W.I.P. Podcast- Sci-Fi & Fantasy Illustration

Gencon 2010 roundtable and wrap-up

Gencon was (as always) a blast! Thanks to all of our listeners who stopped by and said hello!

As for the show, we’ve got a round table discussion with (in the order they talked):

And of course the four of us, but you all know who we are at this point anyway

The second half of the show we discuss what went well and what we’d do differently for next year

Music by Slugabed

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There’s a question that comes up very often in conversation with artists. “What are your inspirations”. When you are an artist yourself, this question seems silly and generally I’ve heard replies like ‘everything’ and listing of specific music, literature or artists. I have been trying to come up with a good answer to this question for quite a while and it forced me to think about inspiration more in relation to my own art. What I have discovered though, is that the question is not so much what inspires me but how do I let the inspiration to influence me.

For a long time I have tried to ignore the influence of other artists on my work, especially with the ever looming threat of plagiarism. I would strive to figure out everything on my own, fearing that by trying out a technique or an idea used by someone I admire that my art would become too similar to theirs. Similarly, using reference felt like cheating, because I felt obligated to draw everything from memory. Now I realize how incredibly counter productive this has been.   Throughout the centuries artists learned by studying the ‘old masters’  and today it is still crucial to progress. The same goes for references. You can’t learn how something looks like until you’ve studied it thoroughly either from reference material or from life.

This has lead me to another conclusion. While I tried to consciously avoid certain inspirations I would still be influenced subconsciously by a variety of things. I think this is where the ‘everything’ answer comes to mind. Many will say that an artist needs to expose themselves to a lot of different experiences and have broad interests to improve their craft. I feel there is a lot of truth to that. I had a conversation the other day with my husband and he mentioned working on a particular project. He said he was drawing dark silhouetted figures and wondered where he had seen something similar in the recent past. After a while he realized he had been playing a game called “Limbo” in a recent past, which featured dark silhouetted figures. I’ve realized that most, if not all, of my art has been inspired by subconscious influences, which I can’t entirely pinpoint their origin.

While I still haven’t found a satisfying answer to the question of what inspires me and while I still dislike that question, I have made a decision. From now on, I will let more things effect my art. I won’t try to block out an image just because someone else has done something very similar. If I’m curious how an artist has done a certain technique, I will try to implement it in my own art. Because when it comes down to it, my experiences are very different from the artists that inspire me. I know that I’ll be able to bring something else to the table or perhaps to put my own spin on it. And if it so happens that I create work that is too similar to its inspiration then I will give credit where it’s due and move on to something fresh.

Ania talks about her experience at IMC, Jeff and Pete talk about their differing philosophies on making it in the art world, and we all talk about the upcoming summer con gauntlet!

Music by Roughquest

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With Gencon less than two weeks away (!), I’ve been getting all nostalgic about all those hours I

spent in high school playing AD&D with my friends. It really helped shape me into the proud

geek I am today. Through the years, I branched out into other RPGs, Larping and MMORPGs, but it was all scratching the same itch. There’s something really satisfying about creating a character, stomping some monsters for xp and getting kewl new powers just so you can stomp some more monsters.

Lots of games have used the leveling up formula because people innately understand how it works. I’ve come to realize how easily it applies to my career so far as an artist. It helps solidify my goals, both past and present, identify my weaknesses and figure out where I am on the career ladder.

Here’s my experience leveling up as an artist.

HEROIC TIER: HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE

The biggest thing I did in High School was pick my Character Class. I went with artist, specializing in fantasy. It’s a tricky class, because it’s real weak in the early levels. It’s really hard and you don’t earn much money, and it’s really hard to get work if you’re not super talented out of the gate. Most of the art I was doing at the time was the equivalent of killing rats for XP…sort of fun but your just learning how to play. You know it’s supposed to get better later on.

I gained a few levels and made it to college. I had to multi-class as a Starbucks Barista to make money. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t have put as much XP into that. I worked my way up to shift manager because I thought it would be nice to have more money. It’s only a nominal raise weighed against the extra time and responsibilities. My goal now is to avoid taking on more responsibilities at my day job, even if it will result in a raise. I’m better off spending my time working towards my larger goals.

College gave me lots of XP, but I think I hoarded it for a while instead of spending it right away. I did tons of figure drawing and experimental painting, but I didn’t have any real breakthroughs until my junior year. The class project was to take a Greek myth and set it in a different time period. This was my first big project…my first dungeon run! I did a triptych of the Labyrinth myth set in the sewers of NYC. I utilized all the knowledge I’d been picking up through all the classes I did an applied it to a piece I was really happy with!

…then I couldn’t do it again. I really floundered in my last year of college, and for a few years after. I got distracted by other things, and though I was painting here and there, I wasn’t nearly focused enough on art. So I worked, made just enough to pay rent every month, and hung out with friends.

I took a break from the whole game. In the meantime, everyone else who was still playing passed me by.

PARAGON TEIR: FREELANCING

About three years ago, my wife Caroline had gotten into doing some modeling for fun. She set up a Modelmayhem.com account, and would get contacted by photographers every so often for photo shoots. One afternoon, she got a message from Steve Beledin about modeling for a painting he was working on. Steve does a lot of work for Wizards of the Coast, so we were both really excited! I went with Caroline to Steve’s apartment and met his wife Amy. The photo shoot went pretty quickly, but we all hung out and talked about his experience as an illustrator. He showed me some of his past work, gave me a portfolio crit and suggested I turn one of the sketches up on my website into a finished piece.

Leaving their apartment that night, my brain was buzzing. I wanted to get back in the game for real.

My biggest problem was that I had a ton of ‘monsters’ left over from high school and college that were making my work suck, like anatomy issues, sloppy rendering, and boring compositions. I’d been running around killing rats still because I was afraid or unable to take on anything bigger. I also needed a new weapon, because oil paints weren’t doing it for me anymore. I spent so long struggling with the medium that I couldn’t get the image I wanted.

So I switched to digital, and went into my first big dungeon since the Labyrinth pieces in college. I was being ambitious, and it paid off.

The next year I went to Gencon as an artist for the first time, and got a jurors choice award and a ton of freelance work. I got a super badass magic upgrade to my tablet (i.e. I got a Cintiq)

The next year I went to Gencon, I formed an adventuring party. A group of artists who went to IMC were talking about how Lockwood, DosSantos and a few others are all in a critgroup. This sounded awesome, so we set one up. It’s probably been the biggest benefit to my growth as an artist. In the past year I’ve been slaying monsters left and right, and finally landed some work with WotC.

EPIC TEIR: ???

I can’t in good conscience say I’m here yet, but I’d like to think I’m on the cusp. To me, Tier Three would mean I’m getting steady, high paying work so I can support myself on the kind of art I enjoy doing. That’s always been my goal. When I’m at that point, chances are I’ll find some other goals to start working on.

The best part about this game is that there’s no level-cap!

Hello Artists!

Gen Con Indy is coming up in just two weeks! If there’s interest in doing a WIP meetup, leave a note in our comments and we’ll schedule something– maybe we can get the Ninja Mountain and Drawn Today hosts to come, too!

In case you’re doing last minute prep, we thought we’d repost Caroline’s article about how to get ready for GenCon from her Art of Business Blog. Enjoy!

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Today we’re going to break down the business details of going to a convention like GenCon and having a table in the Art Show.  I’m basing this off of current costs, keeping in mind that costs may increase for future years.  GenCon is all about gaming, so this guide is most useful for those focusing on gaming companies as clients for their business.

Why GenCon?

First of all, why go to a convention like GenCon at all?  There are a few reasons, some of them will be more worthwhile than others, depending on where you are in your career.  Your illustration is a business, and with that in mind, you should expect that sometimes you are going to take a loss as part of a future investment.  Hopefully, your investment pays off in the long run even if you are initially out some cash.

The first reason to go to GenCon is to sell your work.  People browse the art show specifically looking for art to purchase- be it originals or prints.  There are a few different types of buyers, too, and different work will appeal to different people.  Artists with a standing reputation and a following can make a decent amount of money at GenCon.  Of course, they got to that point by taking some losses their first years and continuing to come back and be an established part of the art show.

The second reason to go to GenCon is to network within the artistic community.  GenCon is a great place to meet artists who are doing what you do and are passionate about their work.  Artists can give each other great tips and critiques as well as offer really solid advice about where to seek work.  You’ll also get the skinny on pitfalls to avoid that people wouldn’t necessarily talk about in a public forum.

The last big reason to go is that it is THE place to get work in the gaming industry.  Companies will either have portfolio review sessions or they will have an art director on hand to look at portfolios.  Beyond getting very, very helpful critique from this, you can also get jobs.  While all these companies have online ways to submit your portfolio, making face time is always good in any business.

Money

Time to get into the nitty-gritty.  If you are planning on attending GenCon as an artist in the Art Show, here are a lists of costs you should prepare for.

Table: $250 -$320 (rates may go up for next year)

Hotel: $145-160/night, plus tax (if staying in the con hotel).  Artists are guaranteed rooms in nearby hotels at discounted rates.  Yeah… $160 is discounted, if you can believe it.

Parking: $15-$30/day (depending on where you park)

Food and drink: Budget generously, $50/day, and if you don’t spend it, be glad!

Travel: $150-$600, depending on flights or gas costs.  Book early if you can.  Driving is cheaper but much more exhausing.  Flying means you’ll have to package your work very very carefully and ship it there or only bring what you can carry onto the plane.

Supplies: Varies depending on how you are making your prints.  If you are making archival prints, you’ll have to splurge for a bit more.  Read about the differences between archival and non-archival here.

Making Your Own Prints

First of all, you’ll need a printer that can make prints at least 11″ x 17″, preferably 13″ x 19″.  There are a few options out there, so shop around.  We have the Epson Stylus Photo 1400 printer, which prints beautifully, but has very costly ink at nearly $20/cartridge for six cartridges.  Fortunately, there are places you can get discount ink cartridges.  Check out CISinks and InksOutlet for cheap ink, but beware- these cartridges are finikey and can give you some trouble.  But at $6 as opposed to $20 per cartridge, it’s worth a little risk.  If you are getting the free shipping will need to order far enough in advance to allow for slow ground shipping (7-9 days at least).

If you want to make archival prints, you should be looking for acid-free paper like Moab paper.  A lot of retail companies (HP, Epson, Cannon) put logos on the back of their paper, which can be fine, but looks unprofessional in my opinion.  I found that Ilford Galerie paper, while not acid free, is nice, has no logos, and is compatible with most printers.  You can find it online for very reasonable prices, too.  I like the Smooth Pearl Paper, but the Classic Pearl looks nice, too.  I also found a cool sample pack of paper from Moab, if you want to do some printing tests.

Getting Prints Made

An illustrator friend referred me to CatPrint, where he got prints made very reasonably.  He was very happy with the results, too, and said that not having the stress of making his own prints made it very worthwhile.  He said that they have no minimum print order, prints came out to less than $1/piece for 8 1/2″ by 11″, but the prints are not archival as they use a traditional 4-color press.  There are many other print shops on the internet that will do prints for you, so you can shop around for a place you like  (archival printers will cost more).  A note if you are working digitally: print out a test of your file so you can see how the color looks.  I know that on newer Macs the screens are much brighter than older models and PC’s, and prints end up coming out much darker than they read on the screen.  You can adjust the brightness (usually an increase of 25%) to compensate for this with your prints, but you’ll want to do so before you send off files to online printers.

The Extras- Matting and Bags

Some artists mat their work for display, others don’t.  I think that it makes the work look more professional, so I like to do it for the display pieces.  If you mat all your prints, you can charge quite a bit more for them.  If you have a lot of time and patience, you can cut your own mats.  Failing that, there are places to order mat in bulk.  I shopped around a bit and found that Matcutter.com had good deals for the 10 packs of mats.  They also sell clear bags for your work at very reasonable prices.

Selling Prints

Pricing your work where people will want to buy prints can be tricky.  Our first year, we sold only 8 1/2″ by 11″ prints for $5, and we were selling things off the walls.  So we doubled the price, and still sold well.  It’s all a test of supply and demand: if you are selling out, raise your prices, if you are selling badly, lower them.  Most illustrators are selling prints there between $10-$20 for 8 1/2″ by 11″, $15-$30 for 11″ by 17″, and $25-$50 for 13″ by 19″.  Pricing originals is trickier, but the least expensive originals I saw were around $50 for smaller and older work, and the most expensive were several thousand dollars for larger and brand new work.  Joe Slucher came up with an awesome idea and did small framed original character portraits and sold them for $30-$50, the idea being that that way people could afford an original piece and not break the bank.

If your work is matted, sell it for more.  You can bump up the price by $5-$25 with nice matting.  Just choose what you think is reasonable.

Miscellaneous Things To Expect

Have the money that you need for gencon up front.  Print sales don’t go into your pocket directly, you get your check from the show afterwards.  Some things you should have on hand:

• Business cards. These should have your website and email on them at the very least.  Including your phone number for people who want to contact you that way is not a bad idea either.
• A metallic pen (to sign your work).  Silver or gold pens are what most people bring.
• A few black and grey pens (to draw on playmats, the charity auction bags, or card backs).
• A couple ideas of what to draw on-the-spot.
• An assistant.  Someone who can sit at the table when you’re showing your port, etc.  Having help is very nice, and you get two “Artist” badges as part of your table costs anyway, why not take advantage?

You may want to bring:

• A sketchbook.  You have long hours to pass at the table, why not work?
• A sample sheet.  I’d never thought to do this but printing out some 8 1/2″ by 11″ with a few sample works and your contact info on it can be great for industry contacts to remember your work.
• A camera.  There are some pretty cool costumed folks walking around the con, and you may want to snag a photo for reference.  Just be sure to ask, most people wearing costumes are more than happy to pose for you.
• Friends.  If you have friends who are going, having them watch the table for a bit and sharing a room can make your experience much less costly.  Plus, they’ll be happy to be in a hotel near the con- not every gamer gets so lucky.

The show opens Thursday at 10 am.  Have your best work up by Friday AM at the absolute latest.  Friday is when the judges come around looking at all the art, and Friday night is the awards ceremony is Friday after the exhibit hall closes at 6 pm.

Ideally, you will invest less than $2000 into the weekend, and it will pay off in more than that from the sales and jobs you’ll get by being there.  If you don’t feel confident that you’ll make back the costs, try just going to show your portfolio, and then get a table after you’ve done some industry work the following year.

I also talked to some artists that got a vendor booth instead of an artists table.  The vendor booths cost a lot more, but they have the advantage of being all about sales.  People come with their wallets open, as opposed to just browsing the art show in “gallery mode”.  The vendor area also gets more foot traffic than the art show- I can’t help but think that this is because art intimidates people and they feel guilty for not buying, so they avoid the art show altogether, but that’s just my own assumption and not really based on any market research.

If you have any further questions, feel free to leave them in the comments or to email me and I’ll do my best to address them!

Hey there art-fans,

I’m starting up a figure drawing group in Boston. If you’re in the area it will be a great way to meet some other local illustrators, sharpen your skills and have a good time. I need at least five people (besides me) interested before we try to find a venue. Sign up here and tell other people!

http://www.meetup.com/wipboston/

This ep we’ve got some discussion on the passing of Frank Frazzetta and the release of CS5. We’ve also got a 10KH where I talk about struggling with a painting when you can’t figure out what’s bugging you about it, Pete talks about painting on instinct and Ania breaks out the oils for IMC.

Caroline dug up a few contests going on now:

http://www.writersofthefuture.com/17/rules/ilofrules.html

http://www.rockstarcontests.com/art-contests/rs/493-strange-figurations

http://www.onangelsmagazine.com/enter.html

We’ve also got an interview with Ralph Horsley!

music this episode is by Cutups

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This month we’re talking art education. We got an email from a listener, Catherine Li, an aspiring illustrator who may not be able to go to art school. We brought some folks on for a roundtable discussion to talk about their experiences learning how to make art, with and without the help of a traditional education.

In no particular order, here are the folks we’ve got on the show:

Aaron Miller

Prof Herbert

Joe Acone

Mark Winters

Music this ep is by Ochre

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Pax and GDC wrap up, spectrum winners announced, and livestream discussion! Bit of a short ep this moth due to a lack of an interview, but we’ll be back to our interviewy selves next time

Show Notes coming soon!

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For Reals!

The goal is to have at least 3 episodes of live content every month in addition to our monthly podcasts. You can expect at least 2 members of the cast plus the occasional extra guest to come on and talk about art, the internet and/or baked goods. We’ll be free to answer questions of all sorts throughout all of the broadcasts as well.

The tentative schedule is as follows:
Pete Mohrbacher – Sundays @ 12pm EST
Jeff Himmelman – Fridays @ 8pm EST
Ania Mohrbacher – Saturdays @ noon EST

Starting March 11th! The channel can be found here: http://www.livestream.com/wiptv