From the archives of the Drawn! blog:
“Megan Jeffery is celebrating 17 years of freelance illustration by sharing 17 of the most valuable lessons she’s learned.”
Excellent advice for anyone who freelances or is considering a freelance career. I’ve been doing it myself for over ten years now, and I’ve made a few mistakes along the way. I wish I had read a list like this when I was first starting out.
As a freelancer, working at home has a lot of benefits. But one drawback is that I spend most days holed up in my little cave and isolated from the outside world. (Weather…what’s that?) The busier I am, the worse it gets. So when my time and budget permit, I go to as many conferences and art-related events as I possibly can. Its my only opportunity to network and hang out with other creative types.
The more I grow as a professional, the more important I find such networking becomes. Talent will only get you so far. Passion and personality are just as important, maybe even moreso.
Plus, since many of my friends and relatives struggle to understand exactly what I do for a living, its refreshing to chat with other creatives who “get it”. It’s great to make those personal connections with other people in the biz. And at every event I always pick up great tidbits and tricks that I can take home and use in my business. And if I’m lucky, I occassionally make a connection that leads to paying work down the road. The travel and registration costs aren’t cheap, but the connections I make and the knowledge I gain almost always make the trips worthwhile.
I’m still pretty rusty at networking. Like many freelancers, I’m more comfortable by myself than I am around other people. I’m not great at small talk. But with every event I attend, I learn more and grow a little more confident. And I always walk away better for the experience.
In the last month I’ve attended two events, the Reubens and Flashbelt.
In May I traveled to Orlando for the Reuben Awards, a yearly event held by the National Cartoonists Society. Thanks to the kind sponsorship of illustrator Tom Richmond (pictured, left) I have the honor of being a member of the NCS. I’ve attended chapter events in the past but this was my first time at the Reuben’s. For two days I walked among some of the world’s greatest living cartoonists, which was a little intimidating but also exciting.
I had a nice chat with Stephen Silver, from whom I’ll be taking an online character design class this fall (check it out at schoolism.com). I also shook hands with C.F. Payne, Sam Viviano, Dave Coverly, Chris Browne, and many other talented folks from all over the country. Everyone was very friendly and it was an honor just to be there. As you migh imagine, cartoonists are a fun bunch to hang around.
By the way, congratulations to Tom Richmond on winning another Reuben Award for Magazine Illustration. This is his third, I think.
Earlier this week I attended Flashbelt here in Minneapolis. Flashbelt is a large conference for programmers, designers, and animators (like me) who use Adobe’s Flash software. The seminars ran the gamut, but there were some good ones on promoting yourself as an artist and on being successful as a freelancer. Even though I’ve got ten years of freelancing under my belt, I still learned a few things about improving my self-promotion efforts and strengthening client relationships.
There were also some fun afterparties where I had the chance to chat with lots of fun artists and animators, many who live right here in the Twin Cities. It was fun to hang out, share tips/advice, and hear about what’s going on at some of the local agencies.
Next up is Comic-Con in July. I attended again last year and had a blast. Unfortunately I probably won’t be able to go this year. But I’ve heard great things about the HOW design conference later this year. If any of you readers have ever attended, please leave a comment and let me know what you thought.
Now get out there and network!
Many professional artists use photo reference when drawing, which can be especially helpful when deadlines are tight. In the days before the internet artists would collect a “morgue”, or “swipe file”, a collection of photos cut from magazines and books and then organized under headings (i.e. “children”, “ducks”, “trains”, etc.). When I was in art school I used to collect old magazines anywhere I could get them, even digging through dumpsters at the local recycling center (with permission), hauling them home, and snipping out photos. My swipe file now fills 2-1/2 filing cabinets.
In my early years of freelancing I also took a lot of my own photos. I purchased an expensive camera, some lights, and even purchased or rented a few costumes when necessary. Then I would either take photographs of myself or invite friends over to dress up and pose for me. With the advent of digital photography I could instantly manipulate a photo in Photoshop to fine-tune it for the perfect composition.
My style has since evolved to the point where I don’t do “realistic” illustrations anymore, so my dependence on photo reference is not as heavy as it once was. But even as a cartoonist I still find myself using it on a regular basis. Drawing in a “cartoony” style doesn’t mean I can just make things up in my head all the time. I find that before I can simplify something into a cartoon drawing, I first have to study and understand what it looks like in the “real world”. For instance, doing life drawing and studying anatomy helps me to simplify the human figure more gracefully. As the saying goes, you have to understand the rules before you can break them properly. Or, as another artist once said, “Always respect your subject matter”.
There’s a big debate in some artistic circles about the value of using photo reference. Some see it as a virtue, others as a vice. Using photo reference certainly has its pitfalls. It can easily become a “crutch”, tempting the artist to lazily copy rather than create. There are also copyright issues to consider when drawing directly from a photograph. (Contrary to popular belief, there is no law that says you can legally alter an image X percent to avoid violating copyright. In a court of law, the real test is whether or not the average person would look at the photo and then look at your drawing and conclude that one was copied from the other.)
Nevertheless, those who frown on photo reference are (in my opinon) throwing the baby out with the bath water. When used properly (and not overused) photo reference can expand an artist’s mental library as he draws, thereby strengthening his mental drawing muscles. Studying good photographs can inspire and enhance an artist’s creative instincts. When deadlines are tight photo reference can help the artist to quickly capture the perfect pose, expression, prop, or camera angle. Also, if the photo is used as *reference only* and not copied directly, most copyright concerns can be avoided.
Canadian comic book artist Stuart Immonen (pictured below) recently wrote an article for Comic Book Resources discussing his use of reference material. It’s a good read.
Finally, here’s just a few of the many websites and books available for photo reference:
Google Image Search
Photo Reference page on DrawingBoard.org
Terra Galleria
FellowHumans.org
Facial Expressions: A Visual Reference for Artists
The Fairburn System of Visual References (clothing and hairstyles are dated, but still a great reference)
Breaking news! There are some awesome new art classes being offered online…but you better sign up fast before all the spaces are filled. The current courses at the new website Schoolism.com include:
Digital Painting with Bobby Chiu
Character Design with Stephen Silver
Drawing the Female Figure with Alberto Ruiz
(I wouldn’t be surprised if more classes/instructors are eventually added).
These instructors are some of the top people in the biz. Each week there is a new lesson/demo presented as an online video tutorial which you can watch at your leisure. There are also weekly assignments, and (this is the best part) the instructors will give you a personalized one-on-one critique of your work every week (although I’m not sure how that will work. Chats? Phone calls? Video cam? You get a special schoolism.com mailbox when you sign up, so I’m guessing it will be an e-mail critique. But elsewhere on the site the critiques are referred to as “discussions” so who knows?). (EDIT: Instructor Stephen Silver writes on his blog that his students wll receive personal video feedback from me as I draw over top of your assignments.”
The classes aren’t cheap, but if you are serious about making your living as an artist this promises to be a good investment.
But you better hurry. Spots are filling up. For example, there are only fifteen spots for Stephen Silver’s character design class. Even though his particular class doesn’t start until August, registration just started yesterday and this afternoon I was already student number 9. Although I might have been the 9th student to sign up for any of the classes, or the 9th student for his specific class. Not sure. Either way, don’t dawdle.
No, I’m not quoting Anthony Robbins. This is the title of a great little article I just read on CreativePro.com. If you make any income doing freelance artwork, this is a must-read. It begins:
“Starting a business is easy. Sustaining it is hard. Here’s what successful creative professionals say about what makes them stay successful.”
Click here to read more.
