Whether it succeeds or fails, each project you launch is a stepping stone towards your next idea. Don’t bank so much on the success of one project that you don’t move on to the next one.
Do common things uncommonly well to set yourself apart.
Don’t force every idea to become a cash cow; leave some art just for yourself. You might still make money off of it, but don’t create it for that cause. Focus on the purity of the craft and let other endeavors (artistic or not) pay the bills.
Time spent perfecting your craft is not time wasted, and neither is time spent earning a living. Find the balance and appreciate both pursuits.
Should you move to Cara?
With the recent discovery of Meta’s AI image scraping, hundreds of enraged artists are boycotting Instagram and Facebook in favor of Cara, a new anti-AI social media platform for artists. Should you join them?
That depends on your goals. While Cara appears to be a great place to connect with other artists, your non-artist fans won’t be joining you there any time soon, making it less than ideal for Kickstarters, sales, and any kind of lead generation. If you use social media as a business tool, you must go where your supporters are, and that’s not Cara.
Another thing to consider is how much you care if AI scrapes your images. At the end of the day, your art was made by you, a human with a story to tell. Many jobs will be replaced thanks to the ease of AI, but no computer can generate your ideas, your motivations, or the connecting and human elements of your work. There will always be a market for work that speaks from one heart to another and that can’t be replicated, even by the smartest computers.Social media has been changing since the day it joined the scene. Don’t be bitter; accept the reality and discover the wisest path forward.
David asks, “What does the ideation stage of your process look like?”
Our first step is to define parameters for our projects. Whether designing a character or illustrating a scene, we need to have a few details to work with. The more limiting factors you have around an illustration, the easier it is to generate creative solutions, so we like to narrow in on some keywords that will guide our train of thought for the piece.
After establishing these keywords and defining our character’s/scene’s purpose, we might do some writing to get even more specific. Asking as many questions as you can think of about your illustration and its subject will get your wheels turning and help you generate ideas.
Once we have a sense of direction, we move on to thumbnail sketches. Don’t hesitate to make pages of tiny test sketches before settling on your favorite composition. Thumbnails are a low-risk way to experiment with many ideas before settling on which one you’ll take to a finish.
The more time and planning you put into the ideation of your piece, the more likely it is to succeed. Don’t skimp on the planning!
Get the guidance you need on the path to becoming a better illustrator.
