How to Build up Your Illustration Career

This was originally a response to a young illustrator who contacted me a few years back asking what she should do to prepare for an illustration career. Today I spent  bit of time reorganizing my thoughts to post in response to a blog post from one of my college teachers asking the same question for the benefit of his current senior class. Sooo much more could be said on the topic but here's my response to what I feel is most important for an illustration senior to consider as they contemplate entering the "Real World".

Don't Say 'No' and Try New Things

     I’ve learned that you should never say no to a project until you find out as much info as you can even if that means spending some time conversing back and forth just to figure out if you can work something out with the client. Sometimes the people who start out wanting you to work for free or for a split profit situation is the one who ends up paying you the most if you only take the time to talk with them and be honest about your pricing. It can also be instinct to say no if they want something done sooner than you could provide it. Always ask them if they are willing to wait a few months if you already have a project going as you’ll be surprised how many will wait. Sometimes the initial gig may be too small or not of interest to you but I’ve had logos turn into more work and I had a CD cover that lead to my first book. I think in a way it’s best to start out a bit ignorant as you will have less fear to try new stuff. I’ve done a bunch of random contests and illustration work for individual clients in between books to stay in business. Everything from sign painting, logos, pet portraits, architectural renderings, Point of purchase display illustration, landscape painting etc. etc. Some things you’ll enjoy and some you’ll never do again. I did some portrait paintings and quickly learned that wasn’t my best skill but then discovered a particular style of caricature that was more in my comfort zone. The one place I would advise to say no for sure is if they want you to work for free or for some sort of split the profit scheme and won't budge on that. don’t do work for free unless it's a competition or you are getting compensated with something comparable to the worth of your work. Children's illustration for example is filled with self publishing authors who want you to work for split profit scheme but who may never even figure out how to get their books published in the first place.

Get a Website and Build a Portfolio

     The number one thing I can suggest is to build a website or at least a blog to post your art. No one will hire you if they can’t see your work samples. Every single illustration gig I ever received started with me sending a link to my illustration portfolio for potential clients to view. Most potential clients are looking amongst tons of illustrators at once and most illustrators already have websites and such so if you don’t have one, the other illustrator’s will beat you every time. I built an easy website on freewebs.com now called webs.com . If you don’t have time to worry about designing your own website then get on blogger.com and post some pics onto a blog to send potential clients to. There are of course large illustration portfolio websites but you want your own little nook on the web to send people to where they wont be tempted by the work of thousands of talented illustrators.

       Do your best in college or in your current state to make the best art you can, so that when you branch out into illustration as full time career and build a website, you will already have some great pieces to show to potential clients and not just some paintings of fruit and nudes. I wish I could show you my very first website and the images I launched on it so you could see how far I’ve come over the past few years. Post what you have and just keep working at it and make more and more new and better stuff to replace the old stuff. When you start looking back on the old stuff , and can see all of the flaws , you’ll know you’re making progress.

      Even most art competitions are debatable as many are just out to get your money. For the first few years of my career, winning competitions kept me in business but I did my research and tried to only enter competitions I felt I had a chance to win where the judges would be interested in my style of art.

Learn the Major Illustration Digital Software

      If I had to say one program to learn, Adobe Photoshop would have to be the one. Adobe Photoshop elements is a smaller version that basically does everything I need it to do and is much cheaper. I got a free copy with a cheap digital camera and more recently got a copy with a new drawing tablet. You can also get free photo editing software online like Gimp. That will let you re-size and crop art for the web as well as a ton of other stuff I’ve come to rely on it for. In the past few years I made the switch to digital art using photoshop to create final art. The majority of publishers are only interested in digital art in my experience as its easier for them to request changes, it's faster and they don't have to worry about scanning/digitizing the original art. More recently I started working with vector art software called Inkscape which is basically a free version of Adobe Illustrator. That software is great for logos and images that will need to be scalable for banners, truck decals etc. and of course many artists use it for more graphic styles of illustration or for creating smooth line drawings.

Constantly Promote Your Work

     I would also say it’s important to constantly promote yourself and search for your next gig while working on your current gig so you won’t be out of work for two months in between each project. In college we were told that it wasn't the most talented who would succeed but rather the most persistent and those with the best contacts. Artists tend to be a very quiet folk who keep to themselves. In order to break into illustration you really need to be able to self promote constantly and almost have to overcome your own desire to sit in a corner and draw, without others seeing your art. No matter how good you become as an artist you simply won't get the jobs unless you let people know who you are.

     You could start with something as easy as doing marketing e-mails about your progress. I used to send them out once a month but these days it’s getting to be more like a couple of times a year. That basically lists art competitions I’ve entered, galleries, book reading events coming up, new blog posts, projects I’m working on and sometimes helpful websites and advice for my art friends on the list. I include friends, family, past clients etc. as a way of keeping me and my art on people’s minds and hopefully generate more work. It’s also been a great way to hear back from old friends about what’s going on in their lives.

      During your senior year you are asked to create mailer postcard illustrations. At first it can be tempting to think those won't amount to much but My first real publishing gig with a brick and mortar publisher came as result of those mailers I did my senior year. That client has now hired me three times.

      Another way I've started to get recognition for my work in my hometown is by attending various craft fairs and having gallery shows of my work. I generally don't make a ton of money at the actual events but I do often meet people at those events who become good clients asking me to work on small projects every now and then. Give out tons of business cards and chat with the other artists at the events to learn from them. I've had people buy stuff on my etsy store who I met in person at a craft fair, one guy has commissioned me for about $500 worth of work over the years, A lady from one gallery book reading event later contacted me to do a book reading at a local school which paid $200 plus sale of any books.

     You'll find many ways to promote. Just do your best to post your work all over the web on sites like artwanted.com, deviantart.com, craig's list ads, facebook, linkedin, children's illustrators.com, zazzle, etsy, tophatter etc. etc.

Vermont Oil Landscape Paintings: 2

Back in April of 2011 I posted a bunch of oil landscape paintings I did over the past few years. I've since sold most of those paintings but haven't had time to make more until now. I've been working on tons of small watercolor landscapes and this past Saturday I painted the first oil landscape that I've done in over a year. I decided to document the process a bit.

posts of my watercolor landscapes. first few  , shows my pocharde box for plein air watercolor painting

This first image shows the final painting. Oil on 5"x6" wooden panel. I actually already painted this same scene twice in watercolor but have changed things with each image. the first one has  a house int he background with hay bails in the field on the right and the corn had just begun to grow. The second image put a differetn house int he image and has corn growing more but focusus more ont eh patern of the various fields. Then for this image I intended to focus primarily ont eh foreground corn. Unfortunately I ran low on time and ended up rushign the corm more than intended.

This next image shows the various items I bring with me when painting with oil in plein air. Some of these things are the same as used for my watercolor supplies. 1) fishing or picnic basket with hinge top. 2) orderless Mineral Spirits in a  pickle jar to clean the brushes. 3) oil paint tubes. I tied to limit my pallet to make color choices much faster and for an easier accomplished color harmony. Basically I have a warm and cool yellow, blue and red with white and a purple. 4) refined linseed oil for thinning the paint. 5) duct tape to hold things down. 6) a small folding canvas chair with a cold pouch built in under the seat. 7) This is a book I bring out into the field with me from time to time as I'm still learning how to get better and faster with my landscapes. "Oil Painter's Solution Book : Landscapes: Over 100 Answers to Your Oil Painting Questions" by Elizabeth Tolley. 8) A durable metal easel the adjusts up taller and shorter with tilting bar which accepts various size canvases. 9) A hand sewn brush pouch my sister made for me. It has various width slots to slide the brush handles into and has a flap that folds over the top of the brushes, then I roll it up to keep all of the bristles in shape during transport. In this pic I have folded the corners around the easel legs and clipped the corners of the brush pouch cloth in the back. 10) a mixture of OMS and linseed oil in a small glass jar with a  tight lid for thinning paints. As I build up the layers I use less OMS and more linseed oil for thicker layers of paint that will take slightly longer to dry. Doing the reverse may lead to cracking paint. 11) this is the same wooden box I use for my watercolors. It has a hinging lid and various compartments in the bottom half. 12) paint rag. 13) wooden panel with gessoed surface. 14) my wooden paint pallet that I've had since college.

below is a pic showing the painting in process. 1) is a tiny quick thumbnail value study to help me remember the original value structure as the light changes a lot over the course of a few hours. 2) I put some duct tape from the top lid of the box to the bottom lid to keep it at a 90 degree angle.  3) I have a small piece of duct tape holding the panel to the wooden box lid. The wooden box is clamped onto the easel between the two clips made for holding canvas. You can see my pallet in the foreground with dabs of paint laid out. I generally hold it in my left hand or rest it on my lap.

Below is a series of pics I took during the painting process. The first step involves laying in basic value structure . This is very thinned down paint and generally helps the next layers of paint go down much faster. Sometimes I do the under painting with a warm raw sienna or ochre as I've read about many times but this time I decided to try something I read in Tolley's book which shows her painting the background values with a cooler under painting and the foreground with warmer tones.  Doing this step also helps me to keep value in mind as I paint the various pieces of landscape. From reading Brad Teare's blog I learned a lot about keeping track of values from one mass to the next. Typically the sky will be the lightest value in the whole image, the ground or things on the horizontal plane facing the sky tend to be the next lightest while vertical things like trees and buildings have the darkest areas with the absolute darkest darks typically in the foreground. Typically i leave the sky white at this stage to allow more vibrancy to show through the sky. The darkest darks and highlights are saved for last

In this second image I have laid in the three or four main colors I mixed for the sky. I make a dark blue, light blue, a light yellow and light crimson. I start with dabs of each color, more blue and darker dabs towards the top and more of the warmer and lighter dabs towards the bottom of the sky. In step three I lightly blends the dabs of color together being sure to keep leave some of the colors showing rather than ruthlessly blend them. I learned this technique from a book by Wendon Blake called " The complete Painting Course" 

The sky colors blended with a soft bristle brush. I use a flat brush but they say a filbert is best. I've never found a filbert that doesn't leave marks. Guess I haven't spent a enough money on them.

I've laid in a purplish undertone for the ridgeline trees then put a light blueish green for the highlights and tried to vary the colors slightly and focused on having an interesting ridgeline. I later went back in and put sky holes in the trees. Sky holes is when you can see sky through the foliage of the trees. I first learned about this from my highschool art teacher Larry Golden and have since learned it from James gurney, Wendon Blake, Brad teare and others. When I was first learning to paint with acrylics I used to paint the whole sky first and paint the tree and leaves on top but this method of painting the sky holes on top of the foliage I find to leave much more pleasant results. I'll probably write a whole blog post about it at some point.

Now I worked in the middle ground trees and continue with the foreground field trying to keep variation of color amongst the trees and have them slightly darker than the background while the foreground field was in fact slightly lighter than the background field. The final image shows the corn painted in. ( the first image show in this post.).

Samantha Loses The Box Turtle Cover Design:Part Two

For part one, in which I show the initial steps for designing this cover, click HERE
 
    In the first post on this cover I showed some of my thumbnail sketches and rough draft sketches. This first image below shows where that last post left off, with the rough drawing on the left. On the right I've included a revised drawing which fixes the facial features and removes the globe in the background while tightening up other aspects of the image.

Then i did some quick color samples with about four different color schemes for the background illustration. We initially decided on the option below with a dominantly cool temperature color scheme, purples and blues. I threw in some initial rough text ideas but we eventually decided we needed the cover to be  a bit more friendly to boys.

 

So from there the client liked warmer colors in the background illustration and it was a matter of trying to find a new color for the surrounding cover layout.

Throughout the whole process I sketched ideas for the title font, which we intended to be hand drawn. A lot of this felt repetetive but quit necesary. I was trying to invent my own font and wanted to get things to feel right for this particular book while also having the letters themeselves work together as a unit. It's not as easy as typing the words into photoshop and trying a bunch of different fonts in a matter of minutes. I have no training in graphhic design or text design but often enjoy trying my hand at it. With this book I was a bit frustrated because I had to create a text that would work for all the books in this series of "Samantha" books. SO I kept having ideas for the text that woudl fit this particular book but wouldn't work for the whole series. I also still have no idea what animals are in the rest of the series.

I did also try some computer fonts and actually started to like a couple of them but the client was drawn to an earlier hand drawn option.

                                              So for our final font we agreed upon the one below.

I then took this basic font and tried various shading and colors on the font itself and paired those with our chosen color sample and cover layout color. This gave us a really good idea of what the final cover would look like.

Now the final watercolor painting. Some of these pics are taken in low light and the final product was scanned and further tweaked in photoshop.

The final product is now available on Amazon for the kindle and other e-readers. Just click the link on the left side of my blog!

My First Watercolor Video Tutorial !

Actually it's my first video tutorial of any kind but I wanted to put watercolor in there as I suspect it will draw more people from google searches. Basically I started recording videos of my art a few months back with oil paintings but most had my head in the shot for too long, so they never made the final cut,LOL. Then with my recent book I worked on small watercolor paintings and figured out a good method to avoid having the back of my head in the shot. Keeping my cats out of the shot is another story! (not this video but I may leave a cat in one of the others) Now after a lot of work I finally finished part one of the first video!



As this was my first video I tried to keep it rather simple and didn't get into too much explanation. However I do have another couple of images recorded from this book which I plan to try different ideas with. I also plan to eventually make more videos of various things as I progress in my career.

How to Have an Online Presence

          I'm taking the day off from illustrating books in order to catch up on a few neglected illustration business related tasks. Sooner or later you can expect to see an increase in blog posts, update my illustration website with recent work, my Etsy Shop with some of my landscape paintings, additions to my Zazzle Store and my number one goal is to finally edit some art tutorial videos I started a month ago to post on my YouTube Channel.
     Each of these things are great ways to alert your followers and fans to updates and to make a bit of extra income from your illustrations. None of them will generate a ton of income without putting a ton of work into them to begin with. Blogs can be monetized by becoming an amazon associate and things of that sort, websites can be used to sell your art and products and services, Etsy of course can be used for selling your original art products, zazzle is great for putting digital images of your art onto various products in a  POD format yet with a quality result for sale and youtube is a huge way to get people interested in your art and products. For me they all tend to take a back seat to actually creating the art but even just the little work I have put into them has brought some results. I just finished my previous book and am a ways into my current book so I'm hoping I will finally be able to steal a bit of time for such tasks as these. I'm on tons of other art websites but the above few are probably the most important for my promotional needs.

     Recently
-One of my favorite children's digital artists, Dani Jones* launched a website called the illustrated section in which she sells the works of various artists in digital PDF format for e-readers.  (ipad, nook, kindle, computer, iPhone, or just about any other electronic device.)  She excepts most any art books from individual artists so long as it follows certain guidelines, which probably explains why she accepted My book The Caterpillar and the Express Train  there are also FREE books available on the site!

- I participated in an illustrator interview for the facebook group "facebook Author's and Illustrators". The interview was posted about a week ago at this link.

- The author of my caterpillar book discovered an interesting review of the book online on this blog in which our train character was compared to Thomas the train on acid.



*Dani Jones