Just the beginning

A week ago, I randomly signed up for this website called ' UpWork.' I didn't think much of it, until they charged me a dollar to check that my debit card was working and NEVER GAVE IT BACK!

This website is aimed at getting skilled people together with people who need those skills. On your profile (if you consider yourself a said skilled person) you put what your strengths are and you make a little portfolio for yourself.

After that, you can either forget that you even made an account, like I did, or you can search and apply for jobs that non-skilled people post. The jobs can range from taking five minutes to five months, and payment can be either hourly or a fixed price.

A few days after forgetting that I'd made an account, I got an email. The email said that someone was interested in hiring me! She said she saw my portfolio, liked my work, and wanted me to -get this- illustrate an entire children's book for her!

The book was about messy pigs, and she wanted me to draw a bunny and a pig before she hired me to see if I was capable, since all of my portfolio was of faces.

I was so excited that I got to drawing right away, which probably wasn't the best idea, since my hands were earthquakes. I decided to draw the bunny sort of reprimanding the pig, because in a story about messy pigs, you can be sure that the bunny will be the one trying to fix 'em up. Why is it always bunnies, I wonder? Probably because they are so cute and unobtrusive in the midst of their reprimanding.

So I sent that to her, and she said that I was hired. In fact, she said, with a few tweaks my concept art could be one of final illustrations! I flipped out. I had been right about the bunny, and now I had saved myself time, and gotten off at a great start with my new boss! I had shown that I can read minds, and that is very helpful for client trying to describe how she wants the illustrations to be.

Sadly, this job means I will be very busy and won't be able to work on my comic. But I will still be making the illustrations with the iPad pro, which is an even bigger feat in some regards. And don't worry, I will still blog. In fact, I already know what my next post will be about. It will be about what it is to be a children's book illustrator. I think I am qualified to answer that because not only have I illustrated a children's book before, but I also remember what it was like reading them as a child, and I know what makes children tick.

In other news, I finally got my hands on the iPad pro smart keyboard cover thingy majig. Also, my oldest sister is flying to Europe today and will be gone for two years. But most exciting of all, yesterday I got my copy of the official Star Wars novel, 'Before the Awakening,' and it does not disappoint!

Have a great week everybody! Make sure to comment your thoughts, and I will reply. Read me next week, and show this blog to any artist buds you have acquired. Goodbye!

Why You Should Stop Using Photoshop

I am not a hateful kind of person. But I am very passionate, and my goal in life is to help people out. So without further ado, here is why you might benefit from quitting Photoshop.

Let me tell you a story. I was watching a video about how this one guy makes his comic books, as I do when I am stranded on the island of un-creativity (aka artist's block; more on that in a future post.)

Now, this man liked to sketch and ink traditionally, as a lot of people do. After he was done with that, he would go through the hassle of scanning and then add in the mid tones, borders, and text inside photoshop. That is all. A simple scratch on the surface of what Photoshop is capable of.

This is perfectly reasonable. In fact, many artists use that very work flow.

But is it the best?

This man, overwhelmed with very sight of this program, managed to learn a way to do what he needed and go. You wanna know how he made his borders? He filled in a very slim rectangle with black, then copy and pasted that, then flipped it by 90 degrees, then did it all over again until he had four sides. He proceeded to do this for ALL HIS BORDERS. This process took so long that he had to fast forward the video!

Well, you say, he obviously could have looked it up on the web and- voila! Problem solved. You can easily just add a stroke to a selection to get the same result. Except how would he look that up without knowing what 'stroke' meant? This is bad design, in my personal opinion. It's ironic, since so many people who use it are professional designers.

The funny thing was that he knew the keyboard shortcut to rotate the one side of the border by 90 degrees, so my guess is that he did look it up on the internet, but that was the only thing he could find.

The problem is that photoshop has so many options and tools, that the ones that satisfy a particular artist's needs are bound to be hard to access.

In fact, the majority of digital artists who use photoshop could easily move their workflow to a much simpler app and not miss a thing. So why don't they?

Well, I'm not completely sure, but I know it has something to do with psychology. Artists love the flexibility of photoshop, or -at the very least- the idea of it. You can do literally anything in photoshop, and that is a very provocative thought.

And yet, just because you can do anything, doesn't mean you will.

Obviously certain artists really do use a lot of photoshop's features in their normal workflow, and hurray to them for taking the time to learn this monster of a program. But let's face it- these artists aren't even close to a majority.

But, if you have the program and know how to use it, why switch? Maybe you will use those features someday. I'm not saying you won't. Maybe you have made a workflow for yourself that you like. By all means, stay if you want to. But if you are just getting started with digital art, or if you aren't completely happy with the program, all I'm saying is that you shouldn't feel like you are chained to photoshop because you think that it is what the professionals use.

Photoshop was way ahead of its time when it first came out, and people can do some crazy stuff with it. But there are so many different programs now that may just work better for your needs. Experiment to see what works best for you! Good luck!

How to turn your practice into power in 3 easy steps.

​Practice makes perfect. But what makes practice perfect?

I have been drawing ever since I can remember. That is a lot of years of practice. But I've seen a lot of artists who are better than me, without as much experience. How can this be?

Sure, part of it could be due to talent. But most of it is due to the fact that not all practice is created equal. My problem? I've been practicing wrong most of my life.

So, learn from my mistakes! Let me tell you right now that buying an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil will not turn you into a pro! Learn from my mistakes and join the group of people who are better than me even with less experience! Turn your practice into power practice, ASAP.

How to turn your practice into power in 3 easy steps.

1. Find a goal so you can mark your progress.

The difference between just drawing and power drawing, is that power drawing has a purpose. A goal. And this perfect kind of practice doesn't exclude non-artists. This is how to improve your skills in general.

So, how do you find a goal? Find someone better than you. An inspiration. That is the first major step. It may seem irrelevant, but it is very important to be able mark your progress, and having a set goal is the only way to do that effectively.

If you are drawing, this can also mean finding a reference photo. I can't begin to tell you how important this is.

2. Try new things.

Push your limits. It's the only way to improve. As I mentioned in my last post (Why a Webcomic?),  for years of my early artistic journey, the only thing I wanted to draw was floating heads. Yes, it is as creepy as it sounds! I was good at drawing faces, and so that was what I drew, and I regret it bunches now. I could have improved so much, yet because I was satisfied with how things were, I didn't try to change anything.

3. Let go of what you know.

There is a drawing exercise that involves taking a reference photo, turning it upside down, and drawing it the way it appears upside down. In the few casual art classes that I've given to young children, the improvement was obvious when drawing upside down. Why?

Because sometimes you have to take a new perspective. Your old perspective may be wrong, and if you can learn to let go of your old perspective in the blink of an eye, you will go far in life. 

Why a Webcomic?

If you've read my twitter bio, you know that I love to both write and draw. But there's some more that I couldn't manage in 140 characters.

I proclaimed myself an artist at a very young age; typical behavior of a six year old, I know. Except while most girls my age were into horses and stick figures, the most fun thing to draw, for me, has always been faces. People just fascinated me, and I wanted to learn to capture their expressions and emotions.

The problem here was that I became so good at drawing faces, that I didn't practice anything else. I abhorred moments when people saw my art and asked me to draw something else, assuming that I was good at everything.

It wasn't until I was fourteen that I tried to expand my skills. My older sister had written a book for our baby niece and she wanted me to illustrate it. And as you can probably guess, she wasn't imagining pages filled with floating heads.

In fact, the story was about two baby squirrels. Now, animals have always been a particular weak point of mine, but I couldn't refuse. I did, however, put it off a long time. I'm good at that.

Eventually, though, our niece's birthday was too close for comfort and I was obligated to begin.

I worked furiously in the few months that I had, not only to draw the pictures but also to break through all the barriers that came with learning to draw something new. But because I was forced to do it, I did it, and I'll never regret that. I gained a lot of experience through this trial, and I can now say that I've illustrated a children's book.

BUT I still have a lot to learn. No matter how proud I am of those squirrel scribbles, I can't exactly call myself the expert. For example, I am only just learning about perspective; my previous experience souly reliant on common sense. And I still haven't come close to mastering the infamous human hand.

So why am I making a webcomic?



Because I want a motivator. The webcomic that I am planning will push my limits, and force me to learn things I haven't considered before. Plus, I'm super excited about my story and characters... I will be posting character bios in the near future.

Next week's post will be about the best methods, I've found, to teach yourself art. They are what I used while illustrating the squirrels, and what I am using for my comic. Be looking forward to Friday!

Welcome!

Happy new year everyone!

I've decided that this year I am going to make a webcomic. I've had some grand ideas floating around in this brain of mine for years now, but this year those ideas are going to become a reality.

A few months ago my computer began smoking and I cried because that is a very bad habit. At that time I'd been saving up for the Cintiq Companion 2 and was only about halfway there. Then the iPad pro came out, and I licked my lips and changed my direction. I am now the happy owner of a beautiful iPad pro and Apple Pencil, and my family has not disowned me for buying something that runs Windows.

This blog will showcase my journey of making a webcomic on the iPad pro, and I'm really excited to show you guys what I have in store. Wether you are interested in making a webcomic, becoming an iPad artist, or even if you just want to follow the progress of my particular comic, I hereby welcome you to my kingdom.

I will be updating every Friday, so make sure not to miss it! Follow me on twitter @ZoOlson for easy update links.

I'm looking forward to sharing this journey with you!