Fantasio's Blog urn:uuid:c57c8155-07f4-fdd1-1788-07cf2234af67 2012-05-17T04:22:26-04:00 Fantasio 5 Ways To Inspiration Marketing urn:uuid:a552ee6a-e5d9-01cb-39cf-c4b975289ed9

The power artists, musicians and writers have is: "to inspire".To inspire means also "to give" something, a value is created for those who are able to see the beauty in things.

I have come across various sources for marketing and social media but found only a few suitable for creative freelancers.  

What I observed is that there are some overlapping aspects in different marketing strategies, from the psychology of persuasion, to copywriting and internet marketing, the goals of most marketing approaches are all equal: "to inspire action" and to gain a "win-win-situation".

Regardless if it is the book publishing company, the architect, or the freelance programmer, their goals are all the same, to ignite enthusiasm on the right people. 
If you can ignite a spark of inspiration by someone who is into a business which can benefit from your work, there are bigger chances to get proposals, than if your aim is to sell something, People have a sense for solicitors attitudes.
  1. The question "why"
    Determine the reason why you do something and change your communication towards these simple 3 letters. Typically everyone knows "what" they do and "how" they do it, but only a few know "why" they do it. This question should be answered in the following manner and has a critical impact on the following points as well: Why do you do, what you do? Are you hobbyist, or living as freelancer? The goals can be utterly different and expectations from clients as well! Define yourself and build communication around this word, for example if you begin a sentence with "why" in mind, you start with a "because" in a sentence, the result is more persuasive because it automatically brings authenticity to the table.
  2. The "Eiko" benchmark
    In a previous post I have explained my version of the definition on how Eiko Ishioka juried great design, her keywords for this benchmark are: Timelessness, Revolutionary and Originality. If your work can stand this critical test, the result is most likely ahead of any competition.
  3. Are you "good" enough
    With "good" I don´t mean skilled or talented, rather if you have a positive mindset. It is crucial that every communication is positively tuned. There is a bigger chance that prospective clients want to work with you if they do a research and find almost only positive marks from you on the internet or publications, or wherever you may roam. Some artist play drama queen and enjoy results of having people talk about their case of this and that... there is just a tiny problem: the internet does not forget something, information are available forever and people remember always the first impression about someone. My aim is to write always in a manner that prospective clients can imagine a communication on a project as pleasant and fun.
  4. Know, Like & Trust
    The three pillars of effective content marketing apply to artists more than to any other group, nothing spreads easier than images, music and stories through the world wide web. If people get to know your stuff and decide they like it, they are more likely to share it and the more people share your stuff, the more trustworthy you are. If people don´t talk about your stuff, then...think twice, start over and create "something to die for".
  5. Do you have permission?
    Permission presumes trust. Permission is valuable and at the same time it has become a commodity, especially since social media. Permission marketing is valuable, because if used right, you give the right people permission to send you a newsletter, great offers and information (win-win-situation) as they become available. It´s also valuable to have the permission to send the art-director a mail that you are available for hire or your subscribers a newsletter with information regarding an exhibition or simply the permission to show some new works from time to time. Facebook and twitter made all of that easier, but the result is a flood of input and in this allowed scenario of information overload it is vital to stand out: speak only when you have to say something important, post new work when you think it is good enough, put the status quo into question and tell your story instead of doing what everybody else is doing. Enjoy the silence!
 When we understand the true meaning of inspiration, we understand marketing.
Artist don´t create stuff with the intention to sell it in the first place, the only way to make a living as artist is to adopt the habit to create stuff with the intention to inspire.
]]> 2012-05-10T20:42:00-04:00 Color Inspiration, A Technical Guide For The Digital Artist urn:uuid:ea5fee53-cbb9-e6cf-28b0-f323467e2a4d
"Sam Dead" from "The League of Elder"
Currently I´m in a phase of making advanced use of colors in my work to enhance depth, mood and to underline certain values.

While doing so, I found a necessity to share this knowledge and insights in some kind of a reference. There are practical tips for everyday use, this post is useful for traditional artists as well.

When working in a professional environment there is rarely the time to go out and do plein-air paintings or studies, this is something artists have to do in their spare time, to form the foundations and understanding of perception of our environment. On the other hand it is extremely important to see processed works as well, to see the differences and to learn from these observations.

Basically, all knowledge artists have, is built upon passion and is acquired through personal experience, museum-visits, observation and anatomical studies have to be done volunteering for the arts.

Today I want to explore possibilities on how to find working color schemes.
There are several options to use colors and to prevent a misconception here: I just want to explore ways on how to technically utilize colors, not on how to apply them, because the color as inspiration is a universal approach followed by every artist on earth, regardless of the application or final use.

For this it is inevitable to have a decent knowledge on color theory, which is required to get the most out of this post, so if you get stuck on the term "tertiary color scheme" you should get into basic color theory first.

Below there is a list of different ways to get color inspiration, maybe I´ll do a post on how to apply a specific color scheme on a work later.

Like everything from brushes to reference images even colors should find a place in the artists library, lets go:


Inspiration from nature 
The first and most basic palette everyone recognizes, even if broken down to just two(!) colors.
Advanced color palettes can be found too but require a keen eye and understanding of secondary and tertiary colors.



Inspiration from other artists work 
The most common practice used by artists from all around the world. For artist, this still requires understanding of colors, but gives a potential idea of what is possible, what works and what not. Analyzing combinations from masters and successful predecessors is now easier than ever.


Inspiration from Movies
Image courtesy Walt Disney pictures
Movies shape and change our perception without us even knowing it, sometimes for the better sometimes for the worse. But since art has the freedom to be exaggerated, movies can be a valuable inspiration if used with care.

The best example for experimental and truly masterful use of colors are Disney´s works, find the powerful examples below from the movie "Lion King". For more screens / stills and movies make your own screenshots, or search Screenmusings.org for moods.
Image courtesy Walt Disney pictures









One great option is to make use of the mosaic-filter in Photoshop to get a palette out of a screenshot.
For a concrete use in paintings I´d suggest to pick up just the important colors with the Eyedropper-tool to create a swatch from there, or...

Inspiration through tools
It is easy to convert these to a swatch in photoshop via Kuler, opposed to the limited possibilities of the mosaic-filter technique, Kuler picks colors depending on complementary colors, various harmonies and moods.
A practical tool is the online page of Kuler where you can create schemes from an image directly and share them with others. Find my profile on Kuler for more swatches.

Kuler from Adobe


















Another great resource to create instant color schemes is the free color scheme designer tool:

Free web tool for color schemes

















Inspiration from photography
Photography is always processed and it is an advantage to know the traditional processing workflow, how toning and cross-processing works. Not that it is a requirement, but it helps to understand how Photoshop works. With the tools listed above, Kuler and the color scheme designer it is easy to pick color schemes from photography as well.

Fantasiox photography
Kuler result of the photo / left


There is a wide variety of tools out there that can be a timesaver for a professional environment, the list above shows just some free-options.

Regardless if you drape Lego´s from your kid together and make a shot with your handy to get a working palette, or if you watched a movie or if dabbling with oils inspired you to get an idea on how to do this or that digitally...
The important part is to keep on developing a sense for inspiration, where to find it, to keep it and then how to apply that to your work.
It is vital to study how filmmakers, artists and photographer use colors, how nature´s color reflect in different lighting situations and even more important; how we perceive them.

Colors are truly powerful for those who know how to use them, because they can "make" or "break" an artwork.
]]> 2012-05-01T17:23:00-04:00 Photoshop CS6 Summary: "Deluxe Paint Feeling" urn:uuid:677b5e40-d689-7030-9c7a-52f056081519 What bothers me the most is that I really love the new dark UI, I will really miss it.

After 3-4 weeks of testing Photoshop CS 6 Beta I have to say it is very unlikely that I will make the upgrade, for several reasons: it wasn´t possible to work on the image below without crashing every 15 minutes, without any program running in the background. Often I work in 5000 x 10000 px at 300 dpi, juggling between 50 and 120 layers at a time, this piece was only possible to work in 200 dpi.
Sorry, I´m not used to make myself a cup of coffee when waiting for a transformation to apply, especially with a core i7 machine, I felt like back in the day when working with deluxe paint:)
The "Deluxe Paint Feeling" annotation in the title was not a compliment.

   Back to CS5: The left side shows the dimmed monitor, the image on the right is my personal version of a competition entry

The autosave mode didn´t work correctly, sometimes "Save-As" led to a successful saving process when I clicked on a different tool, sometimes it just crashed when saving the document, and the recovery of the crashed versions were only 1 out of 3 times usable.

I´m used to have between 300 to 400 brushes in my brush panel and I suspect them to slow also the startup down, which is OK, but when starting CS5, with the same amount of brushes it is nearly3 times faster loading.

The other new additions such as the blur gallery with "tilt-shift" and the "content aware move tool" are all good and fine, but I don´t use them, and just for a dark UI such an update...?
My personal conclusion is that it will take again 2-4 versions until it makes sense to think about an upgrade.

For anyone wanting to know if it is a useful tool/upgrade for artists / illustrators, I can say the improvements are minimal and not worth the cost of an update right now if you are using CS4/5. For photographers there is a lot stuff that can save time, I´d say it depends all on the workflow.

The grace period was a nice move Adobe, but I guess it will take a few versions until everything works smooth again and I´ll look back into the next trial to see what´s in store.

But for the meantime I have found a workaround for the bright user interface of PS CS5 (it is bright when you are used to that nice dark GUI of CS6:)

When working with a dual monitor setup there is a lightweight tool that is called "Pangolin Screen dimmer" which is free and has the nice option to just dim one monitor down around 30-40%. Like you can see in the screenshot, (normally the white from the browser in the background would be as white as this blog!) I used to move all my tools to the other monitor that is dimmed, this makes working in the evening hours more pleasing to the eyes.

With the shortcut "F" it is possible to cycle through the framing options up to fullscreen mode on the other monitor, setting the background color to a custom dark gray makes color sensitive work a charm.

And now another tip: From Adobe Labs there is a "panel configurator", this tool allows you to put all useful menu options and tools and even code or websites into your panels, here is a nice tutorial on how to do that. That big thing you see there is basically all I need when working in fullscreen mode, it includes the colorschemedesigner which is a free app just like coolorus, I just like that big one better.

Until the dark UI will be in reach, this is a pretty nice alternative.
Happy customizing.

]]> 2012-04-23T19:58:00-04:00 The Android Legacy Look :: A Walkthrough urn:uuid:7bd6252c-da91-75d1-fdb2-2caa6339e38e Android LegacySince there was a decent demand for tutorials about my technique on the tron/cyborg painting I did a few month ago Android Legacy
Today I tried to cover the essential steps in a making-of and how-to on this blog. The suggested requirements are Photoshop from CS3/4/5 a Wacom tablet and it is an advantage if pen tool, brushes and layers are familiar to you, just in case you want to recreate the image. The workshop is for advanced users.

Except for the animation below and the other image on top of this article, you should click on the images to see larger screenshots!

The whole tutorial is published as a 6-page-workshop in the German magazine der bildbearbeiter (former Advanced Photoshop) and is, you can guess it, in German language. But since many of you asked, I negotiated that I am able to publish a part of the tutorial process in English language for foreign readers, unfortunately just not in depth as the printed version, if there are questions to any specific point, feel free to ask in a comment and I explain it.
If you are German and want to read the whole tutorial, bitte hier klicken und das Magazin bestellen.

Step 01 / process

Why another android-tron-cyborg-fembot-like painting you may ask? Well, the challenge for an artist is to see things from a different angle.
The idea for the following was inspired by a stock-image from Marcus J. Ranum (first frame in step 01) and was used with written permission for this workshop. If possible I recommend making your own reference or stock-images, but because no one can be gifted in everything, nothing speaks against a collaboration with talented photographers and models.

For commissioned work my workflow is somewhat different and starts usually with a rough sketch. This method of working although allows for a very free approach and also to concentrate on new techniques.
Compositing and the possibility to play with different elements is the kind of freedom I embrace in photo manipulation combined with digital painting.

Step 02
With the help of composition™, you can create an entrance into an image, it can be intentionally balanced or create tension through various elements. The Step 02 image shows a variation of the crop I choose for the image to work with. At this stage I have thrown some tubes onto a new layer, to see if my idea would work. Moving the cropped figure around, rotating slightly and scaling are great tools to assist in the compositing stage.

Step 03


Since there was little time for the workshop and workshop piece, I had the idea to use a flat background and build it from something analogue to achieve an authentic look.
For this I took and cut some paper boards and findings and draped them into a graphical arrangement like you can see in the unedited shot in step 03, pretty basic handiwork. I made a photograph of it and adjusted that with camera-raw converter into black and white.

Step 04
In between I cropped the figure with the polygonal lasso tool from the background, so that I am able to put my newly photographed paper-mess behind the model like in Step 04. If you´re not fond of the lasso tool, my friend Conzpiracy has a nice introduction to the pen tool as a way to cut or remove parts, recommended watch!

From there I concentrated on the background first. Coloring and brushwork is done. Brushes courtesy of Thierry Doizon and Obsidiandawn were used to make the paper look like a sci-fi metal / glass plate with lots of tech built inside  (Step 05) and of course the obsessive use of color changes and layer styles.
Subscribers to the magazine mentioned at the beginning, are able to download the complete background PSD-file to see how it is done layer by layer.

Step 05
The tubes in Step 05 were done using the pen tool in Photoshop, the basic technique on how to run a brush on a path can be found in this video resource here.

Now the interesting work starts, the tech parts get painted freehand on the directly on the skin. For this, I have made a simple example to visualize how in six easy steps, the general structure of the patterns look. Unfortunately there is no shortcut for this work, except you have someone else doing it for you :)


Step 06

Follow this technique in Step 06 for every part you create and the result is always realistic because opposed to manipulating machine parts into the composition, you mold out what is in there, just in a different way. It requires a lot imagination, practice and some digital painting skills to utilize the existing light and shading to create realism. In practice the first part is a rough sketch on the skin to show where I wanted to go with the design like you can see in Step 07.

Step 07
The fine design on the skin is more time consuming, but its worth it. If you are good at painting freehand, this will be easy for you.

If you are used to masks and think you can make it this way, you´ll notice the difference in the end.
Masks limit the creative approach needed to create the design directly on the skin. Even a machine is not 100% perfectly assembled, so don´t try to replicate something as perfect as it will never be, the result will be artificial and viewers notice that.


Step 08
An interesting twist is the hummingbird, I wanted it to look cyborg-android like too and the same technique was used. On Step 08 depicting the eye of the hummingbird you can see the process with the lighting that is the same process used on the main character. It is vital to make use of layers wherever possible. You should know your layer palette to understand how to work on top of an object, how to add more light to a bright color and how to use layer styles. A good resource regarding how to paint with layers is CTRL-Paint, it´s a free resource with lots of great videos and tutorials!

Seeing this picture I remember that there was another tube, the one the bird has in its mouth, well the same technique from-path-to-brush-stroke took place here and a little more "cut-and-paste" to get the tube between the jaw. The image of the hummingbird can be found on istockphoto. I changed the colors with layer-styles and made the wings look as if they were moving with various blur tools.

Step 09 / final
The final step, after everything is merged down to just a few layers, I work on details, revisions and effects, such as mist, glow, cleaning up of some parts and changes that contribute to the overall coherence of the image.



]]> 2012-04-09T19:38:00-04:00 Be Timeless, Be Original, Be Revolutionary urn:uuid:73c6f9bd-d53c-57fe-7382-77aaafeca8ba Eiko Ishioka 2006Quite recently, as a birthday present, my wife got this book for me! It is from Eiko Ishioka, you get it as a bargain from Amazon starting at $299 (if at all)

I knew her works long before I got to know her name and I´m really intrigued by the worlds she created mainly for the screen. Reading through the interview at the beginning of the book, something remarkable stands out. Three words of wisdom:
"Being timeless, revolutionary and original” are the three criteria by which she had judged the quality of design works.
Understanding this and the meaning, it looks to me that other great people have used these keywords as well to create their unique selling proposition, such as Steve Jobs. Makes sense to me, Without being an apple-evangelist I have to admit that every product is timeless, revolutionary and original and contributing to their success story.

Back to my initial thought on the interview in the book - I do not agree with the definitions of the interviewer on these three, strong words and I spare you a citation, but submit how I understand them. Surprisingly by reflecting all this, it is the explanation on how I work, without even knowing it.

  • Timeless: When I think about timelessness, I think about culture, the way we interact. Timeless efforts are things we do to survive as well. Timeless design does not distract, it does support. Timeless art inspires you again and again.
  • Revolutionary: Everything that puts the status quo into question. A revolution is not successful if nothing is changed for a better. Checking constantly for improvements and chances to do something better is part of our daily (r)evolution. In terms of art and design it means to me: to combine things that havn´t been tried before, going a path that no one dares to walk, making decisions that will last.
  • Originality: Insisting to represent your own ideals instead of copying existing patterns. In regards to art this point is clear. In terms of personality, originality points at the origin, never deny where you come from, stand behind your decisions and never regret anything as it becomes part of your personality and personality reflects in your deeds.
I think there are many other words that might be helpful to label a bar on which we can raise our skills, but making these three a mark, a benchmark for your work, is a great way to start. And that is the reason why I do share this insight. If more people would put originality, timelessness and revolutionary efforts into their work, the world would be a better place.

]]> 2012-04-03T09:15:00-04:00 Style Diversity: (P)art Of The Process urn:uuid:d79992ff-4f87-61c7-2beb-f1e7415138ef You can twist and turn it, but a style is attached to an artist, like a product to a brand.
Or maybe not?

Well, there is some exception to the rule, read further for examples about that matter, but the short truth is:
A style is not as important for an artist, as personality and persistence.

A style can change, a trend can change and if as artist you focus on one style only, chances are that there is one opportunity in your lifetime, but you better don´t miss it if you are just working in that specific direction.
For everyone else it is good to feed and bet on several horses to make the race.

I observed some interesting changes mostly in music and later in visual art. In the metal-music-scene, the former gods of dark sounds and death-metal ( at least where I come from) were Paradise Lost in their humble beginnings. Over time they changed their style and in between some songs had more in common with Depeche Mode than anything else. A similar transformation has happened to Tiamat. For some fans this was an unvorgivable act, but others grew on them.

Not everyone has the ability of a chameleon like Madonna to redefine themselves and their style in every decade, but no one needs to. The obvious shift from underground metal to pop seems commerce driven and in most cases it is. Actually there is no problem with that, in my opinion Green Day has clearly benefited from that, while others: Amy Whinehouse and Kurt Cobain were never made to be famous.

I think it is an inside-out thing, it doesn´t help to reach popularity with a rocket-train if your inner self is not yet ready for it.

In a much smaller scale, a dimension where I live in, there are artists who have gone through similar transformations as depicted above. Theodoru Badiu and David Ho are perfect examples, I loved their style when I first encountered art works of these great artists online some years ago. Now they have dramatically changed, maybe because of commercial demand maybe because of personal taste. I will always respect them for sharing their work with others even if I can not relate to the new works.

But right after writing this, I realized that I have changed too, maybe in a different direction, it occurs that we met at a time that was just right and we were going into different directions from there. This happens with relationships as also with taste in music and art.

When I started out doing art, I had no clue what I should do, I always admired the female shape and as long as I can paint those from time to time, I´m a happy man. But now I figured, that starting out with different styles was the best thing to do.

From my time at the art center until now, there is an inner force that keeps me expanding into various realms. I´m not sure, whether if it is a force or a seduction. When I look at other artists work that I find adorable, there is always something I want to recreate. Luckily never the desire to copy, just the idea that I admire how Donato Giancola paints chrome or the way Dan Dos Santos describes light refraction on skin or the way Dave McKean manages to merge different elements into one piece.

This began to get a habit, one that helped me to get better instead of giving up. A habit that allows me to apply an observation to any assignment and not just a certain situation, what a relief! I learned how to analyze certain things instead of just copying the effect to thousand other images that look all the same. It is the aim to stay original. Maybe I´m not making a fortune out of this as artist like others do, but this has its advantages too: I´m there for the long run.

Other major advantages are, that I can embrace a wide variety of assignments, I still have new areas to get better at, and there is always a different demand. As someone being open and known for keeping up on trends it is easy to change a portfolio quickly if a few pieces to that area simply exist and only a few newer ones are required. Another relief.

So I began to realize that style diversity is just a part of the process in the long run.
I have learned to embrace new categories as challenge, as long as I can meet up with my standards and as long as I find myself in the images I create, why not?

Here are some examples of styles I foster:

Anime / Manga colored drawing style

Anthro (anthropomorphic) digital airbrushing

Belles Lettres painterly and narrative illustration style

Caricature and exaggerated portraiture

Children book illustration

Dog (or animal) portraiture

Fantasy art and high-fantasy art

Graphic style photomanipulation

Mythological creatures, mixed media

Organical photomanipulation style

Pin-up digital airbrush style

Plant and trans-genetic (sci-fi) portraiture

Sci-fi (Science-Fiction) illustration, painting and airbrushing

Sculpture, and digital derivative of sculptures

Steampunk illustration, mixed media involved



Milton Glaser brought it to the point:
What is required in our field, more than anything else, is the continuous transgression. Professionalism does not allow for that because transgression has to encompass the possibility of failure and if you are professional your instinct is not to fail, it is to repeat success. So professionalism as a lifetime aspiration is a limited goal.


I think as artists our aspirations should always allow for 50% experiment and 50% professionalism, an equilibrium that is acceptable by both, clients and artist is a healthy goal.



"Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative."
Oscar Wilde




]]> 2012-03-22T18:40:00-04:00 10 Ways You Can Transform Drawbacks Into Creative Assets urn:uuid:95012441-72b1-7323-6fa3-db8fa7557bad GagaEveryone has Drawbacks or disadvantages due to different circumstances in our lives, but it´s on us to change our view about them, or better said: turning them into assets.

The image shows an explanatory example of this topic, it is told that Lady Gaga was a roadie for Iron Maiden, once upon a time. Things that would make everyone else look like a complete dork somehow complimenting her appearance.

This post should be a motivator to carry on with whatever you do. If you have two healthy hands, a rough vision, some kind of talent, this post should help you push the envelope by unleashing potential that might hold you back now.

Bullet post alert:
  1. Attitude and perception: Be remarkable when it is least expected!
    There are many times in our lives when we meet others and very often transactions go smooth, we know how people behave when everything is well, but this is not how people remember you. People, especially clients remember you when in a situation of stress or helplessness, you were the one that put a mood of calmness and outcome-orientation in a project where others would have given up.
    This counts for business relationships as also friendship. Like in a friendship, no one can give a guarantee that you stay friends forever, but in business this attitude can come back to you in a positive way. For me it did, several times now.
  2. Boundaries of a home-office freelancer
    Regardless if you have a flat, a house or just a cellar to work, there is still household to do, even more if you have kids. People think it is great to be able working from home but it requires a lot of discipline to dress for work and use social-media to show up, especially when no one else is around. I changed all my communication to email and social media (not chat). If you think freelancing, working from home as parent is difficult, AS a parent, I can say it all depends on organisation and communication, I reduced phone calls to a minimum, which means twice a week for important calls. Everything else goes through email.
  3. Make yourself interesting
    The most challenging thing is to find something people might find interesting about you, in fact so interesting that they keep telling others about it - but it havn´t has to be something obvious. If you apply for a job position (and I talk about a job you really, really want) it will not going to help you to show up in that expensive dress, give the job interviewer something he really wants. If you are starting out as artist and want to apply for an internship by a reknown arist of your genre give him something, an opportunity that he can´t pass up, like managing all phone calls for learning something in return. There is a wide variety of things that are interesting about us, it is vital to find these and turn them out so others can see their benefits when dealing with you.
  4. Different styles are good for you
    You think you have a burden, because you work in different styles and hence look like a generalist to others? Think twice: It might take you longer to hone your different skills, but opposed to someone who does paint all the same things their entire live for a living, you have the benefit of a variety of work. Concentrate on two or three strong styles at a time and keep up portfolios of them. When the demand for one style grows you can keep producing more of this or to relax you can do something totally different and add it to your other portfolio. If you start out this way, people will not be surprised to see something fresh from you, they expect it. If you start out just with an ink-comic style and after years of just posting that, people might wonder when you start showing watercolor paintings.
  5. Get rid of passive mode, turn active mode on
    If your drawback is an addiction to video-games or television, I really can´t help you but to say that you have to make a decision. Anything that makes you passive can get into your way of creating things, creative things, or things people talk about. Get rid of the passive mode and turn your active mode on, it isn´t necessary to make sports or exercises for this, but make it a habit to find out which artists are responsible for the concept-art of this game, that movie, and so on... this can be a start. Watch making off´s instead of just the movies, try to visit museums instead of the football game, do more of things that make you feel good. And don´t try to tell me that watching T.V. makes you feel good.
  6. Persistence is more powerful than talent (to some extent)
    Don´t misunderstand this sentence, talent is important, it separates you from the crowd, but not being able to market and communicate your skills will make you a paperboy or assembly worker. Persistence in communication, marketing and learning are necessary to survive in the long run. There are a lot artists out there who do mediocre stuff but make a good living from just doing so, I dare to say that they are strong in the communication and marketing aspect and show a necessary persistence.
  7. The burden of part-time freelancing
    Do you think you have a hard time because you have a day-job to pay the bills and do freelance work in your spare time? I know you, but what seems as double life is maybe a preparation for the real case. I worked a day job, studied part time and did freelance work besides, so I know what I´m speaking of, this experience helped me to make the right decisions when I stepped into the full-time freelancing business, because I knew what I wanted and what not.I learned what methods work and which had to be replaced by better techniques.
  8. You are not good enough
    This is the most overrated thought, and worse; self-affirmation ever. To be not good enough can be changed, but it takes dedication, time and passion, if these three components are inherent you have good chances to GET BETTER! If you are not good enough, but have to make a living as artist somehow, connect with artists that are better than you, learn from them, work FOR them, get to know their methods, help them improve their business. You might have a good idea how to market something, have made experience with a medium, that can SAVE THEM TIME, and so on. you see, being not good enough is an excuse and a bad one.
  9. Lack of self-awareness 
    Be it due to education or your nature, a lack of self-awareness is equally bad for your health and relationships, than an exaggerated self-assurance. If you´re suffering from the former, there is a help, not an easy, but there is help: surround yourself with people who are naturally strong in self-awareness. Be it friends, mates, in a relationship or friendship doesn´t matter, it will take time, if they care for you, you´ll learn to take more responsibility over time, try out new things you´ve never done before, doing this with self-aware friends is a great way to get better at this, plus you have great things to share and eventually a story to tell. Relationships are vital, a good friendship is a benchmark where you can often get feedback from peers, accept hard but constructive critique and seek people who are willing to push you, if no one cares what you do, that is a very bad place to be. But also it helps to be no Sissy when it comes to receive critique.
  10. The money issue
    Freelancing as also doing art for a living is not necessarily a story about starving artists. The typical thing the public assumes is that the art is a luxury good and either you make it, or die trying. Fact is that art is more present than ever; from video games, movies, label designs to clothes, cars, and as therapy, etc. Art is more used in our society than ever before to communicate and to transport messages and feelings. With the internet there are more chances than ever for artist to succeed. The only thing is to know what you want. You can´t believe that just making your art will make you rich, you have to create a following first, however you make this, it is your choice, offering solutions as illustrator is a great option, from there it is possible to generate great contacts to publishers and authors. If you are in the situation of plunging into the freelance business, it might be a good advice to have some savings to cover at least a year without income or better have a spouse with a fixed income. The money you will make with your art is depending on how much you do, how good you market yourself and how you are perceived by others. If you are authentic, creative and original ,chances are good that after 3 years you can make a good living from the arts as it was in my case.
I hope these ways and tips are encouraging and helpful. IF there are any additional drawbacks that I have forgotten, let me know them in a comment and I´d like to provide a helpful answer.
]]> 2012-03-13T12:30:00-04:00 Heavy Metal Thunder: Book Cover Painting Process urn:uuid:8e0c6570-0987-74e5-acaf-e67f4012bcde
I realized that I didn´t post a painting process here in a while. Actually I have utilized tumblr as sketchbook for insights in my process, but sometimes it is better to show a process coherent as a whole. This isn´t a tutorial, but I try to explain as much as possible and if you have questions to any of the steps below, I´d be glad to answer them!

One very recent character-driven cover artwork I did was for Kyle Stiff and his Heavy Metal Thunder book. It is kind of a different story, because it is a 'choose your own adventure' styled book, but... you better read on Amazon what this genre or better said; the book is all about.


The title as also the description he gave me was all directing towards heavy metal, but mostly targeted at the physical representation.
The main character "Cromulus" is a mix of El Topo and Rasputin type of persona and a soldier, nicely packaged in a black-armor, equipped with pretty archaic weaponry and a jetpack on his lonesome journey through outer space.

1.) Character / armor concept

1.) The first rough draft was merely a concept sketch, an approach to find out in which direction I should go with the armor, weaponry and especially the jetpack design.

2.) Stance and jetpack studies
2.) The stance above is based on the idea that the cover should reflect the jetpack as much of a burden as it is a display of power. The sword and the gun are placed in a position that allows the eyes to flow into the image from the lower left corner, leading towards the title, back to the character and author name.

3.) Crop and sketch based on given specs.

3.1.) Eye-flow-plan
3.) The sketch I have done on pencil and paper was scanned into Photoshop. I used the polygon-lasso to select just the figure and placed it above a digitally sketched background. The aspect ratio used is a 6x8 format, which is quite good for later use as e-book which is around 600x800px, so that there is plenty of space above the character for typo. The idea that developed in this stage was, that he stands in front of a wall and on the left there is still space that shows the interior of a ruin / uninhabited spaceship.
3.1.) This is an Eye-flow-map (more info here), it is possible to engage a specific eye-flow with lines, contrasts and various other composition techniques, no one can guarantee that it works as intended, but it is always good to have a plan, instead of hoping the best for a good outcome.

4.) Scene sketch with typo
4.1.) Further developed scene with typo
4.-4.1) To see if there is enough space, I added the typo as a "mock-up" at this point, because now it is still possible to change anything. To get a better impression of the weight the font has and the image, I added some shading and contrast to the painting. Right now there are some flaws that show up, which were not that  visible before, such as the head size and the stance which looks more burden than powerful and his right arm that looks too short.

5.) roughly colored version
5.) In this stage, his right arm still looks weird, but now it haz color! I changed the stance and added a complete layer-group to add colors and some lighting effects. Custom-brushes were used at the bottom, lighting on the character was essential to show the coldness of outer space on the one side and some mysterious blood red on the right side. From a technical point of view; there is a color-layer-group behind the character for the background only, since I have separated the character from the background (like mentioned before). There is also another group of colors on top of the character, in step 5.) it consists only of lighting with red and blue (Check 7.1.) for the layer palette how this actually looks).

6.) This colored sketch shows the refinement as a whole
6.1.) This map shows the hot spots where the most work went into
6.-6.1.) These two images show where the most work went to refine the whole painting. We are getting closer but still: "way to go".

7.) This step shows my workspace which is a bit bigger than the actual image

7.1.) Cluttered layers in uncluttered groups

7.) This step shows a bit more of my workspace area, which is actually bigger than the image itself, for mixing colors, brush tests and temporary reference image placement. I always keep the character separated from the background, until the image is 90% done. So at this stage I have made a duplication of the character layer and made it about 20% darker, then I erased the parts that should stay brighter, to add depth and more contrast to the lighting, this is visible if you compare the version 8.) with 6.) .
7.1.) This shows my layer palette at this point, still a bit messy, I´m used to reduce layer groups, once they´re approved. To keep safety while working back and forth, I save different versions every now and then, so I can import a layer group from a previous version to go back if necessary.


8.) Added detail and color adjustments
8.) This piece shows the almost finished artwork, it is clear where the main work went; the face expression as also the details in background and the lighting from the sides, plus a vignette layer to change focus to the upper half of the work. But still, there are sime minor things that separates this from being a final work.


9.) Added fog, frozen blood and depth-of-field...
9.1.) Close up #1
9.1.) Close up #2

9.1.) Close up #3
9.1.) Close up #4
9.) Fog, frozen blood on the sword and depth of field to the background add the drama I was going for, another fancy effect are the various lights that are visible on the armor and jetpack, the i-tip is the black smoke on the gun, which is only visible in the version without typo.
9.1.) These are some close-up´s, pretty self-explanatory:)

10.) Final version of the cover art with typo

10.) This is the final version with typo, it shows that the font, bolt and the limited typo effects go well with the sci-fi theme.

 I hope you liked this digital painting walk-through, check out the others here and here too.
Comments are always welcome.
]]> 2012-03-01T10:00:00-05:00 Pinterest: A Valuable Resource Or Waste Of Time? urn:uuid:d54a0f63-aea4-1ba6-4aff-3e037c79034b
Pinterest
Someone who follows my blog regularly notices my passion for social media and new technologies, my last post regarding a site was about google+.
While I´m very fond of the way´s different networks work, I learned to embrace Pinterest as a new place that can top it all, for several reasons:

In my humble opinion it is the ease of use and the simplicity of the design, that makes it so addictive and valuable at the same time.

I´d say it is facebook without all the ugliness, because people always want to share great stuff and surround themselves with beautiful things, it is all natural to display a set of things that we would want, if we either could afford it or recreate ourselves. This is where Pinterest comes into play.

It´s clean, uncluttered and fast.

The service allows you to collect, share and surround yourself with people who are passionate about beautiful stuff. And it is a true labor that pay´s off to re-pin all the hidden gems on the web. The Fancy is another site with the same interest, more targeted at mobile users with a less wide layout. It seems there is a decent demand for this kind of site and I wouldn´t wonder if facebook´s user activity will drop within the next 2 years because of that.

I started to pin some of my favorites from deviantart, until I found it was also useful to share on another board the complete funny and hilarious things that are often meme´s on the web and worth sharing too.
Fantabulous inspiration

In the aspect of re-pinning, it is very similar to the way Tumblr is used, but way easier and you don´t need to worry about the copyright if you are pinning from an original source, because all sources are included in every pin and re-pin.

There is a wide variety of uses for this networking site and it is just in the beginning, or better said in "beta-mode" and invite only. Design-shack has a nice article on "how to use Pinterest for design-inspiration".

One usage that came to my mind was to create an art book wishlist, because no one knows how to find me on Amazon, this is easier to localize, pop´s up on facebook after a pin is added. As a true art-book-addict, very easy to use with the bookmarklet, once I come across a lovely book. Very often I forgot where I have seen this or that book and when I had the time and money to purchase, I simply forgot the name of the bookmark, etc.
Fantasio´s art book wishlist on pinterest
There are also some great uses for marketing, Copyblogger gathered 56 ways to market your business on Pinterest.

While I can agree and encourage to use these tip´s wherever possible on all social networks, Pinterest has a whole lot more to offer; with a public version and the option to have boards hidden or set to private, it would make a great way to collaborate online. A direct use is to gather references, I can imagine setting up a board and pinning every image that can be found on the web regarding a specific project. This can sometimes take a couple of hours - but has to be done either way. Yet it is a difference if an Author or Agency has to download and attach every single picture on a mail or sharing a pin-board that can be extended and updated at every given time.

Embracing new technologies can either result in a waste of time or with a win thereof, it always depends on us how we see things. I made it a daily habit to see only positive things. I don´t say that it is good to close the eyes in front of all the ugliness that is happening in the world, but to be honest, for this - there is still facebook.

And as artist it is absolutely vital to surround us with things that inspire us, instead of things that disturb our moods or goals.

My personal conclusion to the question at the title of this post:
If someone has a strong ability to limit social media and interenet use in general, Pinterest can be a very valuable tool, for everyone else I´d suggest to try it and if it takes up more than 30 minutes of your daily time, consider to stay away.

Happy pinning!




]]> 2012-02-26T12:57:00-05:00 Value Based Communication urn:uuid:346366fe-cfe3-e54c-f6d8-d916fac9710c Wouldn´t it be nice if everyone has their priorities pinned on their forehead, or better in the shape of shiny sliders floating over their head?

Yes, silly idea, but it would make life so much easier.

During the last year I have deepened my understanding of psychology, marketing and social phenomena to find the most intriguing topics the outcome based thinking and personal values.

Everyone has values or priorities, in doing freelance business I found that it is vital to learn your clients values, this makes it easier to satisfy a customer and it brings the fun back into work at the same time.

Basically everyone has a set of sliders, just the settings develop and adjust as we grow older, through experiences, through persuasion, belief and through advertising. In fact: media and advertising have a great impact to our slider settings and how we perceive the world.

When does this affect you?

Everyday.

If you learn to see the sliders besides or in relation to everyone you have -or want to deal with, be it your parents, your boss or your best friend, this will help you gain an even better understanding of their values.

And let´s be honest, to please somebody you want to convince is easy if you know what exactly they want.

The big question is how to get this information, or the "slider-parameter", especially if someone is not specific about an inquiry?

Well this is something you have to ask for. It is professional to ask questions. It is not unethical if it serves to deliver a better service or product. And it shows sincere interest in the clients needs. I can just speak about freelancing business and therefore services, but this applies to so many other businesses as well.

It just hurts to see people bothering about their colleagues or bosses or even clients, this isn´t just a problem, this shows that at some point they havn´t asked the right questions.

Value based communication is the key here.

If you know what your opposite´s values are you can´t seem to fail - theoretically, at least if you don´t intend it.

And it is definitely communication that is causing such issues.

Wrong communication methods are the first instance of a problem in most cases.
This is the reason I mostly insist of communicating through e-mail, if I have a question that might be answered beforehand, I can go back and review it, if I send a reply, its nearly a commitment, a promise to "get-things-done"! While a phone call just steals time in many cases, it is unpleasant to find yourself later with an unanswered question, and more often than not we didn´t want to bother with a follow-up call, but a follow-up e-mail isn´t such a bother, it shows interest and is proof of active listening.

So many problems could be avoided if we learn to communicate effectively. In my opinion this should be a school-subject of its own. On the other hand it takes time to find your best communication method.

I found out that I´m not really good at talking on the phone (for a first contact), my personal or direct contacts still need to get better as also the ability to speak in public, I feel most comfortable by writing, because this way I don´t forget anything that might be important.

Another noteworthy thought about that matter perfectly illustrated in the picture above, is to find out if a prospect is acquiring something from you because he wants to, or because he has to.
The latter is more promising, because time might be short, or a company is behind him but it also tells me that less creative freedom is in a project. If someone is asking because he is self-publishing and is directing the art all by themselves - less money might be an involved, but more freedom and the chance to create something really outstanding are a deal for me.

Outcome based thinking is in my opinion something that artists invented, it is being told that Michelangelo started to work on his famous sculpture of David after a year of just imagining it from the rough block of stone. This is outcome based thinking in its purest form, visualization and the feeling that it will be good in the end are the main ingredients for a great result.

Very often we effectively make use of this techniques but don´t even know it.

We also create and live in our very own reality, we feel most comfortable with people whose reality seems to be very close to ours. In terms of business this is an opportunity as also the key to rejection. Any application letter and CV will be judged to see if you fit into their corporation keyholes, if your data doesn´t fit, you will most likely not fit.

Easy as pie.

Doing freelancing business appears to be even more complex, but after 3 years of doing this successful, I can say it is not. Because no data is required to gain rapport with your clients need. Sure, data is helpful, but what is most important is the rapport and personal values.

However, there is a chance of a mismatch here and there, we all went into this trap at least one time, but what helps in a case of doubt is the simple rule: "Win/Win, or no deal at all". If there´s nothing in for everyone involved, it is better to walk away and not accept to do work continuously.

I don´t talk about money here, collaborations seem to be always a Win/Win situation if you learn something out of it. Many businesses require that you do an intern at your own cost, the only thing you can earn is to learn something.

Make the world a better place and be aware of your values and take care of others.








]]> 2012-01-10T10:16:00-05:00 Artbook Review - Erotic Fantasy Art, Volume 2 urn:uuid:7db9940d-c4df-6466-a046-7ed1896d9d3a Machines and Magic or Exposé#9 recently, it is naturally to show at least some of the work and efforts others put in their publishing works.

For this book I have to thank Paul Peart Smith for asking me to participate and the team of ILEX for gathering awesome talents and tasteful imagery for a really inspiring coffee- table book. I´d say this is a book that is for sure a conversation starter if you have it on the table when your mother-in-law visits you. In a positive way:)

Its a real honor to be along so many great artists that I admire, such as Charlene Chua, Jason Juta, Pascal Blanché, Daniela Uhlig, Uwe Jarling, Lorenzo Di Mauro, Matt Dixon and many more.

I think I don´t need to say anything big about the quality of Ilex- books, they are hardcover with a dust jacket, bound really strong and even the hardcover is printed. A fabulous print, paper and color quality sums up the obvious brilliance, the paper is a semi-glossy heavy one that flows nicely without reflecting light too much.

Below you find some interior shots I did with the camera, just to get a glimpse of what you are missing out if you don´t get yourself a copy. You can purchase the book directly via the publisher ILEX-Press or Amazon.










]]> 2011-12-15T06:12:00-05:00 The Problem With "Doing Well"... urn:uuid:ba963152-e481-8bf7-4058-e764a9ce089d Did you ever notice, wherever you state in a conversation that you are doing well, the conversation is soon dying? No? Then try it for yourself.

People like to small talk and sometimes we enjoy a little compassion too.
And that is totally OK, because the human nature is that we are sincerely interested in solving problems.
We are most eager to solve problems we have created by ourselves.

I hear outcries like: " It´s crisis, how can you do well?" or when the newspaper write about another catastrophe here and there.
To be honest, I care about problems that people carry to me with passionate interest in creating an outstanding solution, why should I waste time with problems I can not fully grasp, especially when they happen to take place far, far away?

Sure thing, terrible things happen in the world, every day, every hour and every minute, and an equally number of great things do happen at the same time in the same world, how is this possible?

Simple answer first: Ying and Yang. Black and white, cup half-full and half-empty. Day and night.
Makes sense, right?

It always depends on how we see things and if we are able to change our worldview through others. If you believe in the BS television will make you believe, its your own fate, and please don´t wonder why the cup is always half-empty.
Its totally important to know your conversation partner, because you can´t tell heaven from hell, blue skies from pain and a green field from a cold steel rail. (From Pink floyd - Wish you were here)

If I do well, for whatever reason, its my own luck and its absolutely crucial to know with whom I share this luck. With the right people this luck can double, with the wrong people, it can grow anger and envy.
In this regard, the lyrics and hidden advice from Pink Floyd are golden, like so many of their songs.

An interesting thing I noticed, is that it is vital to share any positive vibe and happenings with clients and true friends, with people who enjoy hanging out or working with you. These people are multipliers for positive mindsets and "doing well"- notifications because they invest, time, money, or both and love to see you grow.

I think its good to know that, and its important to filter what you share with people around you.
Last but not least its also important to treat the people who invest in you with appreciation and not forget their confidence in you.

If you do that, there is no competition, only collaboration, only full or half-full cups and always a steady change of days and nights.

So, how do you do?

]]> 2011-11-25T11:30:00-05:00 Artbook Review: Machines and Magic urn:uuid:1030fb27-8528-9575-6029-7f4eb0201148 Just got my artbook order from Amazon the other day. Included in my order was "Kris Kuksi´s "Divination and Delusion, Jason Felix´s Salvaged, and the international sci-fi and fantasy artbook edited by Craig Musselman: "Machines and Magic"

About  this Machines and Magic artbook I wanted to write a little review, not only because I´m part of it, but also because I think it fills a gap between Spectrum and Exposé.

Here is a video that shows a flip through to get a glimpse of what you can expect from this book.
Flip-through preview:



The artist list includes names like Peter Mohrbacher, Rob Rey, Liiga Smilshkalne, Dimitri Sirenko, Raoul Vitale, George Patsouras and yours truly.

So what can I say about the book and am I supposed to say even something?
Well, I am a collector of artist books myself and I have seen a lot, my current collection counts over 100 art books! Standards of expections are often depending on the price and with $29.99 its not a steal, but its also in the middle field for a book of around 150 pages with pure inspiration, especially for a book on demand.

I know I could have got a pdf as a complimentary copy but when it comes to artbooks I prefer printed and physical books, which was the reason I supported Craig with this project.

For artists, especially illustrators working in the genre art, sci-fi and fantasy sector, its important to get published and these artbook compilations are a nice way to get exposure for little to no cost.
Ballistic books gives every included artist a free printed copy of the book and even entry is free, but its important to note that Ballistic does no book on demand and has the financial background to handle shipping and around 150-200 copies to artists worldwide.
Spectrum on the other hand has a fee on entries, no ftp submission - so basically artists have to pay in advance per piece + shipping costs for no certainty to be included. Some other publications like "Illustration Now" from Taschen are invite only, which is a system that in my opinion can´t show the true gems of what´s great out now, only what the editors know, and that can, but has not per se be to the best in fact.

Artwork: juried quality and a wide variety of technique
From the quality of artworks included I would say this is always depending on many factors: Artworks submitted by the artists for consideration and the taste of the editors for example.
The latter is a subject that I find even in books like "Spectrum" questionable at times, but in all these books it can be summed up to just a few percent of images that I´d have cut as editor.
The 91 artists included in this book span a wide variety on techniques, ranging from pencil to oils over digital painting to sculpture and photomanipulation. Unlike the Ballistic "Exposé" books where only CG-art is featured and even photomanipulation is not really considered CG!

Now to a little scarcity of the book that isn´t really an issue: the quality of the print is definitely great, just the paper of the interior is matte and has a mild structure. Which results in the impression that the prints are roughly rastered, but they are not! Its just the light on the paper structure that reflects oddly.

Other than that the colors are pretty great and the resolution of the printed images are excellent, opposed to some fuzzy pictures from the "Kris Kuksi" -artbook, which seem to be shot with a 3megapixel camera (which is a pity to say the least, but especially considering the price).

Conclusion:
Overall I can give out 4 of 5 Stars because of the paper choice of the publisher.
I know that all the editing and acquiring - to get the artist to participate in this project - has been a lot work for one person, this fact alone deserves to look over this little paper issue.
All in all it can be said its a very good overview over the genre art, sci-fi and fantasy illustration scene and my recommendation for an inspiration overdose is to buy this along with the most recent Spectrum #18 and Exposé #9 artbook!

You can order your copy either here via Amazon, or from the website of the editor.

Now some photographs of the book, (please note the images were made with ISO 800 and may not be perfectly reflecting the colors and the quality).









]]> 2011-11-09T05:56:00-05:00 Find the best in everybody urn:uuid:86ff81a0-caf7-37ce-efa1-900e838b4c25 2011-11-02T17:32:00-04:00 1955-2011 urn:uuid:b927e64a-9962-75a7-8a6a-fff5155f16a1 2011-10-09T05:47:00-04:00 5 Principles For Outstanding Book Cover Art urn:uuid:c6a3935b-9680-306c-2a8a-03aa956508d3 2011-09-09T06:09:00-04:00 Wacom´s Inkling: Imagine Invisible Layers - My Personal Opinion urn:uuid:6e6dcd56-04cb-8a6a-6b06-933cc4d3b119 Inkling", with a specific pen and hardware that can interpret the movements on paper you are even able to digitize sketches on the go:



The idea is good but when viewing this "promotional video" with the "why-how-what" principle in mind, I realize there is no why, no actual reason for me to say "Yes" to this fancy new product - big fail from the marketing department here. Sure would it be great if my idea can start as traditional sketches and immediately become digitized, but can you tell me one reason why I should not stick with the sketch-on-the-go-and-scan-later-at-office practice?

The reason I predict this product to be a fail (please note: this is my personal opinion) is that the benefit for artists in general is much smaller than the costs and that it targets at artists of all classes but forgets that only digital experts can think in invisible layers.

The benefits that are evident at the first glance might be time saving aspect and the ability to digitize on the go.
This might be true if you are a comic artist and if inking digitally over pencils is a pain for you.
I´m not bothering about the prize here, this gadget might be good for any doodler or early adopter who wants to show something fancy to their friends, but professionals who have to deliver on a tight deadline need a better reason.

Above all it requires from me to get used to a clumsy pen. I wonder what happens when the battery is empty "on the go" and if you even can see the layers you are creating, some people have even issues with layers they see in Photoshop, what about "invisible-layers" then?

I can only speak for myself and I work on sketches with an F or H pencil for a rough and an HB mechanical pencil for detail works. Its comfortable enough to scan the sketch and work from there in Photoshop for shadings, coloring and finalizing the work. And I know the workflow of most professionals who still work on paper is similar. The main problem is time for a really good workflow, changing the workflow means less productivity, in the worst case a failed investment and even worse: lost time.

Show me a presentation where an art-director utilize such a gadget to demonstrate the use of it in a meeting for example or a comic book artist who really can benefit from working into vector inks directly from a sketchbook.
This would be for sure a smaller target audience, but the promise wouldn´t be too big to keep, just realistic.

But Wacom, I will not leave you in the dark about any reason for sales reluctance:
If you can find a better reason for artists to use such a device and say "YES" to your product, you are on a good way. Or if you learn to target a specific audience within the artist community, instead of speaking to all artists with one Ad. And by the way; not everyone is an expert in imagining invisible layers:)

MY prediction for an epic-win would be pressure sensitive stylus (or support) for the iPad, but I´m saying this since years and no one is hearing me, go on you fingerpainters and inklings, in a few years you come back to this blog and say:" you were so right" :-)
]]> 2011-08-31T05:32:00-04:00 How To Inspire Action urn:uuid:dd136b83-11c9-9fe8-07b6-b7548cf52ebf
One might think that I´m an artist and so I better should draw and put up my sketchbook or latest works here for the world to see, yadda yadda...
If that is your view of what artists should do, then please move on to another artists blog, this space is reserved for my personal growth and interests that I share with those who are genuinely interested in achieving their goals too.

There is a reasonable difference between calling to action and inspiring action.
Website designers build sites around the -popular "call to action", which might work to get you to download the newest skype version but to get someone to submit an inquiry to ask for your service as a freelance illustrator, requires a bit more.
That´s where inspiration comes into play. Inspiration has the big advantage that it is free, it feels good and in the best case it sends chills down your spine, which create an emotional interconnection. This makes the experience unforgettable - that´s when you feel the need to connect with a person on a deeper level and share your views and conceptions to bring them to life, even years later the linkage is still active because its connected with the person, images, whatsoever... which is practically more worth than any big website "call to action"-button.

Simon Sinek had an interesting TED-talk about the power of inspiration which I´d like to recommend:



The justified question which might come up by visitors to this blog, is why I don´t post more tutorials or walk -through´s and images, the answer is simple, there are a lot other artists who show what they have done and how they did it, but that´s not what I want, my ambition is to inspire action to create works that are not yet created.

A few month ago I considered to change my blog. Now and inspired by this TED talk, I contemplated again, critically focused on my purpose. Rather than to go for the "how" and "what" I found that I am just on the right path with my blog, instead of updating just with my recent work (what) or tutorials (how) I rather like to understand why the world works the way it does. People expect from me to paint the things they imagine, but at the same time they silently expect to get inspired. This is the point where you either deliver just what the client wants, or you act and go a step further by pushing a concept or idea to a higher level. Sure you have to be in a position to do so, I can just speak for myself here and I believe I wouldn´t stand here where I am now, without giving more than I was asked for, every time.

I like to inspire people, with emotional labor and creativity, I feel sense and purpose in finding solutions, that´s my honest reason why I prefer illustration and commercial art over fine art. With international publications I can inspire far more people in the world than with a gallery reception and works that are only affordable to a few.

The "what factor" is not important to me, because once a work is done and out of my head - its done, it might be great and getting better with every new piece, but the really exciting process is when a concept comes to life - (every author/editor knows or should know how that feels) and that´s why I do what I do and why I chose to do this over and over again, until I´m old and boring.

I really believe in things not yet created and I feel good going a different way as artist. Whilst others misuse the medium blog for their picture-dumps(what) and tutorials(how) I find that it is especially necessary to go the opposite direction to attract the just right clients, people who go for the same value as I do, the confidence, the vision and personality that lead to an extraordinary and successful collaboration.

The personal reason why I chose to be creative for the long run is the driving force that is connected with the happiness that comes when a project launches and leads to new connections, new challenges and most important: satisfied, inspired clients and their happy customers.

Average is everywhere, to stand out you not only need to think different, even outside the box isn´t enough, you need to walk outside the edges of the box to have the perfect view over in-and-outside.

Satchel Paige puts a summary of my credo in just three sentences:
Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching.


-


"Get inspired"
]]> 2011-08-26T02:42:00-04:00 Art Theft or Theft-Art? urn:uuid:5052e6aa-3b08-52e6-e86a-f8ac45c88519
For some evidence, here are blogs and more info around the theft:
- http://dametora.deviantart.com/journal/Massive-Art-Theft-Updates-253362644
- http://blog.deirdrereynolds.com/2011/08/art-theft-scam-list.html
- http://sflchronicle.com/chronic-featured/chronic-art/2011/08/calling-all-deviantart-artists-that-have-been-screwed-by-chad-love/
- http://www.fleen.com/archives/2011/08/17/one-thing-i-didnt-expect-to-do-when-i-woke-up-today-call-a-us-senator/

Screengrab from Alexiuss deviation
Alexiuss has setup a PayPal-fund for being able to
pay a lawyer for this case, many of his works were stolen, compared to others and its becoming a really popular thread, so anyone whose work is also ripped should donate a few bucks.





Two of my work including SayNoGood where the screenshot is available, was also in his catalog of works:
Thanks to Andreea Cernestean for the links.
SayNoGood by fantasio























Actually I have not the time to worry too much about rip-offs or plagiarism, if the value is high enough, I have a lawyer for this, but in this case the value is still not enough to have a chance for an overseas lawsuit, especially since the site is taken down its hard to show proof and to get things to court.

The only thing I hope is that the community of artists and helpers who track everything down and put every piece of the puzzle together to show evidence of the theft will have success. This blog post and a donation to Alexiuss fund, is my way to help the community of artists to raise awareness.

Actually I don´t bother if artists chose to copy my work, or someone elses, even when the edge between inspiration and plagiarism is suspect, I don´t really bother, because eventually the artist in question learns something out of this. But in this case the artist in question has shown only one ability and this is theft. Theft itself is an artform, an underappreciated, but its art too for some people. But in this case the thief was so dumb to mess with a whole community of artists and the battle as also the informations about the whole persona will be manifested into the memory of the internet for generations to come. Hopefully in a daunting manner.

Feel free to share, blog or repost this article or write your own to make people aware of this fraud, thanks.

]]> 2011-08-22T06:29:00-04:00 Social Media - Evolution On Two Ends urn:uuid:0bb9bec9-dc68-0faf-bd89-e74742e5d3ff
I have to say I didn´t thought it was that worth of a hype, I skipped "Buzz" and "Google-Wave" - but this time it smelled like a different story.
After playing a while and getting the hang of it, it feels natural to use. Since I use gmail from the web its even natural to check in to G+ instead of facebook because it sits there, all the time.

Here a more visual approach to show the use for G+ :
Sure the first thing to decide is if you give in to the "real name policy" of google, I´m used to it, so no problem for me, I run a business and its important to show up as a real person, not just as a fictional character. And I assume google is trying to leave gamers and spammer out of their networks to increase productivity and fight procrastination. To be honest there are enough platforms for this, everyone whining about this real name policy hasn´t understand what G+ is about.

Here´s a great example of productivity, google tools and the network in action: A plain artist listing table, which grows every minute: (click here to see the G+ post) Share and participate to find other artists!

My impression so far is that Google+ offers the productivity and usefulness of twitter, combined with a professional ambition of LinkedIn and the social connectivity of facebook in one place.

I think we are a lucky generation to experience social media, the sunny side of globalization.
When talking about this phenomenon, people not familiar with that topic shrug and feel like being left outside the field. I try to bring a comparison on the table that changes the perception for most people easily.

Lets go back in history for this:
  • We first learned - and still do that in school - through books about different countries and events that changed the history.
  • Later when the media stations controlled the Television as tool to bring their news to the masses, we learned that things happened in the world that changed our state, right then and there.
  • Today we have the ability to get first-hand information about people from Iraq, politicians, or our favorite artists and what they really think about this or that.
This is plain awesome, but with such a pool of possibilities, it happens that we feel lost.

Whom to trust and whom to follow is a question, not a lifestyle.

People might ask now, why is there a need for another social network and yet another and yet another?
I´d say simply because there are always other people. And the same people do not share the same stuff on all networks.

When I first started to get my feet on the ground over at myspace, it felt good to use all the css hacks to create a stunning profile page, but does it help me to build and maintain trustful relationships or to get business at all? No.

Then there was twitter, it changed a lot - I learned to put thoughts into 140 characters that means more than 10 sentences. It also helped me to find engaging people to keep business motivating, some trustful relationships were built and existing ones were maintained.

Facebook was hard to come by at the first time, it took me a while to get through all the settings and terms of services, but finally I managed to separate business from personal space, a thing I simply forgot to do on myspace and also maintained successfully personal and business relationships.

This is an evolution and one where not only the developers of these sites have to learn, also the users have to get into the matter as well and learn to use the given tools properly. I think G+ is in this regard what OSX is for the MAC. Its not all about customization, its about usability, interaction and ease of use.

If there is one thing to say about the social media platforms and how users can be divided, there might be one simple answer: There are only two different kind of entities - active and passive.
These two types of people are always around us, those who do something and those who just enjoy the show.

It only depends which type of persons you want to have in your circles and what opportunities you want to gain. My conclusion so far is that G+ is for the active!
]]> 2011-07-22T17:42:00-04:00 The Half Life Of Art urn:uuid:dfaf5cc5-b569-c0b7-db68-c2c220c486ac A half-life is the amount of time required for half of a given substance to decay. Half-life is applied to materials that experience exponential decay, meaning that the rate of decay is directly proportional to the amount of the substance, slowing down as the substance depletes. Read more

Half life is also a mighty business factor and can be metaphorical applied to goods and services.
However everything that has a rule has exceptions that confirms the rule, exactly that is what makes considering average things in the shape of half life so interesting and surprisingly measurable.

The average bestseller book makes most of its sales in around two month of its entire life. A point that artists need to consider if they submit works to print services might be the half life of an average featured print that is just a few days.

Art featured in traditional galleries or art shows can develop a different half life. Popular art from names like Picasso or Michelangelo define either their very own half life or are exceptions to the rule when a piece of art is getting another "highest amount ever sold for" at Christies or other auctions...

Regarding the niche you are going for its important to measure instead of trusting in god or lying to yourself.
This makes the process of uploading content to the web more professional. And with professional I´m not referring to quality but the quantity of works presented at a give amount of time.

I suspect half life even works for friendships, I mean the personal interactions in real life, not the facebook friendships. You see yourself often connected much at the first time with a new friend, because its exciting and after a while it is just boring to do the same stuff alltogether. I believe that half life also works in social media and business connection. But don´t fear, if you have the Poem "Steps" from Hermann Hesse in mind it doesn´t matter:

Let me cite the following part to show you why:

High purposed we shall traverse realm on realm,
cleaving to none as to a home,
the world of spirit wishes not to fetter us
but raise us higher, step by step.
Scarce in some safe accustomed sphere of life
have we establish a house, then we grow lax;
only he who is ready to journey forth
can throw old habits off.
I bet art is the only thing in life that is able to define its very own half life.
]]> 2011-07-17T06:26:00-04:00 In Search Of Divine Proportion urn:uuid:6d4d48cd-3f22-804f-c2d0-18dccb3c102e ™ in any way.

But I began to realize on what kind of a journey I am with art. Like many artists before and around me, I´m striving for perfection, but artistry also demands that you know when to stop. Striving for perfection is rather a curse than a blessing, tenacity can help to overcome perfection.

If we start to strive less for perfection and more for divine proportion, we see things different as artists.

In search for the divine proportion we are on a path, maybe an expedition to find the awesome anatomy that uses to blow minds. Proportions are usually based on anatomy rules, this is where the artists have a playground to raise the bar, by bending, stretching and changing anatomy in a fabulous, even surprising way, sometimes more, sometimes less.

Below I will feature some art and artist that inspire me by both, finding and verifying that its possible to create awesome anatomy that is sure to become legendary.
I hope you enjoy!


Bao Pham

Jason Chan for Wizards of the coast

Holdeen


Warren Louw

Chichoni

Kai Spannuth - dpi-graphics

Jace Wallace / Wakkawa

Brom

Mark Newman

James Ryman

Stanley Lau / Artgerm

Serge Birault / Papa Ninja

William A. Bouguereau

Khary Randolph

Yangqi

Jeff Simpson


This list will be updated with new inspirations from time to time.









]]> 2011-07-04T10:53:00-04:00 Why Lying To Yourself Is More Powerful Than Belief urn:uuid:f4e87f7d-b39e-fc0a-728e-d6c837f87027 When it comes to high pressure and very stressful situations in life its better to know than to believe.

Johan Lorbeer
We humans are a fascinating species, we make everything complex out of simple things like black and white.
That may be the reason why religion and science exist, why we can fly to the moon but can´t cure cancer.

My approach to successful self affirmation is whether driven by esoteric means or spirituality, its part of my being to believe in myself rather than a god. Ah wait... the belief was yesterday, today I know, or better said I know how to lie to myself.
I have to say its part of my daily routine and whenever the situation occurs I tend to see why something is working and why some things are doomed to fail.

The title may sound bold, but here is a solid explanation why its absolutely right;

As children we learn to believe in a god and it might even be a kind of knowledge that we feel, we have no proof but our parents do believe too, right?  Depending on our growth the belief can decrease as young adults and in later life god is only a mere assumption. But what is lost with the belief is the knowledge, or better said the process of the belief how knowledge, or lying successfully to ourself, works.

We can learn to lie to ourselves again when we learn how marketing works

Seth Godin has a nice example in his book "All marketers are liars" Where he describes this process with the taste of expensive wine from a $2 Glass and a $50 Glass. Tests have shown to a lot persons, not knowing about the price differences, that there is no change of flavor. The only thing that´s left is the price, maybe the design and the fact that it is expensive so it has to taste better. What works here is a lie. A lie that we tell to ourselves and to others. In the mean to buy such an expensive glass and lead arguments to friends who are in doubt we come into the "marketer" position ourself and being successful in converting our friends we turn into liars too, or we accept the lie as a truth which makes our conversation with a friend feel better.

This example literally happens several times a day to us, we lie to ourselves in the belief that it is the truth. We believe newspapers, we believe the diagnosis of a doctor, we pretend that the price for an apple is justified, etc. But do we know all of these things? Either we tell ourself a lie or we believe it, but no one knows for sure.

When it comes to situations described in the first sentence, lets say facing a meeting with an important client, and our work is just halfway done, why isn´t it possible to lie to ourselves in a way that we can ensure a wonderful outcome for both parties? Like with the converted friends who drink overpriced wine out of overpriced wine glasses?

Because we are trained that believe is inherent and that lying is wrong, blame your parents for that.
If we can learn to reconnect emotions with the aspect of knowledge, we can adapt this connection to really powerful affirmations that work.

An example: You can associate that feeling of knowledge that you are right, when in that thriller movie you can exactly say why someone is the killer from the onset and the ending shows proof of that.

It is simple as that, observe this behavior and especially the emotional connection and try to reproduce this feeling when doing a self-affirmation, lets say you want to be successful in the meeting tomorrow- its all about knowing how to lie to yourself in a way that you believe it, and you´re done. 

]]> 2011-06-26T05:34:00-04:00 The Fear Of Failure urn:uuid:3724a9cc-f1ee-0718-44a2-ebf2ee0ce7f5 Milton Glaser is a graphic designer,
best known for the I Love New York logo,
his "Bob Dylan" poster, the "DC bullet"
logo used by DC Comics from
 and the "Brooklyn Brewery" logo.

"Know or listen to those who know."
Baltasar Gracian

This quote is so important that we forget about the meaning from time to time, I´m glad someone mentioned on twitter the link to a Milton Glaser speech about the fear of failure.

In this Video below he describes the process of failure which seems to be contradictory to professionalism as an important asset for creative people.

He encourages to embrace failure and that by transgression an artist can develop a unique style that leads to a unique selling proposition.

In a world where everyone guesses that everything is already invented, the only way to find a niche is to allow, even embrace - failure.




Milton Glaser – on the fear of failure. from Berghs' Exhibition '11 on Vimeo.


In my opinion its important to be careful with the experimentation and failure part and its something that needs to be kept like a secret behind a curtain sometimes. The reason is simply that the public or target audience want to see results and repeated success stories. And its important striving to see how other artists have become a success through failure to find inspiration, but if it comes to the unique selling proposition - this should never be the main topic of any conversation.

I have written about the many disciplines an artist has to master and like a big company like Coca Cola or Sony or Google have laboratories and special departments to find new ways of making things, any artist should spend some time in the lab.

I highly recommend to read "Ten things I learned" from Milton Glaser´s page as part of AIGA talk from November 2001, very good insights about the industry and creative professionalism.
]]> 2011-06-18T04:54:00-04:00 You Get What You Give: How To Deal With Criticism urn:uuid:d8f243f9-ad41-af22-27c8-353586c737a4 "We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give."
Sir Winston Churchill

You can think what you want, believe in what seems best for you, but one thing cannot be denied: there are some universal rules like gravity around us that apply to all and every individual. We can learn how to cheat on these rules, like closing the eyes in hope that they might not see us, but sooner or later they will get us.
There is a reason why there is lie in believe, in in pain and if in life.

When it comes to these rules you either have an ethical understanding for them, such as knowing that breathing fresh air is good for you. Is this understanding inherent, you no longer believe, hope or guess, you simply know.
Its the same with giving and receiving constructive critique as an artist. Its absolutely important and helpful for those getting the enlightenment through another individual who takes their time to point out flaws or weakness of another artists work.

Lets talk about some online-community habits...
It does cost time, it even forces you to outline your thoughts well and it needs a writing that does not hurt the artist in critique.
But the most important aspect of giving helpful and constructive critique is that it does help the critic far more than the one who is being criticized.

In fact: if appreciated from both sides, it even create a true connection between those two parties.

Sounds weird, doesn´t it? But the reason why its true is simple. It just is a basic rule that applies here: you need to be objective to realize whats wrong to point out any flaws, which in turn helps you to avoid this error yourself. (Assumed its a constructive critique)  Do this often and you are (theroretically) a master.

How to deal with inappropriate criticism is material for another post, but being objective is the key here, regardless on which side you are. If you or your work is put into critique, it means you´ve done something right, I´m quoting Bruce Lee here; you only attack someone who is in possession of the ball.

This means on the other side you need to be interesting enough to get even criticized.
No one would want to put 5 minutes writing on a piece of art that is done or looks like its done in 2 minutes. Hard but true.

Another quote about that topic is from Randy Pausch: When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be. Your critics are your ones telling you they still love you and care.

In terms of social media and the possibilities we have today with the internet, it means that its far more important to make real connections to true people. That is the key to find people who care for you and who wholeheartedly support you in whatever you do. But this should always be a 2 way street. Without these "true" friends, you will get nowhere, not 10k myspace friends nor 100k twitter followers stand behind you if you fail, because the habit of accepting the - oh so easy to fawn on getting praise, will evoke exactly that you´ll fail...sooner or later.

Which lead to another conclusion, that its always easier to believe the praise than the bad words.
The best attitude you can develop is to see the "words of praise" as motivation factor that is reason to get your butt up in the morning and the critics are the ones that give you reason to work harder on yourself - to get you even later to bed.

As a subsequent conclusion it can be said that the level of critique you´ll receive is always dependent on what you give and how much popularity you gain. Sometimes not a really justified or pleasing system, but in that aspect not much of a difference than in the real world.

After all you´ll always have to do with people not just numbers, screen-names or machines, and people live by rules, right?
]]> 2011-06-11T16:50:00-04:00 Artmarketing Lesson From Mr.Brainwash & Banksy urn:uuid:939dede9-78d9-45a4-664b-3f7b8b8b91be
Quick edit in OBEY style 
Recently I watched "Exit through the giftshop" - the Banksy movie for the second time and I won´t get into detail, or do a review, since these exist from far better sources.
I just assume that you´ve seen the movie (trailer here) or know the outlines, to understand the following.

I think that it is a really good exercise about marketing, if you ever want to get an idea of how the artmarket does work, this documentary is a must see.

The sad message and my conclusion first: Really successful art comes not from artists it comes from marketers, and marketers are liars (according to Seth Godin) A marketer can be anyone. And since the profession artist isn´t protected, everyone can proclaim to be an artist if in reality he is a salesman, because thats what Thierry Guetta, pretty obviously, is to me.

The even more sad part of the message is that artist like Banksy and Shepard Fairey who worked a decade on building a reputation through Streetart in the art market, can watch their art being auctioned on the secondary market for 50k $ (-and up) while they have sold it in the first place for literally, an apple and an egg.

Here´s why this will never happen to Mr. Brainwash due to his unique art marketing method:
  • He makes mostly derivatives of known imagery, this increases recognizability (Warhol principle)
  • Makes even more parody, or different takes on even more known imagery
  • Learns from the best of the scene to know what works and what is possible to achieve
  • He does make sales beginning at the upper prize segment and avoids the apple and egg problem
  • Uses quotes from well known artists to boost credibility in the media and public relations
  • Is confident enough to invest a lot of money to create rather an event than just an artshow
  • Knows how Damien Hirst and other big-players run their business and outsources the creative aspects of the work and concentrates on generating just the ideas and delegating tasks
  • Appears in a movie with well known artists to underline the value of his work as promotion for his upcoming artshows and to deliver a story that is meant to be told, describing him as a phenomenon
  • Has no problems with reproducing stuff and copyrights at all, because he is not an educated artist and therefore has not to worry about that matter, because the public doesn´t do either
As silly as it sounds, these are the shortcuts to success that no artschool ever teaches, and a concept that cannot be franchised. To be honest, in my humble opinion it will only work for non-artists, because artists are usually a very passionate folk and do rather work and create fancy ways to standout rather than to please others with the tenth derivation of a work that the public already knows.

The good thing I see in this development, is that when streetart has become the potential to be marketable on the stock market and places like Christies, its just a question of time when digital art can do that. Because screen printing is not art, its a technique and if an artist utilizes it- the result CAN be art.

Fact is that there is not much difference between streetart and the internet or digital art, if you have a message with your creation and you don´t hesitate to post it everywhere on the net and dare to make it viral, the effect is similar to a Banksy graffity between two telephone booths.

The biggest question is to ask ourself what we really want. Banksy has left the actual grafitti-scene because he wasn´t really good at it and devoted his style towards the stencils. When he crossed the borders between street and fine art, he switched to installations which even better transported his messages. My conclusion is also that Mr. Brainwash reflects the extreme of a "worst thing that could happen" to the art world. And its interesting to see that it would not have happened if Banksy wouldn´t existed - he may benefit from Guetta´s success, but its a sad event to know that one is the cause of such a "worst case scenario".

Which obviously lead to the thought if Mr.Brainwash really exist or is it a figure created by Banksy to just smack the artworld? Even if it is an experiment that should only show WHAT is possible to achieve, its a big slap in the face of everyone who believes this stuff, because it shows that artists are replaceable by cogs in the machine.
]]> 2011-05-31T05:32:00-04:00 The Dr. House Guide To Indispensability urn:uuid:1a9d70a2-9afd-7c9c-8a0e-44b9e2d04762
“I take risks, sometimes patients die, but not taking risks causes more patients to die - so I guess my biggest problem is I've been cursed with the ability to do the math.”
Dr. Gregory House

I don´t think this guy needs any explanation, but in case you are not familiar with House, M.D. you should fill in the blanks with this bit of information first: Wikipedia.

Its obvious that the character played by Hugh Laurie isn´t a fancy guy that everyone loves, but he is intelligent.
If Vulcanians could be humans, I bet he´d be one. But how on earth can a story around a doctor, who is immune to emotions of others become so impressively successful? 

The most fascinating effect might be having the urge to beat that guy while at the same time you´ll hug him (manhug:). I believe its the epitome of a stereotype that we expect from a demigod in white.
But with the difference that this doc doesn´t wear white, is drug addicted, a cripple, cheats, and expects that everyone is a liar. This makes him a human, everyone has flaws, he just accepted his and compensates it with a passion for his job.

It doesn´t matter if you want to become a better artist, illustrator, freelancer or CEO, you think you are indispensible because you run a business? Then read on:
  • Push the limits, if you think your idea is great, think twice (differential diagnose)
  • Don´t believe that any result is a dogma and need to be worshiped, counterproof
  • keeping a clear distance to clients can help being more objective
  • Learn to let go and the art of the head fake in order to solve difficult problems
  • You cannot please everyone, make clear decisions and stick to them
  • Put everything and the status quo into Question, even, or because everything seems to be fine
The last one is the most important one, be hard to yourself and your peers, work hard on that part and the world becomes a better place.
I´m not too fond of medical TV series, to be honest I don´t watch TV, (sometimes a series on DVD) but the main character is too interesting and the little truths about human psychology give a lot food for thoughts.

Well, House encourages and motivates himself and his colleagues with the methods above, which are absolutely substantial to becoming indispensable, regardless of what you do.

Incorporate these rules listed above in your day and you are ahead of your competition.

]]> 2011-05-21T19:48:00-04:00 Do You See the Work? urn:uuid:b4c070ae-a09a-a6dc-0313-36517a7619d6 This is a personal answer to a blog post from someone not related to art or the artists business.

Nonetheless, I feel its important to take the time and contemplate myself as a part of answering the following question:

If you have ten minutes unscheduled and the phone isn´t ringing, what do you do? What do you start to do?

Again a Seth Godin post, according to him, you can judge an organization or a person by what they do when they have a bad day, or the extreme opposite, when no routine or crisis is on the schedule.

What I have learned through my apprenticeship was worth a full time business, such as the one I´m running right now, and the rule is simple:

See the work!

I had filled three years of my life in an apprenticeship with just seeking the work. And unlike others who just seeked work to look busy, I learned to pick up and see what I CAN do and what seems to be the most fun to me.

OK, that wasn´t always possible, but I had asked to do the work I wanted to do, so much that others gave me the chance to do it.

This has changed my view and there is no such thing as laziness, probably my 10 minutes that I have without a ringing phone, business email or commission to work on there is a big pile of options I can chose from:

  • Writing a blog post like this one
  • Putting up new works on my web portfolios
  • Trying out a new tool or technique
  • Going through my folder with started but not finished works
  • Tidy up desktop or workplace (no kidding)
  • Reading blogs community news and see what the competition is up to
  • Backup data
  • Updating website with new works, text or searching for flaws
  • Trying out a complete new technique that I always wanted to do, but never had the time to
  • Go for a stroll with the camera and trying to find some nice textures
  • Just making a nap and take a small break
  • Tidy up mail-inbox 
  • Writing invoices
  • Doing the taxes
You see: no idle time ;)

I think its also quite important to acknowledge that as artist you have not only the big responsibility of putting the "status quo" into question, its also important to expose yourself to failure every here and then.

Its not possible to be a true artist if you are not able to make failure and experiment.
No one wants you to climb the Mount Everest unsupported, but a different perspective on the craft you have mastered can bear a crucial enlightenment.

I spoke with a so called local artist after a show / event, where I represented my work and she discussed that its only possible to define a "style" by narrowing the focus, she was very much surprised that I said that the only possibility to create a "style" is to make failure, or better said expose yourself to failure by doing experiments.

That said from a person like me who does 70% digital art, maybe comes with a surprise-tag to her in that discussion and I found it funny. But sad at the same time that people often are so shortsighted.
]]> 2011-05-16T16:10:00-04:00 What is the driving force for artists? urn:uuid:2caeb216-9dce-6d8d-b7c4-0b2f287bf057 That people don´t get, its actually work I´m doing" - resulting in the next problem "Getting asked to do work for free"

Which are, according to this poll, very highly voted problems for most artists.

The first problem in question is depending on how artists speak, act and create a public image of what they do.

We never would estimate that someone with the name Hajime Sorayama would do a single work for free, even if you find tons of his work in fan-galleries across the globe. This is simply due to the fact that he has built a reputation around his work as an authority. If you ever want a reference on how to paint "chrome" or even "gynoids" you´ll stumble about Sorayama.

Sure it takes ages to create this public image and its a long personal growing process, that begins with the serious recognition in the family. Artist raised by parents who are professional artists have it easier to deal with this problems, and probably grow faster into the habit of showing professionalism to anyone.

The first problem I see is that most artists are obviously too easy enthusiastic about new ideas and fall into the habit of speaking to early about things they will do, but havn´t done yet.

RSAnimate have a nice animation about the motivation and the driving force behind it.
The interesting fact is it purely applies to artists that money isn´t the driving force, but the reward of:

Satisfaction       -      mastery of skills          -         autonomy



The problem with these above mentioned keywords, is that some clients (black sheep ) do exploit this very often.

While in a factory you won´t find autonomy, satisfaction and a mastery of any skill, people tend to do art as a hobby. No wonder that some scammer, even commercial ones try to exploit this and motivate artists to work for "great exposure", promise them that its a great chance to get better, facing a challenge and on top of it all,you´re autonomic, this means you get exactly all these things any one can dream of...but wait, where is the hook?

You got it, here´s the hook, you should do work for free, or very low.

The video shows the example of Linux with the idea of enthusiasts doing exactly this.
But this is a whole different story, since anyone who contributes to Linux does only a fraction of the whole work. Today it would be labelled as crowd sourcing, but the video describes it better, its called contribution.

My solution and  how I deal with this problem is simply that I do only work "for free" when it is a personal work or a by-product of a commercial project and share it with the community, which in turn is also a contribution.

The trap most artists fall for, is to think that great exposure will bring them fame and fortune, and business as well.

But forget it, its hard work and these three cornerstones: "Autonomy, mastery and purpose" must be inherent if you ever want to be a freelancing successful artist. Anyone who wants to sell you something else is simply a scam.

Even modern artists like Banksy or Hirst have built their capitalistic business of art around these cornerstones, just with a slightly bigger public image and the fortitude of the stock market in the back.
]]> 2011-05-11T05:32:00-04:00 Photoshop Brush Tutorial Part II: Digital Painter´s Toolbox urn:uuid:3ae97fae-6c75-39a1-9e5b-250330f76ec7 When you followed the many links and instructions from the first Photoshop brushes tutorial, you have gained a good insight in the capability of Photoshop as a sophisticated painting tool.

This guide gives basic advice on how brushes do work in Photoshop, get to know which dialogs are important to create your digital paintings and to create your own toolbox.
To get the most out of this tutorial, you should have basic knowledge about Photoshop, such as setting up a document and how layers do work.

Digital painting is as much work like oil painting, you can work out many or less details as you please, you can work one hour on a painting or hundred. But one thing is for sure: its not possible to produce great imagery by pressing just one button.

Painting digitally has some advantages such as "undo", changing the size of the canvas or cropping at any time and most important: layers. If you are good at drawing traditionally, chances are that after time and tenacity, you´ll reach a level where your digital creations look similar or even better than your traditional works. You can try out more and be brave with colors or perspective.
A foundation in traditional painting is not a prerequisite, but it helps, even if it is just drawing with pencils or ballpen.

TIP: Be honest to yourself, cheating, painting over or tracing from a photograph will NOT help you get better or faster there.

The secret "keys" to a magic workflow
Fortunately there are shortcuts, make use of them often and treat yourself with a better workflow.

Below is a list of tools and brushes I use all the time:
Note, this is my personal list, changed shortcuts are marked red, have a look at the standard PS keyboard shortcuts. I highly recommend to customize shortcuts and keys, this makes you more familiar with integral parts of the program and leads to more workplace ergonomy and speed.

Painting related:
[B]      The brush tool - allows you to paint with a wacom tablet like with a brush
[R]      Smudge - In earlier PS versions R was the smudge tool, so I changed the shortcut
[E]      Eraser - allows you to erase something from a layer
Canvas related:
[A]      Canvas rotate(since PS CS4) usually the key [R] I have set the shortcut to A
[SPACE] Hand tool - to move the canvas
[Z]       Zoom - allows you to zoom in, I use CTRL++ and CTRL+Ü for in and out zooming and
[CTRL+Ä] for actual pixel view of the image
Color related
[ALT] The eyedropper tool - this tool picks colors from anywhere in a picture
[X]      Switch between fore -and background colors - great for black and white sketching
Layer related:
[V]      Arrow tool - to move and place objects or layers
[L]      Lasso tool - allows you to select a specific area
[CTRL+T]  Transformation - this allows you to freely transform a selection
[CTRL+SHIFT+N] Create a new layer
Process related:
[ALT+SHIFT]  color picker tool - allows you to pick another color on the fly
[CTRL+Z] Undo - allows you to undo a step
[CTRL+ALT+Z]  Step back - allows you to undo more than one step
I recommend to set the key for "step back" to F1 for example, most people don´t read the help anyways.

So much for the theoretical part, now on to the practice:

Make the most of your brushes
Its intriguing to see how many brush resources are available for Photoshop, but if you are here for painting, its important to get the fundamentals down, otherwise the fancy stuff isn´t going to work*.
I have done a tutorial of an X-Men character with just 2 brushes, if you follow this tutorial, you understand why there is seldom a need for more than 2 brushes.


To make the most out of even the standard brushes, make yourself familiar with the brush-related dialogs


#1: The toolbar dialog:
Its useful for opacity, pressure sensitivity and flow, I mainly use opacity between 55%-75% and flow 75%-100% but this is a matter of personal preference. 






#2: Right-click-menu
The next toolbox can be reached with a right click while a brush is in use.
You can always change the brush size with the key [ALT] pressed while holding right click and then moving the pen either to the left or right, softness can be changed by moving up or down. But when you want to reset a brush size or chose another one, this dialog is quite useful.

















#3 The brush settings dialog
The next dialog is the most powerful one, its the brush main menu.
On the left side you see the main properties and if you click on one you´ll instantly see options on the right hand panel on the bottom you see the direct impact of your settings -pretty simple?






















TIP: Get yourself into the habit of doing random warm-ups before starting to work on an actual piece, that gives you enough reason and time to explore this dialog pretty much.
There is no universal receipt of what works and what not, its all about habits, preferences and goals, but I can´t stress enough how important it is to make use of it!

I like to achieve naturally looking works that contain realism and a traditional look. The best way to master the settings is to experiment when looking at traditionally painted reference works. Go to a museum, study the old masters, make photographs and try to match colors and strokes/textures.

#4: The tool-presets dialog
Try to imitate crayons or pencil, if you have created an outstanding brush, you can save it into the tool presets dialog, the last and also important dialog box related not only to brushes:

click the icon to add a
 brush to the presets dialog





















#5: The agony of choice: Colors
For colors and palettes, you have several options: Kuler standard color dialog, or swatches.











Often suggested by professionals is to create a layer just for mixing colors. Then pick a color with the eyedropper tool and mix it on that layer, this allows to change colors in your paintings intuitively .
An advanced technique would be to duplicate that layer and change colors via [ALT+U] to expand the one palette to pick colors from.

















The "essential" Photoshop brushes in action
I won´t limit anyone, but if I´m asked for a useful advice, it will sound like this:
Less is more!

Better get the most out of one brush than to get entangled in a mess of brushes you don´t know anything about. Get an expert in the round brush and you´re nearly a master of all brushes.

Nr. 1 The simple round brush, lets see what that one can do
























I use this brush for most detail works and areas which need fine definition such as skin, clothes, etc, its really a reliable allrounder. Its something like crayon, pencil, airbrush and pen in one even more powerful in combination with the smudge tool.

Below you see an example of the round brush in action, no other brush was used for this sketch. Only the above shown settings and variations thereof were used in this somewhat detailed drawing.

























Whatever you are going to paint, the round brush can do it. I´d go as far as saying that this is the most important brush to master for any beginner of the medium.


Nr. 2: The rectangular brush
The only other brush you´ll need























This one is different, you cannot soften it in the right-click menu, but you can combine it with a dual brush setting, add the scatter element, or add texture to make it even more powerful.
The best use for the rectangular shape lies in creating rough concepts and defining landscapes, applying textures is also fun with this brush.

Below you see an example of this brush in action. The aim of a rough concept is not to deliver a final rendition, its best to use low contrast values to paint random shapes and work them out as you see something in them, this is also a great exercise.






















Its easy, once you got used to see the shapes, a great tool to train this potential is called Alchemy.
In another blog post about imagination I explain a bit more about shapes and pattern recognition ability in general.
Concept artists and industry professionals use this technique to begin their outstanding works, one mentionable fellow is daarken, from whom you find highly recommended video tutorials using the rectangular brush in a masterful way.

See the video teaser below for my process from a rough concept to a semi- final artwork



Or if you have the time, the full video (25 minutes) with explaining subtitles can be watched at dtuts.com for free.

Questions or comments are welcome!
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