Studio Notes 01/02/19

Generally restless – it’s been a long time to be indoors. I can count on my fingers the trips I’ve made outside my house, and I’m starting to get a bit bored.

On the other hand, I’m recovering steadily and am now standing up straight and walking around, which means that it’ll be back to business soon! In the meantime…

Beware of commissioning beggars

I’ve been loving Reddit’s Choosing Beggars sub, where a surprising amount of entries have to do with artists getting lowballed – or just begged for free art – by tightwads.

When your client asks if you can do it cheaper. from r/ChoosingBeggars

The amount of abuse artists get just for asking for payment makes me glad I don’t chase commissions. I considered it, but decided I didn’t want that.

Our homemade book was well received…

T’s hilarious epic novella

I started off well, trying to follow the instructions in an old bookbinding book I was given years ago – but the instructions went something like, “sit at a gilded table no more than 3 feet from any corner of your room, with your book placed 12 inches in front of you at a .25° clockwise angle, and commence wrigglestitching whilst a cockerel crows.”

Needless to say, I just hand-stitched the signatures and back to the best of my ability.

Finally getting somewhere with photography

About this time last year, I bought a DSLR camera, mostly to use for my other blog and to take pictures of my artwork. Of course, starting (mostly) from scratch, I had next to no idea of what I was doing and next to no idea of how to learn, so I turned to the internet.

I came across The Beginner Photography Podcast, which broke things down into fairly manageable bites. It comes at photography from a commercial point of view, focusing on wedding or event photography, but that doesn’t matter when learning about the basic technical aspects.

Besides that, it goes on to discuss aspects of running a creative business that are useful for artists as well as photographers, so I recommend it.

A year ago I didn’t really have the time to put into photography, but now I do have a bit of time where I can play around with the camera, and learn a bit more through trial and error. Even though I haven’t been actively looking up information on technique, I can tell I’m improving somewhat. Is this going to make a photographer out of me at last?

Absolutely not! But maybe it’ll make me a better artist.

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Studio Notes 01/02/19

Art Supplies Haul – January 2019

First, let me talk about the language at play here: I love the idea of having so many art materials dropped on me that I have to haul them away. Strenuously dragging my swag back to my lair!

In reality, most of the swag is delivered after clicking a button online, but never mind. The dream is alive.

Also, I’ve never watched an art supply haul video but I am aware that they exist. I can see the appeal to some people but I’m not into it unless it’s one specific product that I need to look at before buying – I just want to buy the stuff and roll around in myself rather than watch someone else. So here goes!

And to add to this, this swag list will include materials I buy for my other half (since I’ll probably be nicking some off him in the near future), and equipment we buy to share between all of us. There’s a lot of art making, engineering and crafting going on in the house, so here’s a peep.

Permaset Aqua 300ml – Mid Red

Permaset Aqua Mid Red

I bought mine for £11.99 from Amazon, but Jackson’s Art has it 9p cheaper at the moment.

I was hovering around whether to get this just yet as I’m not ready to start printing, but I was tempted by a TopCashback offer to make it just a bit cheaper… and it’s the only colour I need after last month’s ink-buying spree.

Firbon A4 paper cutter

This paper cutter is a pretty handy piece of kit, and a pretty good replacement for the little guillotine that served me well for a decade before breaking last year.

Although it’s entirely made of plastic, unlike my old one, it does the job pretty well and there’s almost no chance of slicing off any parts of anyone’s anatomy, again, unlike the old choppy guillotine. Annoyingly, Amazon now has it on sale at £7.99 – £2 less than I paid for it!

3 rolls of 3M masking tape

I actually got these from Lidl for £2.49 and couldn’t quite find an exact equivalent online. Ste didn’t get why I would jump at masking tape but I’ll be going through a ton of it when I get back to screen printing – all the screen edges will need to be masked, and more.

One thing I know is that with all-purpose consumables, even the boring ones, is that you have to grab the bargains whilst they’re hot, because you’re going to use them up eventually!

Worbla sheet – 75cm x 100cm.

A couple of months ago I’d never even heard of Worbla – it’s a thermoplastic material that comes in a sheet and can be shaped and reshaped by heating it.

I got this one as a present for Ste, so he’s got it stashed away in his workroom. I’m really looking forward to seeing what he sculpts with it, and let’s be honest, I’m looking forward to pinching a bit to see what I can make too!

This roll cost £26.08 at the time and was shipped from Germany; it seems it’s pretty big over there and not as well known here.

Art supplies haul total cost:

£50.55. Not bad, I think; I did a lot more damage last month, but I hadn’t started this then! Will sharing it help me spend less? Or goad me into spending more?

5 Potential Career Paths For Artists

If you’re talented at art or design and you want to know what career paths are available as an artist, well you’ve certainly got a wide range of options available to you.

Here are some potential careers you can pursue using your art degree or talent as an artist.

Illustrator

Even though the rise of Kindle and the e-books have come about, physical books are still going strong. Books, for children, in particular, will always need illustrations and whether your style is like Quentin Black, Nick Sharratt or unlike anything on the current market, then doing illustration may certainly be a viable career path for you.

Think about what area of books and literature your illustrations would fit into and then approach companies that use them.

Tattoo Artist

This one’s not for me as I’m not a fan of tattoos or any permanent body modification, but I do admire the skill that goes into medical tattooing and how a talented artist can change a patient’s life for the better.

A steady hand is certainly required in some professions, and a tattoo artist needs just that. You can also have a bit more of a creative collaboration with each client as they’ll likely need something different and personable to them. It’s great to have this relationship as it’ll help improve and develop your own style and techniques. So if you’re familiar with stencil paper and feel confident drawing permanent ink on others, then this one’s for you.

Fashion Designer

As a fashion designer, a love for fashion is obviously key as well as a keen eye for what colors, textures and patterns work. You’ll also know a lot about what trends work and when they’re popular.

The fashion industry can be a very competitive industry, and it’s all about networking and getting your designs seen and worn by influential people. But if you’ve got something unique that can attract a new market or challenge a current one, then it’s certainly worth trying, even if it fails.

Art Teacher

Art is taught from an early age in education, and without it, the world would be a lot more dull and boring. So it’s important that there continue to be those who teach art, and teach it well. It can be a very fulfilling but challenging role, and it might not be for everyone.

However, it’s useful to know which area of education you’d suit best and what type of art you’d like to teach. You can get a lot of satisfaction from seeing a student flourish, so it’s a great career path to consider.

Motion Graphics Designer

If you prefer the digital aspect of designing then exploring motion graphics might be right up your street.

With special effects, animation and the television and film industries very prominent in today’s society and culture, there will always be roles available within motion graphic designing. It can be a long process, but you’ll be contributing to potentially iconic television shows and movies that will be a legacy for you beyond your lifetime.

It’s good to contact production companies to get an idea of what’s available, and you also need to think about what genres of the industry you’d like to design for.

There’s a lot of career paths available so even if none of these are for you, there’s still plenty more to pick from – so get researching!

The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook can give you the contacts you need to break into different art, illustration and design careers.

Studio Notes 25/01/19

Bookbinding. That’s what I have to figure out today.

Nothing too complicated, just an A5 booklet made up of two signatures of printer paper and a cartridge paper cover, but it’s still something I haven’t done for ages and on top of that, it’s a present. For tomorrow.

After a few days of editing, story filling, typesetting and printing, I now get to bind the epic book that my son has written. Something tells me he’s been the victor in this battle of the division of labour. Anyway, here’s some more of the week’s highlights and general things I wanted to proclaim.

Pop Culture Detective

I discovered this channel earlier in the month but after watching a few more videos I have to recommend Pop Culture Detective’s YouTube channel. It is now officially my new favourite thing or at least one of five New Favourite Things.

The video essays dig into aspects of masculinity in pop culture that I never even put my finger on, but recognised instantly. I’ve had a go at writing this kind of essay before with my Rocky critique but this channel shows how to do it properly. With titles like Stalking For Love and Abduction As Romance, you’ll find yourself questioning what the movies have been doing to your brain all these years.

Gold rush

Everything is gold!

This week I stumbled across a site called PrettyWebz (oh, that Z…) and it’s full of tutorials on creating metallic effects as well as vectorising fonts in PowerPoint – a blessing for people who don’t have Photoshop.

It was an eye-opener, to say the least. It’s actually allowed me to replicate a text effect that I’ve been after for one of my other sites, to match its logo. Besides that, I’ve put it to use in putting some bling on the cover of T’s aforementioned novella.

The Riddler strikes

Yes, I know it’s just a Primark t-shirt, but what’s wrong with that?

I designed the question mark a few weeks ago (going nuts with fonts) and have been trying to keep it under my [bowler] hat, but T caught a glimpse of the file on my laptop… Still, I don’t think he knows what’s coming.

The shirt is a surprise gift for T and an excuse for the grown-ups to geek out a bit. Last year I gave in to a fit of nostalgia and started gathering up the comic books I’d loved when I was about 7, and I’m still working on that collection.

We’d planned to print a Riddler-inspired shirt for each of us but could only find two men’s tops, so mine will have to wait. I did a quick tutorial for Ste on how to help expose a screen (the screens I coated last month were waiting for me and still good) and pull a print. So this time around I had an assistant for a change!

Binding, printing & photo editing

There was a lot more going on this week than I thought there would be, so who knows what will come around in the next few days?

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Studio Notes, 25/01/2019

Studio Notes 18/01/19

Not being able to work as I normally would has pushed me hard towards graphic design. Funny, I had envisioned spending my time putting all of my previous visual notes in order in my sketchbook, but I haven’t touched it once.

Part of the slide towards design has come from the fact that it’s so sorely needed. I have too many live websites with butt-ugly images on them, and that’s not a good thing to admit as an artist. Thing is, graphic design and fine art are two very different things, and I know just enough to know that I’m not a designer.

Still, it doesn’t look great, seeing as I should (and usually do) know better. Sometimes when you’re close up to a project with a tight deadline and very little resources and, you convince yourself that good enough is actually good, when it wasn’t even good enough in the first place.

This reflection came from looking back at my other site’s Pinterest images from 2016 to now – you would have thought they were created by two entirely different people! With all the time sitting still, I’ve been able to work out a plan for an image overhaul.

Free (and decent) design resources

Taking my own pictures was not an option – not being mobile and all that – so I started a quest to find some good stock images that weren’t already used to death.

That’s where I came across Rawpixel, which has some fantastic photographs and vectors and offers many for free. This link gives you a month’s premium membership.

Creative Market is one of my favourite resources for one of my favourite design elements – fonts! Every Monday I check their “free goods” offering, to see if there are any stock images, seamless patterns or fonts that catch my eye. It all started when I bought two fonts there at the end of 2017 and I’ve been a fan since then.

The design bug strikes in the family

A very talented playing card-obsessed teenager I know has opened his own Zazzle store!

What started out as a way to create one custom printed deck of cards turned into a bit of an entrepreneurial crusade. Who knows if it’s the start of an empire?

Speaking of Zazzle, I’ve been questioning whether I want to keep my own store open at all, or just set up a design site elsewhere. You know, because I need more things that I don’t get around to doing.

The problem I’ve faced for years is whether to legitimise something that I only really play with. I’m not a designer and I don’t really want to be, but I like it as a diversion. Plus, I like owning my own merch.

Present day approaches…

Our annual present day is looming and I can’t exactly nip out to pick up any surprise gifts, which is a pain. On top of that, I can’t exactly make any gifts.

The original plan was to print some t-shirts but I’m not sure if that will come to pass either!

What I have been doing is putting my typographical fix to work in designing the gift tags we’ll be using (look out for those in a few weeks).

Maybe in another week’s time I’ll have a stencil cut and be able to direct the printing from a distance. A bit like a real designer, right?

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Studio Notes 18/01/19
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