d r a g o n b o n e s    

It seems like Spec Work and/or crowd sourcing is on the rise in the world of illustration. That’s a big change from the days of big studios, and it scares a lot of folks, but I say the only thing constant in life is Change.  It’s sad sometimes, and a joyous thing at others.

I think that folks who rally against spec work are terrified of Change, and not really thinking things through. The logic that I have heard used so far has always been some variation on the following:

“You cheapen the value of the work if you do work for free.”

Here’s the thing – I think that they might be right. I get it. I understand the logic behind “If the customer gets it for free, why would they pay for it?” While there may be some validity to that line of reasoning, I think it misses the point. Or perhaps it’s better to say that it misses two points:

1. Someone, somewhere is going to do the work for free (or at least way cheaper). In a world where anyone with an internet connection can create an image and ‘ship’ it almost instantly to a customer virtually, the only real limitation is that initial connection between customer and service provider. Whether it’s the young illustrator looking for ‘experience’ or even a professional living in another region where they can live quite comfortably on far less – it doesn’t really matter. The world is getting smaller, and that’s a significant cause for change – whether we like it or not.

2. The spectrum of illustrators/artists is just getting larger. Does that mean more competition? Yes. Does that mean professionals will have to work harder at marketing their work? Unfortunately, yes. But here’s the thing – the quality that professional produces will be (I would expect) far better than the person who’s willing to do the work for free. Let the newb or amateur take the low hanging fruit that is the free/cheap jobs. Reserve your time and effort for the bigger, more valuable jobs.

I find myself thinking of this new mindset as a bit of a tidal wave. Like any large risk headed in my direction, I find myself trying to think ahead and prepare myself. This makes me think that the best approach is to figure out a couple of things:

1. Where do I fit in that spectrum of artists?

2. If this frame of mind becomes the new ‘standard’, how can I best position myself to get more (and better paying) work?

Doesn’t that seem more sensible than trying to manage the mindset of artists and illustrators the world over? Focusing on my niche (whatever that may be) instead of worrying about what someone else might be willing to do for free or cheaper than me?

What do you think? Is there some vantage to this that I’m just not seeing?

I welcome your thoughts.

This is the first of a potential series of posts. The idea will be to go back, pull out images that I did in the past (some from this site, and perhaps some even from old sketchbooks etc) and look them over. Talk about what I think that I was trying to get across. What do I like about what I did and what I dislike.

This should give me new insight going forward as I work on new projects.

For today’s review, I want to take a look at a meme I did a while back. It’s the “Stages of Me” meme that I came across over at Deviantart. The idea started out as: “Draw your teenage self.” Then a few folks did an additional image of themselves as they are now. I (and I’m sure a number of others) added an interim stage.

Stage 1 – Teenage Me

Ahhh yes. Back when I was svelt and had hair. Always had a backpack on me and it was always loaded with stuff that I was convinced I had to keep with me, but probably never used. Well, aside from my sketchbook and pens/pencils.

I started this image with a rough gestural drawing of my pose and copied/pasted it onto three different spots so I could keep the feel of all three versions similar. You can just make that out in a light tone hiding under the ‘ink’ layer.

I wanted to show that I had a slight rebellious streak (the ripped jeans) but that’s about as far as it went. I wish I could say that I was a punk rocker, or a rebel without a cause, but it’s just not the case. I blame my parents. They did a great job of showing me that I was loved and respected, and that proves impressively difficult to want to rebel against.

Stage 2 – Me – the 20s

Here’s where I started to rebel. I think that I captured some of the chaos that I let into my life with this version of me. Chain wallets, zippers, hair that went everywhere, and of course, many more rips in my jeans all create visual queues for my fascination with all things random during that period in my life.

I (obviously) picked up a few bad habits around that time.

Stage 3 – In My 30s

I came back to the KISS idea – Keep It Simple Stupid. I did a lot of growing up in my 30s, and figured out what’s important and what isn’t, so all the clutter could fall by the wayside. Think that I did a decent job of showing that with the reduction of ‘clutter’ that was in my 20s. Look Ma! No holes in the jeans!

Here’s an orc illustration that I kept clean and simple so folks could c0lor it if they like.

If you do choose to color it, I only ask two things:

1. Please don’t remove my signature/website
2. Let me know if you post it! I would love to see the results!

In my quest to be a better portrait artist, I’ve been doing some 3 minute portraits. I’ve posted a few, and I plan to continue this little exercise as time goes by.

As with the previous posts about 3 minute portraits the idea is to try to capture the person’s likeness in just 3 minutes. Not an easy task by a long shot, but here’s my latest attempt.

For the reference photos I used, click here.

This session was done with pen and ink rather than my usual – Open Canvas. I do really enjoy drawing with ball point pen on printer paper held on a clipboard. I started doing that many years ago when I worked in a manufacturing plant. I’d keep the clipboard with me and draw on my breaks. I still really enjoy some of the images I did all those years ago – there’s just so much energy to that particular kind of sketch work.

Every now and again, I find myself with some free time.

No really. It’s rare, but it does happen.

When that happens, I like to offer up the opportunity for folks to pay what they want for commissions.

You did, in fact, read that correctly. Pay what you want. If that’s $1, then it’s $1. If that’s $5,000,000? Well, I’ll try really hard to make the art live up to the commission price.

How It Works

1. Confirm that my Commission status (on the right) is set to OPEN.
2. Confirm that the Pay What You Want option (PWYW) is also set to OPEN. (Please note: if this option is NOT set to open when you request the work, I reserve the right to refund your money. This likely means that time is tight, but not tight enough to close commissions completely.)
3. Use the Donate via Paypal button in the upper right corner of this page to send me your commission fee.
4. Contact me via my contact form. Let me know the following information via the form:
1. What you’re commissioning me to draw. Be as descriptive as possible! The more information you give me, the closer I can come to drawing what’s in your head.
2. How much you sent me for the commission, and what email address you sent it from. This is to help avoid any criss crossing for multiple commissions or commissioners.
5. I will email you to confirm that I have received both the information and the commission money. I will likely have a sketch attached to this email. If I plan on doing more work/revisions, I’ll ask you to confirm that I’m headed in the right direction based on the sketch. If I feel that the sketch is complete, I’ll let you know in this email.
6. I welcome your thoughts/comments/critiques.

Please Note: I reserve the right to do as much or as little as I feel is warranted by your commission fee. If you feel that my work is only worth $1 (or if that’s all you can spare) then you’re not likely to get an illustration that took me 15 hours to complete. I will, however, likely give you more than your money’s worth in general – I do have a reputation to uphold.