- Take your environment and background and use it
Lesson 2: Be your own muse.
- What gets you excited?
- What influences you?
- What do you collect?
Lesson 3: How to steal without getting caught.
- Take bits and pieces from all over the places and make them one thing
Lesson 4: Sketch ‘til your head hurts.
- Thumbnail for hours! Work out the idea first THEN render!
- You are a thinker before you are a renderer.
- Figure out how to portray cliches in a non-cliche way
Lesson 5: Less is more.
- Find the essence, the best solution.
- What is the story about?
Lesson 6: Sometimes more is more.
- Pushing and exaggerating can embody the story more effectively.
Lesson 7: The sky is not blue and the grass is not green.
- Choose colors that explain the story.
- Dial back and find the essence via color communication.
Lesson 8: Put a little piece of yourself in other people’s stories.
- Be emotionally involved in your piece.
- Your emotions will ring true to your audience.
Lesson 9: Some of the best art supplies don’t come from the art store.
- Use your collections in your pieces.
Lesson 10: Be delusional.
- Follow your own personal delusions.
- Pretend that you ARE (a great Illustrator, a much-sought-after artist, etc.)
Lesson 11: What you do to get away from your work will get you work.
- Use you personal passions to fuel your art and do art for the things you like.
Lesson 12: Self-promotion
- Postcards, emails, mailers, anthologies, competitions, social media, etc.
- Set a yearly plan for your promotional material.
Lesson 13: Don’t let your website get in the way of your illustration.
- Let your art be the focal point of your website.
- Your art and your name should be the biggest/only thing on your sight.
- Minimize clicking and scrolling
- Font should accentuate the art
- Easy-to-update format
- Use smaller files that load faster
- Update every 3-6 months
Lesson 14: Fail spectacularly and you will succeed spectacularly.
- Failure is normal! Everyone fails. Remember that there is a balance, and that your favorite artists fail too.
Lesson 15: How to balance work and kids.
- Don’t expect yourself to do more than you can do.
Lesson 16: How to survive a kid-tastrophe and let a project done.
- If you can say that everything will get done in 48 hours, you break your work down into bite-size pieces.
Lesson 17: What a sleep-deprived child can teach you.
- Set boundaries in your contract. What will you and will you not do?
- Include and estimate and itemize it.
- Make sure the client is fully aware of what will and will not happen.
- Set ground rules!
- Make sure you and the client both understand the finer details (file type/size, how many sketches they get for the amount you charge, rights for each party, etc.)
Lesson 18: Everything takes twice as long as you think it will.
- Set an hour limit for your week and break it down to billable hours and maintenance hours.
Lesson 19: Watch your time and the cost of that time.
- Figure out how much you’re actually making per hour, and make sure your price is set appropriately.
- Balance jobs that don’t pay well with jobs that do pay well.
- Adjust your process if a project is wasting time and money.
- Reach out to others if you’re stuck.
Lesson 20: Great exposure!
- Find jobs that give you great exposure.
- Sometimes a crappy job is even worth it if it will win you great work.
Lesson 21: Taming the paperwork beast.
- ORGANIZATION!
- Be so organized that you can even do your taxes yourself.
- Find a system that works for you and stick to it!
Lesson 22: Your computer likes to do paperwork.
- Quickbooks (Quicken?)
- Utilize tools that will make your life easier
Lesson 23: Don’t know what to charge? Ask a friend!
- Ask people who know, people who also get paid. What are they getting charged so you know what you should be getting paid.
Lesson 24: Pricing
- Whatever they tell you, ask 10-20% more
- What is their budget?
- If they say no, it’s up to you. If they say yes, you get the money you may not have gotten had you not asked.
Lesson 25: Have fun!
- Remember, this is the job you wanted to do.
- If you’re not having fun, something is wrong!
Misc Tips:
- Be diverse
- Sell products online
- Find a market where your stuff works
