London MCM expo

So over the last weekend (27th-29th of May), I attended the London MCM expo to sell my work.
I took with me various A4 prints of my work, business cards, book markers, and shrinkie key rings (Pictures of most of them can be found in my previous posts).
I also had sketch and digital commissions available, although I didn't know if they would be wanted.

Long story short- it was a big disappointment in terms of sales. Despite that, it was a really good experience and I got the chance to meet some fantastic people, and gain some advice.

I realised straight away that my work wasn't selling because I wasn't aiming at the right audience, rather than people not liking my work. Because the London MCM expo is geared up to anime fans, and many people go dressed as their favourite characters, anime is pretty much all that will appeal to them.
So any other artist selling anime like work was much more likely to pull customer's attention. Another factor was how small the comic village was, and how large the merchant part was. People were often spending all of their money on merchandise as they walked through the venue, and then not having any money to spend on art by the time they got to Comic Village.

The one thing that did irritate me a bit where "collectors". These were people who went from table to table not bothering to look at art, but taking business cards for the sake of it. Considering how expensive a pack of 50 were (roughly £16), I was a little disappointed that people were taking advantage of them. Some where also having a look through my portfolio and prints, realising the work was on the business cards, and then taking one of those for free instead.
In the end I resorted to putting them details up in small piles on the table, which helped a bit to control how many people were taking them just for the sake of it.

Because of this I've also come to the conclusion that it would be better to produce business cards that don't have various pieces of my work on them, and just have a simple, eye catching design instead.

In the end, I managed to make about £39 pounds, the majority from sketch commissions. I sold something like 5-6 prints, 2 shrinkie key rings, 4 book markers, and the commissions.

Although it was disappointing money wise, it hasn't put me off the idea at selling at other conventions. The MCM is very heavily anime influenced, and that's just not a market I want to get involved with. There's something I dislike about the idea of forcing myself to draw in another style which isn't true to me as an artist. It's a very alien idea and I don't really understand why other people do it, as I think it's a very limiting and detrimental style to use.

I plan to do some research over the summer and find out if there are any other conventions that are a little more open to different genres and styles, and try again.
I'm also going to try and sell the reminder of my work online by setting up a shop on my website and offering them on DeviantArt (I'm hoping that by selling them for much cheaper than what DA charges then people will be interested).

Another factor I think that was a problem was that I was sharing the table with 2 friends. I think this made the table far too confusing and hectic, and often 2 out of the 3 were over looked once some one had already gone through one folder. So in future, I'd buy a table to myself, and sell only my work on it.

So all in all, a good experience and a huge learning curve. I'm really looking forward to having another go in the future!

Some helpful things on a finishing note

The last few things I want to link are other people's blogs regarding various things. I have them all inspirational and very helpful, and they're well worth a read.

Deadlines Versus Perfection
Great advice on finishing a project up, and for trying to over come obsessive needs for perfection. This really helped me speed my work up by letting me know that it was ok if my work was perfect.

Five things to do with your ideas.
A great break down of an organised and effective way to go about producing work, which will ensure you get the best results you can.

Speed Painting
I always find it immensely interesting and helpful to see how others work, even if I don't use their techniques myself.

Accepting critique like a pro
This was the big one for me. Until recently I've been awful at receiving criticism- not because I'm big headed and don't think anyone else knows better, but because my self esteem and confidence levels are so low. It helped me realise that people aren't out to put me down when they give me critiques- they're trying to help me improve. This blog was so valuable, I can't begin to tell you what a difference it has made in my work. I know crave criticism, ask for it, and receive it well and carry out what is suggested (as long as they're good suggestions of course).

Shrinki dinks!

So as the London MCM expo is fast approaching, I've been looking for things to make to sell. I'm going to be doing A4 and A5 prints, but I want something a bit more personal to sell too. So I've come up with making these shrinki key rings, and book marks.

Unfortunatly I didn't have time to make any book marks to show, but I have had a go with the shrinkies, and I'm really happy and quite impressed with how they've turned out.



They start as small sheets of plastic, which you draw and colour on. You then cut them to shape, punch a hole in it, and then stick it in the oven. It shrinks 7 times, and thickens 7 times, and you're left with these cool little charms.

Business cards

So I ordered a pack of 10 free business cards, and was so impressed with their quality. I ordered 10 different designs, so that I could choose the best ones for when I order in bulk.
(Please excuse the bad quality photos, I'll be bringing the cards with me to assessments anyway).




I then ordered a pack of 50 a couple of weeks later, and here's the result (I'm very, very pleased and will be using Moo again in the future). Again, apologises about the quality of the photos, my camera couldn't seem to focus on the shine.















Even the little box they come in are fantastically made, and will be really handy to display them in. I was also really impressed with the eco friendly options provided- I feel very strongly about using recycled or sustainable items as much as I can, and so I really appreciated this option.

Tyr

The final piece of Tyr, the betta. Really happy with the outcome on this, and even happier that I received some fantastic critiques about it over on DeviantArt. I'll definitely be pushing this further, following the comments, which was mainly regarding the atmosphere and background.

Website update

Just a few updates on my website. Nothing major has been changed, just the text on the left, and some different pieces on the front of the portfolio.

Improving?

This has made me feel quite happy. I've still got a long, long, long way to go, but I don't think that's a bad amount of improvement in under a year ^^



The original can be found here (click), and I think once I have the time, I'll rework the whole thing and give it a proper background. It's my most popular piece on DeviantArt, so I'm going to make sure that it's worthy of that.

Base colours

Just some simple base colours. I wasn't going to do any more on this until uni finishes, but I enjoyed drawing it too much. So I think I may render it at a high a quality and include it in my portfolio (as long as I gain permission from the owner of the character).

Some work for others

This first one is some gift art for an online friend, of this character.
It was great practice with anatomy, and a really nice break from my main uni project.
I've decided that it's not a bad thing at all to do work for free- it'll still get my art and name around and hopefully generate a bigger interest. So for certain amounts of time after uni ends I'll be open for free requests. It's also a great way to practice working to client's briefs, and to get used to drawing other peoples characters in my own style. Because of this I've also been considering doing some kind of fan art- I've been told countless times that industry companies and professionals like to see that you can draw a character and still keep it recognisable in your own style.




I'll be colouring this when I have some more free time.

This last image is going to be another fish portrait for a very inspirational lady who rescues unwatned, sick and injured tropical fish and other animals. These particular fish are called Texas Cichlids, and this is the reference image that I'm using (with permission of course).


I've had quite a bit of interest in these fish portraits, like this one here:


And it's gotten me thinking about trying to take pet portrait commissions. I've been thinking of a business plan for the past couple of weeks for when I leave uni, so I'll be writing that up in detail over the next few days.

Quisum

On DeviantArt there is a custom where you can offer a piece of art as a prize if someone can catch a certain page view.
I offered one at 15,000 and Quisum was the artist who caught it. This was a long time ago now, and I struggled with it immensly. Late last summer I re-drew it, and I've been working on it recently and this is where it stands.



I think I'll finish this off in the next few days- it wont take me long at all.
Drawing the background on this was very much a light bulb moment when it came to doing backgrounds- after this backgrounds have come much more naturally to me and I really enjoy them now.

Brutus

So back during summer I was approached by a student who was part of a group making a flash zombie game. He had found my DeviantArt page and liked what he saw and asked if I would be willing to join the group as a concept artist.
I was thrilled even though it was an un-paid job; I'll take any experience when it comes to working on games. The brief I was given was to re-design the "Brutus" zombie, and the playable character- a rabbit.

This is as far as I got before they stopped replying to me. I was really quite disappointed when they stopped replying to my emails, but I've learnt a really important lesson from this. Copyright everything, although in this case it was quite difficult as the designs were not my own.
Still, I should have taken precautions, and I most certainly have learnt that I need to be more careful when it comes to dealing with people.

This is as far as I got with the designs. Looking at them now I can see that they had potential, and if they were my own designs I would finish them.
Needless to say that drawing the Brutus got me thinking about drawing mutants for my Negotiated projects, so it wasn't a total waste of time by any means.

Tyr 2

More progress on Tyr. Background is now complete and I can move on to shading the fish.







I know that there doesn't look like much difference between the last two images, but I lighted up the moss ball (the plant on the bottom right) to what it was in the top image, and added shading under the roots of the plant on the wood. I also tidied up the black sand on the bottom and dulled down the roots of the plant in the middle of the patch of sand.
That's it for now I think; once the fish is done I wont be working on this any more.

Fox

So a while a go I drew this for my other project:



I don't feel that it really fits the general vibe of the story, but still really wanted to develop the character/species further.
And this is what I have so far:



His build is inspired by a mix of equine, feline and canine anatomy, and so far I'm quite pleased with the outcome. The markings on his hind legs bother me at the moment, so when I start rendering the fur those will probable change to look a bit more natural. I think some Bongo inspired markings along his back might also look nice.
I also need to rotate the whole character as I'm really not feeling the floaty pose that's going on at the moment.

Lee Carter

So back in Creative Futures Week I met a great artist called Lee Carter. He was kind enough to hang around for an hour after his talk, and I got to talk his ear off. At the time, I also asked if he would be willing to take a look at my portfolio and give me some feedback.

It's taken a while, but he's finally replied to me, and it could not have made me any happier or given me a bigger confidence boost ^^

Quoted from the email he sent me:


"I had a really good time at Wrexham, it was great to chat and meet the student afterwards, would have been nice to have had the full day there with a smaller group, still Im really happy you enjoyed my talk,
Your portfolio is great , a lot of nice design work in there really liked your ice queen and the pose on your medusa. The sketch book work is always a good idea to have, as it shows you can show an idea without too much rendering or over working,a lot of companys really like this type of stuff as it means you can quickly pass your design to the modellers who then can make a start,
sorry i cant make my crit much longer, but i do think you have a really good start
maybe catch you at your final show as hopfully i might be able to pop in"

Again he's given me some fantastic tips, and I fully intend to carry them out.
Time to email some more artists I think; I'm really quite shy about doing this as my confidence is often quite fragile and I'd be terrified of getting a very negative response. But I've learnt recently that I can't take criticism to heart, and that it can only make me stronger.

I'm going to start posting on ConceptArt.org, as there are many industry professionals on there from whom I hope to learn as much as I can.

Tyr

As a bit of a break from my main uni project I decided to paint another portrait of a betta fish, like this one I did back in January. I do these little portraits because they're great practice when it comes to doing backgrounds and also painting lots of different textures and colours.



So I've taken reference from my own photos of my tanks and fish, and this is the process so far.

Website finished?

So I've spent most of the last two days trying to finish up my website.
I'm happy with how it's turned out, although I'd like to hear feedback from people before I declare it completely finished.

My website can be found here!

I just need someone to read through the "About" page and my resumé, which still needs a few more details added.
But all in all, I'm really pleased; Wix is a fantastic website maker, especially for people like me with no knowledge of coding. It can take a little bit of getting used to, but the amount that Wix has to offer more than makes up for that.

Now I just want to get the funds to be able to upgrade my account on there and host it on my own domain. I'm not sure it's something I'll be able to do whilst I'm at uni, but once I have a job and a reliable income then I'll definitely upgrade it.

Just in case for any reason my website doesn't work, here are some screen shots.

Sister Moon

This is just an idea that's been floating around in my head for years. So this is just a quick mock up I did before going off to sleep. Not sure if it works compositionally, but I have tried to experiment with different styles. I've been very much inspired by illustrators like Kay Nielson and Erte for this; simple but exaggerated forms followed by flat, bold colours.



I guess we'll just have to wait and see if I have the time to work on it and develop it any further.

I've ordered from Moo

So I've ordered 10 free business cards from Moo, to see what their quality is like before I would commit to buying in bulk.
They should be here before next Friday, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what their like. I uploaded 10 different images, and on the back put my details and contact information.

As they are free, there's an advertisement for Moo printed on each card, but I don't mind that as like I said, this is just to see what the quality is like really.

Really impressed that there was an option between glossy print and echo friendly 100% recycled card. Naturally I went for the recycled option, as conserving our planet is very important to me.

Will update with photos when they arrive.

The Night Gryphyn

Just an update on my Night Gryphyn piece; I received the following fantastic criticism on DeviantArt;

"Anywho, I think the biggest areas that catch the attention and seem unfinished are mostly in the mid section of the work. The back of the gryphon isn't as bad, a bit of fur texture here and there would go a long ways, but the feet and especially wings looks like they ran out of time. A little more contrast in shading in the mid-coverts there would go a long way, mostly shadows, and the texture you have at the top shoulder of the wing would be fantastic if it continued outward. The feet would just pop a little more if there was some shadow justification on those scales. The shading on them seems unfinished.
I don't think it would hurt to define the bottom half of the tree branch or the tail a little more, either, but over all neither really seem out of place or take away from the piece. They still fit in pretty well. It might actually even throw it off if you touched either up too much."

Although I was happy with how the piece looked, I knew there was something missing from it. The above crits allowed me to improve this piece, and I'm now more than happy to include it in my portfolio. I'll re-post it on DeviantArt, and see if any more tips are given. But until then, I'm calling this finished and will be moving on to other projects.



Just as a reminder, this is what it looked like before:



I think everything pops much more now, and this huge difference was easily achieved in only 2 hours.

Cancelled commission

So I cancelled that city commission on the grounds that the commissioner was unhappy with the quality and the speed of which I worked after only 3 days. I remained as civil as possible, whilst at the same time letting him know that he will probably encounter this scenario with anyone who he commissions.

"I’ve completed other pieces to deadlines that my commissioners have been more than pleased with despite me being in university. I did spend all day Saturday on your piece with which you weren’t happy. I have made every change that you have asked for, and that is why progress has been so slow. A completed sketch to the quality that I showed you cannot be achieved in 1 day, especially with such a complex composition and when so many changes were made to the very initial layout. Most professional artists would pride themselves in not rushing a piece and making sure it all worked well as a whole image, which could easily take a week or more to work through to a professional standard. This ensures that you would get the best possible art for your money.

I am sorry that you feel this way, but I do believe that it would best for you to find another artist if you are unhappy with my services. I have tried to make the image work for you, and obviously I am not the right artist for this piece.
Good luck with your novel and all the best with finding an artist that can give you what you require."

This experience has been a mix of emotions really; huge amounts of excitement at the beginning followed by disappointment and stress. As much as I would have liked to have worked through it, I don't think the commissioner was going to allow me that, as well as the time and artist freedom to create as strong a piece as I could for him.
This has been my first encounter with a difficult client, and I've learnt that I really need to learn not to take people to heart. The effect that this failed commission has had on me has been surprising; I felt sick every time I saw that an email had arrived from him, and dreaded working on the piece. I don't think a small amount of money and huge amount of stress were worth my making art seem miserable and totally un-enjoyable.

At the same time, I have learnt that not everyone will be as polite as I try to be, or will see a sketch in the same way as I do, especially if they have no artistic training. It's also proven to me that I am capable of staying professional and civil, even if that's not how I feel.

I now feel that I need to write up a short piece of information that I can give to any future commissioners to let them know what I expect of them in terms of ideas, detail, deadlines, etc. And in turn what they can expect of me and my prices. I need to also rethink my prices and what they include; at only £30, which isn't even minimum wage for a single day's work, I should make it clear that I would be only willing to do two revisions of the initial sketch, which in turn should ensure that the commissioner would give me the correct amount of details and information that I would need.

The London Expo

So it's been confirmed that I'm going to the London Expo! Feeling quite nervous but very excited too. I'll be selling my art there, so I need to get on with those traditional paintings, and also start researching where I'm going to get my prints from. That and deciding which pieces to try and sell.

I've also been look at Moo for possible business cards. There's a huge range of products available, from mini cards to business cards, sticker books and post cards. You can also use one of your own images for the cards, something I'm really excited about trying out. It's $21.99 for business cards and $19.99 for mini cards. Which is £13.72 and £12.47 respectively. Both are really reasonably priced and so I think I'll definitely go ahead and order some. Just not sure which to go with, as business cards are larger and there for show more detail, more information, etc. but the mini cards just look so unusual.

Either way, I want to get started on a piece for them.

:EDIT: I've just had more of a look through the website, and you have the option of printing different images on each card! And for those prices you get 50 cards. I'm very impressed so far, and I've not even ordered any!

A Viking and another commission

This is a quick portrait of a very old character of mine. I did it as a.) a practice for drawing male profiles, and b.) drawing a face that isn't stereotypically "pretty". I broke his nose and roughened him up a bit, and I'm really pleased with the out come. So much so that I want to go further with this sketch and do some fully rendered portrait practice.



And here's my progress with one of my commissions. I think it looks much better than the last update that I posted here. I was afraid that I had made him look too girly, but Kilo seems to like it as it is ^^ So it's time now to clean it all up and start adding textures. Really enjoying this one now... and you can really tell I like blue.



And finally, I received another commission. I'm required to draw a city for it, which is where my two biggest weakness lie; man made objects and perspective.



This is only as far as I've gotten so far. This one is proving to be very difficult, and I've already had to make several changes to it. I'll be roughing in some detail later on today, so hopefully the commissioner will like it.

Useful resources II

Another really helpful site is Colour Scheme Designer 3, which is basically an online colour wheel.

I haven't had the chance to use it yet, but after having a quick look at it I can already tell it's going to help me improve my understanding of colour theory significantly.
The colour schemes especially appear very useful, as does the ability to set things like complimentary colour schemes, analogic schemes and triad schemes, etc.

Definitely a site worth bookmarking.

Useful resources

So another thing that I thought would be a good idea would be to post some of the resources that I use and find helpful on the web.

Something that was shown to me the other day has become an invaluable tool for painting, especially people. I struggle immensely with lighting and this light cage has really helped me to start understanding where highlights should hit and where shadows should fall.

Not only are there spot lights all around the model, but you can switch to natural out door light or to un-natural indoor light. I highly recommend this to anyone struggling with setting out their lighting in pieces.