#They’re so fun to draw thank you uni project for helping my skills at drawing quick chickens

[frankenbuggee]

I had the sudden need to draw Devious and his son, Artemy as Chickens once again! Context

But this time with the funky comic style I’m now using!🖤

Just a villain and his son as chickens uwu

[rainsong777]

what's your uni course like?

So I have multiple courses every semester here at uni. The animation/illustration program at my school is known for being pretty tough. The classes have been hard, but manageable, and I’m learning a lot from them :) I usually have 3 classes a semester cause the workload is really heavy x0 They’re all studio classes (meaning they aren’t just lectures, it’s hands on) so they are 3 hours long each. And for every 3 hour long class we get about 6 hours of homework, give or take. 

The classes only last a semester, about 4 months, so they just try to cram in all this information and projects as much as they can and that creates a heavy workload. My acrylic painting class last semester was brutal lol, I spent between 15 and 30 hours outside of class on our big painting projects (there were 4 of them). Working on a boring still life for 30 hours was a mighty test of patience for me xD

The professors are cool though, they’re helpful and nice :) Some of them came from fancy art schools like ArtCenter and such so they’ve adopted the “slam students with a million projects and grade em like they’re training under Michelangelo” style of teaching lol. Last semester I specifically avoided taking a class with a certain professor because she doesn’t just “teach” her students, she puts them through a boot camp basically. Their final project was to do 16 paintings in a week and a half, each painting taking about 2 hours- and at the same time, they had a dutch still life they needed to finish, a drapery study, and on the very last day of school?? A graded in-class painting 0_0  All of this needed to be finished and rendered, mind you :’) 

So yeah there are some crazy teachers haha, but they’re just trying to prepare us for a really competitive field. I would have loved to take that class actually, cause I’m sure it would have built up my skills a lot, but I live an hour away from school (its a 2 hour drive though, thanks to traffic >:0) and I work 30 hours a week at my job :/ So I knew I wouldn’t have the time to dedicate to a class like that lol. 

I love all my peers too :) Everyone here is really nice and supportive. We’re all in this together xD Nobody has been mean or anything like that to me, there’s always someone willing to give a critique or tell you about the homework or something, so I love all my classmates

So yeah, my experience has been that you need to take the courses seriously, put the proper time into it (that’s why I drop off the radar during school lol it doesn’t leave you time for personal projects). Take everything the professors say about the program with a grain of salt. Like for example, there’s a portfolio project we all have to do outside of our classes in order to stay in the program- I asked the head of the animation/illustration program if I should apply after only being there a semester and he told me I basically had no chance of passing, and I did it anyway and I passed first try ^u^ 

It’s a program that seems scary at times cause you might get the mentality that if you aren’t improving fast enough or getting a concept, then you’re not going to get a job in the art field, but the truth is, that kind of thing happens very organically and the best you can do is work hard, put yourself out there, and learn in the meanwhile :) I’m chillin because I really am just here to learn and improve my art skills. I have no problem working at Target for the rest of my life, I’ll always be able to draw, whether it’s for fun or for my job. I’m trusting God has a plan for me and I think it has something to do with art, so I’m just doing my best in Uni and learning all I can right now :)

[chazrizart-blog]

Chris Howker

This is the final portfolio review I’ve got to write up. [Thank God] and boy is it a long one. A word of warning this is going to be VERY long. I’m not kidding so I’ll put it under the cut. Chris sent me a super long and in-depth email that he felt really bad about sending because it was so long but it gave me 4 pages of notes that contained fair and insightful comments about my portfolio that have definitely helped me to structure my portfolio. I was like a kid in a sweetshop picking through all the information he gave me, it was like analysing research all over again. [Wow I just read that back and realised how sad that sounded. I might need to revaluate my life.] But anyway here is the concise notes from that e-mail.

Craft Beer Hint

>Show evidence of this in my portfolio. [When I’d sent this I didn’t have any in there, but now I do.]

>Think about designing the back too because sometimes I won’t have to option not to. 

>Show what I’ve created so far. If I’ve not done it why? [Because when I’d sent out the email I had just had the idea and nothing to show for it.]

>Have fun setting your own brief. Don’t bother waiting for a company to give you a brief. [I did have a load of fun making my own brief and company, thinking up a pun for the name of the brewery was the best bit.]

>Find a bit on a niche with it. [Again I did my designing my label characters based off my research project/ dissertation thing.]

>Think about the possible design limitations the company could throw at you. For example, the labels can only be square/ oval/ rectangle  or only in two colours.

>The fact that it’s not a real company I’m designing for means I’ve got more room to have fun with what I make. It’ll show that I’ve had fun with the project and that I’ve enjoyed it. It also means that I won’t have to make an inane list of changes that the client has requested back and forth. [Whoo!!]

Folio Vibe

>What it actually says is that I like animation or possibly computer game concept art. There is no harm in sending work to animation studios- there’s enough of them in Manchester if I wanted to stay local [Toooooooown!!] but don’t limit yourself to just looking at design studios like he did just because a graphic designer might need a character designing. 

>Turnarounds are ideal for animation- it’s the important bit that the whole design team works from.

>Props and backgrounds are scaled around the character designs and have a huge impact on the overall style of the animation. My Post-it note monsters look like animators doodles since that’s what they do on their breaks to get back into physical drawing when not on the computer.

>Maybe I already (subconsciously) know where to start looking towards after uni? But do I really want to give off the vibe of designing characters?

Folio Design 

>White background always works because it’s clean, however my turnarounds still look cramped so I should give them space to breathe. (E.g- Ink Warrior and Shadow Mage- are they the same character in two different forms? [Yes.] The squashing up reads as if they’re the stages of a character’s progression [It’s more of a regression if I’m honest.] but bits also pass over one another which hides important bits. Spread them out and put the guide lines on. Add Front, side, 1/8, 3/4 and backwards facing variations so at a glance art directors can see that you’ve put care into it and to make sure the turnaround is accurate use the full page!) [I just took this one out because it was no longer relevant.]

>Add more information to the bottom of the page, where is stuff from? [Most of my turnarounds were done when I was still doing the Trading Card Project so in order to not waste time by spending 3ish weeks on one full turnaround of one character like last term, I limited it to three views to save time because I had a lot of characters to get through. That’s also why I didn’t really mention where they were from because I’m no longer doing that project so they just didn’t have a home and to put ‘unused’ or ‘rejected’ on them wouldn’t be very professional now would it?]

>Maybe don’t put the materials used unless you really want to stress it.

>Post-it Notes don’t look like Post-it notes, photograph them in their raw state to get a better feel for them. [Or option two is to just take them out there and them like I did.]

>Front cover, Drop the titles, people are thick but they’re not that thick. [This is about my information page, I’ve done this though so it’s all good.]

Folio Work

>Start drawing with a tablet! [I’ve started doing this actually, I was originally put off because my overlay lines over my sketch layer looked wobbly and awful but I’ve recently found the stabiliser thing and everything is alright now, all my lines are as smooth as a wee baby’s butt now. More digital work definitely!] 

>He liked the negative space the biro Post-it note monsters give off and the textures on my Plague Doctor work really well giving it a dirty almost magical feel to it. [Literally reading that made my dark heart grow like three sizes that day, I was so happy words don’t describe how I felt at that moment.]

>50% grey is good for backgrounds because it’s nice and neutral. 

>Do more character designs with varying height differences (head heights.) Exaggerate shapes and push things to the extreme before dialling it back to the finished product.

 >Treat facial expression sheets like they’re turnarounds and put guidelines on to make sure they’re accurate and add up.

>Do life drawing, different shapes and poses!

>Having a standard turnaround is needed but give them dynamic poses to add context as you ask what they’re for. A game? A cartoon? Make an action sequence of like one or two characters so the viewer gets an idea of what they’re like i.e body language and personality.

>Maybe try lino cutting/ wood printing with the Post-it note monster look.

Masters vs. Beer

>These are two wildly different things. He only commented on what he knows so I’ve filled in some of the blanks.

>Continuing with education is a great idea, but is a Masters really what you need to do your dream job with illustration/ art and design? [Yes. I intend to do an MRes (Masters by Research) which is more essay based than a traditional art Masters. This is because my essay writing is the only thing pulling me through the course and is my strongest skill whereas my practise isn’t. Which is weird considering I’m doing an art degree. I really want to lecture in Universities and focus on the Contextual side of art rather than the practical side. 30,000 words here I come!] Do I have an answer for when someone questions me on my life choices? [See above for the career options, anything else I’m still working on. I really like the idea of looking into the knowledge and feeding it back through teaching like Chris mentioned when giving a sample answer to his question. I really like Binaries and how they work within aspects of popular culture like Narratives, Movies and Games as each stems into each other. It’s just really interesting okay.]

Craft Beer Labels: 

>They’re very popular, but there isn’t really anyone who makes a career out of it.

>Breweries might hire one illustrator for one label but not the others.

>If you’re a freelance illustrator you sadly don’t get to pick and choose what work clients give you. He’s taken on jobs which will never see the light of say within his portfolio because they’re not relevant to his career path. [In all honesty I don’t want to be an illustrator when I’m grown up, I just want to read/ maybe write books fiction/ non-fiction and doodle a bit.]

Finishing Uni is when you actually start learning, the course doesn’t teach you how clients will act nor what they will expect from you. There’s very few full time illustration positions available unless you’re very lucky. You won’t immediately get a job out of uni and staying motivated during that time is a killer because there are no tutors or class to motivate you, find some way to recreate that feeling either with renting a studio space, arranging occasional social meet-ups with friends but also attending events like Draw North West. 

[rachel-alderson]

The constant battle that is motivation.

As I mentioned in last weeks post about tackling anxiety, I also wanted to write about motivation and keeping yourself focused. I wrote a similar blog post a while back talking about how I tackled keeping myself focused at the time such as the usual 'listen to music', 'go for a walk' etc. A lot of articles on blogs that talk about motivation often feature these same sort of points, so I wanted to try and tackle it from a different perspective in this post.

I wanted to focus less on taking time away from your work and riding out the creative block, and focus more on tackling it head on, speeding up the journey to the other side and learning plenty in the process.

Invest in yourself.

This is something I have done myself recently when I bought myself an iPad Pro, and I'm not at all suggesting everyone should now go out and purchase an iPad, but I just want to get the point across that it's so important to make sure you invest in tools to speed up or improve your workflow. It was extremely hard for me to justify spending so much money on something but after a few talks with close friends and family they convinced me that it was a business investment which made it much easier to spend the money on it, and I can safely say it definitely has improved my workflow. One of the problems I was having is that I was always wanting to draw, but hated drawing straight onto the cintiq because it meant sitting at my desk and it's a fairly bulky piece of equipment with a chunky wire sticking out, but I was fed up of having to scan my drawings in all of the time, so the iPad has really been a perfect meet in the middle piece of kit.

This isn't all just about spending money either, time is the most valuable commodity we have in life, and if you want to live a happy and fulfilled life it's important to spend that time on things that make you happy and things that make you a better person. A good idea is to take some time out, maybe an hour every day or two to learn something new either through a tutorial for example on a website like skillshare or even just taking some time out to read up on some magazines and books relating to your industry. Doing all of these things is an investment into your own practise, skills and mentality as a creative.

Don't know what to draw?

This is something I struggled with for about a year not long after I finished uni. I knew that I wanted to improve my drawing skills and that I needed to draw more often but whenever I sat down to sketch something, I was just blank, I would literally just sit there in front of a piece of paper, stare at it, draw a few circles and then give up 15 minutes later and get on with my day. Then I purchased a really nice sketchbook (what a great idea, buy a really nice sketchbook which I feel like I'm going to ruin if I do a bad drawing in it!) and I basically decided this was MY sketchbook and not even those closest to me would see inside it. One of the biggest things holding me back when drawing is that I was so critical of everything I drew, so having this 'secret' sketchbook meant that I would just force myself to draw whatever came to mind first, even if it was stupid and I could laugh at it and laugh at how bad it was, and it was all just for fun. Doing that one thing seriously helped me just have fun with my work again, and take it from me, you don't have to post EVERYTHING online, and you can certainly take a break from social media, it'll still be there when you get back!

Also, draw from reference if you're stuck! I used to hate doing this, but now I often think of a weird animal I want to draw and draw it straight from photos, no stylistic stuff, no trying to make it my own, just drawing it how it is to really try and understand how it works. This is especially good for those days when you're imagination is a little stale, it helps you to learn more in depth about the topics you draw and improve your skills at the same time. These then are a great help in the future for developing your own versions of each topic from.

Feeling stuck and frustrated?

I've been feeling like this a lot lately, 8 years after I started on a creative path and I finally feel like I've got a solid process and a personal style that I am really happy with. However, I hate being comfortable, when I'm not comfortable it's all I want but when I get there it's boring. It's the same with goals, it's not about reaching the goal, it's about the process. Once you reach the goal, that's it, what next? It's boring. The best thing I've found for myself, although it will be different for everyone, is to change up either my materials or technique. To try something that I'm not so confident in but something that I know I would like to be able to include in my work, so something that is a challenge but also something that I'm passionate about so that I have the drive to see it through.

For example in the past I've gone from using a standard HB pencil to a mechanical pencil with blue lead, which worked absolute wonders. I then got a little fed up with that, and although I still use a mechanical pencil daily, introducing a standard coloured pencil (either blue or red) into my work flow has also worked miracles, especially when it comes to roughing out an idea because I can make it a lot less refined and controlled, especially if I don't sharpen the pencil often. I've gone from line working my illustrations in Photoshop to Sketchbook Pro and now Manga Studio. I've also gone from having a very refined process for the colouring stages to the point now where I still carry out that process, but then also try and introduce more painterly elements. For example I might paint in a background or texture with no linework or shading, completely the opposite to how I normally work. Sometimes these ideas don't work at all and I end up scrapping them, but I usually learnt something from it and had fun in the process.

No direction?

It is extremely easy to feel completely lost in life. Anyone can feel it at any time, no matter what you do and for any amount of time, but it is especially common in people who work for themselves or have dreams in life to achieve big things. When you're starting out on a new path towards your dream life, you won't get anywhere unless you know exactly where you're going, and give yourself some direction. That's where goals come in, how can you possibly work towards something if you don't know what you want? The same applies to a college brief for example, you are usually told why you're doing the project (this might be to meet a specific requirement of your course) your deadline (what sort of time frame you have) and the outcome (the end goal). The same applies to anything in life, you have to know what you want, when you want to achieve it by, why it is important (if it is not important to you personally or if it doesn't add anything to your life then remove it) and what the end goal is. 

The best way to set goals  (I do have my own goal sheet I work from which I will share sometime in the next month or so), is to set long term, mid term and short term goals (10 years, 5 years and 1-2 years). Once you have set these goals (make sure they're big and life changing, don't limit yourself on what you 'think' you 'might' be able to achieve, dream big or go home!), work backwards from those end goals. Think about all the smaller steps you'll need to achieve those goals and start working them into your current lifestyle. 

Start a personal project.

I think that this will be more relatable to current professional creatives over those still studying and that is purely because while studying a lot of students don't realise how much time they actually have and how beneficial it would be to work on multiple personal projects, developing skills and projects so that they're ahead of their competition. When you're working a creative career though, especially if you're self employed it is extremely difficult to find the time to work on your own ideas alongside all of the client work, networking, taxes, finances, travelling, meetings, admin, marketing, phone calls etc. So taking the time out to do a personal project can be difficult to squeeze in, but it's so rewarding. If done properly, it can be time well spent de-stressing and having fun whilst still producing amazing work and learning on the job.

I hope that you guys are enjoying these more informative posts! I'm going to try and include more posts like this in between posts about projects I've been working on. Although I do have some more Escape from Fusion Earth characters to introduce to you so it might be back to that next week! If this post benefited you in any way, please share it around to any friends or followers you think may find it in handy too!

Thanks for reading!