She was invited to come into our University to give us a talk on her work as well as work in the Industry which was extremely helpful and insightful for us . It gave us the opportunity to talk to a Professional Illustrator and for some her advice was very helpful when it came to showing her their current children's book projects.
I was able to take down quite a few notes during this talk about her progress and advice for us .
Process
Sarah went into great detail about her Process of creating her images which I then bulleted into a simple production guide which was very helpful :
- Sketch Stage- Lots of thumbnails and roughs . experimenting and playing around.
- Tweaks and Amendments- Working with roughs to start to flesh out and start to finalise image.
- Final Art - Finalising it all after deciding where everything goes and its looks good.
- More Tweaks and amends - After showing final images leave room for crits and changes and fix .
- Cover Art - This is the final touch .
It is important to get a good work structure that is effective for you .
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Sarah then gave us tips about character design which I found really helpful :
Ask a lot of questions about your character - Who , What , Where , When ? - this helps you get closer to the characters sore and find out what kind of personality they have, they more you know about them the more you can bring them to life on the page and the more real they become to the audience.
Beware of Cultural Bias- you need to think internationally when it comes to your work , especially for children's book characters such as animals. for example. a bear is a good international animal and is well known whereas something like a hedgehog might not be as well know.
Eyes- They are the window to the soul and very expressive as well as a strong contact point with he character to the audience.
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Sarah's advice proved to very insightful for us and gave us a small taster of the industry. I also took some bullets for this section:
-Children's book publishing is a small world. - and connections are vital.
- Take on Board Client Comment's.
- Find the Right Publisher for you. - most of the time its about great working relationships.
- Be easy to work with .
- Input as much as you can. - Show initiative and bring more than is required to the table.
-Do your best on every job you are given .
Earning a good living
- Be careful on how you operate regarding Tax. -Keep receipts and accounts.
- Hire an accountant.
- Spread your nets.- Editorials, Cover art, Licensing , Events and School visits.
- Avenues for passive income- Royalties, PLR and DACS
-Pick your battles.
- Learn that it's not the end of the world if you say no.
- Schedule work carefully - Build up a view of the year in advance.
- Public landing art - PLR
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Tips for your drawing skills :
- Keep drawing. - The more practise , the better you get.
- Draftsmanship. - Hone your skills
- Keep Sketchbooks.
- Draw for pleasure
- Observe
- Keep Visual Diaries.
- Art directors and Publishers are looking for a Unique Strong Voice.
- Have Influences
- Take a risk - Have faith , Be brave, Experiment , Show your hand ( but be careful to do this in the right context , not in Facebook or Twitter.
- Patience- Don't Force and Idea. Go with it and watch it unfold. It can take a while.
Will Simpson
Several years Ago , I was Lucky enough to do a comic book Workshop with Northern Irish Comic Artist Will Simpson, since then I have tried to keep in touch with him as much as possible through emails and talking during conventions. I find the advice He gives on the discipline on comics and storyboarding to be very helpful and he has influenced my practise greatly , as he was one of the first people to show me how to really drill a particular method and way of working .
Will is an accomplished and well known Comic Artist turned Storyboard Artist .
He's know for his work on Judge Dredd in the 90's , as well as his work for many other titles such as The Hellblazer , The Punisher and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight .
Since Early 2000, He has taken to collaborating with many film and television companies to draw up storyboards , His most notable being for the television adaption of "Game of Thrones".
Because He has worked in the industry for so long, I find him a great connection when it comes to asking for advice and looking at as influence for my own personal practise. He is the reason for my detailed thumb nailing and planning stages of my work .
Last year when we were asked to interview artists Will was one of my first choices, since then I have kept in touch with him in emails , at present he is working freelance so I am able to get lots of advice from him and hopefully in during Easter break I should be able to get in touch and talk to him more about the industry and hopefully get a few ideas of what to do next after University.
Sydney Padua
During Second Year we were asked to interview artists considering their practise and about their work.
One of the Artists I interviewed was Sydney Padua, An animator and illustrator whose Webcomic 2D Goggles is a great influence on my own work. She responds to historical facts and figures in her own unique style via the comic and brings a whimsical and engaging way to enjoy research and history.
By emailing her and keeping in touch with her about her work, I got some insight into how she works and how she got into the industry. Hopefully I will be able to keep in touch with her still as she is a valued opinion in my eyes as what she is doing at the moment is what I want to be doing in the future.
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