Archives for August 2018

That Line “if you’re good at something never do it for free” is one of the oldest lines in the books. It is also happens to be one of the most true lines in the book.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten into heated arguments with people who are independent publishers on this issue. It is deeply frustrating.
What’s more frustrating and troubling, is how many fellow artists I find myself in debates about this subject as well.

So. Lets break down the bullet points of the so-called “benefits” to working on spec:

First, what is ‘working on spec’?
“Spec” is basically a short form term for any work done on a speculative basis. When a client requests work in which a  fee has not been agreed to from the start OR where there are terms (usually vague) set out where there will be a percentage  upon the success of the publication of work.

With that laid out, lets take a look at some of the so called ‘benefits’ presented from prospective clients :

* “I am giving the artist an opportunity to work in a collaborative project / to gain experience.”

*  “The artist will be able to gain exposure.”

* “The artist will be compensated *upon the success of the book* ( if it’s a novel, or comic production) with a percentage of the sales. Often with the added perk of possibly being on the next project.”

* “To build a resume.”

Ok! So let’s briefly break this down, with my opinions as to why these are NOT ‘benefits’ and do far more harm to you.

For starters, all of these ‘benefits’ are lies. Fed to the artist in a manner that the client is doing the artist a favor of sorts.
They are not.

Let’s get one thing clear, right out of the gate.
They *need* you.

As a major part of selling their project. They need good art. And if they can get that art for FREE? Then dang it, that’s exactly what they’ll try for.
The tragic reason why they try over and over again is because they’ve been highly successful at getting far too many artists to give their work away. All for the lie, of ‘gaining experience’, ‘exposure’ and ‘working on a project’.

Wanting to be a part of the collaborative effort is great. But giving away your work is not the way to be a part of that effort. It isn’t just your work you’re giving away.
It’s your rights to that work.
IF you create a character within that story…you won’t own that character.
Unless you agree to it from the beginning. And most of the time, these clients will have a contract that stipulates that they will own everything. Everything.
So if that character goes on to be a Kazillion dollar character 10 years from now…where does that leave you?
Answer: With nothing.
Nothing but that memory of you wanting so badly to be a part of a collaborative team on a project that you wanted to be on for the benefit of exposure and experience.

Well…you’ve definitely gained ‘experience’. But not the positive experience you were hoping for.

Compensation:

If you’re doing any sort of work for a magazine, book, comic book etc, many times these charlatans will promise a percentage off the back end of their overall sales PENDING the success of the book, or overall sales.
Now I ask you…Do you think any of these individuals are going to be honest about the overall sales figures on their product?
Of course not.
Therefore, you will be paid nothing. Or very little. But what they WILL offer you is the opportunity to be placed on the next project. Because, well…they’ve already taken you for a ride one time. Why not see if you’ll fall for it again, right?

Everything you do in the realm of ‘working on spec’, is a wasted effort.
You waste your creativity.
You waste your intellectual properties.
You waste your energy.
And most importantly…you waste the most valuable thing of all:
Your time.
And your time is valuable! Priceless, actually. Because you don’t get that back.

And all for what? “Exposure”?

Please.

There is yet another consequence that comes when the artist agrees to work on “spec”.
And that is what is called “undervalue”.
When an artist chooses (willingly) to work for free (and let’s face it, that’s what “Spec” is), that same artist is not only choosing to undervalue him/herself, but the entire artistic community.
It sends a clear cut message to clients.
and they understand it loud and clear.
Why do you think that they get away with this “spec” garbage time and time again?

Because too many of my fellow artists have fallen for the lie.

It’s surprising how many times I’m offered an illustration or animation gig with so much enthusiasm and excitement from the client, and at the very end of the speech I’m told that it will be an ‘on spec’ gig.
Uh…..no.
Far too many art job sites unfortunately are seeing more and more clients offering ‘on spec’ projects. (And I’ll have a post on those ‘job sites’ at a later time.)

Keep in mind (and this is very important), that when you undervalue you and your art.
You don’t just undervalue you and your art.
You undervalue the artist community as a whole.
Whether you’re trying to get exposure or wrongly trying to drive the demand (with an extreme low cost), it drives the overall value down in the entire community. Hurting and inadvertently affecting everyone.

There is an ugly ‘flip side’ though. Which is artists going too much to the extreme on the other end and OVER pricing their work. (I’ll have a detailed post on this as well, at a later time)
Especially when you are starting out. So be realistic and flexible.
But by all means …be fair to not just the client..but also to yourself.

So. What to do?
First, realize that you have value.
Your work…..has value!
The hours upon hours of time, blood, sweat and tears that you will put into your projects…..have value!

If you are an artist that wants to do work for a comic book, in this day and age, why invest (waste) all your time working for someone that will own everything, and give you nothing?
Oh right..exposure.
There are tons of people out there wanting to work on a project, or have the same wants as you. Find them. Team up with them. Under a mutual understanding and agreement.
Do the work.
Split costs to keep over all costs of printing down.
Self publish the work.
Do the con circuit and/or sell it online.

This is not entirely new and groundbreaking news here. Which is why I find it so unusual that so many fellow artisans continue…continue to let themselves be taken advantage of.
In this digital age, the artist and the artistic have so so many tools at their disposal. Tools that allow them to take advantage of a whole slew of possibilities!
This being the case, there is absolutely no reason to give your work, give your time, away for free.

We are in this together.
Let us not hinder and cripple each other by believing  in the ridiculous lies of ‘working on spec’.

VIVA!!

(Comments? Questions? Send em’ all up! Love to hear them.)

Hands are some of the most important things for many artists to get a grip on (see what I did there?).
For me, they’ve always been difficult. For some, feet are the issue. Which I’ve always thought strange, because feet….are basically a block with 5 little stubs that really don’t do much.
Hands on the other hand, is a block with five separate appendages that have a life of their own and do tons!
Which is why they are considered (accurately) one of the two most expressive things on the body (eyes being the other).

So….ya gotta learn to do them. At least half way decently.
I hesitate to call this a “Tutorial”. This is just an example of my own approach to hands.
So let’s get into some of the different methods to doing hands!

There are three methods that pop into my mind as far as doing hands:

The “cylinder approach”

Some like the cylinder approach.
As with anything, you have to have an idea of what you want your hand to be doing in the picture. And then you start to ‘build’ it.

Example A”: As you can see, the one constant in ALL of these methods is the pentagon shape. Or curved block shape that serves as the palm/backhand.

Example B: From there, you build onto that block frame with cylinder(esque) shapes serving as the fingers.

Example C: You start to round it out and clean up the drawing. Adding knuckle lines, tension pulls where the fingers separate from each other. Also adding fingernails which gives the needed look of perspective to sell the picture.

Some people like this cylinder approach and do great work with it.
It’s not an approach that I much care for though. Only because I’m not particularly good at making it look and feel organic. Probably just me, but I find it difficult to keep the hands from looking stiff and mechanical. It’s just a far too ‘technical’ way of thinking for my likes.
That’s not to say that it’s a ‘bad’ way. It’s just not the way I personally like and feel comfortable with.

I much more prefer a more organic approach. Relying on a more ‘gestural’ take.

The “Mitten”
One such take is the “mitten” approach.

The “Mitten” approach is simply grouping the majority of fingers, and then fleshing them out as you progress the drawing.
I used this quite a bit when I would animate a scene.

Again, you’re simply just ‘blocking out’ the big shapes for your pose.
Once you’ve got that, you cut back in and start carving out those fingers.
In a way, it is just a way to keep you from feeling like your swallowing a watermelon whole! Making it easier to control by dealing with BIG SHAPES.
As with the ‘cylinder’ approach, the one constant that you are building off from is once again…the block shape that is standing in for the rough palm/backhand.

And from there, again…you are building your fingers (or mitten) from it.
Remember. That in each one of these ways…that the fingers (unlike the toes most of the time) are individual characters all of their own!
With the “mitten” approach, one might want to be tempted to just leave them in that mitten look (all grouped together). And sometimes, you can.
But usually it’s a good idea to offset those fingers from one another.
To separate where you can.
Remember. Hands are story tellers. Communicating.
Those fingers and what they are doing, are doing a lot to *sell* that image.
And people pay attention to them!

So. Being that its often essential to really spread out those fingers for dynamics. I actually do a mixture of both the “mitten” and “gesture” technique.
Both organic and fluid ways that greatly appeal to me.

“Gestural Method”
The “Gestural” approach is simply that. Gestural! You know what you want, and you just rough it in.
Yet even with that ‘gestural’ technique, there is still that implied block shape for the palm/backhand from the wrist that you’re building from. That’s the constant.
For me, that is the most fun method. That said…many times, depending on how fast you work in your gesture, often times you have to really pull back and do a lot of refining when you are tie’ing down that drawing because the rough, while it does well in capturing the essence of that hand and pose, many times proportionally and structurally speaking, it is way off.

Advice for those starting to draw or trying to improve on their hands.

Out of the three routs of drawing indicated here, which is the right one for you?
Well. That depends obviously as to where you are in the learning process. And how comfortable you are in that process.
I think the best rout of the three indicated here, if you are just learning from square one…..the “cylinder” approach would probably be a good way for one to grab hold of the reins and start to get comfortable with the forms in a *piece by piece* basis.

Once you get the feel for the hand and how all the bumps, bends, curves and twists all come together…confident in the cylinder approach. Maybe then you’ll want to see how you feel about the “mitten” or “Gestural” approach to the hand.
Where you can skip some of the more construction ways of doing things in the cylinder method, and just start laying in your shapes quickly.

In any case…we all gotta learn to crawl before we walk. And walk before we run.
So lets get crackin’!! And lets start drawing some hands!!

Questions? Thoughts? Leave em’ in the comments section or email me. Love to hear what y’all think!

VIVA!!