*tearing out my hair*
Well, after getting one good book printing run (Inklings II) out of them, QualityPOD goes out of business. Just when I had a second project ready to send them too.
I'm thinking I might try a traditional printer, despite the huge overhead costs, because at this rate I'm probably spending as much money in time costs looking for a Print On Demand company as it would simply to just shell out a huge amount for a 1000 book run with a non-ondemand source.
Generally 1000 is the minimum quantity they will do. So then it means two things 1) can I recoup my costs for that large of a run, since I'm not planning to sell these in retail outlets?, and 2) do I have the storage space for it!!!! I gave up on large runs like that a few years ago when every available space in my tiny apartment (now tiny house) became filled up with all the limited edition prints. That was before Epson printers and large fancy giclees became the thing.
Specifically, for a POD company, my greyscales require that they have one of two types of machines: a Xerox DC250 family or an Xerox igen
Which seems to be exceedingly rare.
*more hair tearing*
Monday, June 1, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Time Management & Sketchbook Meanderings
There has not been much spare time to fritter away these days. The next few months look to be a fairly tight packed schedule. Two more Dreamscapes chapters in June, matting prints (which I hateHateHATE doing) to ship to DragonCon (alas I will be missing this year for the first time in 9 years), L5R cards that I had committed to, and a couple of private commissions.
How does one manage time as a freelance artist?
Well first of all you need to be of a personality type that can handle self-discipline. I think that perhaps might be the most important quality you need to make a living with art, after a love of creating art in the first place. You need to be able to handle drawing and painting for X hours every day, as well as manage the random other less fun aspects: tracking orders and jobs, responding to emails, keeping up your website, dealing with complexities of tax as self-employed (or a corporation). Because here's the thing - if you don't do it, you can't sit around twiddling your thumbs hoping that someone else will. There's no coworker to pick up your slack. There isn't anyone else.
I'm fortunate enough to have had a programming background from my pre-full-time-artist days. As a result, I've been able to write my own system that keeps track of due dates and pending jobs I've got going at any one time. Generally when I have a job incoming, I estimate how long it will take me, and whether I can fit it into the current schedule while working within the client's timeline. Sometimes the timelines just don't mesh and I have to regretfully tell them so.
I like to give myself some nice padding of days with my estimates because the business model I've ended up with is that only about half my income comes from actual commissioned jobs. The rest is from prints, products, and originals, largely from paintings that I do for my own personal expression. It's an arrangement that has worked out well for me because I do enjoy creating work for publication, but I also need the freedom to paint my own concepts as well.
It's possible to eke out a living as an artist from a variety of combinations of commission vs. private work; from solely doing commissions in which you need a constant pipeline of work streaming through and a very precise scheduling of your time, to solely doing private work and selling prints, originals, and products. The former requires more up front investment of time and constant marketing of yourself to potential clients to keep your work fresh in the minds of art directors. The latter may seem more laid back, but the work comes on the tail end - once you finish a piece, comes the work of selling it, processing sales orders, or personally selling your work in some kind of venue or show circuit - be it website, gallery, street fair, or conventions. You have to figure out where along that scale you fit, and your comfort level with other peoples' deadlines and concepts as opposed to your own.
What this all comes down to, is that while it's a wonderful fantasy that all an artist has to do is sit back and create, the truth is that those creations are just the beginning.
Private commission currently in the works. A couple of the preliminary thumbnail sketches. "Too fat!" she said of the first one. I put the dragon onto a diet.
Random old oak I sketched while at Fanime last week. I think this might work its way to being a painting in the next months.
Another Fanime sketchbook doodle...
How does one manage time as a freelance artist?
Well first of all you need to be of a personality type that can handle self-discipline. I think that perhaps might be the most important quality you need to make a living with art, after a love of creating art in the first place. You need to be able to handle drawing and painting for X hours every day, as well as manage the random other less fun aspects: tracking orders and jobs, responding to emails, keeping up your website, dealing with complexities of tax as self-employed (or a corporation). Because here's the thing - if you don't do it, you can't sit around twiddling your thumbs hoping that someone else will. There's no coworker to pick up your slack. There isn't anyone else.
I'm fortunate enough to have had a programming background from my pre-full-time-artist days. As a result, I've been able to write my own system that keeps track of due dates and pending jobs I've got going at any one time. Generally when I have a job incoming, I estimate how long it will take me, and whether I can fit it into the current schedule while working within the client's timeline. Sometimes the timelines just don't mesh and I have to regretfully tell them so.
I like to give myself some nice padding of days with my estimates because the business model I've ended up with is that only about half my income comes from actual commissioned jobs. The rest is from prints, products, and originals, largely from paintings that I do for my own personal expression. It's an arrangement that has worked out well for me because I do enjoy creating work for publication, but I also need the freedom to paint my own concepts as well.
It's possible to eke out a living as an artist from a variety of combinations of commission vs. private work; from solely doing commissions in which you need a constant pipeline of work streaming through and a very precise scheduling of your time, to solely doing private work and selling prints, originals, and products. The former requires more up front investment of time and constant marketing of yourself to potential clients to keep your work fresh in the minds of art directors. The latter may seem more laid back, but the work comes on the tail end - once you finish a piece, comes the work of selling it, processing sales orders, or personally selling your work in some kind of venue or show circuit - be it website, gallery, street fair, or conventions. You have to figure out where along that scale you fit, and your comfort level with other peoples' deadlines and concepts as opposed to your own.
What this all comes down to, is that while it's a wonderful fantasy that all an artist has to do is sit back and create, the truth is that those creations are just the beginning.
* * *
Private commission currently in the works. A couple of the preliminary thumbnail sketches. "Too fat!" she said of the first one. I put the dragon onto a diet.
Random old oak I sketched while at Fanime last week. I think this might work its way to being a painting in the next months.
Another Fanime sketchbook doodle...
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Fanime Tidbits - "hardcore thirty or something"
Halfway through the weekend. Some Fanime tidbits:
* I watched a guy stake out the corner of the hall near my booth as his personal lightsaber skillz showcase arena. Basically a much more agile version of the infamous Star Wars Kid, done right out there in the open: at least twice as old, completely unashamed, reveling in his audience. That's the fun of cons -- letting yourself just be a big kid with no excuses and no self-consciousness. Letting go!
* Chatted with a fellow who stopped by my booth. He turned out to be a lawyer from D.C. on a business trip to San Francisco. He was told by someone back home, "Oh, you should just stay in San Jose. It'll be quiet and peacefully dead there. Nothing ever happens in San Jose." Well he showed up at the Fairmont Hotel, to find this strange thing called an anime convention going on, with a constant parade of costumes and huge crowds of people. Not exactly "peacefully dead". He took it all in stride and jumped right into the fun with a weekend pass. He was talking to me about how after seeing all the artists here, he wanted to go home and see about starting up some pro-bono work for artists. I told him there was definitely a need for that. Far too many artists naively walk into contracts that end up biting them, and there's little most artists can do about it because the size of the jobs just doesn't make it economically feasible to consult a lawyer for every contract. We learn by trial and error, and hope that we don't land into too big of an error.
Incidentally, something I recommend for anyone who has an important contract to review -- look up to see if your state has a Lawyers for the Arts group. They charge a nominal fee, but can give you very good advice, and look over contracts that you really don't want to get screwed on. Unfortunately each state has their own group, and some I hear are better than others. I have had very good experiences with California's.
* Overheard from a fan who was gushing at a neighboring artist a couple of tables over. "OMG! You're only twenty-four? I've been watching your art and I always thought you must be like this hardcore person that's like THIRTY or something."
Gah. Didn't that make me feel old!
* I watched a guy stake out the corner of the hall near my booth as his personal lightsaber skillz showcase arena. Basically a much more agile version of the infamous Star Wars Kid, done right out there in the open: at least twice as old, completely unashamed, reveling in his audience. That's the fun of cons -- letting yourself just be a big kid with no excuses and no self-consciousness. Letting go!
* Chatted with a fellow who stopped by my booth. He turned out to be a lawyer from D.C. on a business trip to San Francisco. He was told by someone back home, "Oh, you should just stay in San Jose. It'll be quiet and peacefully dead there. Nothing ever happens in San Jose." Well he showed up at the Fairmont Hotel, to find this strange thing called an anime convention going on, with a constant parade of costumes and huge crowds of people. Not exactly "peacefully dead". He took it all in stride and jumped right into the fun with a weekend pass. He was talking to me about how after seeing all the artists here, he wanted to go home and see about starting up some pro-bono work for artists. I told him there was definitely a need for that. Far too many artists naively walk into contracts that end up biting them, and there's little most artists can do about it because the size of the jobs just doesn't make it economically feasible to consult a lawyer for every contract. We learn by trial and error, and hope that we don't land into too big of an error.
Incidentally, something I recommend for anyone who has an important contract to review -- look up to see if your state has a Lawyers for the Arts group. They charge a nominal fee, but can give you very good advice, and look over contracts that you really don't want to get screwed on. Unfortunately each state has their own group, and some I hear are better than others. I have had very good experiences with California's.
* Overheard from a fan who was gushing at a neighboring artist a couple of tables over. "OMG! You're only twenty-four? I've been watching your art and I always thought you must be like this hardcore person that's like THIRTY or something."
Gah. Didn't that make me feel old!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Inklings II shipment arrived!
Well that's a huge load off my chest. I was worried that UPS wouldn't arrive in time before I had to leave for my hour long drive to the south bay tonight. Having had all kinds of UPS-woes in the past, I have low expectations; though the situation seems to have greatly improved once I moved out of an apartment and into a house instead. I used to scream curses at UPS and Fedex on a regular basis when they foiled my plans.
At any rate, Inklings II is here. I'll probably be spending a good portion of Fanime doing the cover sketches for the pre-orders. It'll give me something to do during the downtime at the show! I should have them ready to ship by the next Friday.
For any other artists looking for a POD company with good quality greyscale (NOT the laser dots that you'll see with most PODs, which incidentally was what made my search take so long, I recommend QualityPOD. Tell them that I sent you. :)
Inklings II
* $20.00 (+$15.00 for an original ink drawing on the inside cover)
* 56 pages of b&w ink drawings
* 8.5x8.5 inches, perfectbound
At any rate, Inklings II is here. I'll probably be spending a good portion of Fanime doing the cover sketches for the pre-orders. It'll give me something to do during the downtime at the show! I should have them ready to ship by the next Friday.
For any other artists looking for a POD company with good quality greyscale (NOT the laser dots that you'll see with most PODs, which incidentally was what made my search take so long, I recommend QualityPOD. Tell them that I sent you. :)
Inklings II* $20.00 (+$15.00 for an original ink drawing on the inside cover)
* 56 pages of b&w ink drawings
* 8.5x8.5 inches, perfectbound
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Unfurling
Ah ha! Managed to finish this in one day (sort of) by limiting my distractions. Approximately 15 hours of painting (with a few interruptions and a couple of short errand-walks), and maybe another 5 hours of an early start yesterday. She's given me a tough time. This was definitely one of those paintings that I struggle with on the colors the entire time. I'm still not sure I'm satisfied, but there comes a time when you just have to set it aside and let time mellow the inner critic.
"Unfurling"
13 x 18 inches
Medium: watercolors
details, prints, original, all that good stuff, *click here*
Like a strange blossom, or a butterfly emerging from its cocoon with crumpled and still-damp wings; she stretches out her tendrils. Uncoiling, unfolding, unfurling so slowly you might not notice it. She shakes her filaments, and reaches to the firmaments.
Like the turn of the seasons, one stretch-tumbling into another, and all tied in a linked cycle of no ends and no beginnings and no ends and no begin---
Like death decaying into the soil to spring out with emerald fronds of life.
Like a phoenix's flames fading...dimming...dying...to surge up in its own successor!
She tilts her head up. She closes her eyes. She feels the pulse within her: no ends, no beginnings.
* * *
"Unfurling"13 x 18 inches
Medium: watercolors
details, prints, original, all that good stuff, *click here*
Like a strange blossom, or a butterfly emerging from its cocoon with crumpled and still-damp wings; she stretches out her tendrils. Uncoiling, unfolding, unfurling so slowly you might not notice it. She shakes her filaments, and reaches to the firmaments.
Like the turn of the seasons, one stretch-tumbling into another, and all tied in a linked cycle of no ends and no beginnings and no ends and no begin---
Like death decaying into the soil to spring out with emerald fronds of life.
Like a phoenix's flames fading...dimming...dying...to surge up in its own successor!
She tilts her head up. She closes her eyes. She feels the pulse within her: no ends, no beginnings.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Unfurling sketch
"Unfurling"
That's what my garden has slowly been doing after the most recent rains and then the heatwave. Tomato plants have shot skyward happily, and the poppies are poking through with ferny fronds.
Prepped sketch on the board for the next painting coming up, roughly based on that border ink drawing I did a couple of weeks ago. I liked it enough that I wanted to spend more time with the concept and do a full painting of it, after some revisions to make it a more balanced composition instead of a lopsided border.
13x18 inches. I wonder if I can finish this by mid Thursday when I have to leave for Fanime. I don't work well on paintings away from my desk, so it won't be coming with me; and once I return, it'll be time to start on the Phoenix chapter of Dreamscapes. Which means if this isn't done by Thursday, it'll have to be tabled for a while.
Expecting the shipment of Inklings II on Thursday as well. Cutting it close for the convention!
So, enough blogging, and start painting!
That's what my garden has slowly been doing after the most recent rains and then the heatwave. Tomato plants have shot skyward happily, and the poppies are poking through with ferny fronds.
Prepped sketch on the board for the next painting coming up, roughly based on that border ink drawing I did a couple of weeks ago. I liked it enough that I wanted to spend more time with the concept and do a full painting of it, after some revisions to make it a more balanced composition instead of a lopsided border.13x18 inches. I wonder if I can finish this by mid Thursday when I have to leave for Fanime. I don't work well on paintings away from my desk, so it won't be coming with me; and once I return, it'll be time to start on the Phoenix chapter of Dreamscapes. Which means if this isn't done by Thursday, it'll have to be tabled for a while.
Expecting the shipment of Inklings II on Thursday as well. Cutting it close for the convention!
So, enough blogging, and start painting!
Sketches That Want to Grow Up to be Paintings
In addition to rooting through my office preparing for Fanime, I've similarly been rooting through my sketchbooks for a little project I'm not quite ready to reveal the nature of (yet). But I'm coming across various sketches that just never got the opportunity to become paintings. I've got stacks of these Strathmore recycled paper sketchbooks that I start scribbling in whenever I get into Brainstorming Mode.These books are like a bank savings account of concepts to an artist. Random doodles. Discarded alternate poses for commissions. Lightning inspiration that fades as suddenly as it strikes. They might seem like garbage at the time of sketching. But they are a treasure trove of ideas for the future when I'm stuck and I need a good starting point for a vague idea in my head that just hasn't found the right paper incarnation yet. Sometimes I won't even take a whole sketch, but just a hand or a facial expression; but that little bit will be enough to get me out of a current rut.
I'm often asked, "Do you ever run out of ideas?" (i.e. Artist Block)
Well first of all as a professional illustrator, you can't afford to be blocked. Perhaps some pieces might be less inspired than others, but creating a composition is a lot like solving a puzzle. In a strange way, it can be as logical and straightforward as designing a computer program (says the inner programmer in me). Once you find the right spark to jump start the piece, the rest falls into place in a natural way.
And as for my personal work that is not done on commission, there's never enough time to be blocked. There's always a dozen little bits waiting to be discovered in old sketchbooks. They just need that moment to be able to see them with the right frame of mind, and suddenly the possibilities are opened.
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