For a freelancer, a website is an essential marketing tool. It proudly displays your work to potential clients 24/7. It trumpets your accomplishments to art directors all over the world. Most will not even consider hiring you if you don't have a website. But not all websites are created equal. There are some little extra touches that can go a long way...
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av6fWfmugds] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azGhHh9mV_Q] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbRh9MFW9FU] I was playing around on my iPhone the other night and came across these YouTube videos. They gave me a good chuckle. The first one is a spoof of the "I'm a Mac", "I'm a PC" commercials. From there they evolve into a series called "After Hours" where various heroes and villains hang out and talk about whatever. To view...
One of my first clients as a freelancer was a company that specializes in clip art for Churches (i.e. bulletins, newsletters, etc.) I worked for them for a couple of years. It was reassuring to have a client who gave me steady work every month. Then I started reading about how clip art is bad for freelancers. Because clip art...
Today's word over at IllustrationFriday.com is "Captain". It's been a long time since I was able to take part, so I'm going to throw this against the wall and see if it sticks. Here's some early concept sketches I did for a publisher a while back. The project eventually evolved into something else and the character changed, so these sketches...
As I mentioned last week, I'm taking a character design class online from Stephen Silver at Schoolism.com. Last week's lesson was on silhouettes. A strong character design will have a clear silhouette that is visually interesting, making the character instantly recognizable. To illustrate, I've taken Jafar from Aladdin and shaded him in. Notice how clearly everything reads: Our assignment was to...
Here's a tip for all you Mac users with .Mac accounts. Apple charges $99 per year for the service, but you can get it at Amazon.com for only $79. I just renewed my .Mac account through Amazon and it worked. Saved twenty bucks. Not a .Mac user? You might want to consider it. .Mac (pronounced "dot-mac") is 10GB of storage on...
