We’ve worked super hard to create this – taking on board the feedback we received following the blog version of the challenge – and have compiled lots of extra resources to make the Challenge even more useful and action-able.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who took part in the original 12 Week Challenge (the “alumni”!), those of you who have already pre-purchased the kit (your copy should be in your inbox already) and to those of you who go on to buy the kit – for your ongoing support of zero2illo.

I’d also like to send out a big thank you to Carlos Castellanos, Jannie Ho, Holly Dewolf, Scott Purdy, Gaia Bordicchia and Charlie Gilkey for their support, time and valuable contributions to the 12 week challenge.

If you find the kit useful in helping you reach your illustration goals, Lea and I would really appreciate it if you helped spread the word by tweeting, Facebooking and commenting about it around the web.

We’re very proud of the end result – and we hope it enables as many people as possible to start creating the illustration business they’ve always dreamed about. You can check out & purchase your copy of the kit here >>>

Related posts:

1. Announcing The Winner Of The zero2illo 12 Week Challenge Final Prize Bundle….
2. 12 Week Challenge: Starting As We Mean To Go On
3. The zero2illo 12 Week Challenge: Week #8.5

A Short Introduction & What My Agenda Is

Part of my goal with these essays is to incite quandary in your mind. Through pictures and words, I hope to encourage you to question and remain curious about illustration, to help create an atmosphere of hard work and self discipline and to transmit my unbridled passion for illustration.

Some quick personal history: I graduated from the California College of Arts and Crafts. I attended that school primarily on the notion of honoring the Arts and Crafts tradition. Much to my horror the school has since changed its name to the California College of the Arts. Corner me at a party sometime and I will tell you how I fought for the “Crafts” on my diploma!

One aspect of the Arts and Crafts movement that I particularly relate too is the idea of craftsmanship and the honoring of labor. Which is where we shall begin – with this idea of honoring our craft, beginning to define what it is, how it relates to illustration and where it can be found…

I am not a believer in “talent” or that we are miraculously born with an innate ability to be able to draw and paint but rather, I am a believer that those skills are hard won and which require hours upon hours of deep practice and work.

This I believe is the crux of the more recent meme of the The 10,000 Hour Rule.

I have spent much of my time this year focusing on my illustrations and my career. It seems that there is a resounding sentiment that is out there no matter where you turn, that says: there are no short cuts to success, that there is no magic “Art” button on the keyboard, but successful illustration is simply built out of a balance between creating good work and getting it out there.

Simple… right?

Defining Craft & Its Relationship to Illustration

We can say that one part of the work of an illustrator is creating unique visual solutions that effectively communicate a concept and/or a feeling. Our ability to be successful is a direct relationship of our own unique ability to express an idea, concept and feeling.

That unique ability is strengthened by our dedication and long hours of focused and well intentioned efforts – or to put it simply “practice.”

The Practicing Illustrator

Often we hear ourselves or someone else talking about our “practice” or “the practice of illustration.” So what is this “practice?”.

What I propose is that what we are practicing is our craft. When we are practicing with a sense of full engagement with the tools and materials and with clear intention toward the refinement of quality and toward increasing our level of proficiency – that we are actively honing our craftsmanship.

This type of practice – what has been termed “Deep Practice” – is a focused attention over long stretches of time. It is not however just doing the same thing repeatedly over and over, where we end up making the same mistakes over and over again. We are at our best when we can bring our conscious awareness to our work and are able to keep a vigilant eye towards spotting our weak spots. This may be what is meant by the expression, “work smarter, not harder.”

Ways to Strengthen Your Craft

Every once an a while we can get a huge dose of information that helps us to create better work – like in school – and during these times we see a marked improvement in our work. But during the rest of the time we are working, it is up to us as individuals to create our own sense of self discipline necessary to strengthen our craft. The following are some ideas that we can use to train ourselves in this way.

You Are The Thread:

First gather up about ten examples of illustrators and artists whom you admire for what ever reason. Be broad in your choices.

Next, print them out at a nice quality and line them up side by side. Begin looking between them for any connections that you may spot; color pallet, subject matter, concept, point of view, overall tone of the pieces, technique, materials, etc, etc. Finally, make a list of these connections that thread through your ten examples as you go along.

What you are beginning to take note of by discovering the threads that link those ten disparate images and artists, is simply you.

Consider that you alone have chosen the artists. You found aspects of their works that are appealing. Out of all the artists in the world and the myriad of aspects available, the choices you’ve made are unique to you. You can now fold this information back into your own work by paying special attention to those aspects that you’ve listed as you create your next piece.

My Boss, The Egg Timer:

This is a daily challenge. First you will need a timer of sorts; I use an egg timer. Next define a period of time for this challenge, it might be a month or maybe three or maybe just try it for a week. It is important to have some kind of end in mind from the beginning so that you will have a clear sense of the goal. Whatever the timeline is, you will need to exercise a healthy amount of self discipline to hold yourself to this task.

Next, define a area that you would like to work on – maybe it’s graphic composition, characterization, edge control, color facility with a brush or tool, anatomy, line weight or maybe the list you’ve generated from the previous exercise.

Now, the challenge is this: that each day you will agree to yourself to go into your studio, set that egg timer for 20 minutes and work on that one aspect for the whole time, every day.

I would encourage you to stick to the 20 minutes and to not let yourself off too early or work over too long. “Oh,” you may say, “I could never do that everyday!”. To which I would respond, “…but it’s only 20 minutes, it probably takes you 15 minutes to brush your teeth, it’s not really that much time at all. I think you could do it.”

Finally, be somewhat gentle with yourself. Discipline is something that we can strengthen but that rarely happens through berating ourselves. If you should fall off the schedule, pick yourself up and start again.

Conclusion

“Even genius requires a competent technique.” Robert Fripp

As creative entrepreneurs, we have to work very hard to differentiate ourselves from our peers. Part of the way that we are able to stand out in a field of hard working artists is by creating work that is wonderfully conceived and confidently produced – and to do that requires the long hours of deep practice.

By taking the time to focus your attention and your intention on your craft, your work will begin making successive steps forward. I hope that you were able to make it through this essay and that these ideas will resonate with you. Please feel free to share these ideas with your friends, talk about them and debate them, but most of all,  apply them to your work.

About The Author:

At the present time Brian Bowes is developing his career as a freelance illustrator. His work focuses on narrative images that are designed to be compelling, and strive to inspire the imaginations of the viewers. The process of providing creative visual images is something that remains for him an evergreen proposition. Currently he is accepting freelance illustration work.

Check out Brian’s website and blog to see more of his lovely work – you can also follow him on Twitter too!

No related posts.

We’re working away behind the scenes to pull together all of the content from the weekly challenge blog posts along with lots of extra content and resources. I’ve been working on the design over the past week and wanted to give you a sneak peek at the cover design.

Don’t forget that up until the launch date the book is available for a special discounted pre-order price of $14.95 so make sure you get your copy on order before it goes up to the full price of $24.95 on September 1st.

Related posts:

1. Want To Win A Copy Of The Escape From Illustration Island ebook ’15 Steps To Freelance Illustration’?
2. The zero2illo 12 Week Challenge: Week #6
3. zero2illo Asks For Your Help!

I now get to enjoy these moments all over again with Mali and I’m positive I get more excited about the shows that we watch together on CBeebies than she does. It’s something that has quite taken me by surprise, but I’m find these beautifully crafted shows, full of originality, are the perfect inspiration to start the day.

Whether you’re an aspiring or established Children’s illustrator, here’s a run down of some of the beautifully animated shows in a myriad of different styles that might just inspire you too…

Driver Dan’s Story Train

‘Driver Dan’s Story Train’ website

Mama Mirabelle’s Home Movies

‘Mama Mirabelle’s Home Movies’ website

Tinga Tinga Tales

‘Tinga Tinga Tales’ website

3rd & Bird

’3rd & Bird’ website

Dirt Girl

‘Dirtgirl World’ website

Another thing I’ve noticed while watching the Cbeebies channel is the number of shows dedicated to drawing and creativity. With the focus in schools these days being firmly placed on the more academic subjects like maths and science (art just seen as a filler), it’s very encouraging to see these shows given prime time slots.

This is something I feel very passionate about but before I get on my high horse, we’ll leave that discussion for another time. However, take a look at this excellent TED presentation all about the subject of creativity and how it should be given a lot more focus in the educational system – it’s well worth a look!

Related posts:

1. Tech Tutorial: An Introduction To Using Headway for WordPress for Your Illustration Portfolio Website
2. 12 Week Challenge Inspiration: An Interview With Daniel Swartz

This week’s task

• This week’s task is to create your 3rd portfolio piece – with a focus on making it “commercial”.

Unfortunately among some creative people, the term “commercial” has gained a negative connotation – associated with the concept of selling out or even selling yourself to the Devil.

It doesn’t need to be seen like that – the hope for all of us, is that our work is obviously picked up by an art director, a publisher or a paying client so that we make some money from doing something we love – that’s all that commercial means…being paid for something you love to do anyway.

As an aspiring illustrator or even one who is already being paid, it can sometimes be hard to visualise the kind of work we *really* want to be doing as being something that is commercially successful, so that’s what this week’s task is all about.

Focus your portfolio piece this week on something that is deliberately designed and created to be picked up by someone who will pay for it – and once you’ve created the piece (if you have the software and your Photoshop skills will allow), mock it up…

So that means:

• Mock up your piece as if it appears on the cover of Time magazine or…
• Mock up your piece as if it’s a real, published book cover with title and author details or…
• Mock up your piece as if it’s a page in a children’s book or…
• Mock up your piece as if it’s a greetings card or a pattern on a child’s piece of clothing.

The point of this is to visually see your work in a commercial setting – so you know (a) that it works and (b) what it will look like & how it might feel when it happens.

Have fun creating and don’t forget to add links this weeks finished illustrations in the comments so that everyone can see what you created.

Related posts:

1. Mini 4 Week Portfolio Challenge #1: Finishing Your Portfolio
2. 4 Week Challenge #2: Finising Your Portfolio
3. The zero2illo 12 Week Challenge: Week #10