(Sketch by Corbett Vanoni. All rights reserved.) I've been getting a lot of questions about inking via Ask Mr. Artist Guy and through posted comments. I'm slowly working on a post or series of posts about inking principles. As for the mechanics of digital inking, back in 2006 artist Corbett Vanoni posted a terrific tutorial about how to ink in...
It was the standard "take our product and add a face" method of character design. It's a common approach to creating a mascot (i.e. the M&M's guys, the Chips Ahoy cookie, the Kmart Blue Light guy, etc.) Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
At first glance this kind of assignment doesn't give a character designer much to work with. The juicier jobs involve designing a character related to the product (i.e. Keebler Elves, Energizer Bunny, Serta Mattress Sheep, etc.), not the product itself. There is a lot more freedom to experiment visually. When the character is the product you are much more limited. An M&M has to look like an M&M, a light bulb has to look like a light bulb. If a character designer isn't careful, such product-with-a-face characters risk appearing dull and unoriginal. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be that way.
This looks interesting. Talks About Money is a new book designed to help freelancers figure out what to charge for their projects. While the book is primarily aimed at graphic designers, there is not all that much difference between how a freelance graphic designer decides what to charge and how a freelance illustrator/artist decides what to charge. The process...
Recently I was hired to write a feature article for Adbase Insight, the email newsletter of Adbase.com. Each issue contains meaty content designed to help freelance illustrators and photographers market themselves better. I've found the articles to be extremely helpful and am proud to be a part of it. You can sign up for Adbase Insight for free here. In my...
Too many serious posts lately. Time for some fun time wasters: Pirates' Pet Peeves John Cleese's "Letter To America" And the always classic StrongBad Emails. For previous posts that don't necessarily have anything to do with anything, check out the "Just For Fun" category listed over to the left. Oh, and Doug TenNapel is back! If you miss his old blog, check out his...
Since I started the "As Mr. Artist Guy" feature a couple of weeks ago, two people have written me asking for a follow-up review of the new portable "sketchbook" Cintiq 12wx. I wrote my first review after having played around with the Cintiq for only a day or two. Overall I'm still very happy with it, but now that I've logged a few dozen hours with it I've got some additional thoughts.
