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.
Tuesday, 5 April 2011
Thursday, 31 March 2011
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.
"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.
Monday, 28 March 2011
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.
"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.
Sunday, 27 March 2011
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!
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.
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.
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
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.
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.
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.
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