Business of Illustration class is live!

lyddie_lee · 14 Mar 2016, 18:26

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 · 14 Mar 2016, 18:40

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

Ace

Ace Connell · 14 Mar 2016, 18:43

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

Ace

lyddie_lee · 14 Mar 2016, 18:54

@Ace-Connell Thanks for the heads-up!

Rob Smith · 14 Mar 2016, 23:57

@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 · 15 Mar 2016, 00:13

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

MOO · 15 Mar 2016, 05:31

@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 · 15 Mar 2016, 06:02

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

Kasey Snow · 15 Mar 2016, 06:39

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

Ace Connell · 15 Mar 2016, 06:51

@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 · 15 Mar 2016, 19:19

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

karien · 16 Mar 2016, 06:33

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 · 16 Mar 2016, 13:32

@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 · 16 Mar 2016, 20:57

@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 · 17 Mar 2016, 09:44

@Lee-White Thanks a lot!

jacs · 17 Mar 2016, 10:08

@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.

Ben J Hutchison · 18 Mar 2016, 13:14

@Lee-White Seriously a game changer of a course. So straight forward and concise. After watching I've already retooled my website, rewrote my about me page, and picked up the CWIM 2016 book from the library. On that note, how important is it to get the latest copy? I own one from 2014 but picked up the 2016 because I was afraid that the older books become irrelevant. Thanks for teaching Lee!

evilrobot · 19 Mar 2016, 13:16

sell media I found this plug in for Wordpress while I was surfing around the net looking for shopping cart add ons for my current website. Looks like it might be OK but you have to have a wordpress site to use it. Might be a viable alternative

Rich Green · 20 Mar 2016, 23:42

I got the following from a friend via facebook message earlier today:

"I've got a potential client for you... a colleague/friend of mine is editing a book, and he needs an artist to create about 20 line art illustrations for the book. He's envisioning them as quick-sketch sort of illustrations that visualize the various storylines - nothing in great detail (perhaps 30 minutes per illustration, that sort of thing).

Nearly all would be old western scenes, such as a couple in a buckboard, 2 men on horseback, an artist painting a western street scene... Does this sound like something you might be interested in?

I must've talked you up well, because once I finished describing your work, my friend said, "I don't think I can afford someone like that!" (smile emoticon) He doesn't have a huge budget but there is a budget!

Let me know if you'd like to learn more and I can connect the two of you. (He can send you a sample chapter and more information). Hope all is well on your end!"

Now I know my friends heart is in the right place and it does feel good to think that folks speak highly of me/my work. But you know what felt even better - politely saying No to this entire thing.

A few months ago I would have jumped on something like this and sold myself short in the process. I am currently working my way through two self published author books now, that I know will never make me a proper return on my huge investment of time to complete them. I have long been plagued by being an amiable personality type - friends with everyone, people pleaser etc. The problem with that is I continue to learn everyone else may end up happy when I do that but not me.

And I have learned so much from the you tube videos of @will-terry and this class from @lee-white, now to know that my time will be much better spent working on my portfolio, my own personal projects and staying the course to get proper work via publishers someday. And that the road to being successful in this business (and in life) sometimes means you have to say No! Politely but still No.

I never felt so good saying No to anyone ever. Because saying NO to this was really saying YES to myself!

Lee White · 22 Mar 2016, 18:14

That's great Rich! And smart!

An old saying that I repeat to my class is "Anything you sayng YES to means you are saying NO to everything else". So make sure your decisions move you in the right direction. Sounds like you have figured it out! : )

Keep up the good work!