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I'm on Patreon! ...finally
Hai people! Super long time no see (again) :XD: Welp, the summer is winding down finally over in my neck of the woods. My job as an art teacher at a summer day camp will be completed next week and I will once again have an unspecified amount of time where I will not be working after that (I've been going through this for how long now :XD:) Anyways, I completed the #100DayProject just under two weeks ago (images will be posted shortly, just gotta get em mass uploaded into sta.sh first). I will be showing a triptych in the 8th annual ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, MI in the next few weeks, and I will be showing a painting from the graduate thesis at
Things To Know: Human Characters of Color Pt. 2
This is a follow-up to the blog which you can read here: Things To Know: Creating Human Characters of Color. The previous blog covered the numerous issues surrounding inclusion and diversity that are extremely important to be cognizant of (please read it if you have not yet done so). This blog will cover the nuts and bolts of depictions of non-white humans! Warning: this journal contains a LOT of images.
This is an important topic because there are very, very few resources that will actually teach you about the differences that occur in the figure across race. All figure drawing measurements are based on the ideal European body type. This wa
Things To Know: Creating Human Characters of Color
It's been awhile since I've written anything exclusively for ArtistsHospital (https://www.deviantart.com/artistshospital)! Well over a year in fact. As a followup to my "Common Misconceptions" series* (links at the bottom of this journal) I decided to begin a new series titled "Things To Know." These blogs will cover topics that are not commonly addressed in tutorials or articles existing here on dA. The goal is to help you out by answering questions you've had but couldn't find answers to. That being said, I decided to begin this series with a doozy of a topic: race. Yes, it's the hottest topic on the table right now according to the media, but this topic has always been a topic o
Art Tutorial: Mouth and Teeth
Community WeekHi guys! Learning to paint traditionally or digitally can be a challenge, but I want to help ease your burden a little bit by taking some of the edge off the learning curve! When painting the figure (that is, a human) digitally vs. traditionally the only thing that has changed is the medium. Let me say it again for the people in the back: the only thing that changes when you paint digitally versus traditionally is the medium.
Follow the links Neo:Common Misconceptions: Digital Art Common Misconceptions: Traditional ArtOne is noteasier than the other, there are pros and cons to both (and if you're about to say one is cheaper tha
© 2014 - 2024 Xadrea
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It seems as though Artists are great at creating everything except money 
This won't help you out of your immediate dire straights, but I think that the advice may come in handy even when employed already. When things are really down you tend to take anything to pay the bills and the dream job becomes just that.
So the advice is to stop waiting for someone to hire you and instead hire yourself. You draw everyday and so the challenge is to monetize that work in the most efficient way possible. So I'm going to give 2 examples. The first is the quite serious one. The second is the "how to think outside the box" one.
#1 - Create your own children's illustrated story book. Self-publish that book through Amazon Kindle direct publishing. kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A3…
--- Now I am not saying that children's books are easy. But I think it would be great to see a CB created with the art in mind first and then the story. If you don't feel that you could cover the story you might recruit some of the artist/writers sure to be around here somewhere. Here's a free premise:
A cute cuddly fuzzy critter or adorable cupcake gets lost while on an outing with her parents. The story is about her adventure in finding them again. The lesson of the story is how to identify people you can trust to help and which strangers are a danger.
That link will tell you everything you need to know about formatting, publishing, merchandising, and best of all, how to collect your money from sales. So there. I am commissioning you to create an illustrated children's book to publish on Amazon. You get paid when we get sales and I will take nothing of the proceeds. How's that for a job? It isn't dependable steady income, but it could be wonderfully profitable. Plus, if you get just enough success to motivate you, then a line of children's books would not be out of the question. The great part about that is while you are creating new works, every work created up till then is still out there to generate some revenue for you. Residual income? Thank you very much!
#2 - Okay, this is more of a meandering story but back when my wife and I were dirt poor we would do the occasional yard sale at our home. Doing so got us a perspective on different types of people who visit yard sales and what they are willing to buy and for about how much. It brought in some small income when we needed to pay the electricity or purchase a new air conditioning unit.
After awhile I began to notice other people's yard sales and sometimes stopped by for bargains. What really stood out was that certain houses seemed to ALWAYS be having a yard sale! What? How much stuff can a family have inside that house anyhow?
Well it turns out that these savvy buyers would be out at 6-7am on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings (though usually by Sunday the best loot was long gone). They had an eye out not for things that they wanted, but things that other people would want and at a low enough price that they could mark it up and still sell it back at the yard sale that they have every 3-4 weeks.
Well I am not exactly saying you should do what they do. But it does show how people are able to make money on their own without needing someone to hire them.
So look around and think about ways that you could make cash that doesn't require a boss to pick you out from the crowd. You may end up happier than being a wage slave for someone else, even an actual studio. Because hopefully whatever you figure out it will involve selling your art on your own terms. And who knows? Maybe one day I will find that art at a yard sale being marked up for the next seller.
Aside - Hopefully that was useful. Maybe helpful enough to add somewhere for the next "Nobody will buy my art/Give me a job" artist who needs some encouragement.
This won't help you out of your immediate dire straights, but I think that the advice may come in handy even when employed already. When things are really down you tend to take anything to pay the bills and the dream job becomes just that.
So the advice is to stop waiting for someone to hire you and instead hire yourself. You draw everyday and so the challenge is to monetize that work in the most efficient way possible. So I'm going to give 2 examples. The first is the quite serious one. The second is the "how to think outside the box" one.
#1 - Create your own children's illustrated story book. Self-publish that book through Amazon Kindle direct publishing. kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A3…
--- Now I am not saying that children's books are easy. But I think it would be great to see a CB created with the art in mind first and then the story. If you don't feel that you could cover the story you might recruit some of the artist/writers sure to be around here somewhere. Here's a free premise:
A cute cuddly fuzzy critter or adorable cupcake gets lost while on an outing with her parents. The story is about her adventure in finding them again. The lesson of the story is how to identify people you can trust to help and which strangers are a danger.
That link will tell you everything you need to know about formatting, publishing, merchandising, and best of all, how to collect your money from sales. So there. I am commissioning you to create an illustrated children's book to publish on Amazon. You get paid when we get sales and I will take nothing of the proceeds. How's that for a job? It isn't dependable steady income, but it could be wonderfully profitable. Plus, if you get just enough success to motivate you, then a line of children's books would not be out of the question. The great part about that is while you are creating new works, every work created up till then is still out there to generate some revenue for you. Residual income? Thank you very much!
#2 - Okay, this is more of a meandering story but back when my wife and I were dirt poor we would do the occasional yard sale at our home. Doing so got us a perspective on different types of people who visit yard sales and what they are willing to buy and for about how much. It brought in some small income when we needed to pay the electricity or purchase a new air conditioning unit.
After awhile I began to notice other people's yard sales and sometimes stopped by for bargains. What really stood out was that certain houses seemed to ALWAYS be having a yard sale! What? How much stuff can a family have inside that house anyhow?
Well it turns out that these savvy buyers would be out at 6-7am on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings (though usually by Sunday the best loot was long gone). They had an eye out not for things that they wanted, but things that other people would want and at a low enough price that they could mark it up and still sell it back at the yard sale that they have every 3-4 weeks.
Well I am not exactly saying you should do what they do. But it does show how people are able to make money on their own without needing someone to hire them.
So look around and think about ways that you could make cash that doesn't require a boss to pick you out from the crowd. You may end up happier than being a wage slave for someone else, even an actual studio. Because hopefully whatever you figure out it will involve selling your art on your own terms. And who knows? Maybe one day I will find that art at a yard sale being marked up for the next seller.
Aside - Hopefully that was useful. Maybe helpful enough to add somewhere for the next "Nobody will buy my art/Give me a job" artist who needs some encouragement.