I teach a couple of animation classes at the high school level. Each year I always off Inktober as a BIG extra credit opportunity (if they do all 31 days, they get excused from an assignment of their choice). Today, as I brought it up, some students asked about the controversy. We ended up having an interesting discussion about the topic, and about cancel culture in general. I really wanted to make sure that students understood the importance of researching stuff like this controversy on their own, then forming their own conclusions. I gave them my opinion about how I didn't think there was enough evidence to really support a copyright claim, and also told them the importance of handling things like this privately, rather than letting the Internet be judge, jury and executioner, like what's happening right now.

I think the essence of Inktober has always been to develop good drawing habits and inking skills. For me at least, it's not just about Jake Parker (although I love that he created the challenge). It's more about me getting more confidence in my own art. So I told the students if they still want to participate, to definitely do it. I care more about them developing good habits, even if it's through doing a different month long challenge, then I do with them blindly agreeing with everything I say simply because they think they need to.

Anyway, just wanted to share that experience.

I'm doing a 1920s theme...at the time I came up with it I thought 2020 was going to be a fun year (oh, to be that simple again )

I was a bit hesitant to post work on social media, given the controversy and the fact that I know a lot of my former college classmates think Jake plagarized and so they're trying to cancel Inktober. But you know what, I love the challenge, I love the community, so post I shall!

@Molambo it's hard not to be skeptical of him, because I just saw that post and no where does it seem like he acknowledges that 1)its for the courts to decide and LAWYERS and 2)he has contributed to a lot of the "haters" online by giving them a platform to speak up without any of us knowing the full story. I'm not just blindly following Jake either, I dont think any of us are. If, for some unknown reason, it ended up being that he did plagiarize, then he would need to be held accountable, as all artists would. Problem is...I dont think he did so he shouldnt be held accountable until such time (however unlikely) its determined he did. And if he didnt...then hes having to deal with other peoples rash decisions to accuse without knowing all of the facts.

One interesting observation...just browsing around the comments to Alphonsos post. I dont see anyone criticizing him or bad mouthing him. I'm assuming if people dont agree, then they're just not posting. So...why dont those followers pay the Inktober posts the same courtesy?

Hi everyone! In an effort to get more comfortable with my art and think less about my anxieties, I decided to redesign an old D&D character of mine. Any thoughts or comments?

@Molambo I had a friend tell me "you're aware of his plagiarism right? We discovered that he stole work. Just be aware of it when you post with the hashtag".

The way people think we're ignorant of accusations just because we dont buy into them is...mind boggling.

I had planned on joining the SVS community eventually, but this virus and quarantine sped up my plans. So here's a bit about myself.

My name is Lauren, and I am a high school graphic design and animation teacher from the Central Valley of California. I've been wanting to get my freelance career off the ground since I started teaching five years ago. My original plan when I was in college was to go into the animation/illustration industry, but plans changed. Now that I'm settled into my teaching job I have been able to work with a local author illustrating story ideas, which has been both stressful and fun. In fact, it's one of the reasons I wanted to join SVS, to sharpen my skills!

Here's a couple of examples of my work (some things I did for Inktober, and a character design for one of my DnD characters....one of my favorite pastimes!). I'm so looking forward to being a part of this community!

When I was in college, my dream was to get good enough to become a VisDev artist at a major animation studio. But my time in college was extremely hard; I quickly learned that my skills were not developed to the level that they needed to be to stay on track to graduate within the program's timeline. So my dream of working in a major studio...basically went out the window because of my skill set, which was hard to deal with for a long time. So I studied, became an art teacher and tried to get better, until a family friend saw some designs I had done for Inktober and asked if I would illustrate a children's book.

So now...I think my perfect art world would have me be able to get to a point where I can teach part time and freelance, and that my skills would be in such a place where creating art didn't give me a lot of anxiety most of the time I work.

@korilynneillo I really like what you wrote (your art is awesome too btw!). You're right...I guess I'm so used to avoiding conflict like the plague (which makes more sense these days, hahaha) that I forget that about negative confidence. I cant imagine dealing with this on the level that guys like Jake and Alphonso are...you really have to have rhino skin to deal with it.

When I did my first book (self-published through Amazon by the author), the author put in the text themselves, but it didn't look as good as it could have. The second project I did with the author, I offered to do the typesetting myself in InDesign. MUCH more difficult. While I'm glad the author gave me an increase in pay (and was happy to do so), adding the type myself was hard and tedious. I wish there had been an opportunity to work with a graphic designer to help with the text rather than my doing everything myself. On the one hand, I felt more in control over the quality of each page. On the other hand, it increase the stress of working on pages (and I had the lovely task of having to fit both English and Spanish translations of huge paragraphs).

So I'd say, if you haven't discussed text, and especially if it's not in your contract, politely discuss this with your client. Hopefully they'll be understanding.

When I have worked with an author to self publish, their firm has paid be 2500-3000 depending on the book (the second project I worked on was more complex). This was based on research the author and I did about reasonable pay for beginning professional illustrators.

For me, it's always been a bit difficult for me to gauge prices because this is not my primary source of income (I'm a teacher who illustrates on the side). After discussions and research, the amount she paid me seemed fair to me. I agree that it depends partly on what your time is worth. You don't want to earn so little that you can't live on.

I'm publishing this to my social, so I thought I'd share it here too! This is the list I've come up with for Inktober this year (I call it "The Cat's Meow"). I thought I'd see what some around here thought! I can't wait to try it, and feel free to use this for yours too if you wish.

I love this! It's getting me excited for Inktober, and excited for introducing it to my students.

@Ari-Sorokin I usually use Venmo

Honestly, the only time I work for free is when I sketch an engagement portrait for my friends when they get engaged, or when I do pro-bono work for my church. It's a gift I'm happy to give. But right now, you're doing what's called "getting paid in experience" and that's kind of selling yourself short. It's not about how many followers you have. Doing portraits is a service, and you can be sure that people know they're getting something good for free. There's not necessarily any guarantee that your customers will give you a shoutout...what if they don't? Setting up a Venmo or PayPal and charging a little at first is a good start.

One thing non-artists don't seem to realize is that, yes we enjoy making art, but it is something that takes up our time and resources. People would never dream of not paying a mechanic or doctor or plumber...but if they can get away with getting "free" art from artists, they will unforunately. So charging will help you breathe new life in and also show that you are worth getting paid.

@Nyrryl-Cadiz I really do try. I love being able to show my students that I'm also a "working" artist. There have been many Fridays where I will pull out the Cintiq while they're working and work alongside them. Bit hard to do that right now with Distance Learning but we'll figure something out.

@Julia Aw, that's very flattering! I appreciate it.

I teach a couple of animation classes at the high school level. Each year I always off Inktober as a BIG extra credit opportunity (if they do all 31 days, they get excused from an assignment of their choice). Today, as I brought it up, some students asked about the controversy. We ended up having an interesting discussion about the topic, and about cancel culture in general. I really wanted to make sure that students understood the importance of researching stuff like this controversy on their own, then forming their own conclusions. I gave them my opinion about how I didn't think there was enough evidence to really support a copyright claim, and also told them the importance of handling things like this privately, rather than letting the Internet be judge, jury and executioner, like what's happening right now.

I think the essence of Inktober has always been to develop good drawing habits and inking skills. For me at least, it's not just about Jake Parker (although I love that he created the challenge). It's more about me getting more confidence in my own art. So I told the students if they still want to participate, to definitely do it. I care more about them developing good habits, even if it's through doing a different month long challenge, then I do with them blindly agreeing with everything I say simply because they think they need to.

Anyway, just wanted to share that experience.

I've got two books on Amazon that I worked with an indpendent author on. They're part of a series to promote literacy in the California Central Valley.

I Read A Book: https://www.amazon.com/Read-Solving-Problems-Through-Literacy/dp/1695641388/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=i+read+a+book+susan+walsh&qid=1599767524&sr=8-1

Benny, The Librarian, and The Dog That Needed A Home: https://www.amazon.com/Benny-Librarian-That-Needed-Home/dp/B08CW9LVQ3/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=benny+the+librarian+and+the+dog+that+needed+a+home&qid=1599767568&sr=8-1

I'm doing a 1920s theme...at the time I came up with it I thought 2020 was going to be a fun year (oh, to be that simple again )

I was a bit hesitant to post work on social media, given the controversy and the fact that I know a lot of my former college classmates think Jake plagarized and so they're trying to cancel Inktober. But you know what, I love the challenge, I love the community, so post I shall!

@Nyrryl-Cadiz yeah, I guess we just grew apart in a lot of ways.