This week I had the pleasure of babysitting a friend’s pet ferret. If you are unfamiliar with ferrets, they are a small carnivorous mammal, related to and about the size of a weasel. They are known for being absolutely crazy! I have been thinking lately about getting more into the art industry and I realised there were quite a lot of things I could learn from this little ferret!

#1. Never stop trying

If you know nothing about ferrets, know this first: They never give up! My grandma had a ferret who, whenever she got out of her cage in the morning, beelined straight for the refrigerator and tried to move the thing. Ferrets will always try to go where you don’t want them to be, and they will always go there no matter how many times you pull them away and move them somewhere else. They are determined little creatures!

And this applies to art… how?

Even if you feel like you’ve been knocked around or prevented from going where you want to go, never give up. No matter how many times it feels like you have been blocked from your goals, you have to get up, keep marching on and try again. This applies to yourself and your art as well. Even if you are frustrated with a piece, stay course and don’t quit. That frustration is a way of learning, once you get past it, you will be so much more knowledgeable and thank yourself later for not losing focus.

#2. You always have more fun with friends!

There is nothing more sad than a lonely ferret. Even if you do nothing at all, your very presence in their vicinity brightens their whole little world. It was hard to resist spending all of my free time in the evenings in the playpen with the little animal, as she used me as a human jungle gym. If I wasn’t playing with her she seemed to get lonely and despondent.

And this applies to art… how?

Like ferrets, humans are gregarious. We need the company of our fellow man. Without them, we also get lonely. With encouragement from your friends or online pals, you can do anything. If you are ever feeling down about your artwork, be sure you are making strides to let people know about your work. Post your work online or show your sketchbook to fellow artists. Nothing can be more uplifting than a someone giving you a good critique on your art.

#3. Bite and if that doesn’t work, make a little noise!

Ferrets are known for being quite feisty. They will play nip (and sometimes get a little zealous about it- OUCH!) to get your attention. And when that fails, or if they are being held too long, they will make all sorts of noise to let you know what they want!

And this applies to art… how?

If you never put your stuff out there, you will never become famous. Regardless to what some may say, you won’t get famous for your artwork after you die. That is the exception, not the norm. You have to bite! By which I mean, you have to get people’s attention by aggressively showing off your artwork. You have to self promote. The internet is a wonderful medium for such, but it is also an immense ocean. You have to try really hard to get yourself seen above the crowd. Make some noise if you have to!

#4. Be on or off

Ferrets have this peculiar habit of resembling a light switch. They always appear to be one of two ways, on or off. When they are on, they are 110% playful, in your face, loving life and having fun. When they are off, they are almost in a state of comatose. They sleep a lot and hard. Some people even have ferrets that are such sound sleepers that they can be picked up and moved around without waking up! Now that’s what I call out like a light!

And this applies to art… how?

When you are at half energy, it’s really hard to produce good quality work. Take care of yourself, get good sleep, exercise and eat healthy. When you do these things, when the time comes to concentrate on art, you can be at 110%, at top gear and enjoying yourself immensely. When you are sleepy, exhausted and only have the power of coffee keeping you awake, you can hardly concentrate on your goals in art or otherwise. Make sure to take care of yourself so you can be “on” when working on your art!

#5. War dance!

Ferrets have a move called war dancing, where they frantically jump around in pure joy, huffing with their mouths wide open in what can only be called a grin. They have a pure joy of life that you will be hard pressed to find in any other animal. It almost seems like nothing can get their little spirits down!

And this applies to art… how?

No one can make you get excited about art, you just have to reach from inside and find the love for it for yourself. You really have to be passionate about it. There is an inner joy I believe all humans posses that inspires them to want to create, you have to find that tap and let it flow. After all, art is what you want to do, right?

Is there an animal you think you can learn artistic lessons from? Feel free to share in the comments!

The premise of the program is simple: It’s a virtual sketchbook. Right out of the box, the design, interface and ease of use make this a perfect transition tool for traditional artists to digital mediums. This multiplatform (Windows and Macintosh) program is useful, powerful, but not as powerful as high end software such as Photoshop. The worst problem with the software appears to be that it is only available within the US and Canada.

Sketchbook Pro is largely a program suited for use with a tablet and stylus pen. The program has many tools available that simulate real media. The pencil tool is surprisingly supple and mimics using a real pencil just about as perfectly as possible with digital media. The airbrush tool is good for laying down washes of colour, but it can be difficult to achieve small details. The marker, chisel tip pen, ballpoint pen and felt tip pen behave very similarly and as you would expect. The paintbrush tool can be effective, but usually some adjusting is needed to achieve the exact results you may want, usually in terms of opacity. The erasers and smear brushes are both effective and intuitive. The capacity exists to make your own brush, but as of late, my favourite tool has simply been the pencil.

I recommend this very highly to traditional artists who are hesitant in getting into the digital field. It isn’t a seamless transition if you are not familiar with using a tablet and stylus, but the interface is certainly less daunting than Photoshop or any open source art packages. Sketching with the pencil tool in Sketchbook Pro is so similar to sketching on paper, that those who own a Tablet PC, Modbook or Wacom Cintiq may switch to a completely digital sketching existence.

One of the best features in the program is the great intuitive user interface. The whole program can be used with just the semi-circle in the corner of the program. All of the tools can be accessed by putting the tip of the stylus onto one of icons displayed on the semi-circle, which pops up a set of other icons. You move the stylus up, down, left and right to select a function. This “no keyboard” process is reflected in all of the most useful aspects, such as the layers and the resize brush. I love how you rename your layers with your own handwriting! Photoshop users will be pleased that many of the familiar keyboard shortcuts are the same in this program. Perhaps the most useful of which is the space bar, which pops up the zoom and move canvas tools.

Disappointment may rise if people think that Sketchbook Pro is a cheaper alternative to Photoshop. Priced at nearly $200 USD, the price of this powerful software is a lot easier to swallow than the $600 USD tag on Photoshop. However, while the program excels at the conceptual aspects of a drawing, finer details, while not impossible, are harder to achieve. The default brushes are set up to have a whispy, sketchy feel to them and a lot of readjusting is necessary to achieve a polished look to your sketch.

Another problem for myself is that a digital download is unavailable for Europe, specifically Norway, from the Autodesk website. I hope this issue is remedied soon. I will be looking into various ways to purchase this software. Readers, if you happen to know a reseller or a method to buy this software in Europe, I would greatly appreciate a comment to let me know!

Overall, I highly recommend this software to anyone who either wants to get into digital art or an advanced digital artist looking to just get in and draw within 30 seconds of opening the program! Below are a couple of videos of artists making use of Sketchbook Pro.

Sketching with Bobby Chiu: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Yit95pgZEeo

Bobby is a real inspiration of mine. He is very worth listening to in his podcasts as he is extremely enthusiastic and listening to his podcasts was the big push that made me want to really excel in my own artwork.

Sketching with Jason Seiler: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UoQqFyPHW40

Jason is an accomplished caricature artist who also works with Bobby at their studio called Imaginism Studios. Watching him work is a great way to see Sketchbook Pro in action!

Thanks for reading! Have you tried Sketchbook Pro? Let me know how you feel about this program!

Too “starry-eyed”

So say you want to draw characters for video games. What is the first step for this path? Some people would automatically claim that schooling is the first step. While going to a good art school is a great first step, that’s not the option available to everyone. If you are lucky, make the most of it! Go to your classes on time, take it seriously and appreciate this head start. To those not so fortunate, there is still a way and it takes plenty of hard work.

First realise that you don’t have it easy. You may have to work a job you don’t really like for eight hours a day or more and then go home and force yourself to draw for another two. However, you do need to try to keep your head from going into the clouds. As frustrating as your current job is, don’t think about quitting and living off of freelance. This spells disaster for the unprepared! You aren’t as good of an artist as you think you are and there is always room for improvement. If you get someone to honestly critique your work, you should be told this. This prevents you from getting an ego!

The steps to your dream

Keep yourself grounded. The best way to get a job is to figure what it is exactly that specific job entails. Will you have to have to have a large body of work, lots of various subject matter? Or can you just get enough clients coming to you for art in your specific style? What seems like a dream job at first, after research may not be. A concept artist job includes drawing things you may not be comfortable with on a regular basis. Buses, people, animals, weapons, machinery, landscapes… You may not have to draw each to a technical precision, but you need to have a firm understanding of all these objects and how they look and work.

After researching your career path and you are certain that you are willing to do the work necessary, you need to get a portfolio together. This is the hardest part for those not in a portfolio assembly line… aka school. For those in school, those projects that you hate are great material for your portfolio! When forced to make your own portfolio, you have to force yourself to do those projects you don’t like. This is a very difficult step, but it will be the one that lands you the position you want. Stray away and far from your comfort zones and practice!

How have you followed your dream to your desired career? Please share in the comments!

Q. I think a big reason people stop drawing as kids is out of fear of failure and their art not being accepted. Have you ever felt this way and if so, how did you overcome this feeling?

A. I never had this fear, and everyone around me was always very supportive concerning my interest in drawing and painting. I’ve always been the artsy person in my group of friends, and I decided from my early years that I wanted to work with illustration when I grew up. The transition towards art school and the art and design industry simply happened on its own. In some cultures, art isn’t considered a “serious” profession, which I think it very sad as you do see this all around you, all day, every day.

I think that it’s a good thing having the personal skills of always jumping into any tasks with both legs, even if there are tasks you’ve never handled before. I personally think I have this skill, and I don’t really listen to people who find my work unserious.

Q. I grew up as pretty much *the* artist, I didn’t know any other people who liked to draw as much as I did. What advice do you have for people in similar situations and how would you suggest they maintain their creative buzz?

A. I had the very same situation, but then again, I never had any problems with my creativity. I think that looking at your self as something special and different from the others might help. Try to figure out WHY you want to work with art, and do it because of that. Don’t do it for the wrong reasons, or you will finally loose your muse and productivity.

Q. What advice can you give to us artists who are starting out in the creative field? What are some of the best ways to get noticed?

With the modern times, I believe in having a strong online presence for getting noticed and for getting projects and offers. Having a solid portfolio, and always deliver more than what is requested from you when you get the chance of proving yourself. It’s a very competitive profession, and with the internet, you have to make yourself visible by producing quality in a reliable way.

Q. How do you suggest balancing networking and drawing time, as each is important in becoming a successful professional artist?

A. Networking is extremely important for getting your name out there, and also for getting the cool jobs and projects. Both things takes time and none of them should be underestimated, which usually means long days and crunching hours.

Q. Drawing a lot is the only way to get better, but until each of us get our dream jobs, we have to juggle real life, other jobs and art. What is some practical advice for us artists with a busy schedule on how to improve our art?

A. First of all, hope that you have an understanding and supportive partner. Working with art WILL mean long hours and unpredictable projects popping up when you least expect them to do. Painting a lot if of course important to improve, but don’t burn yourself out. If you’re meeting the wall and find yourself in an art slump, either take a break and wait for it to return, or MAKE yourself work though it. Both things works for me.

Remember that even simple 30 minute speed paintings helps you to improve, and I believe that everyone can make time for this once per day no matter how busy they are. It’s all about self education.

Q. What do you find is the best way to market yourself to get noticed and get a job within the creative field? Do you suggest limiting your genre and style or making it expansive enough to permeate multiple genres?

In the beginning I tried to cover as many drawing and painting styles as possible to offer myself as a diverse artist. Throughout the years I kind of found my own genre, and I believe that if you want to become really good at something, you need to limit your style and genre. By time, you will probably narrow down no matter how diverse you’re aiming to be, unconsciously.

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If you have any suggestions or tips on the format or would like to be interviewed yourself, just email me or leave a comment!

Have a go and try dying your own paper. Comment and show off your work!

A Fear of Failure
Sometimes we’re so scared of failing that we don’t even want to start. This is where you doom yourself. Here’s the thing: you will make mistakes and in the course of making these mistakes, you WILL fail at what you were trying to achieve. Ok, so maybe fail is a bit of a harsh word- but it is true. When first starting out, the grand ideas in your head will not come to fruition on paper, it’s that simple. It will not happen at first. It’s this realisation that you need to come to terms with. You need to tell yourself- It’s OK to not be perfect. You CAN “mess up”. And if you do mess up, you do not need to ball up the paper and toss it in the trash. Try having a sketchbook dedicated to just experimenting. It may not be the greatest work you own, in fact, it shouldn’t be. But by dedicating yourself to a medium that allows you to make mistakes, then you’re telling yourself it is ok to make them.

Don’t Let a Fear of Failure Rule Your Artistic Experimentation
You can’t let a fear of failure rule you. The best way to do this is to benchmark your progress against one person - yourself. When you do this, you have nothing to judge by except your previous mistakes. If you constantly view artist’s works that are highly out of your skill level (and be honest about your skill level), then you ARE doomed to failure. There is a point in your career as an artist, whether the pursuit as a hobby or profession, where you can look at other artworks and not judge them against your own, but rather be inspired by that spark of creativity and go with it. First and foremost, you have to have your own identity as a unique artist. You have to get out there and not be afraid to challenge yourself against your old skill level. And most of all, you have to be brave enough to realise that you have to make mistakes in order to get better.

Use Your Mistakes to Drive Your Technical Expertise
Everything you know know is because you learned it at some point in your life. You were born knowing nothing. Some things you may have picked up more quickly than others, but you did learn everything you now know by making mistakes. You didn’t just stand up one day as a baby and start trudging across the room with perfect balance. How could you? You had no proper leg muscles. A part of learning anything is about training the “muscles”. You can’t be too frustrated at yourself for not knowing how to do something if you’ve never tried it before. And more than that, you can’t be expected to know how to do it perfectly the first time. Drawing is no different. You have to flex your drawing “muscles”, which consist of the way you see and even the technical expertise of laying pen to paper or learning a digital painting program. You have to train your eyes to see “correctly”, not just interpret the objects around you as learned shapes (ie: triangle for nose, almonds for eyes). Once you have trained your drawing muscles well enough, you can use your mistakes to your advantage. What do I mean by this? Well, by experimenting, you open your mind up to doing things you wouldn’t normally do. When you do this, sometimes a perceived mistake from one drawing can be used and honed as a skill in in another. One example is if you are practising hatching and the lines aren’t perfectly spaced. You may feel this is a mistake at first, but later come to realise, it’s a good way to indicate a gradient going from light to dark. Many good things come from experimenting- just don’t be too afraid to try!

What techniques have you tried lately? Have any of your mistakes turned into masterpieces?

I have come to the conclusion that writing one really good blog post a week would be better for this blog at this point in time than trying to cram three rather shoddily written posts per week. I may throw in a tutorial or interview, but those are things that are largely based on others and not things I can generate on my own (without going crazy). I had originally planned to post once per week, but then I wanted to be more dynamic for an audience that I have yet to build… I realise now that is rather silly and I should, well, try to build up an audience!

I hope anyone who is watching the blog understands. I have about 10 hours during the span of a week at home, the rest is dedicated to the day job for the time being.

Stick around, I may have some surprises in store yet!

Thanks!

You sat down. Have your stylus in hand or your nice crisp sheet of paper and pencil. That nagging little thought enters your head, “I can’t draw perspective very well, I think I’ll give it a shot.” You sketch out a figure. You look at it, then think, “This sucks.” A few pencil strokes into it and your potential masterpiece is ruined. In the points I have outlined here, I hope to show how attitude plays a very important role in the outcome of the final drawing.

Over criticising your work will only hinder your progress.
A negative thought can ruin the whole drawing process. If you are constantly over-critiquing yourself, you will have a hard time getting anything accomplished, both artistically and in life. A constant self-barrage about how much the sketch isn’t turning out as good as planned will not help in the long run. Instead be open to comments and criticism, even your own, but realise mistakes are a part of the learning process and you need to make them, even if that means your first few drawing aren’t as good as you were anticipating.

Dealing with frustration.
There are some feelings during the art process that are ok. One is frustration. Frustration just means you are learning. Once you get over that hump, a real break through will happen. You will be able to progress. This is perhaps the single most important emotion that comes from trying to do anything, including art, and the one most people are the most scared of and shy away from. As soon as people feel frustration, they want to stop or give up. Don’t do it! Keep practising! It’s really tough to overcome, but the rewards will be just as great as the frustration was, if not even more.

Why are you drawing?
You have to know why you are drawing. Is the purpose to practice, for fun, an art final, a commission? If you are overly harsh about just sketching, then you little get little out of it and will be very unproductive. Many people stop drawing as teens due to their drawings “not looking right”. They didn’t have the right mindset about drawing or got frustrated and gave up instead of persevering . Think back to when you were a small child. Drawing was very fun back then because you just had the sheer desire to create. You didn’t care (or perceive at the time) if the drawing of a dog under the tree had correct proportions, anatomy, light and value. You were satisfied it took up a whole sheet of paper and you got to use finger paints.

For fun…
When sketching, your mind must be open to mistakes. Draw with a pen or just don’t use an eraser. Pure sketching involves sculpting on paper. That means that you create the shapes in a way that builds up form and function . At this stage, you can make mistakes, you can experiment. Things don’t always look “right”. In fact, most things look wrong- especially at first. Of course, that’s where the old cliché comes in: Practice makes perfect. In the case of sketching, it may not end up perfect, but you will be able to memorise shapes and forms easier the more you draw them.

For school or a job…
When working on a more professional piece, or a piece that is going to be graded, a different mindset must take place. It’s important to be critical of your work, however, over-criticism will hurt you here as well. It’s probably best in many instances to get a different sheet of paper(or new layer) and enter the pure sketching phase, then move on with your best sketch to the final product. When moving to the final product, be aware of what you are drawing. You must focus on your end goal. Use decisive strokes, not small timid ones. Be accepting of the fact that you may make a mistake and depending on your medium of choice, that mistake may be more or less forgiving. Understand the limitations of each medium and choose the one that best suits your experience level. Digital mediums have the almost magical “undo button”, however drawing on a tablet (or with a mouse!) can be hard for some people to grasp and art programs are generally expensive. Watercolour allows flowing colours and shapes, but if too much paint is applied in one area, it’s very hard to take it back.

Reference! Reference! Reference!
Use reference! I can’t stress this enough. I’ve noticed a trend on the internet that many beginning and intermediate artists do not want to use reference. A negative perception has come about because of fears of copyright infringement, theft or worrying about referencing every single source image. I find many of these worries unfounded. If you use only one photo reference and copy straight from it, admitting your reference is wise. However if a drawing was made that included 5 different references, bits and pieces put together to create a new unique artwork, merely admitting that reference was used can be done, but I don’t find it necessary. In professional realms, it’s understood that almost all completed pieces had, at some point in it’s creation, some reference used.

In closing, setting yourself up for a successful or at least fun drawing experience can be as easy as having the right mindset. Don’t overly frustrate yourself by making the drawing experience harder than it needs to be, use reference! Remember why you are drawing and make sure your attitude matches accordingly.

What attitude do you try to have before working on a piece of artwork and does it make for a successful drawing experience?

Q. When did you start drawing?

A. Can’t remember when, but as long as I can remember I have always drawn.

Q. Was there any one inspiration that got you into drawing (a particular artist, cartoon, ect) and why do you think that source had such a powerful impact on why you want to draw?

A. Inspiration that got me to draw was of course as [the same as] most people think - Cartoons - Lion King. Later my best friend, who has an awesome talent in drawing, made me feel like I would like to do more with my drawing.

Q. How important is it for you to improve your artistic skills? Is it something you constantly strive to do or are you content with your current abilities?

A. Well, I mostly just draw to get out [from being] bored, [to] get out fantasy, so it’s more for myself that I draw than anybody else (even thought I like to get comments on them =o)

Q. Would you consider making art more of a career or would you prefer to keep it as just a way to have fun or relax?

A. Just fun. I don’t have talent, time or a mind to do things on “command” (like commissions). I like to be free to choose what I want to draw [at] different times.

Q. If you strive to improve in your art, what is the best way you’ve found to do this? Do you think it’s simply just practising or a bit of something else like being constantly inspired by other artists or pushed by instructors?

A. Practice, play copycat for a while and slowly get my own style of [art].

Q. What do you think of your favourite artists and how do you think they got to where they are?

A. Well, mostly I think the artist I [like] now have, more or less, the skill in their blood, even though you always can be better with training, critics and such things.

Q. Do you ever compare your skill level to that of other artists? How does this make you feel?

A. Yeah, and it’s both the negative and the positive sometimes But I only tell myself what I think about it, and nothing more.

Q. When you start a drawing and it is not turning out as you’d hoped, what is your thought process and how does it make you feel?

A. It normally does, since my [imagination] is on a higher level than my drawing skill, but I seem to feel okay to [try] it. Even though I sometimes just lay the pen down and start doing something else.

Q. We all get frustrated or have “artist blocks” at times, what do you do to combat this? Do you take a break from art for a while or just try harder to get better? What technique do you feel is the best for defeating “artist’s block”?

A. I think [the previous question] is the answer for this one too!

Q. What advice would you give to people who are considering learning how to draw, but are afraid or are unsure as to where to start?

A. Just your imagination, trust your instinct and watch and learn ^^

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If you have any suggestions or tips on the format or would like to be interviewed yourself, just email me or leave a comment!

Some of the basic ideas that can be taken away from this tutorial are to start a picture with a neutral base colour. Then move on to filling in values, new layers are always helpful if you would like to place aspects of your drawing to a different location. Work from large to small. Try to not to get too caught up in the details of a piece before you have the main values, light and shading in the piece. If you work on details right away, you will more than likely be disappointed when the piece does not look uniform.

This tutorial has a lot packed in it, so take what you can from it. It’s definitely worth reading again!

Click on the pictures for full size view.

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