8 Things I Would Tell Myself If I Was Starting Out As A Designer Today

I’ve been working in the creative industry for sometime now and when I look back I realise I’ve had some incredibly many opportunities to learn new things and really grow as a person. I love my job, I love what I do and love the people I do it with. It brings me a huge sense of happiness to be creative everyday and I have to try very hard to not be such smug prick about it.

But it hasn’t always been an easy, happy happy, fun time. Along with the high highs I’ve had, I’ve gone through some darker patches wrought with anxiety, heartache and depression. My choice for a creative career has cost me in some ways and before I set out, if I’d had known some of the things I know now, a few of those blows that hit me might have been softened a little (or not affected me nearly as much as they did).

This is why I wrote this post. In a way it’s to myself, to take stock of the journey I’ve traveled so far and relearn what I’ve already learnt. Hopefully others can learn from my fumbles and mistakes too.

1) Take Advice Given Online With A Pinch Of Salt


Some advice will be helpful, some will be inspiring but some, without the author realising (trying to excuse myself here), will be harmful. Never take any and all advice at its word and always remember that everyone has had different experiences of the industry which will colour their perception of what new designers should be doing. Sometimes you have to try something to know whether it has any validity.

2) Keep Learning, And Learn To Step Away Sometimes


Never stop learning in your career and life. Learn at work, take the time to practice and try new things at home, hone your craft, but it's also just as important to know when to rest and take some time pursuing other interests. Don’t sacrifice sleep or throw out maintaining a healthy social life in order to stay up late every night doing another tutorial. There is a world out there and getting out and seeing it will make your work better as apposed to crunching eighteen hours a day in a vacuum.

3) When You Do Get Your Shot, You Won’t Realise It’s A Shot


Some projects will lead to nowhere, some will be lucrative for a little while, but it takes just one project to send you on your way in the right direction. You won’t know which one it’ll be so treat every opportunity with openness, professionalism and always try to do your best. You also never know, but a project you do now may serve you five years down the line in ways you didn’t expect. Be very, very wary of clients not willing to sign contracts and the ones not willing to discuss budgets with you, and work for free only at your own risk. You can't pay your bills with 'exposure.'

4) Protect Your Own IPs


Some of your own personal projects might become viable products one day which is why it is a good idea to take steps in protecting them. There are people who will want what you have created and use it for their own gain so knowing about intellectual copyright is a good thing. If your potential product needs another person to help get it up and running, you have to be careful with whom you choose to collaborate and share it with. Don’t be sold on a potential collaborator’s enthusiasm alone and only sign away what you’re willing to lose.

If you work for a big company already, check in your contract where their reach of ownership for Intellectual Property begins and ends. It is a matter of legal integrity, respect and professionalism to do this with your employer before undergoing a venture outside of hours. In my experience though, big companies generally aren't interested in stealing your ideas, they have their own products and IPs they make money from, but what is legally theirs is theirs.

5) Save Money


There will be times where work will be slow, or clients will be slow paying or, worse case, you get made redundant or fired. To prevent these times becoming more stressful than they already are, make sure to have a buffer in your bank account. General rule of thumb is to have six month’s worth of bills, rent and living expenses to hand but, if you can stock pile more, all the better. If you have to dip into it, replenish it the moment you can and use this stash only for this purpose.

6) Getting Fired Fucking Sucks And Will Really Hurt… But It’s Not The End


Assuming that you haven’t been let go for misconduct, these things can happen and can seemingly come from nowhere. When and if they do, it can really hurt and if this is the case, after you have left the company, take some time to heal and process what has happened. Learn what you can from it and move on. Find a company who will appreciate you for what you’re good at and one that will treat you with respect. It will take some time to feel that getting fired is a good thing for your career, but when you come to that realisation, the sense of relief it will bring you is immense.

7) Always Own Your Mistakes


Face up to your blunders if they are brought to light, and then apologise if they inconvenience your colleagues or others. If you know that you have made a mistake somewhere, and can fix it before it moves to the next person in the production pipeline, fix it. People respect you more if you are honest and do this. People don’t respect excuses or people trying to pass blame onto others. If you own up to an error, generally it can be sorted and corrected very quickly anyway and things can keep moving forward. Hidden errors have a way of surfacing on their own anyway so it's best to just face them and learn from them.

8) Never Be Too Proud To Ask For Help


What stops you from asking for help when you’re stuck? Ego. There is no shame in saying “hey, I’m stuck, please help me.” The times I have stopped and asked for help have always seen my work take a massive leap forward after a little bit of insight from a fresh pair of eyes. Even if you’re years into your career there will still come a time where you need a helping hand. There is an old Chinese proverb that goes: He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever. Ask for help. Learn from others. Always be open to suggestion but also, learn to not take on too many suggestions at once. Find some people you trust and ask them instead of trying to look to a crowd for wisdom.

Thanks for reading. If you have any career lessons you'd like to share, please do so in the comments below.

Lloyd Harvey
www.lloydharvey.co.uk

Feature - The Art of Syd Mead

When you hear or read the name Syd Mead, you should become instantly familiar with the man who changed the look of modern Science Fiction cinema. With a distinctive style, a super human set of technical design skills and a client list that spans decades, Syd Mead is possibly one of the most influential designers alive (and still working) today.

Book Review: The Explorer's Guide to Drawing Fantasy Creatures

What immediately struck me with this book was how stunning the art work was inside and the pages throughout, have been designed and ordered in a very clear and easy to follow way. Its something that is just a joy to sit and look through and, at the same time, is instructional and full of great advice that includes an all important designer methodology and approach.

Like many of the 'Art Technique' books on the market, it does go into a little detail about how to use colour, perspective and what workspace and tools you could use an think about but, doesn't devote many pages to doing so. That being said, in this book, there's more technical advice and tips dotted throughout than some of the other technique books I have read.

Book Review: Dragonart by J. Peffer

With the title of the book being called "Dragonart," it initially made me think its focus would be on Dragons but, in actuality, the book is more broadly aimed at the fantasy genre as a whole, taking on subject matter such as fairies, goblins, dwarves and some other mythical creatures. While it does focus on dragons for quite a few pages nearer the middle end of the book, and some of the tutorials there are alright, I will say there are better books out there that deal with just Dragons in a much more comprehensive way.

After a couple of pages in, I begun to realise who this book was mainly aimed at. If you're someone who is working as a professional artist in one capacity or another, or even if you're looking to start to get really serious about drawing, then I wouldn't recommend this book to you because it oversimplifies the key fundamentals of drawing (like colour, perspective, light and shadow, practicing simple shapes and understanding them as three dimensional objects).

3 Big Things I Learned At Industry Workshops This Year

Having recently transitioned job roles from a focused UI / UX designer back to a Games Artist, I found myself drawing more than ever before. This return to a love I had put down for about three years, came about at the right time to really get the most out of attending the entertainment-design-industry-orientated event, Industry Workshops, here in London.

In this blog post, I want to share three massive takeaways from the weekend I left with beyond the usual message of practice, practice and practice. I want to share them with you so that they crystallise in my own mind and so that you can learn from these huge lessons too.

1) Be Mindful And Present When Both Observing And Drawing

Take the time to really bring attention and awareness to what it is you want to draw. Be this during a life drawing session or when thinking about conveying an emotion in a piece, really extend the period of time to just notice what you're looking at or what's inside you. Spend time after to internally process what it is you just observed, to understand the subject matter fully, or as much as you can, before putting pencil to page. Do all this without judgement. Then execute quickly.

This is Kan Muftic's approach to drawing with mindfulness. A meditative practice that not only helped him begin to level up his own drawing skills but also the approach had positive effects on the rest of his life outside of drawing. Muftic explains this process in more depth in his incredible book: "Figure Drawing for Concept Artists."

2) Power Is Quiet

"If you want to appear more powerful, you've got to begin quieting down."

This quote comes from the veteran painter John Harris, who has a way of painting unbelievable megastructures in a believable way. The subjects he paints always have such majesty, such weight and such a grand scale to them that they have the power to stay in your mind long after you've stopped looking at them. He achieves this by not painting in all the details, and representing the huge buildings and spaceships in ways that suggest complexity and mass.

The quote though, while applicable to his paintings and usable in one's own work, was spoken in relation to meditation and how he also practices it to quiet down the noise in his own head to better focus on his creative ideas. However, I think he may have been subtly making a point aimed at a certain loud mouthed presidential individual (although that is probably just conjecture on my part).

You don’t have to render in every aspect of your work. Sometimes, suggestive detail is more powerful. Less is more. Think, before you speak.

3) Connect To That Inner Love

Across many of the talks and conversations with other attendees, the general message and consensus told over and over was that in regards to focusing on what you really like to create and what really gets you passionate. Simply put, the boiled down message is to "draw what you love to draw and the rest will follow."

I hear this sort of message spoken many places by successful artists in various walks of life. Write what you want to read. Play music you want to hear. Photograph what your eye is drawn to. It's important advice and it is good for both the career and one's own artistic soul. It's applicable to young designers wanting to get in to the industry and to those who feel a little stuck where they are and want something to re-engage them.

I fall into the later. Hearing this advice over the weekend has reminded me of some personal projects I started a long time ago that need finishing. Reminded me of all the reasons I started drawing in the first place and reminded me that the process of drawing, while frustrating, is incredibly fun.

Conclusions

So much can be said about these three points and admittedly each one is a book by itself (well, one actually already is). I feel like there is more to say on point three, and I intend to write something in the near future examining this point more fully but, for now, I think keeping these learnings short and sweet should be enough to give you something to work on in your own art journey.

I hope they help.

Lloyd Harvey
www.lloydharvey.co.uk

Interview with Loish

You've talked about how you use underwater motifs and symbols, like jellyfish and octopuses, to show your interest in surrealism within your work, and that your interest in pin up art is also present too. Stylistically you were influenced by the style of art nouveau and manga and you could say that your work is a representation of what interests you in the moment you create it. As time progresses, people's interests are bound to change and we as artists, like to edge out into other areas and use different motifs and symbols in our work. 

What in your work have you noticed, could be considered newer symbols and motifs that represent your interests now? And what is the visual connection of some of these newer injections of personality?

Loish - Lately I've been very interested in the beauty of darker, more gritty settings. I've been making illustrations that depict decapitated apartment buildings, run-down down rooms and rainy, dark weather. It's a very instinctive thing, because I think - like most people - that these kinds of settings have a natural beauty and appeal to them. I like the atmosphere they evoke and I think it is a good conceptual match with my use of colours and textures: I've always aimed to make visually appealing artwork with bright colours, but have always set these against rough textures - such as crumbling plaster walls or old paper - and dark, earthy colours. 

What elements of symbolism do you no longer feel the need to include as much anymore and what are the reasons for moving on from them? Do you think that somethings will always be present in your work?

My work has never been heavily symbolic, so if there's anything I moved on from, it would be more stylistic elements that I've simply grown past. My work used to be a lot cuter and more inspired by things like My Little Pony and japanese Kawaii styles, something I loved. I occasionally reach back to the color combinations and "cute" elements from back then, but I feel my personal and artistic style has matured quite a bit since then and I no longer like these things as much as I used to. I still really like them though, you'll see some ridiculously cute and pink things pop up on my sketchblog from time to time.

I'd like to talk about your personal project, Trichome, with you. What started as a graduation project, saw the release of a short animation called Blue, and you have two more animations you'd like to create and release that are set along the same premise within the Trichrome project.In a more recent blog post that I read of yours, after some time sitting partially shelved, you're now making some effort to pick that project back up and you're also preparing to fund both animations yourself.

What new ideas and messages are you hoping to explore in the next two films? What is your ultimate goal with this project?

Well, before creating Trichrome Blue, I wrote a thesis analyzing the different reasons why animation is used as a tool in advertising which was really the inspiration for the film. Although the first Trichrome film addresses this in some ways, I really want to have more of a clear message in the second two films about the underlying theme of advertising and the practices used to convince consumers to buy certain products.

I want to create more tension and go further with the ideas that I set up in the first film, basically. The direction will be more dystopic and dark, something that is too subtle in the first film to really register with viewers. My ultimate goal is, objectively speaking, just to create a trilogy of shorts which reflect my personal ideas and storytelling approach, that show more about who I am as an artist. I have a lot of digital art out there that reflect my taste and aesthetic, but not a lot about how I approach storytelling. I think Trichrome will be a really crucial part of my portfolio once I'm done.

Trichrome Blue from Lois van Baarle on Vimeo.

After completing and releasing the final two films, do you have any plans or ideas to expand that project's 'world,' or do you see it more as a logical stop point that needs no further expansion?

I plan on closing this 'world' neatly with the last movie, so I don't think it will be needing further expansion. I personally really like movies, books, TV shows, etc., that know when to stop and wrap the story up nicely with a concise ending. This is what I want to do as well!

Have you got ideas of projects waiting on the side lines you're hoping to pick up afterwards? Or will your openness to what ever opportunities come your way, be more of a deciding factor in what you do next?

The only thing I've got going after Trichrome is an artbook. I really want to release a book which shows different work I've done over the years. People have been asking me if I've made one for so long, that it's something I really need to do! But for the rest I am open to any opportunity, which is my general approach towards most paid work I do. It usually yields the most interesting results!

With some of your previous client work, you have delivered character designs for computer game projects. In the same blog post I read about how you're pushing on with Trichrome, I read that you're seriously considering moving into concept design within the games industry.Concept design in computer games (and film) is a very wide and dynamic profession. One week, you could work on a character for a science fiction game and then the next, you have to design a small object for a different game in a completely different style.

What sort of games would you love to turn your hand to and what sort of assets would you love to be challenged to design? (like some kind of futuristic tank for instance)

I definitely like working on character design the most. Although I think it's interesting to do environments and vehicles, I am not very strong in these areas. I love drawing people, though, and I love how the game industry is open to a very high level of detail in their character designs. In the animation world, designs tend to be more simple and cartoony because this is easier to animate. But games are a lot about good, detailed graphics, which allows me to go much further as a character designer than I normally would.

Although you admit you're not an avid gamer, what games out there that have been released, past or more recent, really impressed you in their design and visual style?

I am very impressed by the artwork I've seen for "The Last of Us." The game seems to be a mix of some of my favourite movies ever - with some influences from The Children of Men and The Road - and the style really reflects this gritty, bleak environment that I find so fascinating in dystopic movies. I haven't played the game myself but I've heard a lot about how it creates strong feelings of love and the need to protect. I think that's a beautiful approach and I love how the realistic design work really draws you in.

Random Question Section

What is your favourite food?

Although I don't eat it often, I love baked things like cookies, cake, pastries etc etc. I have a serious sweet tooth.

Can you play a musical instrument? If not, what would you like to learn to play?

I absolutely cannot! I've never been very good with music. I would love to lean to play bass guitar, because I think it's one of the most beautiful sounding instruments.

If you could interview one of your artist heroes, who would it be and what question would you like to ask them the most?

I suppose I'd love to talk to an artist who created something truly unique, style-wise, and poured their own life and vision into that work. I'd love to talk with an artist like Egon Schiele and ask them questions about the specific events and people that inspired his drawings. Or an even more obvious artist: Vincent van Gogh. Their work has a kind of honesty to it, that gives you a glimpse of some of the pain and intensity they experienced in their life, and I'd love to be able to just talk about that life with them and be able to see specific things reflected in their work.

Are you a collector of art yourself and if so, what paintings do you treasure?

I'm actually not a great collector of art myself. I have plans to become one, but I haven't gotten around to really searching for good original art just yet.

What really grinds your gears?

Art thieves! I've had one too many experiences with web shops that suddenly started selling clothing with my art printed on them. Of course it's enraging that they are making a profit off of my work, but what also grinds my gears is that I have to put lots of time and effort into going after these people to make them stop selling the product. I hate that! I just don't have the time for it!

Go and check out www.loish.net now!

Feature - The Art of Bobby Chiu

Today’s feature is a creative person who I have learnt a great deal from through his work, book and his Youtube channel. Bobby Chiu is more than an illustrator. Not only has he designed for films such as Tim Burton’s version of Alice In Wonderland but has also worked with Disney, Dreamworks and Sony (to merely scratch the surface of his client list).

He is the founder of Imaginism Studio and also Schoolism where he, and other great professionals, tutor and mentor through a wide array of online courses that are all designed to help you improve drawing & painting skills.

Bryan Hitch's Ultimate Comics Studio - Book Review

Bryan Hitch is a seasoned professional and shares some solid advice in his book.

Growing up, I've always been interested in illustrating for comic books and I remember saying, on a number of occasions to my mum, that I wanted to be a cartoonist. In the last few years, a number of friends have also spoken to me about how my weirder work would really suit the panelled medium.

My life and career path has taken a different course though as, predominantly, I am a computer games designer and, I have to admit, that although I would like to work on a comic book, I lack the knowledge to complete a quality piece of sequential work across a number of pages.

When I was asked to review Bryan Hitch's Ultimate Comics Studio for the blog, I was actually really thrilled to be given the opportunity and went into it with a genuine and keen interest.

Sean Andrew Murray Interview

With a very busy work and life schedule, it has been a long time since I first approached Sean for an interview (almost a year at writing this now) and managed to figuratively pin him down but, I believe, the wait was well worth it. Results speak for themselves and this interview, I think, is one of the best I have conducted so far.

Greg Broadmore Interview

Marc Hermitte Interview

I have had the privilege of having concept designs that I have created for a games project, turned into 3D models by Marc Hermitte and I hope that one day in the not so near future, more of my work will go through the 3D process via this talented 3D modeller, animator and artist. But, there is a great deal more to Marc than 3D work. He paints, writes and teaches and has had an interesting career that spans many media outputs.

 

Why Do You Do What You Do?

Featuring Chet Zar, Paul Kidby, Mike Corriero, Alex Ruiz, Nathan Spoor and John Howe

Why do you do what you do? It is a question I have been asking myself quite a bit recently, not knowing fully where I want to go with my own art or why I even do it in the first place. I have been asking myself this and, this month, I asked 6 other top artists that very question and here I present their answers.

A big thank you to the contributors of this article.

Simon Sherry Interview

 
Simon Sherry was brought up on the same sort of things that I was and as a result, creates art work that I absolutely love. Dark, edgy and not without humor, Simon mixes mediums to create his striking art and has a style that lends itself well to the comic and pop surreal genres.

Chet Zar Conjoined 2 - mini interview

Some say that a sequel to a film is never as good as its first but there are cases where the 2nd film in a movie franchise far surpasses the original. Films like Terminator 2 or Aliens for instance.

Well, for the 2nd year in a row, surrealist painter of the dark, Chet Zar, has put his curator hat on, picked up the sculpting trow and organised another sculpture orientated art show at the Copro Gallery in California. Last year was Conjoined in 3D. This year: Conjoined 2 in 3D.

Nathan Spoor Interview

Nathan Spoor is an incredibly prolific and original artist and painter. He creates such vast and vivid landscapes and brings to life the wonder, splendor and majesty of such sublime dream worlds. Added to this, he is a deep thinker and has a creative process I have never encountered before, in that he 'converses' with his creations.

Alex Pardee Interview

As I become more and more busy with other things, the rate in which I get these interviews posted will sadly slow down from now on. But I wanted to make sure that before I got bogged down with work and stuff, I got to interview this man and get that interview up on the web.

It is my distinct pleasure to introduce to you an interview with with one of my art heroes, an interview that took a while to do due to his busy work schedule, an interview that is mainly for me, an interview with Alex Pardee.

John Howe Interview 2011

Yes, you have read correctly. This is the second interview with awesome artist, John Howe. No need for long introductions or anecdotes, just read on and enjoy the interview. Once you are done, check out the his website, you'd be foolish not too: http://www.john-howe.com/

Simon Dominic Interview

I had seen Simon's work in ImagineFX magazine some time ago and I can remember being really impressed by it then. Several years later, an artist friend suggested I interview him and to be honest, at the time, I didn't recognize the name but when I saw the work I instantly thought "YES! This guy is amazing, I will bug him with some questions."

Matthew Dunn Interview

Matthew Dunn, has fast become one of my Internet Pen Pals. What first started as a mutual discovery of each others work on the internet site Redbubble, soon became a friendship of talking about comics, toys, marketing and art.

Michael Knapp Interview

I don't know how I stumbled upon Michael's work or when I first saw it. What I do know is that is that it looks is that I really love the style and uniqueness to it all. With nice usage of colour and the conception of interesting looking characters, Michael's art is something that I am very fond of.