Art by Kim Rosenlof
Do Illustrators love their jobs as much as Graphic Designers? How do you make great art on a HARD deadline? And what’s the secret to managing opportunity cost? This week, Jake Parker, Lee White, and Will Terry discuss the answers to these questions as well as offer NFT updates.
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SHOW LINKS
Our episode this week starts out with the guys revisiting the NFT that Lee made and finding out that it did not sell. Lee still thinks that NFT’s are not valuable by themselves. He feels, and the others agree, that an NFT is sold based more on the value of the artist who made it and less on the value of the piece itself.
Jake teases that he found a NFT platform that works well (at least for him) and will speak more about it when it launches.
QUESTIONS
Ben asks “What ‘drew’ you to illustration?”
Lee tells us that it’s because he would be terrible at anything else. He doesn’t have much of an outside skill set because he is not the kind of person who can do things he doesn’t absolutely love.
Will agrees, citing the time that he worked in graphic design, saying that when you’re doing something you love you’ll do work on the weekends for fun.
All three of them love illustrating. They all know how to draw and tell stories with those drawings. Will says that the storytelling aspect of illustration is what ‘drew’ him away from his initial work as a graphic designer.
The power of positive feedback is huge when one is deciding what they want to do with their lives. It’s one thing to have the skill to back up your hobby. It’s entirely another when someone sees that you not only like doing that thing but that you’re good at it. The support and praise of other people will grow your confidence and help you make good decisions about your life moving forward.
Marta has a 32 page children’s book to illustrate in the next two and half months. She wonders what the guys would prioritize in terms of time management (she’s thinking thumbnailing over painting).
Jake translates the question into whether or not she should worry about the storytelling or the prettiness of the pictures.
Lee suggests that she asks for the time she needs to make the best product she can.
Will suggests a very strict schedule. He says that if he were in her shoes he’d move his personnel deadline up a week in an effort to be done early.
Lee asks her to think about how she can adjust things - what can she take out if she needs to. Can she fudge some elements of the background and imply what’s there without drawing it out fully, or maybe she can skimp on the blocking a little bit.
Jake says that on a quick turn-around book you should use your time making sure the artwork looks nice and that you should worry less about the layout. Good art pieces will add to your portfolio.
Will reminds Marta that future work depends on the quality of work done today. Making good art (portfolio pieces) will help you get bigger and better assignments in the future, and the whole book does not have to be portfolio quality.
Question 3 is about dealing with opportunity cost when accepting a project. This person doesn’t want to miss out on good projects.
Will answers this one by saying that since you are a freelancer with no one looking at your time card/work schedule, you have the ability to try for as much extra time on projects as you're able. This will let you double up on jobs and clients at your leisure.
Just do everything, he says. It’ll be fine, he says. Lee kind of mocks him for this ‘shop ‘til you drop’ mentality.
He says that you should understand your priorities in work and life because some things are going to be more or less important depending on the stage of life you’re in. Sometimes you need money quickly and sometimes you need to prioritize portfolio pieces and high profile jobs.
Jake agrees. He says that sometimes you need to do something just for the money so you can do lower paying passion projects later.
LINKS
Jake Parker: mrjakeparker.com. Instagram: @jakeparker, Youtube: JakeParker44
Will Terry: willterry.com. Instagram: @willterryart, Youtube: WillTerryArt
Lee White: leewhiteillustration.com. Instagram: @leewhiteillo
Daniel Tu: danieltu.co.
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