Hey Steemers,
As some of you might know (those who read my 'introducemyself' blog) I've been working as a freelance concept artist and illustrator for the past few years.
I started out about 5 years ago as a freelancer. I've been drawing and painting for 8,5/9 years, but only when I felt I was 'good' enough to get some work, did I go out and find some... to be honest, it just came to me for some reason.
I think it was due to the fact that I was always busy, I tried to post all my sketches or studies on my Conceptart.org / Deviantart page or Facebook.
Back then I was drawing for at least 8 hours a day, so I always had something to show for.
Being that active on those artist networks shows you are taking it seriously and you have a larger chance of being seen by an Art Director or someone who needs to get something drawn. (one of my first jobs was to paint cards for the World of Warcraft TCG, an Art Director had scouted me through one of the art forums.)
For yourself, it is good to have that habit. When you skip a day you feel like you missed something and u'll push a little harder to make up for it.
Another great thing about it is that you start to 'log' all your progress, you can easily go back a few weeks and see that you were 'worse' at drawing back then.. You see to start your progress and that motivates you like crazy!
Alot of people who want to make their living out of drawing and painting .. 'art'.. start of by just drawing the things that they like.
But to get better at the craft itself, draw things you don't like. We tend to stay in our comfort zone because we feel that's what we are good at, that's what we know how to do..
But you will see that when you start studying things like anatomy, perspective, color & light, materials etc etc, you will get so much better at drawing the things that you like.
A big part of being good at drawing and painting is not 'talent' or practice.. It is knowledge.
When you know how things are, how they work, how they act in certain situations, thats when you know how to replicate it from your mind.
For example; Understanding that light penetrates the top layer of the skin, then bounces around under your skin and lights up the tiny blood vessels turning the toplayer of your skin red.. knowing that allows you to apply such things in your paintings which actually makes it more believable and gives you the freedom to use it.. which makes you a bit more creative.
The same thing goes for anatomy, knowing what muscles are situated where and what form they take on when they stretch or subtract is key in making believable and good looking characters.
I'll see if I can write a blog soon about different sorts of studies that you can do to practice certain parts.
I'll conclude with a small list of books that I think every artist should have on their shelf to learn from.
Anatomy: Andrew Loomis - Figure drawing ( this book is super old and can be downloaded for free as a PDF, just google Andrew Loomis PDF.)
Color & Light - James Gurney
Imaginative Realism - James Gurney
Dynamic Anatomy - Burne Hogarth
If you have any questions, comments or requests.. please leave them below!
Have a great day!
Cheers!
-Rogier
Nice post, very useful advice. I've realized the same principles about learning to see colors and shapes in the world around us after I read Fantasy Art Techniques by Boris Valejo. He did not go into much detail, but he mentioned the same things you did.
And congratulations on working for Blizzard, you deserved it!
thank you :D yes, it is part of the same skill / realisation to start observing the world around you in a different way. Once you get that down, the progression will probably only go faster :)
So you have painted World of Warcraft TCG cards? :O
Wow, sounds like a great achievement for me. And also very nice post.
I believe that people who are leading some sort of businesses (be it companies, self-employees or freelancers) should focus more or less on social media presence because that's where you can advertise yourself and get in touch with customer / community. Or if you can afford this you can hire someone who can do this for you :)
Yeah, be an online presence, the more people get to see your stuff the bigger the chance the right eyes are looking at your stuff. Hiring an assistant to do that.. yeh Id probably have to boost my rates ;)))) and yeh man I did a couple of WOW tc's :D I was happy like a little kid when I got the job request in my mailbox :D
These are great suggestions! As a freelancer myself I can relate - ultimately you just have to do do do and do some more, and keep putting yourself out there and learning as much as possible. Love your posts, keep them up!
thanks a lot bro ! :) Yeh put your stuff out there for people to see, ask for critiques, its the fastest but most 'horrible' way to improve! But I defin recommend getting people to crit your work so get it in your face (the mistakes you make)
haha yeah I hear you there, it's definitely necessary to hear the bad to be better!
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Those are some great tips! I have been making art all of my life, but am guilty of staying within my comfort zone a lot. I really need to do mor figure studies. Keep up the good work. Upvoting and following.
That was a great post.. Makes me wish I did more figure drawing and learned to master Photoshop. I'm more a Vector Illustrator guy.