3 Point Perspective: The Illustration Podcast

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The Life Cycle of a Children's Book Dec 12, 2018

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3PP 19 Life Cycles of a Children's Book Projects: Will: Still working on the Painting Color and Light class. I’m gonna be working on it for a while. Loves working on classes, and loves having them. Loves it. It takes a long time but is very satisfying.Lee: Going into the last week of his basic painting class, and it’s amazing the progress people have made between weeks 1 and 10.Started a bunch of projects, and is working on a big series of book covers for his agent, he is trying to move into that genre, because children’s books take a long time, so he is trying to find things to do to supplement his children’s books.Working on classic novels right now, and just did Lord of the Flies. His goal is to do 1 cover a week. Be willing to move without the ball. No one is paying Lee to work on this book cover project, but he is doing it because he feels that it will be good for him. Good things happen to those who take initiative.Jake: Working on coloring his Inktober drawing. It’s a challenge, but it’s satisfying. Also is working on his Inktober book. Life Cycle of a Children’s Book Today we talk about where a book starts, what it does in its lifetime, how it ends, and all the hands that touch it. There are two different branches to children’s books, and they are:Author, illustrator combo.Or an Author who is also the illustrator. We’re going to focus on the first, and talk about how a book is made and published going through a publisher. Not self publishing. The Manuscript After a writer has gone through all of their ideas, and has a manuscript nailed down, they then submit that manuscript to their agent. The agent reads through the manuscript and decides if it’s something they think they can sell. Then the agent usually will give notes back to the author. If the agent is good, then they should know the market and what’s selling right now. Once that stage is over, then the agent will take it to publishers and start shopping it around. Should you chase what’s hot?If you really believe in the story, then you can tell your agent to try and shop it around.But maybe you aren’t super attached, and you don’t mind making the suggested changes.Pick your battles. Usually Jake defers to people with more knowledge and experience than him. Often an agent’s suggestions are very valuable because that is their job and normally they have so much experience with this than you do. The Agent Takes it to the Publishers She takes it to publishers and gauges their interest. more often than not they will have a list of go to editors that they will show it to first. The publisher level might want to get on board too if it’s a really good idea. The editor takes it to the publisher and they bounce it around and see if it’s a book that this publisher wants to publish. They will talk to all sorts of people about schedule, etc. And if it all works out and is a good fit then they will come back with an offer.There is a lot of work that goes into this and it’s something you may not see. Victoria Jamieson, Roller Girl She’s an author illustrator now, and she used to work in publishing. She had a wonderful slideshow that walked people through the process of how a book is made. There are like 100 people working on deciding if a book should be done or not. There are a lot of people that have to give their stamp of approval. It’s good to not know about all of the near misses because then you will be beating yourself up over them and spend way too much time worrying. The money you are offered is a fraction of the money that will be spent making the book. There is printing, marketing, sales, etc. all involved. They all need to have a say to make sure it will work across all departments. Would you trade this for a less free but more stable job? Jake loved animation, but he is happier with the independence that his lifestyle offers now.Will would get into lively discussions with his wife, because she was wanting him to have a “real” job. She was tired of gaps between checks and the uncertainty. But now she is grateful and is glad that Will stuck with being an independent artist.Will has lived long enough to see people with regular jobs experience plenty of layoffs. If there was a house style for picture books, it would take a lot of creativity out of the market. The Publisher Strikes a Deal With the Illustrator. Once the light is green. Once you get the green light, an offer is made, and you are in a good position if you are getting offers from multiple publishers. Then once the offer is made they will start looking for an illustrator. If you are an author then they will have a short list of Then if you are an illustrator then you will get to look at the manuscript and decide if you want to take this project on.Is this something I want to spend months on, will it align with my style and my brand. Is it enough money? Then if you choose to accept the book offer then they will give you a real offer.They will give you a loose schedule and an offer. You need to know your process inside and out. You really need to understand how long things take, comps, scanning ,etc.At this point you should be thinking about your schedule. If everything feels good to you and looks good to you then you accept the offer.Then your agent and the publisher will go back and forth about the money, royalties, do you have rights to the artwork, etc. Usually you want to retain rights to use it in your portfolio, and on your website. You want the rights in case the book takes off and they decide to make other products, like pajamas, mugs, posters, etc, so that you can get royalties. Receiving Your Advance, and Getting to Work Once all of this is squared away then you sign the contract and at that point you get an “advance”, this is upfront money. This protects you as an artist because you get money upfront to see you through the creative process. This is how an advance works:Let’s say you have a $20,000 advance. There are two options:⅓ signing, ⅓ delivering final files, ⅓ book is printed.½ siginign, ½ delivering finals (more common). The advance is against the royalties, so you would start making royalties after making the $20,000.Then you get a check and it feels really good depositing it. We like to be real in this podcast. And you don’t get the check immediately upon signing the contract. When you sign it, it still usually takes 1-2 months for you to actually receive the advance. Publishing is weird, horses still bring you your checks. This speaks to the idea that you need to be good with your money and learn to budget and plan ahead. Also in the contract, it should outline the game plan for the actual production of the book. It is usually around a year or 2 years later. The reason is that once you have started creating some art, then they can use that artwork to start selling the book to bookstores, libraries, etc. This all happens well in advance. Stores and libraries all are projecting and trying to predict what will sell or what will not sell in the future.All of this starts to happen as you start sending them files.Usually your production time is 6 months to a year.It takes forever.If you just sat down and just worked on the book and nothing else, you could get it done in maybe two months, but there is all sorts of back and forth, getting feedback, receiving notes, and making changes. Marketing people usually give lots of their feedback on the cover, they judge books by their cover. Production Process Process in a NutshellSend in initial rough sketches, get feedback.Then do a final illustration and get that approved for the finished look of the book.Receive approval.Then once that is approved, final sketches.Then do the rest of the final artwork.Then turn it all in.Then there are notes on the finished artwork.Then make any necessary changes.Then they get all of the work and they have a lot they need to do on their end with it.It’s so simple, right? It sounds complicated but they are directing it, and so all you need to do is meet your deadlines and respond to their emails.You are working intensely with other people and so there are people skills. You work back and forth with a lot of different departments and people. You are apart of a team, and it’s not like you are just creating an image for a class. Final Check on the Proofs After all the art is in their hands, then they will go through and format it, they will format the type. They will prep everything for print.At the same time, you will start bugging them and telling them that it is time for that second check.You aren’t quite done yet. A few months later you will get proof back, usually you will get prints of the book, physically. And you will see what the book will look like in print. They are larger and are not cropped at all. You look through it and make sure that the color that they are printing is matching your screen. If it all looks good then you let them know or you can ask themLee will try and send in a couple of finished images and also color swatches of where the color should be. Lee sends a hard copy proof, and then they can match it as best they can. He sends them his intention for how it should be printed. Because if everyone is looking at screens, then they might all be getting something a little different, they are trying to hit a moving target. After the proofs then you get the FNG’s, short for Folded and Gathered. These are the folded sheets, and it is what the book is really going to look like. This is where you can go through and double check everything. It’s probably too late to fix minor things but if there are major things then you can try and catch it before the book is printed. True Story:First time Will went to ALA, his publisher was sending him out there. His editor told him that he will see those “FNG’s”, and he couldn’t tell what was going on and if she was mad about something. FNG’s. There is this lingo, and little terms that get thrown at you that you never learned in school. Book Reviews After the FNG’s are approved then you will receive some advanced copies. The finished book. Not just you but other people like librarians with a book review audience, book reviewers, other publishers and agents, all people who are connected to this book somehow will get the books so that they can start reviewing them and telling people what they should think of the book. What you are looking for at this stage is for good reviews.A starred review on Kirkus is usually a good sign. The reviews are usually heavily focused on the writing and is not as focused on the illustrations. If you do not get a “starred review” not a 5 starred review, but a starred review, then people will look at the book as a miss, and it most likely won’t be a commercial success. Reviews. A lot of reviews are kind of arbitrary because the people reviewing them aren’t artists and the reviews are being given by individuals. Lee did a book and the review was saying that the book was quite poignant, and full of emotion, great. However, he drew a girl without a helmet, and got a bad review because on one page Release Day Book comes out, you are tweeting, and posting on Instagram about the book deal. There is some marketing that you need to do as author or illustrator and it all leads up to the launch of the book.If they want to and if you can, then you may be sent on a book tour. This is quite rare though. Book tours are more reasonable when you are both the author and illustrator. Publishers are hoping that at least one of the books they published will get an award. Every eighth or twelth book they publish is paying for all the others. You go on a book tour, and then you go home, or your book goes onto a best-seller list. You usually find this out, a week or two after the book is published. These accolades are not essential but feel good. Getting onto the The Best Seller Lists, sometimes it’s really easy to gain your way or you can sneak your way onto their lists. Even more important than the Best Seller Lists for how your book is selling is the Amazon seller rank. If you are anywhere under 10,000 for best selling books on Amazon, then you areBonaparte Falls Apart is seasonal but it was in the 700’s.David Hone’s Christmas book gets into the teens on Amazon’s seller ranking. Basically he is receiving off the charts royalties. Periodically you will receive a royalty statement.Gives you a break down of how many books sold in different areas.It tells you how much you still need to pay off of your advance.And if you have paid off your book’s advance, then you get a royalty check. Death or Eternal Life for a Book Then your book will either die and go out of print. Or it will continue to get royalties.If it goes out of print, then you retain all of the rights and you can self publish it or you can find another publisher.If it never goes out of print then you continue to receive royalty checks for it. You never know what’s gonna happen. The publisher does a lot of work. They do a lot of heavy lifting. So you can look at it this way, you are getting paid to create and you are also receiving free advertising. Big advance or big royalty?Your sales record follows you around, if you have a big flop then it can hurt your future deals.There is a balance between advances and royalties. If they can’t get a bigger advance, then you could ask for a bigger royalty. School visits, Jerry Polada does a lot of school visits, the fact that he does school visits every week and that volume of visits and work he does can help him with getting books sold to publishers.LINKSSvslearn.comJake Parker: mrjakeparker.com Instagram: @jakeparker, Youtube: JakeParker44Will Terry: willterry.com. Instagram: @willterryart, Youtube: WillTerryArtLee White: leewhiteillustration.comInstagram: @leewhiteilloAlex Sugg: alexsugg.comTanner Garlick:tannergarlickart.com. Instagram: @tannergarlickIf 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. 3 Point Perspective Podcast is sponsored by SVSLearn.com, the place where becoming a great illustrator starts!Click here for this episode’s links and show notes.

Full show notes at the publisher

How to Work with Art Directors Nov 29, 2018

Show notes

Society of Visual Storytelling: Our show is sponsored by SVSLearn.com. It’s like Netflix for a high quality art classes. We love the guys down there at SVS. :) If you are interested in learning more, click here

Current Projects:

Will: Working on redoing a class for SVS, and originally the class was done live and so now he is giving it a facelift and making it more organized and coherent.

Lee: While waiting for a book project to start, has started working on a basic Digital Painting class for SVS. He has done 90 videos done so far. Also, took a week to dial in his studio, his process and needs have changed over time, so now he has taken some time to customize his studio and built things to streamline it. Fancy customization.

Jake: Just finished, Inktober! Yay! Finished all the Inktober posts, has been doing a ton of work on the Inktober posts, which is a ton of work. Did all of his personal Inktober drawings, plus another 20 or so to promote sponsors.
Cleaned the whole studio with his trusty assistants, Aaron and Tanner
Now is working on the Inktober book which is all about how to ink, how to do Inktober, and where do you fit in the world of Ink.

November Art Challenges:
Slowvember: taking time to slow down after the franticness of Inktober and just focus on making one thing beautiful.
Another popular art challenge is Huevember, combined with Sketchtember, and Inktober. People do sketches during the month of September, ink them during October, and then add color during Huevember.
Slowvember, all about creating an amazing
Last year Lee did 2 pieces during that month. 2 weeks a painting. In today’s world it seems like it is all about speed, so it’s so nice to slow down and work on a painting and give it 100% of what you’ve got.
It’s the last 20% that makes you a professional. Students can totally get to that 80% mark but they get stuck and don’t know what else to do. It’s that final 20% that is the hardest part and this challenge is a perfect way to work on getting past that.

We love this podcast! This is what are meetings used to dissolve to anyways, so we’re happy to share it now with you.

(time) Today’s topic is: How to Working with Art Directors.
The nuts and bolts of working with an art director is usually learned on the job and is not covered as much in school. So hopefully this will be helpful.
We have some questions that were submitted to us by a former art director who thought these would be helpful questions to discuss and consider.

How much creative freedom can I expect to have when illustrating a book?

For most children’s books that Jake has done he has been hired based off of a specific illustration he has already done. Some artists have only one distinct style and so if that’s the case the client most likely wants something in that style.
Usually Jake will email them and ask what type of style they want for their illustration. The freedom lies in how you can use that style to tell the story. You have to stay in that box of the style and work inside that box and all of the storytelling and design you do should fit in that box.

Usually Lee will ask the publisher why and for what reason they chose him. Then they will send some images that they like of his and start to describe the look and feel of the project.

Your creativity doesn’t change as much as your confidence does.
Lee feels that he has the same amount of creativity and capacity to have good ideas now as when he started, the difference, however, is his confidence and ability to pitch those things and more creative solutions to the art director or publisher.
We all need to overcome self imposed limitations of what we think the art director wants. There is a freedom to pitch things out there and see if they are received.
It took some time but now Lee has confidence to think outside of the box and to propose new solutions.

Talk to the art director like a person, and give them more options. Don’t only focused on “will they like it?” Focus on coming up with creative solutions.
Overcome self-censoring to do what is fun and exciting.
Here’s an example, for a book Lee gave them three different options of approaches they could take on it and listed the pros and cons of each option. Talk openly about all of those things.

Jake likes to think about the current children’s book as the calling card for the next one. So he tries to really push things as far as he can and do his very best on at least a few spreads so he can show that stuff to other publishers.

If you give them boring stale work, and that’s what they want and that’s what you’ll be continued to ask do for them.

Lee gets shut down all the time, and that’s okay, he understand and has developed confidence.

“I love the limited color, but maybe we go full color..”

Anything you draw is never wasted. Anything can be reused, shown, and you get to become better as an artist because you went down that path and explored that option.

Have you been as satisfied with your professional work as your personal work?

Lee has done 24, 25 books and still feels like he hasn’t been able to hit the mark of his best work.

Of all of Will’s books, Bonnaparte Falls Apart is doing the best. It was published by Random House and it is the book where he had the most freedom.

As a rule of thumb, the smaller the publisher, the less freedom you’re going to have.
Lee: is working with imprints of Scholastic and Simon and Schuester.
Jake has worked with Chronicle and Harper Collins.

These publishers are at the top of their game, they allow you to do your best work with creative freedom and they will give directional nudges, and are not overly micromanaging. Smaller publishers may micromanage and have silly requests.

Will will approach art directors and show them really rough sketches and tell them that they are for their eyes only, don’t show these to the editor. This allows him to pitch concepts without having to do a lot of detailed sketching.
You need to prove yourself with a new client and give them some nice sketches before you start showing them really really rough concepts, so they can know what your sketches entail.

The caliber of client does change the answer to this question of how satisfied you may be with working with a publisher. Some smaller publishers will micromanage.

A good example of trust and a proactive solution mindset. Jake noticed when the book was nearing completion that they had left out a spread and were a whole spread shirt, so he proposed an idea for a final spread and the author, editor, and everyone liked his idea and let him carry it out.

The Twelve Sleighs of Christmas

Throw good creative ideas out there, if you don’t really have a good idea, don’t throw ideas out there just to throw it out there!

What to do if you don’t agree with the art director?

You can definitely push back more the more confidence and experience you have.

Would you do that as a beginning illustrator?
Pick your battles, it can’t be a daily thing. Every project will have issues. you know there is going to be some push back to what you do. You are going to want one or two of your ideas, to be really gutsy and push back. But it can’t be a daily thing.

When considering pushing back against feedback given, always ask, “Is this worth it? Is this more important than the other things that I really care about?” Pick your battles.

Check out our monthly drawing challenges at SVSLearn.com!

Be solution-oriented.
If you need to make a change and it’s not your idea, then you need to love the change or revision.
Will has loved something about a book and then had that thing changed and then he was able to love that new thing even more than the thing before.
We are resistant to change because we have attached value to something and then when that is attacked we feel unsettled.

Skeleton at Dinner

Being a student, almost anything you pitch is accepted and your teacher just wants to see you create good work.
As a professional, that isn’t the case, many things you pitch won’t be accepted or agreed with, but you have to keep a positive and team player attitude.
When going into professional job, realize you are going to be apart of a team, it helps you have a better mindset.

In regard to illustration, Jake likes to have the mind of a mercenary. You are hired by the author and the editor and they have a vision, he will, 9/10, go along with their vision.
One good reason for this is that the editor has been through this process so many more times than you, and she works with a marketing department and has seen designs and books succeed and fail. Normally she or he knows what
they are talking about. Jake tends to go with their feedback, unless maybe it is something specific that he feels strongly about.
Push back on only a handful of little things. Trust their vision.

Have you ever refused to change something?

Jake, never done it.
Lee, did this once. Did icons for a magazine and they got caught in this ongoing never ending revision loop.

As artists we are all caught in this paradox where we are wanting to make money and also wanting to enjoy out art and this fun career path. Sometimes you need to know when to say yes and no.
Sometimes you say yes, because there is a really good paycheck.
Sometimes you say no, because it doesn’t fit with your brand or artistic vision.

Will lost his rep by saying no. The art director was really upset because everyone wanted Will, the illustrator to rewrite the book, and Will knew that wasn’t his job or responsibility, and refused to do so. He lost his rep but stood up for himself. Soon after that publisher actually went out of business.

Being an illustrator does not mean: “I will illustrate anything for anyone in any style.”
I.e. Lee doesn’t do likenesses in his illustration work.

Know what you’re good at and know what you’re not.
You don’t have to be a Jack of all trades.
But you also don’t have to limit your skill set but you can limit what you do.

Is there a way to feel out the publishing team before you do a book for them, to make sure you see, creatively, eye to eye?

Some questions to ask early on to help you feel out the your compatibility with the project and team. What images of mine did you see that made you think of me? Why did you pick me? How do you see this project happening? Am I primarily working with the editor or the art director. You want to know what you are getting into.

Will’s friend wanted him to do a logo, and Will agreed to do it but had his friend show him 3 of his favorite logos so that Will could get a feel for what his friend wanted.
Make them send you stuff that fits their vision, so that you have a better idea as to what it is that they want.

Sometimes you have to spend a lot of money on your furnace.
You have to stick with it having a consistent online presence, you need to build an audience a fanbase, when you are in need they will likely support you!

How long do you wait on getting feedback on thumbnail sketches?
It can take as long as 3-4 weeks.

Worst experience with an art director?
Everyone has nothing to share. Will already shared his.

How to become friends with your art director?
People like to work with friends and with people that they can relate to.
Will tries to make it personal, “have a good time… this weekend”, “I’m going to be doing this, this weekend” Be kind and be their friend.
Jake likes to follow them on twitter or to comment on their art if they are an artist to find connections and build friendships.

A lot of Wills art directors are return clients.
He has had 5, 10, 30 projects with the same art directors.
Think about it, if you do good for someone, then they will count on you and look to you as a go to person. Be fun, be interesting, be a good person, care about them, show interest in what they’re doing. They will want to keep working with you if you produce good work, and are easy to work with.

One more idea, send your art director or publisher a card or a print, and do something extra like that for them.
Lee sends his new publishing clients his Kickstarter book so they have a really strong taste of what his process and finished work is like.

We hope you liked this discussion, this is a good thing to talk about because working with art directors, it’s part of what we do!

3 Point Perspective Podcast is sponsored by SVSLearn.com, the place where becoming a great illustrator starts!

Click here for this episode’s links and show notes.

10 Skills Every Illustrator Must Have Oct 31, 2018

Show notes

Most people think that in order to be a great illustrator you need to just be a great artist and storyteller, 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 Love CreatingYou 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. Unique StyleToo 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. CommunicationYou 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. Power of Persuasion, People SkillsSometimes 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! The 33% RuleYou 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. TeachYou 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: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.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.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. Personal ProjectsEvery 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: 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. 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. 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. 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. Svslearn.comJake Parker: mrjakeparker.com Instagram: @jakeparker, Youtube: JakeParker44Will Terry: willterry.com. Instagram: @willterryart, Youtube: WillTerryArtLee White: leewhiteillustration.comInstagram: @leewhiteilloTanner Garlick:tannergarlickart.com. Instagram: @tannergarlickIf 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. 3 Point Perspective Podcast is sponsored by SVSLearn.com, the place where becoming a great illustrator starts!Click here for this episode’s links and show notes.

Full show notes at the publisher

Why You Should Do an Art Challenge Oct 17, 2018

Show notes

Our Current Projects:
Lee: is working on some fun little promos for his agent, and he is getting feedback and having different studios look at one of his books.
Will: Just submitted the second round of sketches for Bonaparte Falls Apart.
Jake: Super busy with Inktober and it now has several sponsors, which takes a lot of administrative work, looking over contracts, and providing content for them.
Also, 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!
There are inking classes, and right now we have a Free 7 Day Trial going one, If you are interested please click here. Be sure to check it out!

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 painting everyday, 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 ever single day during October.
How to participate in Inktober.

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, i.e. 100 different dragons, 100 different pirate animals, 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:
Improve your life, and become more creative.
Improve your habits and develop your craft.
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 art challenge of Slowvember. You create something every day for Inktober and it is really fast paced, maybe you have 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.

For the vast majority of people who participate in Inktober its 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 that 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 contention over digital vs. traditional. Jake lives in this world of traditional and digital and going back and forth between both. 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, don’t have to worry about color, but just keep it nice and simple. 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 should be simple with just line work and maybe a splash of color and don’t create 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 are not 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 around and draw and paint with them. 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 Years, 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.comInstagram: @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.

3 Point Perspective Podcast is sponsored by SVSLearn.com, the place where becoming a great illustrator starts!

Click here for this episode’s links and show notes.

Comic Cons & Art Fairs Oct 03, 2018

Show notes

Comic Cons & Art Fairs

Comic conventions and art fairs take place all over the globe, with almost every major city in the United States hosting one. With the large audiences that attend these shows it is a good place for illustrators to show their work and start selling.

In this episode we will cover what the world of comic conventions and art fairs is like, ways to get into shows, and the differences between them. This is one of the easiest ways (depending on some conditions) to make money as an artist.

Lee White has experience showing at art fairs, whereas Jake Parker and Will Terry have experience with the comic convention circuit.

Money range [5:32]
The amount of money an artist can make at a show depends on a lot of variables such as location of the show and the types of products being sold.

At Lee White’s best art fair show he made $24,000 USD over a three day art fair.

On the comic convention side, at Jake Parker’s first convention he made enough to cover the cost of the show and for travel. At Jake’s best comic convention he broke $9,000 USD gross. His average is $5,000-$6,000 USD gross.

At Will Terry’s best convention he made $19,000 USD gross. His average is between $7,000-$9,000 USD gross.

How Lee, Will and Jake started showing [8:38]

Lee got his start showing at art fairs with Crafty Wonderland. He was invited to show when a table opened up. Following that experience he started actively looking for art fairs to attend.

In his mid 20’s Jake was in the comic anthology, Flight. The editor of the book purchased a table at San Diego Comic Con, and invited the other artists to use the extra space. Jake went to sell prints and books. After getting a taste of what it was like to table at a show, he decided to do his own show. His first show outside of San Diego was CTNX. Following that success he knew it was possible to be successful at other shows.

Will Terry’s first comic convention was a disaster even though he spent two years researching how to sell. Through that experience he learned how to be successful. He now has an assistant that takes Will’s art around the comic convention circuit. Will only personally attends 3-4 of the shows.

Will has a series of YouTube videos where he goes into detail about his first experience tabling at a comic convention.
Will Terry’s comic convention video series:

Lee White: “It’s worth it as an experience. You cannot anticipate how much energy these things take. They are really hard.” Having extra people to help you is really helpful because there are so many factors involved.

Doing this full time as your only source of income can be really consuming. For Lee, Will and Jake they use art shows as supplemental income sources. Artists who do this full time can go to 30-40 shows a year.

Differences between art fairs and comic conventions [21:05]

Art fairs are typically during the summer. Usually outside in parks, but sometimes in convention centers. Artists purchase 10 foot by 10 foot booths. The average attendee at an art fair is older (50 years-old to 70 years old). There are not a lot of collectors, it is mostly people looking for artwork to put on their walls. They want to purchase originals.

Prices for pieces at art fairs range from $50 USD to $20,000 USD (higher end of that scale are people buying originals).

Lee White: “The more specific the story in my image the less likely it is to sell. The bigger the character in an image, the less likely it is to sell.“ Lee focuses more on environment elements and doesn’t get too specific with storytelling. In order to be successful at art fairs you have to strike a nice balance between illustration and fine art, and create images people want to hang in their homes.

Lee’s Secret Sauce for Art Fairs: “[Illustrate] a moment that people can interpret what’s happening versus showing them what’s happening.” Create images that two separate people can view and come up with different stories. Just give the audience a hint of the story.

James Jean is a good example of this principle. His work transcends illustration and taps into the art fair market.

Website

James Jean Instagram

Comic conventions [30:40]

Comic conventions are focused on popular culture. There is an artist ally section where artists can buy tables to show and sell their work. Attendees typically have $100 and spend that across maybe 5 different artists. What sells the best at comic conventions are things people already know such as characters from popular films, tv shows or cartoons.

Comic conventions products typically sells from $4 to $70.

There is also a commission market, where attendees will pay artists to draw their character or some other character doing something specific. Some artists open their commission list before the show, whereas others only do commissions during the show. Jake does commissions at show and works on them during down times or at the hotel. He can make an extra $2,000 to $3,000 USD depending on what he is charging. Commission from artists at comic conventions can range from $20 USD all the way to $600 USD.

Jake uses fan art he sells at comic conventions to get people to come look at his table where he also has pieces from his original stories. He uses this as a way to expand the audience for his original content.

How to start [47:23]

When trying to get into art fairs or comic conventions it is really important to understand the market. Lee tried to sell at CTNX with Jake and Will and his art did not fit that market.

Step 1: Go visit the shows not as a fan but as research. Take notes, take photos, be detailed and focused.

Step 2: Make inventory. You can’t do a show if you don’t have things to sell. Start with prints, prints are cheaper and easier to sell. Make sure to use archival ink and paper so your work doesn’t fade. Jake Parker says “every sell is a person you touch.” When you sell a print you are building a relationships with that person. There is a lot of repeat customers, so if you use cheap stuff you lose that future business.

Prints generally have low overhead cost with a high markup price. T-shirts per-unit cost are higher and they can be hard to sell and keep the proper sizes in inventory. Stickers are also harder (higher per-unit cost and lower markup price). People often just want the image so they will buy the smallest size just to get it. Don’t lose sales by selling products with higher per-unit cost.

Jed Henry is a good example of this, at shows he only sells one size. Ukiyo Heroes

Start small and work your way up. Both with what show you start with and with your inventory (not small products but a smaller product list/inventory). Check to see if there is a show within an hour of your home. This is a good way to start small because you have lower overhead costs.

Lee white: “Stay local until you get your market figured out and then start branching out.”

It is important to know there are different niche markets in each show. So know your work and who it appeals to.

Comic conventions are generally easier to show at then art fairs. Art fairs are curated so. For example, Lee only gets into about half of the art fairs he applies for.

List of every convention in the USA

Specifics on how to get into art fairs [01:06:29]

For art fairs start with craft fairs, they are easier to get into. These shows are usually in the winter and indoors.

Art Fair Sourcebook. Has art fairs sorted by region, how many people attend and how much they spend on average. This source is expensive, but it is good data to have when catering to an audience with a larger budget.

Zapplication is another good resource.

Horror and success stories [01:07:55]

Will Terry: For his first show he printed 1000 of each print, 23 different pints, so 23,000 prints total. He couldn’t even fit all his inventory in his car. Printing alone cost him $5,000 USD. He figured he would be showing at a lot of conventions so he was offsetting the cost. At his first show he only made $1,500 USD. After that he was pretty nervous. But luckily he was able to make it up over time, but it was scary after that first show.

Lee White: At his first show he sold an original, but didn’t bring any bags. So had to give the customer his original art in a trash bag. At a different show, Lee was busy setting up his booth, running to and from his car. When he was almost finished he realized the fanny pack he kept all his money in ($3,000 from his last art fair) had been open the whole time. Almost all his money flew into the wind before the art fair even started.

Jake Parker: At a show in 2018, one of his tables was set up against and facing the wall. So he moved the table. Luckily no one told him to move it back even though it was obviously extending further out than anyone else’s. Also at that convention he had made a display structure out of foam core to hang prints. It kept falling over and he had to keep taping it. Overall it was just bad presentation.
Convention etiquette

You have to learn convention etiquette. Watch out for ‘booth barnacles,’ they are attendees who stay for way too long and get in the way of making other sells. Jake has a polite way to remove booth barnacles. He waits for an opening in the conversation and sticks out his hand and says “It was so nice to meet you thanks for coming.” After that they usually leave.

Also don’t just bring your portfolio to show and expect artists to review it. Always ask if there is a time to show them, don’t just assume. A good way to get a very quick and honest critique is to ask “what is the one main thing I should change in my portfolio?”

For more information on critques listen to [Episode 10: Critiques] (https://www.svslearn.com/3pointperspectiveblog/2018/8/8/episode-10-critiques)

Gear

Information forthcoming.

LINKS
Svslearn.com
Jake Parker: mrjakeparker.com. Instagram: @jakeparker, Youtube: JakeParker44
Will Terry: willterry.com. Instagram: @willterryart, Youtube: WillTerryArt
Lee White: leewhiteillustration.comInstagram: @leewhiteillo
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.

3 Point Perspective Podcast is sponsored by SVSLearn.com, the place where becoming a great illustrator starts!

Click here for this episode’s links and show notes.

The Caldecott Sep 20, 2018

Show notes

The Caldecott is the most prestigious award a children’s book illustrator can receive, and it’s an award that, once received, changes each recipient’s life. We will discuss what the award is, how it is chosen, some patterns with books that have received this honor, and some tips on what you can do to try and become a more Caldecott-worthy illustrator.

What are you working on? [01:17]
Will Terry: Bonnaparte Falls Apart Part 2, and a new board game in his digital painting style. Not the best pay, but he has complete creative freedom and so it’s worth it.

Lee White: Just moved to Nashville, Tennessee from Portland Oregon. Still working on two books, one that he is writing and illustrating himself, and still working out the deal for illustrating someone else's story.

“Cain’t never could do nothing.”- Southern Saying

We might be doing a live workshop later on in Nashville, but don’t quote us on that, all 3 of us would be there. Keep your ears peeled.

Jake Parker: Has been crazy busy and gone a lot. He did a Comic Con in Denver, a workshop up in Boise, and a workshop here in Provo, and did a bunch of work for Snowplow 2; and, Skyheart is at the printer in China! There has been some translation issues that have slowed the process down, so we’ll see if the books get here in color or black and white!

Today, we want to dive in and see if what sort of a role awards play in the life of an illustrator or comic book artist, and does it play a role in developing your art.

If you are an illustrator, new or old, we hope that we can shed light on some of the illustration awards and what impact receiving different awards can have on a creatives life..

What are the Awards? [11:00]
There are specific awards that we want to dive into on this podcast.

The Caldecott Award, conceived in 1937 by Robert Caldecott.
The Newbery Award, given to Young Adult Fiction, it’s an award for writers.
The Eisner, given for creative achievement in comic books.

Eisner Award: the Academy Awards of Comic. Given to different categories, i.e. Best Publication, Best Writing, Best Art, Best Short Story, etc. It’s an award and the publishers love it because they get to put the special award sticker, and whoever won the award has a prestigious bargaining chips for future projects.

It’s important to understand the audience for each of these awards and oddly enough the for the Caldecott, they are librarians.

Will hated school growing up and the last place he would imagine being is a library convention. But as fate would have it, he ended up going to one, and he has now been to three of them.
American Library Association (ALA) hosts a conference where illustrators and librarians collide.
Librarians matter because they are the ones who will be recommending your books!

The Caldecott [15:00]
The Caldecott is the biggest most prestigious award for children’s books. The Caldecott is determined by a committee of 15 people and 8 of those people are appointed by the ALA. These people are composed of librarians and school teachers.

They are supposed to primarily focus on the artwork, but there aren’t any poor stories that win the Caldecott. Art is a component but other components like story are a factor that enhance the children's book.

Look for patterns. Think about the patterns of the wards winners. Lee likes to look for systems and commonalities to help inform success. There is often strategy to most things we do. Even when playing Monopoly!

Since 2000, only 4 Caldecott winners have different writer and illustrator. It means that more Caldecott winners not only illustrate but also write their book. Is this a coincidence?

Committee members like to promote and celebrate 1 person. If you win this award you are the “Miss America” of illustration for the next year.

Can winning one of these awards change your life? [22:06]
There are over 200 children’s books awards but they are not life changing like the Caldecott. Almost every state has one award and they are sometimes narrow and specific. Will won the North Carolina book award one year. In Utah there is an award for Best Mormon Illustrator. Any award is great to receive but are not on the level of receiving a Caldecott.

These awards are great but the Caldecott is different. You will be known and introduced as a Caldecott award winner, and the book will be in print for the rest of their life, which translates to a lot of money.

There are over 200,000 libraries across the US and stock Caldecott winners. Sometimes one library could buy 10 copies of 1 Caldecott winners book, and restock every year. There are also people that collect Caldecotts. It is a fail safe for the libraries and bookstores because these books have a stamp of approval and popularity built into them.

There are Caldecott honorable mentions that also reap the reward of this honor and Lee has a friend that recieve $75,000 in royalties.

Jon Klassen is an illustrator/writer that has been raking in the Caldecott.

(Jon Klassen)[http://jonklassen.tumblr.com/]
(This Is Not My Hat)[https://www.amazon.com/This-Not-Hat-Jon-Klassen/dp/0763655996]

If you were to win a Caldecott, publishers try to lock you into your next book deal. You become known for this award and it makes you a distinguished illustrator.

There are Caldecott terms to book deals that stipulate how payment changes if you were to win a Caldecott.

Should you change your art to win? [31:40]
Will feels as if you need to change your art style to win a Caldecott but Lee sees that Caldecott winners of the past have very different styles and are really all over the place. There are books that are Caldecott material and there are other books that aren’t but are still wildly successful.

Why is I Want My Hat Back distinguished and Fancy Nancy not? Fancy nancy is extremely commercial and sells well but not as literary.

(Fancy Nancy)[https://www.amazon.com/Fancy-Nancy-Jane-OConnor/dp/0060542098]

There are books that have a balance of the two like Olivia. Olivia won a Caldecott and also became very commercial.

(Olivia)[https://www.amazon.com/Olivia-Caldecott-Honor-Book-Falconer/product-reviews/B0018SYWI4]

There are many things that precede winning a Caldecott. There is networking and knowing someone that can get you in the right circles and in the right places. Being connected and known is very important.

Dan Santat is a great example of a person that has been around the block before winning the Caldecott. He spoke at conferences for years and was really well known along with producing great work.

(The Adventures of Beekle)[https://www.amazon.com/Caldecott-Medal-Dan-Santat/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n%3A6288856011%2Cp_lbr_one_browse-bin%3ADan%20Santat]

It’s true that winning a Caldecott seems as likely as being hit by lightning.
Step One: Write your own stuff
Step Two: Be Jon Klassen
Step Three: Speak at SCWI

Actionable item [41:29]
Here are some actionable things that might not get you a Caldecott but moves you in the right direction. Believe in your work and keep moving forward with it. Think about what is the type of creator you want to be and what best fits your personality. You don’t need to be award winning to be successful. If you are just trying to mimic other people you will always be a few years behind, of course you can learn from others but really do what you love and develop your own unique style and voice. Do the thing that you love to do and that you are good at and eventually the world will catch up.

Nuances of a Caldecott [50:04]
There are so many books that are great and when it comes down to choosing a winner the committee starts considering the nitty gritty. They start to think what doesn’t work about the books- does the book’s cover have room for the sticker, what is the paper quality like, what is the font, what is in the end paper etc.

Things to consider [53: 56]
Be like Jon Klassen in the sense that he was trying to be himself. If you are trying to copy someone that has won you will be always be behind. Create the thing that only you can create.

Also consider that design matters and having a good sense of graphic design is important for the whole package. Chris Van Allsburg is a great example of this. He combines his art with design to create a great book. His pieces are beautiful and leave room for type. Great artists have a great graphic design sense and some create their own fonts for their books, i.e. Jon Klassen.

The Caldecott can be a motivator, and can push yourself to create on a higher level. You can ask yourself, “Is this Caldecott worthy?”

Chris Van Allsburg

Summary [01:07:00]
Consider writing
Be unique
Consider the details
Drive yourself to create something good and worthwhile!

LINKS
Svslearn.com
Jake Parker: mrjakeparker.com Instagram: @jakeparker, Youtube: JakeParker44
Will Terry: willterry.com. Instagram: @willterryart, Youtube: WillTerryArt
Lee White: leewhiteillustration.comInstagram: @leewhiteillo
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.

3 Point Perspective Podcast is sponsored by SVSLearn.com, the place where becoming a great illustrator starts!

Click here for this episode’s links and show notes.

A Day in The Life of An Illustrator Sep 05, 2018

Show notes

Have you ever wondered what your life might be like if you were an illustrator? In this episode we want to give you a sneak peak into the secret life of illustrators. We will go over what a typical day looks like, some of the biggest frustrations with this lifestyle, and some of the reasons being an artist is so wonderful and rewarding.

Sorry, we just wanted to apologize for the audio quality of this episode; Lee has been moving across the country and didn’t have the best set up when we did this episode, but we loved the content so much that we decided to release it anyways. Finished, not perfect, right?:)
And correction: when we mentioned Milton Glaser, we actually meant Philip Glass. Enjoy!

We want to talk about a day in the life of an illustrator because when you are choosing a career as an illustrator you are essentially choosing a certain life, and a lifestyle that goes along with it.

Lee and Will will be discussing the life of an illustrator from the book illustration side, while Jake will be commenting and focusing more on the entertainment side of things.

Lee always gets up really early each day and gets t work on a project. As an illustrator you don’t have hard deadlines, so you need to make up your own arbitrary deadlines. There is a final deadline but you need to break it up into smaller steps. So he spends the beginning of his day scheduling what to do. Then he goes right into working on one of the books he is working on.

Schedule: when you are able to schedule your time wisely, that is really going to pay big dividends in your career.

At a studio, Jake would get told what he would do and the schedule was laid out for him. It was a big adjustment when he became an independent artist and had to start managing his own schedule. He started with to do lists, to keep track of what went on during the day, then he started scheduling those tasks throughout the week, and now he has a full weekly and monthly plan and that really helps him with accomplishing his goals.

You need to learn to manage the small micro steps, and learn about your work flow and how long it takes you to perform certain tasks.

Jake divides his work into two categories: creative time and administrative time. Creative time is during the morning when he is fresh and alert, then administrative time comes in the afternoon when he is more tired and burnt out.
Deep Work

Lee is the same.

When Lee gets a project he typically gets an email from his agent that someone is interested in working with him; he writes back and tells them that he is interested; the agent will start to work on the budget and negotiate back and forth with the client; they go back and forth and agree on a schedule; then he gets started on the project by doing some research and development.

“A good beginning is half done.” Great advice from a fortune cookie. It is really profound, though! If you can start goodt it will influence and pay dividends throughout the project.

At the beginning stages of a book try to stay open to a lot of different influences. It doesn’t have to be so linear. After reading the manuscript stay open to different ideas, styles, or influences, from anywhere and everywhere.

For entertainment, typically if you are on the development team doing the early early pre production work and working on ideas, then you might be doing that for weeks to months at a time, fleshing out ideas. A lot of times before Jake would go to the studio he would stop by the library for a half hour before going to work and maybe checking it out to use at work that day. Usually there is a weekly meeting where you meet with the director and show it to the group.

As an illustrator you don’t want to attach too much value to your work early on. Nothing is sacred or precious, you can’t get too attached to your drawings and paintings. Otherwise it will become a hindrance to you.

If you are uncomfortable with showing people your rough sketches, then entertainment might be hard for you. You have to show everything, and you don’t know what the director is going to respond to. It might be a 5 minute sketch that you did, or it might be something you spent a few hours on.

You go through stages as an artist: you draw something realistic, then you start drawing characters and diving more into the story and narrative side of things.

You don’t just move forward with your first sketch. You need to do push it more.

Step 2 is where Lee will start thinking about storytelling, and this is his favorite part about being an illustrator: thinking about what the story is really about.

Everything needs to serve the story, including the style. The story should dictate the approach, not the other way around.

Entertainment: Usually the early development team is made up of an art team that is made out of artists with different styles that will help direct the story.

The Art of The Incredibles

There is a lot of overlap between movies and book images, probably because there is a lot of storytelling.

To recap Lee’s process of getting started on a project: Email and express interest, email about the budget, analyze the story, then do very loose sketches that thumbnail the book (2 weeks), then he tightens up the loose sketches, and start painting.

What is the process for you, Will? Once he did a book in 3 months but that was awful, usually a book takes 6-12 months.

A life as a children’s book illustrator: you need to be comfortable with these really long deadlines. You need to be comfortable working on a 9 month long project, if you are at a studio then you might be working on a project for 2 years plus.

This is one of the reasons that Jake wanted to leave the studio work life: the early blue sky stages are super fun, but other times you have to work on a single scene for months and constantly got revisions and sometimes it became unfulfilling.

Jake has been away for a while, and has thought about going back, but realizes that he has the lifestyle that he wants already.

One of the big pros of being a children’s book illustrator is that you are in control. You have control of the product. Ultimately, when you have the final product in your hands it is largely all yours. It is very satisfying.

Lee loves to use Adobe Indesign to layout his books, and it can seem daunting to learn to use a new program but it is definitely worth it; it can be really powerful for laying out a book, it is the way to go for multi page documents.

Will likes to work on the ipad, it is his mobile studio. He uses it to look at all of the different pages too. He chunks out time and give his focus to the design work, sometimes even working in his car to keep focused.

Biggest Pros and Cons of Being an Illustrator:

The pros of being an illustrator is the freedom to make your choice of how your schedule looks. The freedom can be a blessing or a curse.
You can go see a movie on a Tuesday morning, or go on a bike ride during the day if you want to! At a studio, that doesn’t fly.
If you like collaborating, and working in that environment, with different people, and all of the bustling that goes along with that, then maybe

Enough freedom is actually a bad thing.

Here is an important point: most people don’t make their full living as an illustrator. The number of things that you You might do a couple

Maybe doing art all the time isn’t the best way to make your art. Maybe having a real job where you are interacting with people in real situations will spark your creativity and it goes into something that doesn’t have so many strings attached.

As an illustrator, everyday isn’t bliss. Sometimes you don’t feel like creating, or it may feel monotonous, but likely that’s how every job is from time to time.

What would you do if you couldn’t do art?

Teaching doesn’t count.

Jake: fantasizes about managing and operating a bookstore, or working in concessions at a movie theater.

Lee: physical therapist, or the guy that works in those little booths at a campsite. Delivering pizza was fun as a kid.

Will, has fantasized about running a restaurant.

The grass is romanticized on the other side.

What’s the biggest frustration of being an illustrator?

Will: sometimes when you read the manuscript from an author, even if you like it there are things that you would change. Another thing would be when you feel you really understand the story and the editor has differing views. A lot of the aggravation is based on our perception and attitude.
Biggest pro is the flexibility. Don’t take it for granted.

Jake: the biggest aggravation, or stressor is the lack of steady income. You might make 3 months income in one and then for the next 2 months, drip drip. The freedom in your schedule, is amazing.
Jake had the flexibility to go and help his wife with a project, and he could stay later or come in early. Another thing: Jake has 5 kids, and insuring all of the family, is really expensive. It is a huge burden. To them though, having a family is more important than having a nice car. Jake barely remembers what his older kids were like during
During the day, Jake could eat lunch with his kids and take breaks to play with them. The family life was a lot better. Biggest pro of entertainment job: consistent money, consistent job, and being surrounded by some of the most talented people in the world.

TV has more layoffs. Usually at an animation studio you have a lot more stability. There is enough work that if you are talented and good with people, they will keep you on.

There are a lot of people vying for animation jobs, although there are lots of different studio jobs there.

There is no career path to being a book illustrator. There are so many gray areas.

Lee: Early aggravation, of not knowing how to navigate the terrain.

There are a lot of online resources, youtube, and huge sources of revelation. The art of books are so valuable.

It is really rewarding to come in and get to work, and your whole day is spent trying to tell a story.

LINKS
Svslearn.com
Jake Parker: mrjakeparker.com Instagram: @jakeparker, Youtube: JakeParker44
Will Terry: willterry.com. Instagram: @willterryart, Youtube: WillTerryArt
Lee White: leewhiteillustration.comInstagram: @leewhiteillo
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.

3 Point Perspective Podcast is sponsored by SVSLearn.com, the place where becoming a great illustrator starts!

Click here for this episode’s links and show notes.

Networking for Artists Aug 22, 2018

Show notes

Networking

If you think that networking is manipulative, selfish, or all about getting ahead you are doing it wrong. In this episode, we talk about how networking is all about friendship, giving, and the people that you choose to spend time with. We talk about how to network and connect with people above, next to, and below you.

The What and Why of a Network?
Your network is your connection to a broader world, to opportunities, and to new ideas. Your network consists of your friends in the field that you work in. Your network is so important and who you surround yourself with will influence the type of person that you are and the person that you will become. This applies to your creative life as well as with every other aspect of who you are.

Every jump in Jake’s career came from his network: animation, comics, publishing. Your network is your gate to so many

Jake and Will started to get connected over lunch. Lee was deliberate and tried to connect with Will and Jake.

Networking is like cycling, there is strength in staying in a group. Bikers encourage and support each other, and they draft off of each other. It is hard to break away and do it on your own. Choose friends and to spend time with people that push you to be better.

A true network is not your “job hotline” it consists of your real friends, your buds.

Put yourself in the right place and good things can happen [13:40]
It is true that there are some places that are creative hubs where its easier to find people to connect with but ultimately your network is a result of how much time and effort you put into it.

How much time do you spend getting to know other creatives that are like-minded, how do you make the first contact, and how do you deepen a creative relationship that you have? Consider these things as you learn more about creating your personal network and how to grow it.

Question: Do you need to live in a creative hot spot to be successful [14:54]
Many people have the false impression that it’s all about the location of an artist. Although each area has its own creative hub you can find creatives that are like minded just like you anywhere.

You create your network and you can reach out to people in the area through web searches and hashtagging your area to find people that have the same goals and values as you. Instagram is a great platform to do research and learn about the people in the area and there will be people.

How to build a network of friends in your area [18:00]
Search online, check hashtags, follow & Like
SVS Forum or general online forums
Facebook groups

Through these interactions online you begin to develop relationships, give feedback and receive feedback, and engage with others. You can make the effort to not only find creatives online but create the friendships and start conversations to grow your circles.

SVS Forum

Online interaction is good, but you’ll need to meet people in real life [22:54]
Online interaction has its pros and has reach but there needs to be face to face interaction to solidify the relationships and contacts. This face to face interaction develops the real friendship aspect of networking. Go to networking events, Comicon, conferences, and presentations allow you the environment to meet people face to face with similar goals, values, and ideals. Often time if you have a clear vision of where you want to go you find people in the same boat as you.

How to get over being nerves [24:06]
Starting a conversation with a stranger is not easy but in the industry of illustration and artist, there are comfort zones that need to be broken.

Talking face to face can be hard but there are many things you can do to overcome the fear of talking to someone you have never met. Put yourself in situations to interact with others. Sit next to people or stand next to them in line and create a beginning point of conversation like drawing next to them or talk about why they are there.

Introduction and exit strategies [27:48]
The more and more you stick your neck out to meet other people the more and more you will learn how to ignite conversations and end a conversation. You can begin by pointing out something on their shirt, comment about something that they have or ask about what they are doing here, or what awesome things they seen at the conference etc.

Jake’s foolproof exit is “It was so good to meet you!” hint I gotta go.

Form: Family, occupation, recreation, motivation(or message) [29:44]
You can follow these guidelines to create conversation
Family: Are you here alone, where are you from, are you the only artist in your family?
Occupation: What do you do for a living, is it a hobby?
Recreation: What do you like to do for fun?
This then warms people up for this question:
Motivation: What motivates you, why are you here, why did you decide to draw ….?
Don’t forget the best questions: what is your worthless superpower?

More ideas to meet people [33:11]
Attend a lunch or dinner, or host your own
Create a critique group
In critique groups, you find artists that are motivated and like-minded. This group can meet once a month or once a week and help challenge you personally and grow with each other.
Draw Lunch
Go to the mall and get something to eat and draw. It’s as simple as that. This is a great opportunity to get face to face action.
Set up one-on-one meetings [35:44]
This is a very deep level of interaction and creating your network.

What does your network look like [37:03]
Your network is composed of mentors, friends, and followers. Mentors are people that are farther along and have more experience than you. Friends are the people at the same stage of life you are in and have similar experience level. Followers are people that look up to you.

Keep in mind this quote: It’s not who you know, it’s who you help - Jeff Goins, Real Artists Don’t starve [38:27]

Real Artists Don’t Starve

Give and you will grow your network.

Research before reaching out [41:00]
You need to put the work into researching before reaching out to mentors and peers. Before contacting a someone that you admire purchase their material, watch their YouTube videos, read their blog, follow their social media. However, beyond that make sure you have put the time and effort into learning about the field you are interested in or researching about the questions you have. For example, if you are wanting to be a children's book illustration do your research before asking a professional for help and looking like a deer in the headlights.

How to ask questions [41:56]
Before asking a question to a mentor think it through. Ask the question AND provide three solutions to your question. This demonstrates that you have thought things out and have done your research.

How to get a great mentor [43:26]
Jake’s experience with Rachel Everette- First, Rachel went to a workshop Jake was hosting. Then they met again at ComicCon and she asked Jake to create one of her characters as a commission. This was great because it allowed Jake to be immersed in her art and get to know her. At their next Comicon, she created fanart art of Jake’s character. She also reached out to help Jake with Skyheart because she had time during school. All these connections allowed Jake to become invested in her. Jake had a contact at Marvel and reached out to them on behalf of Rachel and she is now at the beginning of her career working with Marvel.

Rachel Everett

How to make friends in the industry [48:06]
It feels like common sense but find common interests- be a friend. Interact in thoughtful ways and then dig deeper. When you find people with the same artistic values and ideals stick with them and make time to connect with them.

Being a friend also means being invested in other others success.
Find in an environment, interact with people, plug into groups and communities.

You need others to succeed there is no doubt about that.

Finding followers [56:15]
Don’t neglect your follower network. Take time to create your follower network by creating work and allowing your “tribe” to naturally manifest. Build and maintain and network. Connect and be authentic when interacting with your followers. Some things that help people feel connected is Sharing your process, ah- ha moments, and screw-ups. Allow people to be involved in your world. Promote projects and do shoutouts.

Have a shared purpose of collective power.

Building a universe one drawing at a time- Jake Parker. Build your brand around your shared purpose.

Share Freely [1:00:38]
People with good networks share freely. They don’t hide their secrets. This shows kindness love, and authenticity.

Create a mantra [01:01:56]
Jake’s is Finished Not Perfect - independent creators that are finished
I.e. Draw every day

Learn and Listen [01:03:43]
Pay attention to feedback. Shift accordingly.

Host meetups [01:04:31]

You build a network by giving more than you take [01:05:14]
This is essential, give and share.
This is the key to networking: give. Be a giver more than a taker.

Connecting other people together. Elevates the scene that you are a part of.

If you group is not challenging you find different friends and create the group that you grow with!

NETWORKING Challenge [01:07:46]
At least one time this next week invited someone to do somethings related to illustration. Be the inviter.

Post on the forum about the outcome of this challenge

3 Point Perspective Podcast is sponsored by SVSLearn.com, the place where becoming a great illustrator starts!

Click here for this episode’s links and show notes.

Critiques Aug 08, 2018

Show notes

Episode 10: Critiques

Critiques can be the wind beneath your wings that help you grow in incredible ways; or they can be the source of many tears, hurt feelings, and stomps out of classrooms. In this episode we will cover why you need critiques and critique groups, where to get them, how to prepare for a critique and what to avoid.

[00:00:49] What have you been working on?

We used to do this but got out of the habit and wanted to bring it back!
What projects are each of us working on?

Lee: Currently working on writing two books, and is trying to create a dummy book for both books, and trying to sell a two book deal, or at least have two options for publishers to choose from.

Will: Working with four other teachers to create classes for SVS, working on character designs for a board games and a sequel to Bonaparte Falls Apart.

Jake: Working on a figure drawing class for SVS that will be pulling the best from all of the figure drawing books to make the best class possible, on a sequel to “The Little Snowplow”, Jake and an author he worked with earlier wanted to do a sequel together and their agents were able to create a deal (stay tuned, we’re not able to announce it yet!). and sent the files for Skyheart
to the printer in China. Wahoo!

[00:06:10] Why art might not be right for your job?

We wanted to briefly touch on this subject because of a letter that we received from an artist named, Mike, in response to Episode 03: Ship Happens. Mike brought up the fact that maybe for a lot of artists out there, art is better as a hobby than a career. Mike went through all the steps and got his first art job… and he hated it. After he finished a couple of art jobs he was wondering why he didn’t want to apply for any other art jobs and didn’t know why he had such little drive and motivation. He realized that for him, and he imagines a lot of other artists making art their job isn’t the best option for them. He is does a weekly webcomic, does art for a board game company, and engages with his audience and is super happy with his art. He thought it would be nice to share with the followers of this podcast that to kill yourself to flounder in the shallow end of the professional artist career isn’t always going to pay off and doesn’t equate to success or happiness. Mike realized that he needed to have his own personal goals and stick to them. Also, that he wouldn’t be happy working on other people’s stuff. He realized that his dream was to have a stable income outside of the art industry and then have the freedom to do whatever he wanted to do with his art.

Mike brings up some good points, and essentially hit on the plight on an illustrator; that is, we spend a lot of time working for other people and helping them accomplish their dreams, while sometimes letting our own dreams stagnate.

Super successful illustrators do one or both of these things well:
Stop advertising for, stop looking for, or stop accepting work from clients that take them in the wrong direction.
Or they start doing their own projects, or a combination of the two.

To help see the perspective you can compare this to becoming a professional tennis player.
With each level of progression there are nuances and changes that need to be made, and it sometimes becomes less about the fun, sometimes you just have to practice because you need to improve.

You need to find art jobs that match who you are. Think about your skill level and what makes you happy.

That’s a side note that we wanted to hit, now time to jump into today’s episode!

[00:15:15] What are the benefits to a critique?
You need to see things from the perspective of another and that’s what critiques help us do.

Critiques are for students and professionals, alike. We all need feedback and critique. That’s how we grow. Jake was working on Skyheart and decided to redo the cover and when he posted it online he got a lot of feedback telling him that the original was better.

[00:17:17] Why you might not get an honest critique?
Sometimes we don’t get honest critiques because we don’t create the right atmosphere for the critiquer to feel comfortable giving us feedback. If they think that you want validation and not a real critique then often they’ll just tell you what you want to hear.

[00:18:29] How to find a good critique?

There are many people you can reach out to for good critiques such as previous teachers, professional artists, critique groups, small social media groups or pods, and artists at art conventional or art shows.
Art students have their previous teachers as a resource but this relationship needs to be set up when they were in school. Have you created a positive relationship for them to want to critique you later? Be a good student and be involved, it will pay dividends.

Like it or not we live in a transactional society. It helps if there is an exchange of time i.e. buying a print, helping to update their website, handle their social media posts, etc. Time is precious, see if there is something you can do for them.

Maybe you only have a critique group of your peers: be the person that gives critiques and set the foundation of a give and take relationship with your peers. On the SVS forum it is great to ask for a critique but people will be a lot more willing to give you a critique if you are also spending time to give others critiques.

You can also ask artists at conventions and art shows for feedback. Be courteous, and respectful of their time. It always helps to buy a print or something to compensate them for their time;)

[Society of
Children's Book Writers
and Illustrators] (https://www.scbwi.org/)

[00:28:22] Are you personally ready for a good critique?
How can you prepare for a good critique? You can approach critiques with a vision and a direction. Think about what your purpose for the piece is, and that will help your critiquer point you in the right direction. Provide a frame a references.

[00:30:31] Know what you need
Understand what you are asking for. Maybe you just want to be validated or maybe you really need to level up the piece you are working on. Know what you need and ask for it.

[00:31:15] Mel Milton's critique method

Mel Milton has a critique method where he only praises people when they ask for a critique, unless they really push him to give a critique and really ask for it. If they really want a critique then the flowery praise won’t be enough and they’ll push for more feedback. Showing that you really want feedback allows the critiquer to take you seriously and tell you what they really think.

Mel Milton

[00:32:30] You never know how people will react to your critique.

People sometimes cry, get angry or defensive and this is a sign that they are not ready for a critique.

[00:34:08] What not to do during a critique

Critique Repellent:
Talking too much: cutting off their comments or not letting the critiquer actually critique.
Getting upset
Being distracted and unplugged from the critiques
Arguing

[00:36:00] What to do before and during a critique
Know what you want the piece to accomplish- set a vision for where you want your piece to go
Be specific- you can ask them, “what did I nail?”, “what did I get wrong?”, etc.
Have more than one option open for critique- this helps provide a point of reference for critique and is extremely helpful
Set limitations: "What are three things I could do to improve this?" This really helps the critiquer feel open to give you three things you can improve.
Open the door for a total critique by saying “I’m willing to start this piece over”

In contrast to the “repellant” above, these things really create a positive atmosphere for receiving a critique.

[00:41:46] Break your critique into components
Lee liked to use a rubric to help provide specific critique to his students. Maybe they nailed it with the rendering and perspective but the concept was weak, or maybe they had a great concept but the values could use some work, etc.

Some fundamental things Jake looks at when giving a critique:
Gesture
Composition
Design
Volumes
Rendering

Understand your objective.

[00:46:11] How to prepare for a hard critique

When Jake worked at Blue Sky, his entire job was critiques. You would constantly draw and receive critiques. Sometimes character designs would have to go through 50 iterations before they ever settled on a final.

Come into the critique being malleable and bendable. It will free you from feeling too attached to your work.

Recognize that if you are making this a career there will be good drawings and bad drawings. Sometimes we are too invested in the time that we spent creating a single piece. Realize that one peace is a drop in the bucket of your lifetime of work. They say everyone has 10,000 bad drawings in them and so if you do a bad one, you’re like, “Sweet, I got one of those out of the way.” Then you can move onto the next drawing.

Don’t spend so much time worrying about the one brick rather than the entire wall. Go into it knowing that this isn’t the last thing you are going to create.

Don't rely on feedback from one single person, but if multiple people tell you the same thing, pay attention. You can start to understand the trends of your critique.

[00:53:23] How to participate in or find a critique group

Try to find in your area 3-5 people with the same goals as you do. As a group you will help each other achieve your goals. They could be in person or online and be composed of different creatives. Within your critique group find people who are at your level or higher, (preferably, you’re the least skilled in the group). Be accountable to this group.

Warning: if the group gets too big they become more of a cheerleading group and people will feel less impelled or comfortable to give honest critique.

Professionals need critique groups to level up and receive the feedback necessary to make work on that higher level. Try to find a local group with people who have similar goals.

[01:00:08] 5 Things to Avoid Doing In a Critique Group
Don’t show with work, but dish out critique
Take without giving
Being disrespectful
Being late: it shows selfishness
Not be overly negative

[01:03:47] Quick note about posting online

Your posts online can also be a source of critique. Based on what people commenting and also what is getting a lack of comments.
If your art doesn't get any responses that is a form of a critique. It means that you can keep at it and make something remarkable (worthy of remark).

[01:04:55] Giving a critique
Knowing your biases in your artistic tastes. For example, Lee doesn’t really love symmetrical work or anime, so he has to take that into account when he is giving a critique.

These things influence your critique and how objective it will be.

Also, reach out to certain people for different types of critique. Any critique from anyone is helpful, and a fellow artist can give you a good general critique. However, if you want a critique on your watercolor techniques then you should talk to someone else who does watercolors and they will be able to give you a more specific critique. You can get more general and more specific critiques, and both are valuable.

[01:08:17] Trust you gut.
Sometimes, you will get critiques that don’t sit right, and ultimately you need to trust your gut. Don’t change your whole style based on someone’s critique if it doesn’t feel right. However, if you want work from someone and they are asking you to change something then you probably should if you want work from that person.

Knowing what you want out of the critique will influence what you take away from it, and also the number of people giving you similar critiques.

Get critiques and be wise, what can we say more?

LINKS

svslearn.com

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

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

Lee White, http://leewhiteillustration.com. Instagram: @leewhiteillo
forum.svslearn.com

Podcast production and editing by Aaron Dowd.

Show notes by Tanner Garlick.

3 Point Perspective Podcast is sponsored by SVSLearn.com, the place where becoming a great illustrator starts!

Click here for this episode’s links and show notes.

How Much Will You Make in Illustration? Jul 25, 2018

Show notes

9: How Much Will You Make In Illustration?

How much will you make in illustration? [2:06]
This is a question every student has, and the frustrating part is that it is often not discussed openly, or is just glossed over in school. Which, honestly, is a bit crazy! Some reasons for this may be that those who are teaching are making too little and are embarrassed to share that, or it may be that they are making a lot of money and don’t want to share that, because they are afraid of coming across as bragging. In this episode, we hope to cut through the fog of uncertainty and shed some real light on what the market is like and how much you can expect to make in illustration, in different fields, and in different stages of your career.

Making a life in illustration [4:09]
When speaking of how much you make in illustration and of the various fields of illustration we are are ultimately talking about different lifestyles. A children’s book illustrator gets paid differently than a concept artist at an animation studio; the same can be said for a gallery painter or an editorial artist, etc. Each comes with its own unique type of payment system and accompanying lifestyle. There are many different career paths and combinations of career paths and it is wise to consider the environment and the financial situations that come with each.

Responsibility to talk about the business side too [6:44]
Schools are put into a tricky situation, because they need to recruit students and promise them a great career but the topic of money can be glossed over because the schools can’t guarantee jobs coming out of school. Will finds it necessary to have a talk with about finances with his students in each of his classes, and each time the students tell him: no one else has ever talked to us about this!

Comfortable to talk about how much you make [7:45]
Money is this weird thing that sometimes people hold so close to their chest. And sometimes people are super secretive about it. It can be frustrating

If you have artistic ability, the gamut of jobs available go from freelance out of your home to working full time at an animation studio and everything in between. Jake has taught at Brigham Young University (BYU), and feels as if the animation department there does a good job at helping students create connections with studios; they fly studios out to help conduct portfolio reviews and recruit. They try to get their students lined up with jobs and internships.

The hard thing about Illustration is that it doesn’t have a central source providing all illustration jobs, it’s everywhere! You school could fly and editor out to talk to talk about publishing work but they can’t offer 5 years of work like an animation studio can.

It can be a challenge to keep consistent work right out of school but there are things that you can do to prepare and gear yourself up to have consistent work; you can start trying to line up work, and start developing relationships to prepare.
It can be frustrating when you have no one to talk to about the financial side of illustration but it really only takes talking with a few people to start to get a pretty good idea of what it is like. Hopefully, this podcast will be a good start for you in answering your questions.

6 factors that affect your income as an illustrator [12:26]

It can be tricky to nail it all down, and don’t feel bad if you don’t fit into these categories. We are just going to ballpark some numbers and hopefully you can go from there!

We’ll divide it up into 2 different categories with 3 different sub categories.

Three different income bracket
Early pro
Mid level pro
Pro, seasoned veteran
Skill level
Exceptional skill
Average skill
Below average skill

It is important to know which you are talking about because if you use a seasoned pro like Chris Van Allsburg as a guide vs a student fresh out of school, you will get very different numbers.

People like Chris and David Wiesner have won multiple Caldecotts and are definitely anomalies.
You also need to distinguish your skill level with your career because there are students who are getting work in school and have an absolutely exceptional skill level, and these guys are super successful right out of the gate.

Chris Van Allsburg
David Wiesner
Dan Santat

We’ll try and focus a lot on average skill level, because people like those described above are outliers, and people with below average skill aren’t really going to be getting a lot of jobs.

What you can expect from book publishing [17:23]
Early pro $8,000-$10,000 for advances
Mid level pro $20,000- $24,000
Pro $28,000- and up

Educational publishers won’t be higher than $10,000

Small publishers offer less [19:27]
There are smaller publishers and they don’t offer as much. This means you should really think about whether or not it’s worth your time to work with them, consider these questions:

Questions to ask yourself before you accept work [20:13]
Does it pay well? [20:28]
Is it creative or challenging and taking you in the direction you want to go? [20:36]
Will the final finished work provide extraordinary exposure? [20:48]

Lee considers these three questions when taking publishing offers. Ideally the project will fulfill all 3 questions but if it fulfilled two out of the three Lee would consider accepting the work.

Senior level in book publishing [22:16]
As you begin to build traction and notoriety the figures start to increase. Book illustration and publishing are a long term investment. You can build a long term career with passive income.

A published book doesn’t necessarily lead to royalties [23:33]
Most childrens books don’t earn out. Consider that most books go out of print. Royalties are great when they do come but, a general rule of thumb you could adopt is to just assume that you won’t get any and seek for the best advance possible.

Quick book advance explanation [25:11]
Publisher gives you advances on royalties. So you don’t get any money on royalties until the royalties due to you cross the amount of your advance. The advance is really there to protect the artist and create incentives.
Publishers can estimate how much a book might make in royalties and they give that money up front.
It takes a lot of time to make a children’s book and you can look at this as high income short term rates and long term investments you need to think about this as a business.

What you can expect to make within entertainment and concept art [27:00]
There are so many options, such as: storyboarding, background art, background painting, concept art, etc.

Entertainment industry [28:29]
Main Industries
Animation
Video Games
TV
Live Action
Feature animation, and feature live action pay more but TV might last longer like ten years. Video games can fluctuate but depending on the studio they can have pay rates similar to feature animation.

Feature anything is considering those with top tear skill sets and you can anticipate $70,000 starting off but also consider the cost of living in the area where feature animation is i.e. California. Cost of living in California is very high and your income may not be able to sustain a life there.

One of the reasons schools don’t talk about money [32:12]
You need to understand the life that you are choosing because there is a lifespan to each project that you have. Movies are made within 3-4 years and the studios have the option to keep or not keep you.

You should treat each job like it is freelance and think of your options. The are highs and lows in the industry.

Benefits of working in the entertainment industry [34:35]
In the entertainment industry there are great perks to think about like benefits, bonuses, and retirement. You can work around peers that help you and push you to level up your craft. The exposure of working in the industry also opens up other doors. Working in a company there is lateral movement like storyboarding or production assistance.

Day rate for feature animation concept art [35:42]
There are also opportunities to do freelance for animation, video games, TV, advertising, etc.
The day rate is set by the studio or you can negotiate for it.
For animation, the max is about $500/day.

Think about your social needs [36:35]
Are you social? Do you need to, or do you prefer to work on a team with people or to work more solitary? This is a factor you should consider with different career paths, some are inherently more sociable and some are inherently more solitary.

Puppet Sanding to doing what you want to do [39:02]
Lee said there is this joke that when people started at Laika, they would have to “pay their dues” and started off just sanding puppets, because someone had to, and then, after paying their dues they would move onto doing more art and creative projects. Sometimes you will do something you didn’t anticipate, and you may have to spend some time “paying your dues.”

What you can expect to make at art fairs, comic cons, etc. [39:56]
The estimated rates in one comicon:
Early pro- $500-$1200
Mid pro $1200- $5000
Seasoned pro $6000-$30000

Will Terry Youtube, Comic Con

Will, Lee, and Jake say that they could make a living off of just comic cons and art fairs but it would be a lot of work, and stress, and isn’t the lifestyle they want.

By using different sources of income, you can create a sturdy “financial table”. Each leg is a different source of income that you have contributing to holding up the table of your finances; such as: art fairs, book publishing, freelance. If one leg “fall out” or is not producing income then you still have others to rely on. Whereas, if you only have one source of income, then if it falls, you will be in a lot more financial trouble. It’s great to have multiple legs to make sure your table is steady and strong.

Working in one area or multiple areas [45:03]
There are two types of artist.
One, the artist that has reached a pinnacle in his or her career and and focuses in on one thing
Or two, an artist that has to piece together different forms of income but still can make a living.

Steps to take if you want to get into Comic Cons and Art fairs [50:47]
Go to Comic Cons or art fairs
Do research and development
Understand setup and prints

You can go and talk to people running successful booths and ask them a question or two but don’t sit there and take all of their time. Also, as a rule of etiquette: never get in the way of a sale. Be polite, and you and they will have a great experience talking.

The Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing and Ethical Guidelines [52:40]
This book talks about how to quote but most artist don’t love the guidelines. This could be the starting book. Helps to have a ballpark of where the price range might be.
Find peers that you can go to chat about pricing.

Will’s YouTube video: Pricing

Question: What’s the best route for making a living as an illustrator? [58:31]
Have a day job that pays the bills first then you can transition into illustration. Think about the need in the industry and how applicable is your talent in the industry. Understand your target market, budget, and rights. Have a day job.

Make great art and also understand how things are sold.

Piper Thibodeau worked a corporate job and did art on the side before she was able to make the jump and be an artist full time.
Piper Thibodeau

Question: What are some financial things freelancers forget to think about? [1:05:19]
Freelance artists need to understand that what you make is not what you get. Consider the amount amount your agent will take, taxes (30%), health insurance, investments, savings, etc.

Quicken Self Employed is a great tool for freelancers!

Quick overview Dollar Cost Averaging [1:06:25]
If you make 1 dollar what happens to that one dollar? How much to you pay for your agent? Studio space? Taxes? Then you can start to calculate based off of how many costs eat into 1 dollar, how much you will need to make to be financially comfortable.

3 Point Perspective Podcast is sponsored by SVSLearn.com, the place where becoming a great illustrator starts!

Click here for this episode’s links and show notes.

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