Business of Illustration class is live!

[evilrobot]

This is clearly one of the best classes on the entire site. It's a must watch for anyone trying to break into any art related business or any kind of business for that matter. I'm also really looking forward to his upcoming water color classes.

[Dulcie]

@Charlie-Eve-Ryan Thanks! Yes you’re right that each market area can be SO different. For example, the current customers of our business (craft shops) are ONLY interested in craft products. They’re not interested in buying rights to the art itself, or buying products in other areas. So if I want to use the same art to sell giftwrap, art prints, greetings cards, etc (which would be nice), I have to go out and find a whole new set of customers..and I know from the experience of setting up the current business that it all takes a lot of time to build that up. Doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing, but I have to figure out how many plates I can spin at once and still keep it all going.

So yeah, I’d like to set up another website for the non-papercraft licensing, and then I think I’ll need yet another separate website for my children’s book illustration (my ideal destination!), which will be in a different enough style that I think it should be separate (judging from Lee’s previous posts about websites and self-branding and so on..). That’s been the tricky part for me recently - trying to work out how the different areas should be split up and branded.

[Will Terry]

@Dulcie Thank you! I think money often gets a bad wrap because often people do bad things with it or live a life out of balance in the pursuit of it.

Money is life. We can't live without it. Life is a good thing - so the pursuit of money can be a good thing. It takes skills to get more "life" with your art skills.

I embrace the idea of being a good businessman/woman because it means I can bring more life to my family.

People with jobs are glad that their employer is a good businessman/woman -so the notion that being savvy in business means you're not a good person is ridiculous and needs to be rejected.

I hope everyone who takes Lee's class learns skills that help them have a better life!

[Ace Connell]

Brilliant class @lee-white!

I'm addicted to Shark Tank now haha. It's like a show we used to have over here in the UK called Dragon's Den.

Do you broadly know what you have planned for the next lessons yet and also when the Editorial class is going live? I'm stoked to see a different style like that.

Take care Buddy!
Ace

[lyddie_lee]

This is odd I'm getting an error message on all the videos (Opps! that was suppose to happen. please check back) It's been about three hours now.

[Ace Connell]

@lyddie_lee I can't really help you, but I just checked and it's doing the same for me, too.

Ace

[Ace Connell]

@lyddie_lee Just checked again and everything's working again.

Ace

[lyddie_lee]

@Ace-Connell Thanks for the heads-up!

[Rob Smith]

@Lee-White Terrific class. I enjoyed every minute of your presentation. I really appreciate your "real life" examples. Thank you for putting this class together.

[kamiqueiroz]

Can´t wait to start this lesson! I´m doing Will´s Creative composition class and I´ll do this one after that.

[MOO]

@Lee-White I have a question. I've been watching the class a little at a time. I just finished it. I actually don't have a portfolio but I was thinking about putting one together. For children's book illustration you mentioned using 12 images. You also talked about sequential work. Would I put in three sets of four sequential pictures or something similar to that? I have some illustrations from an ABC book I illustrated but, should I be illustrating little bits of stories ? Do I just need to show that I can draw a character three ways in a setting that is like a story? I'm just curious. Thanks.

[karien]

It was a really eye-opener lesson and cant wait for the other lessons to be uploaded. Thanks for the great info!

[Kasey Snow]

Excited to take this class! Does this cover things like taxes as well?

[Ace Connell]

@Kasey-Snow No. Every country is different so it'd be impossible to include all. Nothing beats a good accountant. They'll save you more than they cost.

Ace

[Lee White]

It will include taxes. It's a three part class and that will be in the last section

[karien]

I really love the idea of Photodeck but the pro-plan is a bit expensive if you want to start out.. Is there any other licencing webpage that we could try thats not so expensive?

[Lee White]

@Marsha-Kay-Ottum-Owen You don't have to be doing work from stories per se. ABC books are great. The big idea is showing groups of images that go together. To an art director in publishing, a single image doesn't mean that much. But a group of images really lets them see how a project would look in terms of how they would use it.

@karien Unfortunately I haven't found it yet. I am beginning a new search this week to see what I can find. I don't like paying $30 a month that's for sure. But so far I haven't found it.

On that note, one big thing that will come up in the next video is that "It's much easier to spend less than it is to make more". It's a simple idea that is lost on most people in the United States. The less income you need, the easier all of this is. It is an extremely important idea that rarely gets mentioned in business because most are only concerned with the incoming money stream. Most americans are in debt and the idea of controlling spending as a business practice doesn't get mentioned much.

I'll let you know if I come across something

[MOO]

@Lee-White Okay, thanks so much. I need to clean up and organize my studio, create a portfolio, finish my current project.... Lots to do now! I think I will organize my studio area and then create a map for myself to remind me where I put everything. I can't find my graphite stick for anything! Ha!

[karien]

@Lee-White Thanks a lot!

[jacs]

@lee-white thank you! It's so refreshing to get the straight info. The phrase 'fake work' is still ringing in my ears! Best get back to it... Looking forward to the rest of the series.