Illustration Resources Round-Up: September / October 2009
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Bobby Chiu: Imaginism Inspiration
Let’s start with a bit of inspiration from Bobby Chui.
Escape From Illustration Island
If you haven’t already seen this great new illustration resources site and podcast by Illustrator Thomas James, now would be a great time to check it out (well, after you’ve finished reading this post obviously 
Thomas has put together a fantastic site choc full of resources for illustrators with numerous links to everything from Artists Reps and Photoshop Brushes, all the way through to recommended printers for your promo items – and better still all of these links are on the one page, so you can favourite the site as your browsers home page and have this ever growing collection of resources readily available at the click of a mouse.
Thomas has also launched a companion podcast to the Escape From Illustration Island site too (also syndicated on Illustration Mundo) and has had some great interview guests so far like illustrators Nate Williams and Penelope Dullaghan.
Thomas was also kind enough to interview me for the podcast recently (which goes live on the EFII site this Tuesday) – he is a super nice chap, a great interviewer and his hard work putting the site together clearly shows in this invaluable resource for all illustrators whether aspiring or established.
Brand Yourself As An Artist On Twitter
Fine Artist Lori McNee, has put together a great little guide to Branding Yourself On Twitter and although aimed at the fine art crowd, there are lots of great take-aways for Illustrators too. While you’re there, be sure to check out Lori’s beautiful paintings too!
Scott McDaniel – Art Analysis #4 and #10
In a previous resources round-up I linked to one of Scott McDaniel’s insightful art analysis posts of a James Jean Fables cover. Here are two more fantastic Art Analysis posts from Scott:
Art Analysis #4: Couple Descending Staircase by J.C. Leyendecker
Art Analysis #10: Dance by Alphonse Mucha
James Gurney’s fascinating blog post: Rockwell and the Camera
Don’t get me started on James Gurney’s blog ‘Gurney Journey‘, if I were to start listing other great posts from James (author and illustrator of the fantastic Dinotopia books), I’d be here all day – his entire blog is pure gold for illustrators and artists.
However, I thought this particular post by James would be a great one to share as it covers the use of photo reference in one’s work (a topic always hotly debated for both it’s evils and merits) and the great example set by master illustrator Norman Rockwell.
As we’re on the subject of James Gurney, be sure to check out his new book ‘Imaginative Realism‘ when it hits the shelves. It looks fantastic and if the quality of the content is half as good as the content of his blog, then it would be worth 10 times the listed price!
Amy Palko’s Creative Circle
Educator, Photographer and Writer Amy Palko has set up a creative circle over at her super ‘Less Ordinary‘ blog, providing fledgling creatives with a safe haven to share their illustrations, fine art, photography, creative writing and get encouragement from other like-minded creatives.
When you’re making that leap to follow your creative passions, it’s sometimes hard to take that nervous first step and share your work with others – but with a friendly, welcoming and nurturing environment like Amy’s ‘Creative Circle’, it just got easier.
Be sure to check out Amy’s excellent short stories (especially this one) and beautiful photography too.
Illustrator Spotlight
Finally a couple of illustrators to check out – you’ve probably heard of these guys as they’re established pro’s at the top of their games, but they both recently released re-vamped portfolio sites with tons of great new work to soak up…
Be sure to check out Sam’s amazing illustrations for the new edition of Lord Of The Flies
Well, that’s it for another resources round-up – I hope you enjoy the links.
It’s A Marathon, Not A Sprint
I was going to apologise for the lack of posts around here lately, but I’ve been beating myself up about it enough already.
Things have been pretty crazy ever since my daughter was born 3 months ago and getting used to life with a little one has been a rollercoaster ride (just to see her gorgeous little smile makes all the hard times and sleepless nights worth it though….ooops, sorry the doting daddy side of me kicked in there for a minute) Combined with the fact that since Mali was born, I’ve been lucky enough to be totally swamped with freelance design work, my illustration aspirations have had to take a back seat.
After going from the gung ho feeling when I launched the blog, to having no spare time and being too tired to do anything outside of my daily family and work commitments – it just felt like yet another false start and I was getting quite disheartened about this feeling of going nowhere with my illustration aspirations.
To make matters worse, because I felt I was going nowhere, I then didn’t feel I had anything worthwhile or useful to write about on the blog either.
That is, until a few days ago when I came to a realisation…it’s a marathon, not a sprint!
Here are a few important points to remember when we hit those low spots:
- It’s ok to build up slowly to reach you goals – as long as you’re moving forward then you are moving in the right direction
- Working hard in your day job is also working hard on your illustration career too – it’s the means to an end and providing funding while you transition to full time illustrator
- There is no time limit – no one is going to tell you that you must give up on your illustration aspirations when you reach a certain age. You will be hired for your awesome work, not how old you are (this may be me being naive, but I’d like to think this is how the industry works!)
- Re-discover your passion for illustration – thumb through books of your favourite illustrators, make a list of your dream projects, set your self achievable goals appropriate to your current circumstances so that you get that great feeling of ticking something off your illustration to do list
What’s coming up on the zero2illo blog:
I’ve got a few posts in the works that I think you’ll find interesting…
- An interview with amazing artist Nic Klein
- A series of posts about comic book artists
- News of a podcast interview that is due to be recorded at the weekend where little old me and this blog will be the subject (more news on this early next week)
Illustrator spotlight
Finally, I wanted to leave you with some art from 3 amazing illustrators that are definitely worth a closer look:
New ‘12 English Birds’ series illustration – The Barn Owl
Finally finished, here’s the latest traditional collage illustration for my ‘12 English Birds’ series – The Barn Owl.
And for those interested, here are a couple of process pics – one of the sketch/composition along with the completed collage background prior to adding the Barn Owl.
Below is a sketch/colour study taster of the next illustration in the series – ‘The Swan’…
Week In Review & The Week Ahead: 31st Aug – 6th Sep
Blimey, it’s already September – where did the last 2 months go?
Still busy with the day job (Graphic Design is my bread & butter while I’m working towards my illustration goal) along with taking a more active role in the site my wife and I run called ‘Location Independent’ which focuses on breaking free from convention and being able to live and work from anywhere you choose.
I wrote a post a while ago about our Location Independent lifestyle and will be mentioning it more on this blog as the months go by as it’s an interesting option to consider for other aspiring and working illustrators out there.
I also came to the realisation this week that I’ve fallen in to bad habits again with the amount of time focussing on what other illustrators are doing – both looking at their work and questioning my own abilities (something I’m sure all you other aspiring illustrators are familiar with).
My aim for this blog is to try and share with readers a practical and successful route to becoming a full time illustrator and in order to do that, I have to reach that goal myself so that I can authentically share with you what has and hasn’t worked.
With limited time at the moment for my illustration goals due to other commitments, I need to make every minute count. My daughter is now 8 weeks old and things are starting to get a little easier with routines starting to be established, so it’s time to get things back on track and make this work.
Week In Review
With the imminent release of ‘The Big Book Of Contemporary Illustration‘ featuring 4 of my illustrations, it’s important that my portfolio site is looking ship shape. Who knows who might see my work in the book and what it might lead to, so I need to make sure everything is looking how I want it to and also that it reflects the current style of work I do and equally importantly, the type of work I’d like to be doing.
I’ve almost finished the collage illustration for ‘The Barn Owl’ and have planned out the next piece in my set of 12 British Birds – ‘The Swan’.
I also fired off a few emails to other illustrators that I’d like to interview for the blog.
The Week Ahead
- Tie up all of the loose ends on my portfolio site – including adding the Barn Owl illustration once completed (currently have a placeholder up there at present with just the sketch).
- Refine the sketch and start work on the collage illustration for ‘ The Swan’.
- Gather more info for the zero2illo post I’m putting together on ‘Passive Income From Illustration’.
I have a few new resources that I’d like to share with you but am saving them for a resources round up post later in the week, but I did want to share this inspirational post about the amazing Bernie Fuchs from the amazing blog ‘Todays Inspiration‘.
Finally, I always like to include some art on these posts – so here’s the collage illustration for my new (soon to launch) web store…
Resources Round-Up
Although I haven’t been blogging that frequently over the past month due to the arrival of my beautiful baby daughter, I have been bookmarking, collecting and hording tons of really useful illustration resources to share with you.
Lets dive straight in…
Sidebar Nation Podcasts:
This last month has been a great one for fans of illustration at the sidebarnation blog with the guys interviewing two of the masters – George Pratt (Part 1 & Part 2) and Greg Manchess
Watch out for their next interview with (probably my favourite) comics artist Michael Lark – I met Michael a few years ago and he’s such a nice guy – super generous with his advice and time to help fellow artists so it should be a great interview.
Quentin Blake Process Video
I can’t remember how I came to find this video of Quentin Blake explaining his illustration and writing process from start to finish, but I’m so glad I did.
Art Order Blog
There have also been some great posts recently over at the blog of Jon Schindehette (Senior Art Director Dungeons & Dragons® Wizards of the Coast)
The first post to I’d like to highlight is an answer to the mailbag question: What should an artists skill set include? , the second is Jon’s response to another mailbag question What should you do when the relationship between you and your Art Director turns sour? and the third post from Jon is a short interview with three leading Art Directors (lots of great info in this one).
Frank Stockton Advice
Amazing illustrator Frank Stockton posted the first in a series of posts called ‘Teaching Yourself to Draw from Your Imagination‘. Based on this first post, the series is going to be an invaluable resource for fellow aspiring illustrators.
Scott McDaniel – Art Analysis #2
I stumbled onto this great post thanks to a James Jean’s tweet where Scott breaks down James Jean’s cover illustration to Fables – The Last Castle, delving into an in depth analysis of the composition, concept and methods James Jean uses to deliver yet another killer Fables cover.
The post from Scott also lead me to another useful post by Lee Moyer on the ‘Elements Of A Successful Illustration‘.
Nate Williams -Concept Generation Advice
If you struggle coming up with creative concepts for your illustration assignments, then this post from experienced illustrator Nate Williams is for you.
In the post Nate shares his techniques for concept generation (lots of visual examples here too).
Guide To The Illustrators Contract
As an illustrator starting out, contracts can be pretty daunting – well, thanks to this really useful post from the Dark Motion blog things are about to get easier. Be sure to check out the link at the bottom of the post to the original ‘Contract Killer Article‘.
The Art Of Business blog
Finally, here are two really super useful posts from The Art Of Business blog – one on ‘The Importance of Networking For Artists‘ and the other on ‘Saving For Retirement As An Illustrator‘.
Be sure to check out the rest of the ‘Art Of Business‘ blog too for tons more useful info.
Illustrators To Check Out:
Kekai Kotaki
I discovered Kekai’s amazing art when he was featured in issue 41 of ImagineFX magazine and I’ve been a huge fan of his powerful art ever since. He is currently the Concept Art Lead at ArenaNet working on Guild Wars 2 and does freelance illustration on the side.
Kekai’s work is so strong in both composition and drama – check out his website and blog for more brilliant artwork.
Taeeun Yoo
It was so long ago since I first discovered Taeeun’s beautiful artwork that I can’t even remember what lead me to her blog, but I’m so glad I found her gorgeous work. She is a New York based illustrator working mainly in the publishing field and has illustrated some stunning children’s books.
Check out her blog and website to see more of her beautiful colour palettes and exquisite work.
Jonathan Burton
Jonathan Burton is another illustrator that I discovered a few years ago and have been following ever since.
His compositions are always eye catching and his stylized drawing style is so refreshing and unique. As with Taeeun’s and Kekai’s work, Jonathan’s well thought out (and often restrained) use of colour makes him really stand out for me.
Check out his website and blog here.
Jonathan also put together a couple of great process posts for the illustrations he recently completed for a PD James novel that are well worth checking out. You can read them here and here.
I will be contacting Kekai, Taeeun and Jonathan soon to see if they would be up for an interview about their work for the blog – will keep you all updated!
Well, that’s it…I hope you have found these resources useful and that I’ve lead you to discover a few more super talented illustrators to inspire you and your work.
Month In Review & The Week Ahead 10th-16th August
Wow, can’t believe it’s been 5 weeks since my daughter was born and I last posted on the blog – it’s been a hectic time taking care of a newborn and being swamped with design work.
Enough about that though, it’s time to get back into the saddle and crack on with my illustration journey.
Month In Review
This month has pretty much been filled with the shock and awe of becoming a new dad, changing nappies, soothing all the crying (well, trying to!), rocking my little girl to sleep and enjoying lots of lovely cuddles.
I had started a new collage illustration the week Mali was born and so far I have completed the background – a night time scene this time which was really fun to do, trying to come up with interesting ways to represent the moon and stars.
Here is a pic of the composition sketch and how the finished background looks so far…
The Week Ahead
- Finish the barn owl collage
- Start work on the next collage in my ‘12 British Birds’ series – ‘The Swan’
- Put together a new post based on all of the resources I’ve been storing up over the past month
- Hopefully hear back from the illustrator who will be the feature of the next interview – he’s been away on holiday and is due to be getting back to me with answers to the interview questions next week. As soon as I hear back from him, I will reveal who he is!!!
Back soon…
Apologies for the delay with this months newsletter and regular posting schedule – I have a good excuse though…
My beautiful daughter was born by cesarean on 4th July and so I’m taking a little time off blogging for a week or two while my wife and I find our feet and welcome our precious new arrival.
