re prepared for anything, ups and downs, then you’ll be on the path to being a freelance illustrator sooner than anyone.  Enjoy the ride.

Reblogging this in full—this answers a lot of questions I get asked on a regular basis much more eloquently than I’m capable of! Great read for anyone who is considering working any sort of artistic freelance, not just illustration.

coneyartinstitute:

ryanestradadotcom:

Do it wrong.

Cartoonists, writers, musicians, actors, filmmakers, we all get the same questions. And we all have boring, stock answers like ‘draw every day’ or ‘practice a lot’. Sometimes it’s because we don’t know what we did right. But the real reason is that every bit of advice we give you has an expiration date. The world of art is always changing. The things people like, the way those things are distributed and sold is always changing. By the time you put in all that practice to get good at what someone else told you is the way things are done, they aren’t done that way any more. The only sure way to become great at what you do is to break the rules. Not for the sake of being a rebel, but so that you can make something only you can make, in a way only you can make it. If you do something wrong well enough, it becomes the new right. So here are 5 steps in the right way to do it wrong.

STEP 1: Practice

To become a good artist:

Focus on making perfect art. Don’t show weakness. Use the tools that everyone else recommends. If you can’t draw hands, put them in pockets. If you can’t draw feet, crop them off the page. If you’re not very good at an instrument, play something easier. If you’re not knowledgable in a subject, write about something else.

To become a great artist:

Just make a bunch of crappy art. Do things wrong. Trust me, even the art you think is great, give it a few years and you’ll think it’s crap. So you might as well shoot for the moon. Grab tools that no one else has ever even imagined using, and see what happens. Draw everyone on horses even though you know the legs are going to come out all weird. Perform that long, flowery monologue you know you’re going to forget the words to. Film that science fiction epic even though the only creature effects you can afford are sticking Halloween stuff on your cat. Doing things you know you can’t do well so that you can do them later is the whole idea behind exercise.

STEP 2: Taking criticism

To become a good artist:

Show your only your best work to people you trust. Enjoy the praise, and ignore the haters.

To become a great artist:

Share your work with everyone, even the jerks. Put it online, show it to strangers. Show them the stuff you’re proud of, and the stuff you’re not sure of. When you show just your average art, people have nothing to say, so they just give you empty praise. But show them something that can be improved, and they’ll tell you about it. The stuff they tell you is gold. Don’t just be disappointed, write that crap on a post-it and put it above your desk. Think about it when you work. Each and every one of them gave you a free mini art lesson.  If they were dicks about it, that makes them a bad teacher, it doesn’t make you a bad artist. There’s a very good chance that they are wrong. But thinking about what they said, and why you disagree with it, helps turn that problem into a technique. Sifting through critiques is like panning for gold. Sift through the muck of poor wording and trolls to your own little takeaways. Write it on a post-it note and put it above your desk. Think about it while you draw. Use it.

STEP 3: Improving

To become a good artist:

Did you try something new and get a bad reaction? Oh no! Listen to the advice people give you and take that element out of your work. Make something people like.

To become a great artist:

Did you try something new and got a bad reaction? Awesome. There are two reasons that people say negative things about your art: because they see something worth improving, or because you’ve somehow struck a chord. Either way, you made them feel something. Figure out how you did it, and how best to use that skill. Did something you did make someone angry? If you offended or hurt someone, you now know how to avoid doing that in the future. But if you made someone feel something about the story or characters, you now have a skill that you can hone and use as a tool at a better point in the story. To make people angry, sad, happy, uncomfortable, or in any way emotional when looking at your work is a skill that few have because we’re so used to beating it out of our work. Many people compensate for this by adding shock value. You can learn to do it with emotion.

STEP 4: Dealing with rejection

To become a good artist:

Find out where art like yours is being published. Submit to them! Rejected? That’s too bad! Try again! Send them your new stuff every year! Never give up! One of these years, it will all work out!

To become a great artist:

Getting rejected is great! When you get a rejection letter, you aren’t losing a job, you’re gaining one. Finding a venue and an audience is now up to you, which is great, because if you’re successful, you’ll be the one getting rich from your work. All of those places were created because someone needed a new place to put a different kind of work. You’re now in the same boat.

STEP 5: Building a career

To become a good artist:

After a lot of practice and study, take all the advice people have given you, follow their lead. Make something you know will be successful, put it in all the right venues.

To become a great artist:

Do it wrong. Don’t do it right just because of all the people around you who say ‘that’s not art,’ ‘that’s not music, ‘there’s no money in that,’ ‘it’s not a real book unless it’s in print,’ etc.  Some of those people will be your heroes. Every generation hates the next generation’s music. Every generation of artists thinks the next generation are hacks. Following the leader is a good way to make art that pleases people in the moment, but doing something that breaks all of the rules is the way be the leader and make something historic. Tell a story only you can tell in a way only you can tell it. When you see a piece of new technology, a piece of ancient technology, an interesting bit of trash on the street and think ‘I could put art on that’, then put art on that. You’ll be reaching new people in places no one else is even trying. There’s no money in ANYTHING until someone puts something great on it. When someone tells you you’re doing it wrong, that’s your clue that you’re doing something that could change all of the rules, and a few decades from now, your style will be the one someone’s drilling into a beginner’s head, and that beginner will be coming to you for advice. Feel free to tell them what you did right, but be sure to also tell them: Do it wrong.

I’ve always subscribed to the manta, do that thing you wanted other people to do but they aren’t doing. But this is pretty good too.

(Source: art-references)

macateallthepudding:

ontahb:

teesshinystuff:

pepsie:

sharonabot9000:

tutorialsforartists:

<butt via pixiv>

butt novices should enjoy this

i like butts

Someone translate this so I can absorb all of the important how-to butt info. ;~;

Oh look someone who actually knows how to draw ass making a quick tutorial. Finally

Asstorial.

HOMESTUCK: ARMSOCK TUTORIAL

cancerously:

Alright! About time I made a long post. TUTORIAL TIME.

So I wrote an armsocks tutorial quite a few months ago with the grievous error that I didn’t upload pictures! In the remaking of my own, I decided to take some snapshots this time. So here it is, updated! The pictures come AFTER THE TEXT, so read the text and then look at the picture.

When you cosplay a troll, you typically have two options for your arms: makeup, or tights. Making trolltights involves taking a pair of tights for your legs and making them into skintight gloves. While it’s not overly hard or complicated, it takes a copious amount of time and most people don’t have the patience to finish. HOWEVER, when done right, they look like makeup and allow you to hold, touch, or do whatever you want with your hands. Which is awesome.

The original tutorial was from a Weeping Angel cosplay and isn’t exactly specific, so in my rage at not knowing what to do (and going through two pairs of tights before success), I made a “How To Make Armsocks For Dummies” tutorial. In 10 easy steps, you too can learn how to armsock!

Please read the WHOLE THING BEFORE YOU START, or you’ll probably mess up.

Read More

ihomicide:

Step 1.
Open your drawing up into Photoshop, pretty sure this works with all versions, BUT DON’T QUOTE ME ON THAT. KDSNlgd.

Step 2.
Click your first layer, scroll down and click your last layer while holding shift (that’ll select all of them, duh Homi).
Right click and select the option “Merge Layers”. Also works with “Merge Visible”. “Flatten Image” though, does not, unless you have a background or don’t care much for transparent backgrounds.

Step 3.
Right click and duplicate the layer.

Step 4.
Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur.
I usually keep the radius around 3-4, but you can do whatever.

Step 5.
Click the layer mode of “Layer 2” and select Soft Light.

THERE! YOU DONE! SOFT AND SHINY AND SATURATED AND AWESOME! (It’s really easy too.)

Hope it’s easy enough to understand!

boltong:

princessnecrophilia:

dustybins:

catbountry:

Do these really work?

Because I have acne scars like whoa and I don’t wanna buy all this stuff and look like an idiot when it doesn’t work.

same

it does work! i have recommended these things to my friends and i use similar remedies for my hair to deep condition, hydrate, and take out oils!

most of these are things you’d have around the home anyway. you can just eat them if it doesnt work. its a christmas miracle 

(Source: diybodycare)

HOMESTUCK: ARMSOCK TUTORIAL

cancerously:

Alright! About time I made a long post. TUTORIAL TIME.

So I wrote an armsocks tutorial quite a few months ago with the grievous error that I didn’t upload pictures! In the remaking of my own, I decided to take some snapshots this time. So here it is, updated! The pictures come AFTER THE TEXT, so read the text and then look at the picture.

When you cosplay a troll, you typically have two options for your arms: makeup, or tights. Making trolltights involves taking a pair of tights for your legs and making them into skintight gloves. While it’s not overly hard or complicated, it takes a copious amount of time and most people don’t have the patience to finish. HOWEVER, when done right, they look like makeup and allow you to hold, touch, or do whatever you want with your hands. Which is awesome.

The original tutorial was from a Weeping Angel cosplay and isn’t exactly specific, so in my rage at not knowing what to do (and going through two pairs of tights before success), I made a “How To Make Armsocks For Dummies” tutorial. In 10 easy steps, you too can learn how to armsock!

Please read the WHOLE THING BEFORE YOU START, or you’ll probably mess up.

Read More

DIY 002: Human Anatomy & Figure Drawing

lexxerduglas:

animationtidbits:

Now that you’ve mastered the basics of drawing, it’s time to begin with the basics when it comes to drawing humans.

Part I: Anatomy

In order to have consistent and fantastic drawing ability, you need to understand structure. In the case of drawing humans, that means anatomy. You have have to know what muscles and bones are hanging out under all that skin, and you have to be able to quickly find and pinpoint visual landmarks on the human body to help simplify the drawing process.

• Anatomy Reference
  Artistic Anatomy
  Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist (pdf)
  Figure Drawing for What It’s Worth by Andrew Loomis - pages 57-67  
• Hogarth on Anatomy
  Dynamic Anatomy by Burne Hogarth (pdf) 
  Drawing the Human Head by Burne Hogarth (pdf) 
  Drawing Dynamic Hands  by Burne Hogarth (pdf)
• 3D Anatomy
  l’Ecorché
• Other Resources
  Planes of the Face
  The ‘Anatomy’ tag 

Tips:

• Female vs Male
  Even from a skeletal perspective it should be possible to distinguish whether the figure is male or female. The key is that a female’s pelvis bone will be wider than the ribcage from the front view, while a male’s pelvis will be the same width as the ribcage. 
  
• The Masters
  Make sure to check out the Master Drawings from greats such as Raphael, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Michelangelo. These masters accumulated a lot of fantastic anatomical drawings in their lifetime and are great sources of inspiration. When looking at their work think about why they drew things the way they did and what shapes they reuse.
   

Assignments:

• Anatomical Diagrams
  This isn’t the most fun assignment, but you’ll learn a lot. Copy (do not trace) diagrams from anatomical books and label them. Focus on major muscles groups while paying attention to shape, form, and how various bit of anatomy relate to each other. 
  
  Draw back, front, and side views of the skeleton, torso muscles, leg muscles, arm muscles, and skull. 
   
• Anatomy from Various Angles
  Draw the main forms of the body from various angles.
  
  Make sure to draw the pelvis, skull, ribcage, shoulder/arm socket area, and legs from various angles in both skeleton and muscles views. Focus more on shape, structure, and plane changes, rather than detail. 
   
• Anatomy from Life
  Using stock photography or a live model (a lot of big art cities have workshops, and there’s always community college modeling sessions) draw the figure with attention on anatomy rather than pose; focus on the way muscles and bones show through the skin.
   

—-

Part II: Figure Drawing

Now that you have an understanding of the anatomical forms, it’s time to figure out how to bring them all together proportionally within an image plane.

• Books
  Figure Drawing for What It’s Worth by Andrew Loomis - pages 26-33, 44-51
  Henry Yan’s Figure Drawing (Techniques and Tips)
• Demos
  How to Draw Figure by cattusOK
   
• Stock Resources
  ArtsyPoses
  Figure Drawing Training Tool
  Jagged-Eye
  Jason Aaron Baca
  Mjranum-stock

Tips:

• Contrapposto
  The human body natural will want to balance itself in a contrapposto position, which is to say it wants to balance itself along the gestural curve of body by positioning large forms of the body in opposing angles from each other.
  
  In a contrapposto pose, the body is has place it’s weight asymmetrically, so that the balance is shifted towards once side. In such an instance, one of the legs (the leg the weight is on) will be straight while the other is bent. The ankle of this straight leg will also line up along a straight line with the top of the spine (in the below photo this line is not straight because the photo is being taken from below rather than at the same level of the figure).
  
  Just look below and see how the head, ribcage, and pelvis alternate between angles to balance along the curve of the spine. This will also cause alternating compression and stretching.
   
• Approach
  When drawing the figure first draw a straight line down the page. Divide the vertical height of this line in half; the point will be the top of the pelvis, which is the half-way mark of the body.
  
  Then draw a circle for the head, so that it is correct distance proportionally from the center of the line. After this draw the angles of the contrapposto lines (see above linked demo).
  
  Only after this basic blocking is done should you attempt to add it the shapes and details. 

Assignments:

• Proportions
  
  Using Andrew Loomis’ ‘Idealistic’ 8-Head proportion set-up, draw the figure along various planes and angles while using simplified shapes for body forms.
  
  Once you master the ability to control proportions you will more accurately be able to depict different ages, ethnicity, body types, and sex.
  
• Life Drawing
  Using stock photography or a live model (highly recommended), draw the nude figure (seriously, no clothes yet; that comes later) in traditional contrapposto poses (don’t try for dynamic movement just yet) at various intervals (2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 1 hour, etc.) Try drawing the same poses from different angles and directions.
  
  Repeat approximately one million times. 

More DIY Posts.

I get questions asking for tips on figure drawings from time to time, so I thought I might pass this along!

dredsina:

Sorry for making such a huge post! I was just concerned about some of the bigger pictures being viewable, so I didn’t want to make this a text post…

yamino:

How to draw a fist!

wannabeanimator:

Digital Skin Painting Tips from Muddy Colors

Avoid simple gradients. You cannot obtain convincing skin if you only add black and white to a basic skin tone. It’s more complex than that.

   Of course, all skins are different but you can try this :

      - A little bit of olive green on the shadow.

      - A little bit of blue under the eyes (lower lids).

      - A little bit of red on the cheek bones.

Just work with low opacity (0 - 5%), on a separeted layer and with the soft round brush.

This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals—sounds that say listen to this, it is important.

prrb:

How I pratice drawing things, now in a tutorial form.
The shrimp photo I used is here
Show me your shrimps if you do this uvu 

PS: lots of engrish because foreign 

batbooty:

rogueofthecraft:

Life Hacks: Kitchen Edition!

WOW I’M SO ANGRY I DIDN’T THINK OF THIS