illustration for a book cover, 2008

If I were to ask you, as an illustrator, how much time do you devote to research and development, would you have an answer?  It’s not a term many artists use and so it could be interpreted in any number of ways which, for the most part, would likely be passive and leisure activities such as going to the movies or checking out art blogs.  After all, what other research can we do besides keeping an eye on the work of others?  I wouldn’t argue that point, but I might argue that if this is the limit of your efforts, you’re hindering your growth as an artist and possibly your future as an illustrator.

To back up a step, I should explain what I mean by research and development and why you should be thinking about it.  Excuse me a moment while I get all businesslike.  Traditionally, Research and Development (or R&D) is the arm of a company which is devoted to creating new products and ideas in order to stay competitive in an ever changing marketplace.  Its nature is speculative and typically produces far more dead ends than breakthroughs, though without it there would be no progress in technology or medicine.  When a company is in trouble, it is often among the first budget item slashed as it generates no short term revenue (which is to say it can be undervalued if your thinking is only short term) but, over enough time, a company which does not invest in new ideas is doomed (which is to say you are in trouble if your thinking is only short term).  If you take those basic concepts and apply them to the business of illustration, I think it becomes very apparent why you should be thinking about it: investing in R&D is essential to staying relevant and producing quality work.

If your current R&D is simply keeping abreast of your peers, that‘s ok.  Doing that and giving your full effort to the work which you create is perfectly adequate and for most people comes automatically.  We do it because we love our jobs and we wouldn’t have these jobs if we didn’t love doing them.  One of the joys of being an artist is that, so long as we are producing, we are perpetually advancing our skills and abilities.  Every artist knows this (I should think every person knows this): practice practice practice leads to greater mastery.

One of my early postcard experiments. 2008

That said, we only improve the muscles which we exercise.  There is a danger for illustrators when the schedule is busy to become a bit formulaic.  If your approach in your work becomes overly formulaic, you might find your “thinking skills” atrophy as your “doing skills” (draftsmanship, rendering, etc.) advance.  The reason is that a formulaic approach generally requires less thought, but we still need to make well executed finished pictures.  If you are a concept artist it may be the reverse, but an imbalance still exists.  I personally feel some degree of formula is an inevitability as illustrators need to perform on demand.  We need to deliver what we promise when we promise.  In order to do that, we cultivate processes and work flows which make our creations consistent and the time required for their creation predictable.  Speaking for myself, a reliable workflow also keeps me from panicking and losing my nerve if a painting is being problematic.  I can always take comfort in my process which has carried me through many times before.  Few artists can work as illustrators without this quality because they end up blowing deadlines, turning in unexpected results, or straight up flaking out.

The danger is when we fail to notice if our skill set is growing unbalanced.  Because we have no margin for error, we rarely take dramatic risks.  Our clients would be rightly furious if we decided to try out some new medium or technique or style on their assignment.  Beyond that, when you are turning over a high volume of work with similar solutions and concerns, it’s easy to find yourself working on auto pilot.  Auto pilot makes your life easier and gets the job done ok, but nobody ever did their best work on auto pilot.  What’s worse, the longer you cruise, the less you are exercising your skills in creative problem solving.

another personal piece, technique and ideas are taking shape. 2010

What does all of this have to do with R&D though?  R&D, in my opinion, is the counterbalance to process, work flow, and auto pilot.  Working prolifically does improve your skills, but only those which are part of your regular routine.  To keep a balance in your development as an artist, you may think about dedicating some time to personal projects which will engage those areas of your mind which are not present in your daily work.  Maybe you feel like working abstract, painting alla prima landscapes, writing stories, doing collages, sculpting, creating a comic, learning a musical instrument, studying a new medium, blah blah blah… even just working parallel to your client based work but without the limitations of an approval process (meaning, take some real risks that your ADs would never sign off on).  It doesn’t matter what so long as it’s something you want to be doing for you.  The common threads of any R&D time are that you answer to no one and you follow your own whims.  The object is to take chances, be experimental, and lead yourself to places which you otherwise would not go.  Because there is no audience (unless you want there to be), there is no “failure”.  Poor results are as much a learning experience and brain exercise as when things go well.  Some avenues explored might open whole new doors and interests or lead to breakthroughs in your professional work, others might lead nowhere.  Cumulatively, however, they all improve you as an artist and thinker.  The important thing is that it’s your own personal time and you can take it where ever you choose.

A recent painting which merges my personal work with illustration. 2012

I’ll close with a brief example of one of my own R&D projects when ended up bearing fruit.  Almost four years ago I began an experiment which I called The Postcard Project.  At that time, all of my attention was focused on my freelance career, but I had an impulse to be working on something different.  I had no intention of quitting illustration, just an opportunity to explore in places which my daily work wasn’t taking me.  It started as a few small figure studies on 5×7 inch boards (the size of a postcard) and I justified this indulgence as warm up exercises.  It was liberating that if one turned out terrible it was only a couple hours lost and nobody ever had to see it.  The fun part for me was that, though my illustrations were being executed in a tight rendered style, I could use the postcards to experiment with bolder brush strokes, textural variety, experimental color palettes, or whatever else might seem an interesting departure.  As the experiment progressed, I found new avenues in oil painting which I likely never would have had the opportunity or courage to explore if my time had been strictly dedicated to my professional work.  They gave me a laboratory to test small and test often before ideas began to crystallize and I started applying them to larger pieces for gallery shows.  These in turn led to a change in the way I thought about my illustration work (not just in technique but in concept as well)  and, as of the past few months, I’ve shifted my illustration process to one which very closely resembles the processes and ideas I started developing with those early postcard pieces.  When I began, I had no inkling that it would ever have an impact on my professional work but now I see new exciting directions to pursue.  I never would have arrived here without all those hundreds and hundreds of hours quietly tinkering with ideas and experiments that served no practical purpose other than to explore and to enjoy.

Ever wonder what my D&D Art Philosophy is?

Or why Drew Sheneman hates dwarves so much?

Read the new Dragon’s Eye View article on the Wizards of the Coast website

Get in on the D&D and Mighty Fine t-shirt design contest!
https://www.welovefine.com/contest.php?id_contest=16

Exquisite Corpse game

Games lubricate the body and the mind.
-       Benjamin Franklin

When my brothers and I were younger my dad introduced us to a couple of drawing games. They were instant hits with us at the time, and even to this day I enjoy them. The reason they were such hits with us is likely that they are simple to learn, they encourage and thrive on interaction, and allow for a lot of creativity within the constraints of the game’s rules. I have used them in classroom situations when working with kids as well as just for fun in any situation.

But I believe they can be used for more than just fun. They can be excellent brainstorming or warming up activities, if for some reason you find yourself with a case of artist’s block. So next time you are just getting started, your artwork is starting to feel like work, or just killing time with some friends, stretch your creativity with these activities and you may even enjoy yourself in the process.

Exquisite Corpse
This game was first introduced to me by a different name, in fact I’m not even sure my family ever gave it a name. But years later in Art History class I learned that is was actually a game that the Surrealists would play. It grew from a word game, where people would take turns writing fragments of sentences, adding them to what was written, with knowledge of only the last word of the previous fragment. Until everyone had a turn and the finished sentence was revealed. As you can image, this made for some very surreal sentences. The drawing version is no different.

All you need is a pieces of paper and a something to draw with. The first player starts by drawing a head of their own design, ending in a neck. Then folding the paper over so that just the end of the neck is visible for the next player, it is important to keep what you’ve drawn a secret until the end. The next player then draws the toros, leaving the waist lines visible after folding, and so on with the legs and feet. After the last player finishes the feet the page can be revealed and everyone can see what kind of creature they have created!

If you are really in need of some bizarre creature designs, this could be a good way to get some ideas that you may not a have considered. Having the absurdity of the game combined with a bit of socialization can be very good for getting the creative juices flowing, even if when you go back to your studio you aren’t looking to create a disjointed creature.
(For more information and history about this game check out this site.)

Can you tell where the scribble started?

Scribble Game
This game is much simpler, and could even be played by yourself. All you need is for someone to make a scribble on a page, probably not too complicated, but really anything will do. And the second part of it is to turn the scribble into something. If you want to play with multiple people having each person do a scribble and then trading papers is a good way to get everyone involved.

This game is a lot more open in the way it is played, and leaves much more to the individual. Some may want to keep very true to the original scribble, and some may want to get very involved and the scribble becomes just a minor part in a much larger drawing. In some ways it’s like a Rorschach test where you draw what you see.

The results of these games can be very surreal, and that’s likely why the Exquisite Corpse game was so popular with the Surrealists. And a little surrealism lends itself quite well to the ideas of fantasy and sci-fi; there is a lot of overlap there to explore. I encourage you to try these games out when you get a chance. And even better, share them with friends and family. If you have kids I’m sure they will enjoy them. If anyone has stories of their experiences with these drawing games, or even other games they’ve played I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!

Life, like all other games, becomes fun when one realizes that it’s just a game.
- Nerijus Stasiulis

Nacho Molina

The D&D Art Test is now official, here are some first looks at some of the submissions that I have received as part of the Art Test. There are tons more coming into my ArtDrop@Wizards.com in-box at Wizards on a daily basis. I struggle to keep up with the deluge, and as you will see by the sheer mass of submissions here – it’s been no easy task. And before anyone gets confused. The Wizards test is still ongoing – there is no deadline!

D&D Art Test Shaman

79 Photos

D&D Art Test Cook

38 Photos

D&D Art Test Town Guard

60 Photos

D&D Art Test Equipment

3 Photos

D&D Art Test Environment

17 Photos

D&D Art Test Hall of the Dead

3 Photos

D&D Art Test Interior

2 Photos

Needless to say, it’s going to take a few days for the judges to review all these images and choose their favorites. We will be judging based upon the following criteria:
• Ability to follow reference
• Innovation of depiction
• Style
• Quality

I think it is important that I define Ability To Follow Reference. I had numerous conversations with artists while at the Anomaly Show, and realized that our schools do a terrible job of teaching how to use reference. So here’s a really simplistic crash course in using reference. For some reason, it seems that the notion of using reference has gotten a bad rap. Reference will save your life (career wise), and ultimately improve your work – when used correctly.

Let’s look at the reference from this art test, as an example.

Humanoid Monster Reference

Let’s talk about a few points that this reference gives us:
• These guys appear to be about human size. We can’t be sure since there is no scale, but the head to body ratio seems to indicate human proportions.
• They have huge upper bodies. Wide and strong, with tapered waists.
• Their arms and muscular and quite long
• They have short bandy legs.
• Their head hangs in front and low on the shoulders
• They have massive jaws with upward thrust lower “canines”, a very short cranium, small beady eyes under a strong brow line.
• Their clothing appears to be hand-made from natural items. Rather low tech.
• Their skin color is a warm gray, and smooth in texture.
• They have little or no facial hair, and a limited hair-line for both sexes.
• Five fingers (you can count the knuckles), and we’ll assume five toes.

Now ask yourself, how many of these visual cues did you use in your piece? If you broke away from the reference, was there a specific reason? For instance, changing the skin color because you think it should be a different color. While you are free to interpret reference any way you want. Making decisions that step away from a brands direction can have a negative impact on your ability to get work with the art directors that support that brand. Now, if you chose to make your humanoid monster slighter of frame, or missing an appendage to create a story line about why they became a shaman, but followed the rest of the visual reference – then you are on safer ground…as long as you followed the rest of the visual cues. Get it?

You “refer” to it. You use it to inform your drawing. Not marry it, and slavishly recreate ever single element.

Now here’s the pay off. If you feel that you might have broken the reference on your piece(s), then you can very simply go at it again. There is no deadline on the Wizards of the Coast D&D Art Test, so you can make changes and resubmit at any time!

So, put it on your list of events to check out next year.

I’m in the middle of pulling down all the submissions from the D&D Art Test Challenge. WOW! There are a few submissions. It’ll take me a couple of days to get them in place. So be patient for the line-up.

While you are waiting, let me share a few thoughts that came up during the Anomaly show. I’m going to be blunt, because I think the situation merits it.

Never go to a show without your portfolio. Period. I don’t care if you are a student, and don’t think your work is up to snuff. How do you ever hope to break into the market if you aren’t willing to put yourself out there, get feedback, and take the steps to improve.

Know what you want to do. The phrase “I want to do everything” is not a decision, it is a cop out. Even if you don’t have a path all plotted out for the rest of your life (I don’t either), know what you want to do today! I can’t offer feedback about a portfolio when you have no idea what you want to do…especially when your portfolio reflects that.

Trim your portfolio until it hurts. I’m not impressed by quantity. If you only get 10 minutes with a reviewer, why would you have a portfolio that takes 15 minutes just to flip through? Seriously, 5-10 images is enough for an AD to figure out if they want to work with you, what your strengths and weaknesses are, if you have a voice, if you are consistent, etc. Anything beyond that is indecision on your part as to what you should have in your book. Want to have more on hand, great, have a second book.

Do NOT disparage your work. If you don’t any belief in your work, why should I? Either go get better, or suck it up and realize that the reason you are there is to get feedback. I know that the majority of the people I meet are going to be students or aspiring artists – I’m not expecting perfection (or I’d already know of you). Get off it, okay?

Know the industry. A lot of you are paying big money to attend schools. Demand an education befitting the money you are paying. You shouldn’t just be getting exposed to the tools of the industry (software), you should be getting exposed to the industry itself. If you don’t know the differences between a concept artist, production artist, and illustrator – how can you hope to build an effective book and apply for positions?

Last but not least, show up. If you want to get better, get more connected, learn more, get exposed to more ideas – then you have to participate. I ran into Jaime Jones and Kekai Kotaki for a few minutes (sorry I didn’t get to talk with you guys longer!). They weren’t there as a guest artists (though they should have been!), but were there getting better connected, getting ideas, and adding tools to their already impressive arsenals. If it is good enough for them, don’t you think it is good enough for you?

I was going to have a new challenge to post today, but circumstances have delayed things. I hope to have a new one later in the week. Be on the look out for something fun!

Did I mention I was heading to Anomaly today? http://anomaly.cgmovement.com/

There are several strategies to manage your non-major requirements, which can otherwise cut into valuable art making time.

Pre-College Options
Many high schools offer several ways to acquire college credit early. These options might not exist in every school, and some schools have additional options, so be sure to consult your guidance counselor. Some schools offer advanced classes that culminate in a standardized test which will count for college credit depending on the score. Some high schools near community colleges and universities have programs that allow you to take classes at the college for credit, while the high school pays the college tuition. Typically, these classes count for high school credit towards your diploma, but in some situations they can also count for college credit if you submit your transcript to your intended college.

Also, many colleges offer special programs for high schoolers on weekends and during summers. These programs give you a taste of college and sometimes college credit for work completed. Many universities even offer scholarships for Pre-College students who then attend that college as Undergraduates.

Double dipping for high school and college credit simultaneously is a valuable investment, because it means you may never have to spend “art making” time in college drafting papers for a basic writing class. However, it is virtually impossible to cover all non-major requirements this way, and not everyone has the opportunity to take advantage of these alternatives. If you find yourself in college with a full set of required classes, there are four options to take: Fun, Relevant, Minor, and Community College.

Fun: Since you have to take these courses anyway, you may as well take the most interesting sounding courses on the course listing. Try something different like Yoga or Aikido, explore new points of view in Philosophy, Psychology or Religion classes, or take a class in something you’re passionate about, such as Gender Studies, Politics, or Environmental Policy. You might be surprised at how these classes inspire your artwork, and it should not be a chore to go to class or do homework. (It will be, sometimes, but if you have the power to minimize the drudgery, exercise it.)

Relevant: Many Liberal Arts, Science, and Business courses resonate well with an art major. When selecting relevant classes, do not be limited by whatever the most basic courses are, or if there are prerequisites. If you already know something about the topic going in, talk to the professor in advance about your interest and abilities, and they can waive the prerequisites. Don’t get in over your head though, ask the professor for last year’s syllabus or find some people who took the course previously to determine if you have the appropriate knowledge base. You will most likely be required to take an art based anatomy course, but you could complement that by using a science requirement to take a medical anatomy and physiology course. If you like steam punk, take the History and Literature of Victorian England course. If your college does not offer Business of Illustration or a similar course, add your own Business classes.

Minor: One option, if you start early, is to center all of your non-major requirements and electives around a common theme and attempt to minor. Your college handbook should list all of the minors and requirements for minors, and you can go through it to determine which minors best fit the gaps between your major courses and relate to your interests. Typically Art History is an easy minor to get as you will be required to take an assortment of Art History classes as an art major, but don’t rule out other topics such as Creative Writing, History, Philosophy, Business, Education, English and more.

Community College: If you have difficulty switching from writing papers and doing problem sets to finishing your art assignments, or just want to focus on art during the semester, you can isolate your liberal arts, math, and science classes to the summer session. Community College is also significantly less expensive than even the least expensive public university in the United States, and if your regular college is out-of-state, you will get in-state benefits when you return home for the summer. You will always want to choose your Community College classes significantly in advance and ask your college’s advising office if the classes you chose will count for the credits you want. Don’t do all that work and pay tuition, only to find out you used up a general elective instead of a required course! This happened to me, so be sure to have your advisor put the information in writing.

The last piece of advice is NOT to choose a course because it is “easy”. Easy is an extremely deceptive term, and even if the course description makes it sound like a piece  of cake, there are a number of things that could go wrong. You could get a difficult professor, there could be extremely time-consuming research papers and readings, or there could be group projects. Even worse, it could actually be easy… while being boring. There’s no easier way to flunk a class than to stop caring. If you have to spend a significant amount of time on an elective or requirement, you should spend it on something you enjoy or find relevant, not something you thought might be “easy”.

You will have to take non major classes of something, so don’t waste your time and money!

What are the most interesting non-major courses you have taken?

Drew Sheneman

My weekly Dragon’s Eye View article is live

What’s your secret handshake?  http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4dreye/20120425

At events I’m often asked to look at the work of younger artists and give feedback. I enjoy doing this, and I hope that my comments are helpful. Often, I’ll break it down to identifying something an artist is doing well, to encourage more of it, then I’ll identify one particular thing that needs attention for continued growth or to iron out a noticeable problem in the portfolio. I like to keep my comments memorable and actionable.

But often when I give advice to people, particularly those in college or just out, there floats in my mind some unusual advice that I don’t mention. I don’t bring it up because it’s somewhat odd advice to give to someone you’ve just met. I think I’ve told it to maybe two artists, but never on a first meeting. Even so, I felt a little inappropriate broaching the topic, like how it’s hard to advise someone you’ve just met about a point of hygiene, but fine to give the advice in general, to no one in particular. So, by giving this advice “out there,” hopefully it’ll be less weird. So let’s try.

When I meet young illustrators, I see people excited and working very hard, burning the midnight oil already. When not working on art, many still have classes or day jobs. With graduation looming, or careers just blooming, the ambitious can disappear and see spring pass by out the window. I also see a lot of them being single. Some may not mind it, others might prefer not to be. And here is where things get weird.

If I could give one piece of advice to young illustrators, out of my own experience, it would not be some technique or process, nor a business or philosophical point. It would be this: date. Date? Well, not for its own sake. I didn’t date very much myself. Rather, go find that one person with whom you can travel the path of the artist, for life if possible. If you have an interest in this someday, raise it as a priority. It’s probably more important than any technical advice I could give you in a look through your portfolio (but which I’ll gladly give you if you ask). Now, if you’re one of those who has no interest in relationships, or are intent on pursuing the path of art “undistracted,” then perhaps the rest of this month’s post is not for you. I have no criticism of that mindset. But for the rest:

I believe it’s worth concentrating on this when you’re young for a few reasons. First, because it’s practical–you’re meeting lots of singles. Maybe many of them aren’t mature enough yet for long or life-time commitments, but there are many who are. It’s quite easy to let your 20s pass you by as you work hard to establish your career. But I know some wonderful young men and women now in their early 30s who didn’t, for whatever reason, find their one and who still want to. It’s much harder later, for many reasons you can imagine. You might not feel lonely or need this at the moment because you’re distracted with the life of the artist, but eventually you may look up and realize a lot of the good ones are taken.

Now, that was very Dear Abby rather than ArtOrder, there. So allow me to continue. I began dating my now-wife when I was 15. Sure, that’s unusual, but I also never had an interest in dating for fun. I wanted to meet my one, fall in love, and then get moving with my art without having to worry about that again.

Having gone this route, there were a lot of benefits to my life and development as an artist. Making art can be a lonely, difficult business. Many of us can suffer from crushing self-criticism and doubt. Having a significant other there who has known you from early days is helpful because they develop a longer context. He’ll know you during the years when you are setting your goals, envisioning your dreams, forming your aesthetic—it doesn’t require being 15 to be in that mode. Because of this, she can be an incredibly good sounding board. He can remind you if you’re going off-track. If she has a good creative eye, you get good critiques (though this can be problematic, too!). When you are flailing he can remind you of your progress, or warn you if there hasn’t been any. When you’re down, she can pick you up and hold your dreams before you again. He can speak back to you truths you’ve forgotten. Some of these benefits are easiest to gain when you meet your mate early. Once you’re established, you will still gain a valuable ally and partner in the battle, they can still get on your team and behind your purposes, but the you they meet will be a very different person, artistically, from when you’re younger.

More practically, the financial stability granted is a huge boon, assuming you don’t choose another creative with the same precarious income you’ll have. We’ve all seen super-couples where both are successful freelancers, but realistically, it’s really hard to make this career work for even one. Note that the examples you (or at least I) may think of are pretty elite-level creatives. But hey, if you can pull it off, more power to you! Anyway, with this person standing beside you, it will be easier to go full-time than it would be alone, and having more time in the studio will itself help to build your art through your just making more of it.

And let’s not forget the easier time you’ll have staying full-time, if you’re able to transition. Without my wife, I would surely have spent years here and there during my career back at a day job, out of the studio. But her patience and support meant I was able to keep fighting the good fight during slower periods. Without me asking her to, she has herself decided that she needs to help me maintain my studio time, even knowing I could bring in much more and more stable income in other ways. Part of why she’s so willing to fight for me is that she has been there, fighting alongside, from the very beginning. To some extent, my fight has become her fight. When I hit a milestone of some kind, she’s been waiting for it to come as long as I have. How much harder to meet someone in my late 20s or now who would sacrifice her own household financial gains for what would simply seem during lean seasons to be a flailing career, due to not having the long-term picture and personal investment.

Please don’t think I have some real “sugar mama” setup here, that’s hardly the case! Neither am I suggesting that you pursue a relationship merely for that kind of stability. I’m just saying it can come with the territory, and if you’re interested in someday finding your soul mate or whatever, might as well bump that forward and reap all the benefits sooner rather than later.

Relationships can be difficult. They come with their own time demands, certainly. If they go bad they can have a huge negative impact on your life and well-being. Yes, you’d have more free evenings as a single person, but I do believe that on balance, the gains in studio time and stability will outweigh these, and I needn’t even mention the obvious joys of love, especially over the long haul.

“But what about kids? They’ll sap your studio time!” It’s a good question. I don’t have any little Gallegos running around yet. Let’s just focus on this wall of text for now.

I may have made a few of you a little sad by bringing this up, because it touches an owie on your heart. I understand. But look, put down the stylus, pencil or brush for a bit. Your art will be there for you for the rest of your life. Those amazing guys and gals, however, are disappearing daily. I’m not suggesting you panic, though. You’re pretty awesome, and lovely in your own right, so go outside while the weather is beautiful, and introduce yourself to someone you find interesting–you’re going to be an illustrator, so introducing yourself to strangers will be part of your business, anyway! And when that person asks what you do, tell them, “I’m a visual artist, but that can wait….”