Episode 6: Listener Q&A

[Jake Parker]

Art by Tanner Garlick

Welcome to our mailbag episode! Lee, Will, and Jake answer questions that people in the forums have been asking; there are lots of great questions, some fun questions, tons of insightful answers, and even some differing opinions.

Q: Where do we (Will Jake and Lee) see themselves in ten years? 4:00
Q: How to do get ready for a Comic Cons or Art Fair? 14:03
Q: What are your methods and approaches for time efficiency and consistency for a long project? 22:15
Q: What are the differences to being an illustrator or content creator? 32:18
Q: What is your process in doing master copies? 41:35
Q: If you can illustrate a small story based off a favorite song what would it be? 50:10
Q: What is the biggest mistake that amature artists and students make? 57:38
Q: How can I do better in contest? 1:04:20
Q: Do you recommend going to college for illustration? 1:05:50

You can listen to the episode and read the show notes here.

We'd love it if you had any more insight or answers to these questions.

Let us know if you're experience is different from what we talked about in the podcast.

[MissMushy]

Hi Guys!
Another awesome podcast. Thanks for answering my q re master studies - really appreciate it! I am finding it hard to deconstruct what I am seeing sometimes (for example: if something has an underpainting or not, or whether ink is applied before or after a watercolour wash, is the dark colour I am looking at a mix of colours or just black etc. ) so hopefully I can find more info on particular artists' processes to fill in the blanks.
As a follow up to the discussions on learning about writing - are there any resources you have found useful in this process?
Looking forward to the next one!

[LauraA]

I really enjoyed this one! I left an iTunes review, but it's on the Italian store. I wondered why there weren't any reviews yet because I thought they showed up on all stores, but when I checked on the US store there were tons! So, benvenuti in Italia, 3 Point Perspective!

This episode I liked the point about beginning illustrators making the mistake of not doing enough studies. Guilty as charged! I have to admit I am still in such a tizzy about my late start and lack of portfolio pieces that I have had to develop a spiral approach in which I rotate tasks--brushes, color, anatomy, character design, master studies, environments, etc. That way I at least cover all the bases. Otherwise I'd panic.

This leads to a question I have for the next Q & A: To be an illustrator, it seems you have to have a good idea of what your best narrative content is. Otherwise it's paralyzing to even choose a subject. I've invented a character whom I am starting to put in various situations, but aside from inventing your own stories and redrawing fairy tales, what should people be illustrating when they are building a portfolio? Is it advisable, or even legal, to re-illustrate a beloved book that is still under copyright and put it in your portfolio? What are some guidelines when it comes to picking narrative content for your portfolio pieces?

I'm going to go augment my Spotify list now based on this episode.... I have to side with Will and Lee on the Beatles, though. Once Spotify fed me Tomorrow Never Knows in Gregorian chant, and if anything, it was even freakier!

[Debra Garcia]

Another great episode. This podcast helps keep me inspired.

I just want to say that I don't like The Beetles either.

[rcartwright]

@Jake-Parker @Lee-White If you are working to be an writer/illustrator what is the best way to submit this the work to a publisher since the text would be much more limited. Do you send notes or do a complete set of sketches verses just sample art?

[jthomas]

Awesome-Cast guys! I look forward to these. Great insights and banter lol

I have a question:

The original question was What is the biggest mistake that amateur artists and students make? The big response from you guys was finding people who do what you want to do when doing master studies.

My question is how do you effectively narrow that down when your interests are varied? Such as, speaking personally; My main interest is comics - but I would love to branch into game character design and concepts, then possible move into animation and film. My modern day heroes started with people like Jim lee, Joe Maduereira, Todd McFarlane, Masamune Shirow, Hiroaki Samura etc.

Then I discovered Jake Parker who is vary versatile with his art style and application. Truthfully he would be ideal.

I guess my question is what would that Ideal roadmap look like if you have that many interests?

I assume start from square one lol

[smceccarelli]

Really enjoyable and interesting and thank you so much for answering some of my questions! I'm very happy to know that it's normal to hate a project in the middle - it happened in nearly all long projects I've worked on so far - and the more is at stake, the more it depresses me. I think it's a matter of expectations: I always start off wanting to make the most awesome work I've ever made, and then realize after the first week or two that it's going to be ok work - not ground-breaking, not awesome and maybe not even the best it can be. And I still have 90% of it to go through...
And yet at the end it always feels and looks much better than I thought.
I never start with my favorite spread, BTW...nor with the most difficult one. I normally start with a couple of easy and "unimportant" ones because I still feel the need to test my process first. Maybe that is different when you have more experience and more solidity of style.

[A Former User]

I'm with Jake, Beatles all the way! Nice show guys!!

[Teju Abiola]

Loved this episode! As a young artist, I agree with both answers for the mistakes we students make, but I'll also add that students don't finish enough things. This also goes along with the getting tired of a project in the middle. In school, and when just starting art, it's easy to get into a culture of studies and copies and learning everything at once, or doing things fast to move onto the next thing you need to do. But we rarely are taught how to work on something from concept to finish over a long period of time, and we often stop working 50-80% of the way to a real finish. We become good at coming up with ideas and starting projects, but not very good at finishing them out long-term, whether it is a painting or a full-blown project. This is something that I've recognized in myself and am trying to work on.

Also, sorry, Jake, I have to side with Lee and Will about the Beatles. I can recognize that they are/were talented and why people like their music, but I don't enjoy listening to them at all, but have occasionally enjoyed covers of their songs by other performers.

[bethanniee]

‘Right on, Jake’s my guy. Beatles fans together’ ️ I listen to the Beatles while I illustrate, unless I’m doing a class.

[burvantill]

Regarding Beetles, I am 100% with Lee on that one, lol!
Regarding Is college worth it? That really got me thinking. I graduated CSUS with a BA in fine arts. It took me 10 years to get through college because I had a job and had to pay for it myself, NO STUDENT LOANS. Yay! I have to say that in my 2 years at Junior/community college I learned more from my art teachers than I did at State. The graphic design experience I received from working my jobs in pre press. And I have learned more from Will Terry the past two months than I EVER did in my time at State. So sadly I would have to say that No, State college was not worth it but Junior college was. And You Tube is the greatest educational system ever invented. Lol.
Thank you 3 Point Perspective men! You are helping fulfill my dreams. =)x

[JeremyP]

I'm with you all the way on the Beatles, @Jake-Parker, and @Lee-White lost me with his dismissal of them..... and then TOTALLY REDEEMED HIMSELF with the shoutout to New Order. Blue Monday, greatest song ever.

Thanks for a great new episode, guys!

[jaepereira]

Regarding The Beetles, have you guys seen The Beat Bugs cartoon on Netflix? It’s got all The Beetles music and they applythe song to the story of the episode

[Celeste Elizabeth]

Hey guys... another great podcast!

I was wondering if you could expand on Jake's answer to Q #7?

I totally understand and agree that it is so important to:

1. Know all of the available jobs/opportunities/possibilities &

2. Do our research to understand what that job entails and what the day to day expectations for that path/career entail...

Do you guys recommend just google search "illustration jobs" and seeing what comes up and diving into each until we can narrow down on what feels right?

As far as "sitting down with an illustrator for a week" (or a day)... at the risk of sounding completely dumb or unresourceful-- how would a lot of us (who aren't directly connected to an illustrator) do that?

Without looking creepy of course...

[KelBixler]

Thanks so much for these podcasts. I have been learning a lot in them - I am relearning art from scratch after stepping away for a long time, so it's been great to get some direction as to what I should be doing. I'm glad I found SVS and these podcasts relatively early in my learning. I do have a question about master's studies to go along with what you talked about. I never learned anything about master's studies and where to even begin. Does anyone have any suggestions of where to start for the complete beginner? Any books or videos or, anything really? Thanks

[amlilui]

Just finished listening and thoroughly enjoyed it. Especially appreciated the tips on how to save time and maintain consistency, ie: pre-painting certain involved background elements, and multiple / various head drawings for reference.

Love the podcast, very helpful in keeping me motivated as I work.

-Amber L. L.

P.S.
I love the Beatles.

[amlilui]

@celeste-elizabeth well, I am a freelance illustrator in Florida, so if you want to come hang out with me for a day, come on over

I would also say that the life of an illustrator is essentially isolated, especially if you work from home like I do. There's a fellow named Thomas James who talks about this and also did something quite impressive about it. He created his own community of illustrators to hang out with here, http://illustrationfriday.com/

Hope that helps, let me know when you want to swing by
Best,
Amber

[TwiggyT]

You all should do a segment on higher education.

I have so much to say about my college experience. I'm glad I met the people I met, but the curriculum was lacking in so many ways.

And why on earth they don't counsel students more is beyond me. Like you're 18 and you're supposed to have your life all together and know everything and that this for sure is the path you should take. Ugh. And don't get me started about signing papers for student loans when you've got no clue what it's like to even pay rent.

[demotlj]

I am listening to your podcast and really loving it. (In fact, looking forward to listening was the only thing that got me to run this morning so thanks for that!) I wanted to ask @Lee-White if you could post your martial arts belt system that you used in class where people advanced through belts by exhibiting competence in increasingly advanced skills. I’m an amateur and 60 years old so I need an efficient system to make sure I’ve built up my skill base. I don’t have years to waste messing around learning by trial and error I would love to use something like your belt system to guide me and it would also give me a sense of how far I’ve come and need to go. Jake’s analogy of music lessons is very apt for me since I’m a musician and am used to a very methodical approach to building skills.

Thanks for the podcast.

[Lee White]

@demotlj my kung fu belt system for grading worked really well. It was a simple concept: You start out as a white belt and with each major assignment in the class you had a chance to advance by getting a higher ranked belt. In order to advance you had to get at least 90% on the assignment. Some people got through on the first try. For others, they ended up doing the assignment over and over each week until it was at 90%. The only way to get an A was to do all assignments at 90% or better over the term.

The beauty in this system was that it promoted true skill. Even if a student only ended up with 3 complete assignments, I at least knew they mastered the concepts. : )