Green Lantern Pencil Drawing

Pencil drawing of Hal, Green Lantern. Work-in-progress sketch.

How Drawing Spider-Man Makes You A Better Artist

Drawing Spider-Man is a challenge for any artist at any level. 

The web lines on the costume can give professional comic book artist the fits. There is an advantage to the artist drawing superheroes like Spidey, in that as a superhero Spider-Man is always in a dynamic position! There are no shortcuts for creating a man that moves like a spider.

Take advantage of websites like Pose Maniacs! There are hundreds of dynamic action poses which you can rotate into different positions.
If you haven't drawn Spider-Man yet, take the challenge. I find myself dreading to start the sketching but once I begin the urge to finish becomes overwhelming.
Feel free to post a link to your Spider-Man art in the comments below.

Barry Bonds and the Baseball Hall Of Fame

As a San Francisco Giants fan for life, I believe that Giants fans have a dissociated view of Barry Bonds lack of inclusion into the Hall of Fame.

He juiced and he lied, repeatedly. And, with all the advantages no other player could brag about. The lineage, the genetics. SF Giant Bobby Bonds his father! SF Giant Willie Mays, his godfather! Reggie Jackson a distant cousin.

What any of us wouldn't give for just a few days with these gods of the diamond? A lifetime of tutelage from the master of the sport in your formative years, plus all the connections to other players and top level coaches. What more can a player want for? What possible need would not be filled?

Baseball is a mind-field. The bus rides, planes, hotels, the waiting, the long long waits with ages to think and ponder. The ego must devolve into that big green monster.

"But he spent as much time out on the field, chasing fly balls with his father and godfather, the legendary Willie Mays."
Barry Bonds Family Tree - JRank Articles

Bonds should have taken the four to five more years to reach 762, instead of crossing the finish line in front of natural players.

What he accomplished, the goals he reached are still amazing! But he hamstrung other competitors by putting jet fuel in an otherwise larger tank. The scales of justice were truly unbalanced.

Barry may be included in the HOF when he is around 70. A fitting punishment to watch others reach the finish line while he watches, benched. The scales returning to balance.

Why Learn Gesture and Contour Drawing in School?

My first art class was at 48yrs old. I've been drawing since I was six. 

Gestures and contours make sense because they are a head-to-toe vision of the body.
In art class, with charcoal sticks, we began with gesture lines, the model holding each pose for 30 seconds, to describe movement and direction.

We then made contours for one minute with different poses.
Not until we filled a newsprint sheet with multiple drawings did we begin to sketch the model.
The mind-hand connection takes time, even for a professional.

We didn't spend excessive time on gestures and contours. They are not required for life drawing but assist in the warm-up.
Art is flow and control in unison.

Charcoal drawing from a model in art class.

Do Artists Work For Free?

Artists Work For Free?

A lifetime of discipline is required to master an art form.

Nothing is free.

 

Consider the time, patience and required skill it takes to become an artist. Spending money from their own pockets just to arrive at the pivotal point in the hard-won career when someone must inevitably ask the artist, "Will you do something for nothing."

'Artwork IS Work', it's right there in the title.

Time and labor are as valuable to the artist as it is to you. In this wired, digital society there is a common disconnect with the artist but this is a problem spanning the ages. Let's clear the air, let's assist those who believe that creating something from nothing is simple and without due merit.

And by due merit, I mean compensation

Compensation: (noun) 'Something, such as money, given or received as payment or reparation, as for a service.'

Dear client asking for free artworks,

Speaking here of what I know, being a freelance artist, you can make comparisons to similar forms of employment in the creative arts; Singing, dancing, voice over, writing.
It should be said early on and having been debated ad nausea that our craft work (s) may be more cerebral and less functional to the survival of society than a carpenter, or a plumber. But we creative few, we struggling souls of expression do serve to further the human race.

Because you can bring the hammer to nail does that mean you should ask a carpenter to work for free?

Could the carpenter afford his car payment if you promised to tell everyone what great work he did? Just yesterday while sitting in Starbucks, the parent of a friend, a young girl whose portrait I had spent 3 hours penciling, approached me to ask if I would do another portrait of him and his wife. There was no talk of payment or even trade.

How did it come to his mind that 5 hours (and more when drawing two people) was just something I would do as a favor for someone I barely know? He is completely unaware I have spent 30 years in pursuit of my trade and he didn't bother to ask. This in part falls upon the craft person and our need for attention, our inability to confront the audience with resistance fearing their disapproval.

Artists must learn to say no to free

When that starving artist cannot make a car payment because another 'creative' will work for free, we are responsible for that. If the publisher is getting paid why would we be denied the ability to pay for a meal or keep the lights on at home?

When we give in to these requests we also hurt our fellow artisans. How tempting it is to want more people to view your work, even as compensation for payment? Isn't that why we became creative people to share the abundance of our imagination? But do you want to trade your talent for mere speculation?

What is ‘Working on Spec?’
[Please visit the NO!SPEC Campaign webpage.]

Spec has become the short form for any work done on a speculative basis. In other words, any requested work for which a fair and reasonable fee has not been agreed upon, preferably in writing.

What’s so wrong with that?
In a nutshell, spec requires the designer to invest time and resources with no guarantee of payment.

Isn’t it wise for a client to try before they buy?
On the surface it may seem so. But, digging a bit deeper, one realizes that professional graphic design is about creating custom solutions, not cookie-cutter concepts.

But, with today’s computers and software, how long could it take?
This is a common point-of-view for many who confuse the professional with his or her tools. The process is more than simply tapping at a keyboard or clicking a mouse. It’s about understanding the nature of a communication challenge and then using one’s brain to find the appropriate solution.

At the end of the day, there is a certain irony in spec work.
The prospect of such a request is ultimately saying, “My project isn’t important enough to hire a professional who will take the time to understand my situation and goals, investing the time needed to create a suitable solution”.

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