Why art school is totally rad!

So a few weeks ago, I finally got my Diploma of Arts: Illustration. I'm now a certified illustrator! Woohoo!

Now, I can't think of why anyone would be hesitant about going to art school. With the exception of things like time and money, there's no reason not to do it if you want to become an illustrator (or anything really), no matter how old you are or your level of skills. I'd like to talk about some of the things that I appreciated about art school and what I got out of it.

Working in a studio environment
The first great thing that I can think of about going to art school is, of course, working with other art students! I shared my classrooms (it was two rooms joint together by a corridor) with 15-20 fellow artists and creatives, all with different styles, tastes and ways of seeing. We had the anime guy, the extremely cool dark fantasy/gothic chick, the photo-realism lady, the tattoo guy, the comics girl, you name it, someone in our class did it.

Even though we all had different ways of working and our art was totally different, being able to bounce ideas around, learn new techniques and voice different opinions about our own work or other artist's work was invaluable. It's rare to find such camaraderie anywhere else. And with 15-20 different points of view, you can get so much valuable feedback about your work that you probably wouldn't get from a community website such as DeviantArt, where people follow your work because it's the type of work they like.

And finally, 15-20 fellow artists means 15-20 different tastes in art, which leads to new and interesting artists and genres that you might not have ever known about before. Which is awesome!

The facilities
At school, you probably won't get access to the best facilities (your own studio space, computer, fancy art materials and goodies) until later. But even then, having easy access to photocopiers, scanners, books in the library, and a comfortable space to work just can't be beat.

I really miss having my own little studio area, though. It was great having my own big desk and my own wall for pinning up inspirational images and works in progress. Now that I am working on art mostly at home, it's been suprisingly difficult to adapt without having that nice big desk that you can tilt up at an angle, the photocopier just in the next room, and the library only a 30 second walk away. So when you're at art school, seriously, take advantage of all that stuff while you can.

Meeting local artists and illustrators
This year, I was extremely fortunate to have class meetings every fortnight with a working Melbourne artist. They talked about lots of different things - their work and process, what it's like working in the industry today, tips on how to get your work noticed. Something special that I gained from these meetings was learning about how many different roads one could take to becoming a professional illustrator, and the amount of possibilities there are for artists. Because really, anything that has type or an illustration on it - that was designed by somebody. That was illustrated by someone. This advertisement was the result of the work of lots of illustrators. I could go on and on!

The absolute best thing, however, was being able to see rough work and sketches, and hearing each artist talk about the steps that they take when creating a piece of work for a client. Ann James, a children's book illustrator, showed us tons of sketches and studies that she did while working on her latest illustrated book, Chester and Gil. The amount of research and drawing behind it was stunning.

Life drawing, and trying new things
Finally, being at art school means regular classes in life drawing and observational drawing. You're also sometimes forced to use unfamiliar mediums and methods of working, which is a good thing. These things are exercises that you would probably shy away from if you are at home teaching yourself.

Suprisingly, these classes are a great way to boost your creativity and spontineity. You can approach drawings in different ways, develop new ways of seeing, learn new techniques and try out new mediums. I mean, sure observational drawing sounds pretty boring, but it's so good for stretching those creative muscles.

Making the most of it
All of the above means nothing if you don't make the most of your time at art school. Prior to studying illustration, I did a course in Fine Art. But during that time, I didn't make the most of my time there. I was lazy, close-minded, stubborn and unproductive. So naturally, I didn't get much out of that course. Back then though, I didn't think that it was my fault.

When I look back, I can see that it was indeed my fault. You are responsible for your own experience. So, work hard, draw lots, ask lots of questions and have fun!

Business Cards!

A little while ago I was lucky enough to win a giveaway prize of 250 business cards from UPrinting! They arrived a few days ago and I couldn't be happier with them. I even managed to get 2 sides in full colour! The folks at UPrinting were very friendly and helpful and I'll definately be ordering some postcards and things from them soon.




Also, here's a recent ink drawing I did!

Final school art show

My class's final show will be held at the Chisholm Institute of Tafe's Frankston campus, within the art department buildings. It's been a totally awesome year and I have learned so much and met some fantastic illustrators and creative people in the industry. I've also spent the year studying with a fine bunch of illustrators and artists who are totally awesome and I look forward to seeing their work out there in the world sometime soon!


For our end of year show, some of us got to paint some big pieces of plywood to hang outdoors on the art department's walls. From left to right is the work of Lea Smithers, yours truly, Bonnie Eichelberger, Ben Lopez and Ashlea Bechaz.

Unfortunately I can't find a site with more of Lea's wonderful art on it, but if I find one I will update with a link.

Beasties

I've had a bit of a frustrating day today, and I think the lesson learned is to remember the number 1 reason why we draw and paint in the first place: for ourselves. I have a painting that is stumping me at the moment and for a good chunk of the day I've been pouring over other artist's work searching for inspiration and guidance. And as I kept returning to the drawing board all I had was feelings of inadequacy and self doubt.

Even though I'm working on my portfolio, finishing up my schoolwork and determined to get somewhat close to having an 'industry standard' level of work, I often forget why I do it at all. Because I love it, I enjoy it and it's my identity. It's a part of me.

All you can do in times like these is work through it and keep drawing. I sketched up a few beasties in Photoshop and decided I liked them enough to post them!

New art and interview

I have been interviewed! Yaay! By Sneh Roy over at Little Box of Ideas. I talk about inspirations, animals, and dreams of becoming a Steve-Irwin like explorer. Check it out!

I have a couple of new drawings plus a digital commission I completed over the weekend. I'm kind of looking at a different sort of style at the moment, something a bit more realistic (but still cartoony and stylised of course!)

Dragons

Today I made some dragons, and made another pattern with more dragons. I played with just flat colours instead of adding all the textures I usually do.

Partytime

It's time for a birthday party themed pattern! Hooray! This one is a big improvement over my last pattern I think.



The jungle cat pattern from before was bothering me so I fixed it up a bit, too.

Jungle Cats!

The other day I read an article about how to create a seamless repeating pattern. This jungle cat pattern is my first go, I think it's okay, it could probably be more 'seamless' though!

5 things I've learnt so far as a freelancing noob

In an effort to make the Bookish Owl a more entertaining and informative blog, I thought about all the things I've learnt in the last few months and decided to compile them into a list that might help other freelancing newbies out there. Keep in mind I'm still very much a freelancing noob, I still have a lot to learn, but here's 5 things I've learnt so far.

1. Folio presentation
It doesn't matter how good your work is, if it's presented woefully you probably won't impress anyone. How you present your work could be sort of a measure of how much you care about your work and how serious you are. Neatly presented pages of work printed on nice paper, inside an easy to open, sturdy and professional-looking portfolio is the way to go.

My portfolio is a monster from a store called Zetta Florence. It's a box/binder, about 8x11" in size, with mylar sleeves. Looking back now, the price I paid for it was probably a bit overkill, but it still looks good. You don't have to spend a fortune on yours but do be sure to invest in a good quality portfolio that will protect your work as well as making it look great.

Finally, the order of your work and the flow of your portfolio is definately something to consider. Don't jumble it up too much. For instance, I have all my digitally rendered pieces placed first (they also make up the majority of the work in my folio), mostly because this is the kind of work I prefer to do professionally. My digital work is followed by my greyscale ink work, and then paintings on paper.

I could probably write a whole blog post about this, but we need to move on!


2. Consistency
The thing that people commented on most about my portfolio was that it was extremely consistent and showed a lot of discipline. This sort of came as a suprise since I am still tweaking my 'style' with almost every piece I do, in order to try and get it right.

Consistency in your work is critical, especially if you are looking to illustrate children's picture books. You need to show that you can take one character, and draw him or her in many different ways while still maintaining the look of that character. Publishers want to see that you will be able to carry a character over a 20 or 30 something page book.

Maintaining your 'voice' in your work is important because it helps you form a 'brand' for yourself - it's your identity, what your work will be remembered for! It will make your work more easily recognisable as well.


3. Variety!
Wait.... what?? Mel, you just said my portfolio needs to be consistent! What are you smokin'?

Well sir, this means a couple of different things. And of course, it will all depend on who you are showing your folio to. For some markets, some of these might not be too relevent.

One art director suggested to me that it'd be a good idea to show examples of different styles. For children's books this is a good idea - you will probably get asked to do things in different styles, depending on the market that the project is intended for. It also is a way of demonstrating your drawing skill.

Variety in the subject matter of your work will impress your potential clients and employers. Show them that you can draw lots of different things, different moods.


4. Typography is just awesome
My class held an exhibition in Prahan about a month ago. One night, we had an 'industry night' where art directors, illustrators, agents and other professionals in the creative industry viewed our work and portfolios. In general, they were particularly impressed by the students who intergrated typography into their illustrations successfully. It seems to be a bit of an underrated area in illustration, and seen as more of a design thing. But making typography INTO illustration is simply, really, really awesome.

It may not work for everybody, and may not be very relevent for some markets. But I believe that having one or two pieces of work featuring great typography will really strengthen your portfolio and impress your potential employers and clients.


5. Art directors and agents aren't all that scary
They're just people like you and me, you know? Well, some of them might be a bit intimidating. They're probably working under tight deadlines or something. But most that I have met have been pretty friendly and very happy to give me feedback about my work.

What about criticism? Yeah, it can be tough - but don't immediatly think that any criticism is made due to your work being bad. There's a number of reasons why employers/clients/agents might criticise your work:

1. It might not be what they are looking for, or the kind of style/genre that they deal with.
2. It might no be appropriate for the particular market they want to sell to.
3. It simply may not be their particular cup of tea. Like everyone else, art directors and agents have tastes of their own.
4. Your work is good, but needs to improve more to be of a professional standard. You might not be ready for professional work just yet.
   

See, not all that bad. Always think of it like this: the person who is giving you critique/advice sees potential in your work, and is trying to help you improve.

If someone is not interested in your work, or doesn't think you are good enough for professional work, they will most likely tell you. But don't get disheartened. Just work hard, study hard, and LOOK at the work that these publishers and agencies are putting out there.


Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope it becomes useful for someone out there. These are all my opinions, by the way - if you have anything to add, or if you disagree about something I have said, feel free to leave a comment and have your say!



Also just thought I'd sneak this in, it's NEW LOGO TIME! My work has evolved a bit so I wanted a new image for my site and business cards to reflect my new and improved work.

Podcasts

Today I have been listening to a lot of podcasts. The amount of information on some of the ones I've listened to is simply astounding and I've been sucking it all up like a sponge. I also seem to hold more value in the spoken word, as opposed to freelancing/illustration advice typed up on a blog or site. It's just more personal, or something. They are also entertaining and have some pretty funny moments!

So here are some awesome podcast sites I've been listening too.

Freelance Radio - a great series of podcasts for freelancers of all kinds, whether you're a writer, an illustrator, a programmer or whatever.

Escape from Illustration Island - cool collection of podcasts, I've only listened to a few of these but they're awesome.

Artcast by Stephen Silver - Stephen covers a wide range of topics but a lot of his podcasts are about keeping motivated, getting inspiration and really involving yourself in your craft.

I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as I do.