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10 Skills Every Illustrator Must Have

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Most people think that in order to be a great illustrator you need to just be a great artist and storyteller, and that's true. However, there is a lot more that goes into being a stellar illustrator and a more well-rounded person. In this episode we'll go over 10 important skills that we all need to be developing, and we'll go over some of the reasons why they are all so important, and share some techniques and tips for improving your skills. "Art directors only want illustrators with great skills!"

Just a reminder that this class is sponsored by SVSLearn.com with a library of over 80-90 classes.

Here are some recommendations:

Lee’s Favorite: Visual Storytelling Techniques, it gives a why for all of the marks that you are putting down.

Will’s Favorite: Draw 50 Things, it’s hard but once you learn to swing a golf club then you can go forward knowing how to create images.

Jake’s Favorite: How to Draw Everything, Really proud of this one, it’s an intro to drawing, and it’s also great for experienced artists. It’s always a great thing to make sure that you are doing it right. It corrects drawing problems, and you learn a process by which you can draw anything you want!

SVSLearn.com is Netflix for art school. If you want to own a movie, you go buy it. If you want to have access to a library of movies you do Netflix. That’s how SVSLearn.com is set up, you can buy the class and own it indefinitely or you can subscribe to our growing library of great content.

Project Updates:

Will: Sequel to Bonnepart, still working on it and is on the second round of sketches.

Lee: Working on a new book with Simon and Schuster, it’s a doozy, because it’s based on a song and the song doesn’t have a strong narrative, and so he is trying to create a story through the images.

Great ideas come early in the morning. That’s when great ideas come. Working in the morning and then chilling at night, or some people like to work till late at night and that can be great too.

When you get into a focus mode, whether it is late at night or early in the morning, nobody is there to interrupt you.

Jake: Delivered all of the interior drawings for Littlest Snow Plow 2, and it ended up being 40 pages. Next up, is working on the Inktober Book with Chronicle: how to do Inktober, and how to ink, and Jake’s process.

The 10 Skills that Every Illustrator Must Have

1. Love Creating

You need to love creating art. Will has had students who he has determined don’t love art, people who would show up late, and talk to people, and take forever to get setup, and then they pack up and leave early. This is true for anything that you want to do. If you don’t love it then you won’t have the drive to push yourself and become great.

Art is great, it’s what kids get excited about in pre school, and we are so blessed to be able to “play” for our job.

Will had a friend who was admiring his iPad and asked about getting one, and then Will told his friend that he shouldn’t get one because he doesn’t love drawing. The friend hadn’t drawn really at all in the last decade, and was kind of offended at first, but then when Will explained why he said that, he understood that what Will said definitely had some truth to it. You’ve got to love it in order to excel.

Jake has 5 kids and all of them who like to draw. One of them loves drawing and is older, and has a younger brother who likes drawing but and is way more naturally gifted. Sometimes his older son gets jealous, however, the older one is way more passionate, and in the long run he will have the drive to grow and become an amazing artist.

You have to love it in order for it to be a career. It’s fine if it’s just a hobby and you only do it for a few hours a week, but if you are going to be creating for 40-50 hours a week, then you need to love it.

2. Unique Style

Too often people settle and just copy someone else’s work and they don’t develop their own unique style.

If you stick with it long enough, your style will emerge. You can be deliberate and coax your style out quicker with exercises such as collecting 5-10 illustrators that you really like, and then creating lists about the different things that make up their style.

If you want to get published you also need to develop a style that is relevant.

You need to be looking at what’s being published right now, and then you can push things, you need to be current. We’ll do an episode about this soon, because this is an episode in and of itself.

3. Communication

You have to talk good.

You have to be willing and bold enough to ask questions, and call your art director to clarify things. Back in the day everyone called people even when people didn’t see it coming. However, it makes sense that sometimes people are nervous and don’t want to look silly or incompetent to an art director, and therefore, are afraid to call and ask questions.

People are willing to help you. If they want to work with you then that means they value you and your art. You can be honest, “Honestly, this is my first time doing a job like this, and so what do you think would be a fair price?”, etc, people will find you and your humble honesty endearing and be there to help you.

4. Power of Persuasion/ People Skills

Sometimes we look at persuasion as a negative term, as manipulative. But it’s not, and those things are different. It’s kind of like you get more bees with honey. Let’s say you’re a beginning illustrator, and the client asks if you can take on a project, you say, “let me check my schedule and get back to you.” When maybe your schedule is wide open.

Sometimes it’s a little bit of a game, “What’s your rate?”, well, “What’s the budget?” That’s a vital question if you want to make illustration a career.

You need to make your client comfortable, they’re nervous working with you if you haven’t worked with them before, do all you can to clarify and show excitement and interest, so that they feel comfortable and good about hiring you.

Will wanted to get a Yorkie, and there were 100 people who were wanting it.

Will wanted to try and get the owner to let him buy it, so he tried to reverse engineer the person’s perspective.

Ask yourself, “What would I want to hear, if I were them? What would I not want to hear, if I were her?”

Assess the situation and look for how it can benefit you and the person you are working with. Think win-win!

Show that you are excited, be human. Don’t be afraid to be excited and to show it!

5. The 33% Rule

You have relationships that you need to maintain. There are executive relationships above you, peer relationships people who are next to you, and there are people who are “below you” (not in a condescending way) but they are maybe not as experienced at something.

Focusing on all of these relationships helps you see where you are at in your career and in your ability, acknowledge what you need to do to get better and enables you to help those who are further back on the path than you are.

As you help people who are further back, you learn and grow more. Your skills will increase as you have to teach people the process.

As you spend time with people ahead of you, they pull you up.

You’re the sum of the 5 people you spend most of your time with. That means you need to put people in your life who are better than you.

What to do if you are the best? If you are the rockstar of your group?

Jake was at an art studio, and eventually people above him had moved on and left, and one day he realized that he didn’t have anyone to look up to and to push him to be better, so immediately he started looking at higher up studios with artists light years ahead of him, and he ended up getting a job there and grew so much within just the first 6 months.

Healthy competition can help push you to be a better artist too.

6. Teach

You don’t have to. But if you can do it, it’s so rewarding. You give so much to your students, and they give you even more. Your students build a great circle around you, and it increases your quality of life.

Some people have different personality, and like being alone more.

Will’s case for why you should teach:

  1. When you have to break something down, and have to explain something, then you are creating different pathways in your brain and you have epiphanies as you are teaching.

  2. You are held to a higher standard: if you teach your students to do something then you are more accountable to try and apply what you teach in your own work.

  3. Most of the most successful illustrators that he knows of, all have done something to teach and share their knowledge and experience.

As a rule of thumb, you should be out of school for 5 years before going back to teach, and those years of experience will validate you. You’ll be a better teacher and have the students respect. Students smell blood in the water and they can tell if you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Your art will get better if you teach. Jake took a teaching job and right away his work got so much better.

7. Personal Projects

Every successful illustrator that Jake knows of that has taken their career somewhere has done personal projects and more importantly finished them and put them out into the world.

Ship It. Check out our episode on this here: Ship Happens.

Not the continuous project on the side that never gets finished.

This is the only way to avoid burnout as a pro. Sometimes you just want to paint or draw something that’s just all entirely yours. Sometimes you do a personal project and it works its way into your professional work.

Personal projects and style are so interrelated. You can’t work on personal project without developing your style and artistic voice.

Sometimes they turn into bigger things.

Missile Mouse, a side project started in 9th grade, turned into graphic novel deals with Scholastic.

Little Bot and Sparrow, a 10 page story for a comic anthology became a children’s book.

Inktober was a personal improvement project, now it’s a world wide art challenge.

Will did Bonaparte Falls Apart, because Jake convinced him to do the fanart and his Little book style.

When you have a personal project you have to answer questions and solve problems that you don’t have to when working on a project for someone else.

From doing Kickstarters, having to work with printers, and having to prep files, it has helped Jake work better with clients.

8. Yearn to Constantly Improve

So many people get to a point where they wonder where else they need to go.

Simona Ceccarelli: a good example of continually learning. She made it a personal goal, that her portfolio would turn around and be a completely different portfolio by the next year.

“Eternal student.” She was a scientist for years, but she loved art and started studying it. Be an eternal student.

Will’s interview with her.

Will was impressed with one of his highly experienced teachers in school who would constantly take notes whenever a visiting artist came to campus. He was humble and always trying to learn. Take notes.

9. Have an Online Presence

You can have great art, but if no one can find it, then you won’t have any work.

Most illustrators that are doing really well have some sort of an online presence. You can find them easily, they have a website, they are present to one degree or another on social media.

Simona has gotten work from twitter and instagram. Not only can you find work but you can start to build your own personal fan base.

Personal projects can sustain you if you have an audience that wants to buy your work.

10. Think of Yourself as More Than an Illustrator.

When Will looks at some of the best illustrator many do more than just illustration.

Strive to combine an additional skill with your illustration: i.e. writing, programming for a game you’re making, maybe it’s a board game so you’re combining it with your creative ideas for making the game, etc.

Develop another skill that you combine with illustration. You combine things and can create something that is more than the sum of its parts.

Some artists transcend the idea of being a hired gun, or “just an illustrator.”

You’re never going to be paid as much as the creator rather than just the artist.

You have to stand out in some way, you have to be unique.

It’s important to create that mindset that you are a creator, even if it’s not illustration, even if it’s something completely different. Sometimes while working on other things you’ll receive insights and inspiration for your art.

It’s all about how you define yourself. “Illustration is one of the things that I do, but I’m able to do lots of things.” There is so much more to life than just illustration. Be more than just an illustrator.

Taking classes:

Jake reads books and learns from them, art and non art, Jake did a marketing class, and went to  a conference. Lee has this spark and wants to take some art classes, onsite.

John Love watercolor workshop Lee did it.

Will would like to get into Plein Air painting, has never done it, but wants to get into it.

Good luck, go work on getting sweet skills, ‘cause art directors only like artists with sweet skills! :)

LINKS

Svslearn.com

Jake Parker: mrjakeparker.com. Instagram: @jakeparker, Youtube: JakeParker44

Will Terry: willterry.com. Instagram: @willterryart, Youtube: WillTerryArt

Lee White: leewhiteillustration.com. Instagram: @leewhiteillo

Alex Sugg: alexsugg.com

If you like this episode, please share it, subscribe, and we’d love it if you left a review! These podcasts live and die on reviews.

If you want to join in on this discussion log onto forum.svslearn.com, there is a forum for this episode you can comment on.

Why You Should Do an Art Challenge

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Have you ever taken on a month long challenge? Maybe it was to become more fit, drink more water, or participate in Inktober. Challenges are powerful for all realms of life and the same is for art. We are going to share some of our favorite art challenges, share some of the backstory of Inktober, and tell you the benefits of an art challenge and why you should make challenges a part of your life!

Our Current Projects:

Lee: Working on some fun little promos for his agent, and he is getting feedback and having different publishers look at one of his books.

Will: Just submitted the second round of sketches for Bonaparte Falls Apart.

Jake: Super busy with Inktober! Inktober now has several sponsors, which takes a lot of administrative work, looking over contracts, and providing content for them.

Also, he shipped Skyheart, went to New York and talked with editors about working on future projects, and built friendships and connections.

Reminder: Svslearn.com, is an online illustration school, and a sponsor of Inktober!

SVSLearn has inking classes, and right now we have a Free 7 Day Trial going on. Be sure to check it out!

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Free Trial!

Click the button to get started : )



Drawing Challenges

Have you guys ever done an art challenge?

Will created the Draw 50 Things Challenge, it’s a design challenge where you try and create an illustration that has at least 50 different recognizable objects in it.

Lee once did a 14-week long art challenge, painting a digital landscape every single day, 7 days a week. Which is a TON of painting!

Drawing challenge: you do something daily or you have a project you try to finish in a certain amount of time.

Take something you want to get better at and do it every day, for 30, 50 days.

Jake created Inktober, which is where you create an ink drawing every single day during October.

He also created the Draw 100 Somethings challenge, which is where you draw something and then draw 99 more different somethings, all within narrow constraints, such as 100 different dragons, 100 different pirates, 100 different animals, etc. The key is to not be too broad, the constraints will push your creative muscles!

Why You Should Do an Art Challenge

There are 3 main reasons:

  1. Improve your life, and become more creative.

  2. Improve your habits and develop your craft.

  3. Get attention and exposure.

It is so important that you do it everyday, at first it’s really awkward and it takes time to get in the rhythm, but eventually it becomes second nature. When you first try something, it’s harder and then when you do it again it gets easier.

Repetitive attempts drill it into you. You will become a better and more creative artist by the end of the challenge if you really do it justice.

While in college, Will got let into the illustration program on probation. He had to prove himself during the next semester to stay. He kept asking professors what he needed to work on and ultimately it was design. That’s why he made the Draw 50 Things Challenge, to help push people to sharpen their design and creativity skills.

Lee created the Slowvember art challenge. You create something every day for Inktober and it is really fast paced, then during Slowvember you slow down and spend time every day working to create and polish one amazing piece.

Lee is an advocate for slowing down and doing things right.

So many people can get paintings to 70 or 80 percent of where they need to be but it’s that last 20 percent that really pushes the painting to the next level and its that last 20 percent that takes the longest. Slowvember gives you the opportunity to push something to 100 percent!

Challenging Yourself in Different Ways

Inktober: you should have a vision for it. Think of how you can do it, have a goal.

Don’t do Inktober just do do it, but make it specific and have a goal. Be deliberate.

Don’t just swing at 10,000 golf balls, but have a specific target or goal you are trying to create, then swing for that. That deliberateness will help you learn and improve so much faster!

Maybe you want to do quick 30 minute sketches for Inktober with a goal to get faster at doing quick sketches, then that’s great! Just make sure you have a focused goal and you will get even more out of it.

Fhe vast majority of people who participate in Inktober are hobbyists, people who love creating but aren’t doing it professionally for their career. They come from all walks of life, from middle school to adults, who all like drawing and being creative. Proportionally there aren’t as many professionals. If you fall into that category then for you it doesn’t have to be good it just has to exist. You’re building a habit of drawing and you’re trying to build the creative mindset. It gets you thinking. After 7 days you start to run out of ideas, and you have to push yourself creatively. There is value in just doing it, even if it’s not amazing...yet!

Are You Allowed to Do It Digitally?
Do you think that the guy with the turkey feather guy got mad when the guy with the metal nib pen came and drew next to him?

Will: Art is art, the tools don’t matter. It’s about what you make and how you make the viewer feel.

The problem with digital is when you don’t understand the traditional medium and the look that you are going for. When you know how to do it traditionally, then you can recreate that feeling and look digitally.

Lee’s Challenge to Digital: Do half digital, and half traditional. That way you will get pushed and those two halves will begin to complement one another.

Jake was blindsided last year by Inktober controversy over digital vs. traditional. Jake lives in both the traditional and digital world. He sees digital as valuable and the best thing that has happened to art; and that tradition is valuable and the best thing that has happened to art, there wouldn’t be any digital without it.

Inktober was created to focus on linework, without the extra pressure of worrying about color. You can still do that challenge with a stylus, you can still make it simple and beautiful digitally.

There are certain lines you can’t do digitally that are easier to do traditionally, learning to create those lines digitally is a skill in and of itself. There is value in doing the Inktober challenge digitally. It’s a different skill.

However, there still are things to learn from stepping away from digital and doing traditional.

Jake did a post encouraging digital artists to do traditional, that offended some people. People took it as him saying that they wouldn’t be getting the full experience. However, there is value to both digital and traditional, they both have their virtues. Jake didn’t mean to invalidate people.

Jake took Inktober on as a personal challenge.

Lately Jake has tried to ink digitally more with the iPad and Cintiq, and saw how there is something special to digital, both traditional and digital are so useful.

Still, the drawings should be simple with just line work and maybe a splash of color, not full color paintings.

If you normally work digitally, try it traditionally!

Inktober, all about doing it daily and improving as an artist.

Be Creative

Will: Don’t worry about what others say Inktober has to be. You can try to be different. There is no Inktober police.

When people are saying you’re doing something wrong then you are on to something.

After Picasso got others to start doing Cubism, a Cubism group quickly emerged and they kicked him out, however now he is the only one that is well recognized.

You don’t want to be an “if only” artist. You don’t want to be an artist who can draw “if only” they have the right gear with them. You want to be able to draw with anything. You don’t need all this stuff.

Inktober for writers: There was a writer who writes a little story to go with each daily prompt, and there is a group of writers that have gotten together to share their Inktober stories. That’s great!

Well if Inktober means that you can just do anything, then it doesn’t mean anything. There is a reason for it, but you can be creative and do what you need to do.

Contests

Zebra, Adobe, Pentel, Blick, and Kingart are all doing Inktober contests.

There are contests. It could be that they are looking for traditional instead of digital or a dash of color.

If you are going to enter contests, be careful that they don’t own your work.

Pentel did a contest, they said that they own your artwork. They said that you could use it for anything they want to use it for. People were upset with it. Their lawyer looked at it and Inktober’s lawyer looked at it, and it has specific wording to be able to use that work to post it and share it on their channels, not to use to advertise on their products. They went in and adjusted some wording. Really be aware of what the contest rules are, just be aware.

If the contest is worth it, then maybe do artwork specifically for the contest for exposure.

Instagram, Facebook, Twitter has similar wording to these contests. There are some risks and things that you just have to deal with, that’s just apart of being an online artist.

The Power of Inktober

Jake never would have imagined that Inktober would have turned into what it is today.

He started the challenge to have:

  • Constraints,

  • Accountability, he tries to be a person who does what he says he’s going to do.

  • Wanted a way to get more exposure as an artist, and a reason for people to come to his art blog.

Inktober is still all about getting better at art, and getting people to want to come look at your work.

Inktober has changed a lot of people's lives, got them in the habit of drawing, and boosted their followers.

Inktober is like New Year’s, it’s a time when people say, “I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna make it happen.” It’s a line in the sand. Happy drawing!

Thank so much for listening!

LINKS

Svslearn.com

Jake Parker: mrjakeparker.com. Instagram: @jakeparker, Youtube: JakeParker44

Will Terry: willterry.com. Instagram: @willterryart, Youtube: WillTerryArt

Lee White: leewhiteillustration.com. Instagram: @leewhiteillo

Tanner Garlick: tannergarlickart.com. Instagram: @tannergarlick

If you like this episode, please share it, subscribe, and we’d love it if you left a review! These podcasts live and die on reviews.

If you want to join in on this discussion log onto forum.svslearn.com, there is a forum for this episode you can comment on.