[QUOTE=Whitewhale;37299385]I think you should focus on creating more art rather than trying to sell it straight away and make money fast, its not an easy thing trying to sell your art and as said before requires a lot of patience, before taking the plunge and spending lots of money printing your art onto t-shirts, you should first make sure that there is a demand for your art, then when you get more attention start moving up onto t-shirts etc
artists like Godmachine do this, at first he started working on smaller self initiated work and band related stuff (album art/posters) and eventually moved onto merch for clothing companies and band t shirts because people started buying his prints like hot cakes!
[URL="http://deadmetalclothing.bigcartel.com/"] Prints and Posters [/URL]
[URL="http://godmachinedesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/new-disturbia-range-is-out-and-i.html"]Merch designs[/URL]
I think Godmachine screen prints most of his work which is an awesome way to bump up prices, I wouldn't be as willing to pay as much for a digital print,
I really want a Godmachine print they just often sell out really fast :(
also if you were going to sell t-shirts
[URL="http://bigcartel.com/"]bigcartel.com[/URL] is a really awesome place to do it,
hope this helps in anyway :)[/QUOTE]
Really appreciating all this advise guys!
I'm going to keep producing stuff to sell, just quite cheap and quite quick. Price wise, should I reduce any of the stuff that's already on? I was thinking I'll just add the stuff I'm producing atm at a much reduced cost (like the robot drawing I did for £7). I think I'm probably better off going for quantity at the moment, as much as possible.
[editline]18th August 2012[/editline]
[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/7346219/Arts/New/robotwalker.jpg[/img]
how much shall I put it on for?
Just to be an ass and party pooper I'll say this.
I think your stuff has it's own style which I like robbobin, but most of the actual work is done by the nice paper rather than the drawings themselves. It's kind of like using grunge brushes or a paper overlay to texturize a drawing. It works and it makes even the worst shit look at least decent because the texture adds a lot.
But a texture is only a texture and it only works for so long, after a while it becomes repetive and bland and the work itself rather than the foundation it's made on gets the focus. And quite frankly there isn't all that much to your drawings in my opinion. You draw, things. The dog one you referenced from is cute and I can definitely see an appeal to it, but the other drawings are just what they are and not much else.
The quality of your drawings are so-so as well, it could really need a lot of improvement. Your motives could need more planning and interest put into them. And what's most important, if you're going to keep using a brown paper with a strong grain texture, make sure what you draw fits the mood. You can't just draw whatever on to it, because the paper has already set a specific mood. Earlier you wondered why everyone always uses white paper, and the reason is simple. First of all better quality paper with more texture costs more so it's usually not something people want to invest in. Second and most important of all, it gives all the focus to the drawing, the paper doesn't steal attention nor does it set any specific mood, everything becomes up to the drawing and how well you've done it. It can easily become bland though, which is why if you plan your motive and concept you can choose a paper type that fits the mood and technique you want to use which can enhance a drawing drastically. Plain paper also has the advantage of being the easiest one to scan and clean up digitally so you can digitally paint and colour it.
Personally I'm getting kind of tired of your struggle to sell your stuff constantly buggering us about it, asking for interest, price and so on and so forth. I really don't think your drawings are really all that well planned and done. By all means I find some of your drawings really great, but not THAT great. They're like good doodles that are entertaining to watch, but nothing that has all that effort and planning to it that makes it an excellent piece of art I would want to look at for years to come on my wall. If you want to sell your art then I suggest going to sites dedicated to it and whore yourself out, advertising yourself, getting to know other artists, doing collabs and whatnot and get yourself known. You can't just pop out of nowhere and except to sell your stuff.
All in all I've seen work 10x better planned and executed in here that I still wouldn't have bought.
[QUOTE=dgg;37300690]Just to be an ass and party pooper I'll say this.
I think your stuff has it's own style which I like robbobin, but most of the actual work is done by the nice paper rather than the drawings themselves. It's kind of like using grunge brushes or a paper overlay to texturize a drawing. It works and it makes even the worst shit look at least decent because the texture adds a lot.
But a texture is only a texture and it only works for so long, after a while it becomes repetive and bland and the work itself rather than the foundation it's made on gets the focus. And quite frankly there isn't all that much to your drawings in my opinion. You draw, things. The dog one you referenced from is cute and I can definitely see an appeal to it, but the other drawings are just what they are and not much else.
The quality of your drawings are so-so as well, it could really need a lot of improvement. Your motives could need more planning and interest put into them. And what's most important, if you're going to keep using a brown paper with a strong grain texture, make sure what you draw fits the mood. You can't just draw whatever on to it, because the paper has already set a specific mood. Earlier you wondered why everyone always uses white paper, and the reason is simple. First of all better quality paper with more texture costs more so it's usually not something people want to invest in. Second and most important of all, it gives all the focus to the drawing, the paper doesn't steal attention nor does it set any specific mood, everything becomes up to the drawing and how well you've done it. It can easily become bland though, which is why if you plan your motive and concept you can choose a paper type that fits the mood and technique you want to use which can enhance a drawing drastically. Plain paper also has the advantage of being the easiest one to scan and clean up digitally so you can digitally paint and colour it.
Personally I'm getting kind of tired of your struggle to sell your stuff constantly buggering us about it, asking for interest, price and so on and so forth. I really don't think your drawings are really all that well planned and done. By all means I find some of your drawings really great, but not THAT great. They're like good doodles that are entertaining to watch, but nothing that has all that effort and planning to it that makes it an excellent piece of art I would want to look at for years to come on my wall. If you want to sell your art then I suggest going to sites dedicated to it and whore yourself out, advertising yourself, getting to know other artists, doing collabs and whatnot and get yourself known. You can't just pop out of nowhere and except to sell your stuff.
All in all I've seen work 10x better planned and executed in here that I still wouldn't have bought.[/QUOTE]
Thanks dgg, a lot to think about. I'll make sure whatever comes next is a much higher standard.
[img]http://i.imgur.com/dXgXg.png[/img]
My 1st attempt at coloring something I didn't ink :
[IMG]http://uppix.net/f/7/0/99b03f991ad5450ece43a1e3ca338.png[/IMG]
Hey everyone !
Here is something I made during this year :
[url=http://uppix.net/0/4/0/61178807a04e82951d135a335a00b.html][img]http://uppix.net/0/4/0/61178807a04e82951d135a335a00btt.jpg[/img][/url]
[url=http://uppix.net/0/b/e/a936d4d7b6f044156d0d76ddb39d3.html][img]http://uppix.net/0/b/e/a936d4d7b6f044156d0d76ddb39d3tt.jpg[/img][/url]
I used Dear Esther as a reference for the first one.
(Clic for HD /!\ über resolution)
There's a populare swedish blondie in my hometown, so I made this to her
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/T7DDk.jpg[/IMG]
[QUOTE=StoneRabbit;37302951]My 1st attempt at coloring something I didn't ink :
[IMG]http://uppix.net/f/7/0/99b03f991ad5450ece43a1e3ca338.png[/IMG][/QUOTE]
He's really bad at keeping his drink in the glass and apparently the little one has inherited the same trait
been on a bit of a quake binge lately
[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1925002/loose/skragglypunk.png[/img]
So I did this today after playing around with Element 3D by Video Copilot. Yup, made in AE. Problem?
[IMG]https://dl.dropbox.com/s/bpb63nt3urq75gx/EarthAstroid_ItsComing.png[/IMG]
The size of this image is [B]too damn high[/B], yeah, I know.
I'd either reduce the size or work on the really apparent aliasing going on in there. pretty neat pic though
[QUOTE=Headcrab54;37308921]I'd either reduce the size or work on the really apparent aliasing going on in there. pretty neat pic though[/QUOTE]
Rendering times with antialasing is high and it has a chance of crashing AE for no reason. Why? No idea.
[B]EDIT: [/B]It seems that bringing it to Photoshop reduced the quality. It was crystal clear in AE. Weird.
Some stupid looking alien plant.
[IMG]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/32047569/Weird plant.png[/IMG]
Regarding our earlier convo about networking; should we set up a networking thread in the forums? Sort of 'post the best examples of your work and then organise to reblog/retweet/promote each others stuff'?
i don't mind, but i don't really have that many followers on twitter because i barely use it and I have a tumblr account that nobody cares about
[QUOTE=D3TBS;37310552]i don't mind, but i don't really have that many followers on twitter because i barely use it and I have a tumblr account that nobody cares about[/QUOTE]
That's the point though; most of us are in the same boat. You don't get anywhere in tumblr or twitter without tumbling or tweeting, and if you have a bunch of people who are bouncing content between each other, what one person blogs and another person reblogs will get seen by many, many more people
[editline]19th August 2012[/editline]
It's like a spider-web but not really because spiders can fuck off
Sounds like follow-for-follow-ing, which is pretty poor form if you ask me
[editline]19th August 2012[/editline]
Like, if you think something is good enough to reblog or whatever shouldn't you do it anyway? Rather than doing it in exchange for something, like some kind of advertisement barter system
Likewise your stuff should surely get passed around on its own merit
[IMG]http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/232/8/5/cardigan_1___distant_city_2_by_zacharyhogan-d5brq5z.jpg[/IMG]
[editline]20th August 2012[/editline]
Hard to find refs for giant mechanised floating cities inside huge caverns full of artificial light, so a bunch of it is just made up
for some reason your stuff looks too unfinished even when you put a lot of effort to it. it's mostly because of the bluriness i guess, but it's pretty hard to explain. i know this one is far from finished but what i'm trying to say is that i can recognize your stuff from this overall blurriness and unstable shapes. i mean, look at that city, it looks all wonky. your color blending isn't good either.
that's my criticism i guess, so i'm SORRY if i sounded harsh, but you haven't changed much in quite a few months and i'd recommend doing some photostudies to get an actual grip of shape defining etc. i remember telling you this a few months ago so it sucks to see you haven't improved much.
you have great ideas and great concepts, but you can't seem to translate them nicely, so it comes out really wonky, blurry and undefined. if you take time to perfect your skills you'll do your ideas justice.
[editline]19th August 2012[/editline]
oh and btw, it doesn't look like a cave. it looks like a dude standing on cliff before a huge floating city on the sky.
Not the masterpiece I promised, but I've always wanted to do a still of this scene. I think Ian McKellen has probably my favourite face ever. :v:
[url=https://dl.dropbox.com/u/7346219/Arts/New/gandalf.jpg][img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/7346219/Arts/New/gandalflowres.jpg[/img][/url]
click it for a high res scan
I tried to do a quick sketch of Kardan from S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.
I failed miserably. [img]http://puu.sh/N9y4[/img]
[thumb]http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/9455/kardan.png[/thumb]
[QUOTE=MenteR;37314792]for some reason your stuff looks too unfinished even when you put a lot of effort to it. it's mostly because of the bluriness i guess, but it's pretty hard to explain. i know this one is far from finished but what i'm trying to say is that i can recognize your stuff from this overall blurriness and unstable shapes. i mean, look at that city, it looks all wonky. your color blending isn't good either.
that's my criticism i guess, so i'm SORRY if i sounded harsh, but you haven't changed much in quite a few months and i'd recommend doing some photostudies to get an actual grip of shape defining etc. i remember telling you this a few months ago so it sucks to see you haven't improved much.
you have great ideas and great concepts, but you can't seem to translate them nicely, so it comes out really wonky, blurry and undefined. if you take time to perfect your skills you'll do your ideas justice.
[editline]19th August 2012[/editline]
oh and btw, it doesn't look like a cave. it looks like a dude standing on cliff before a huge floating city on the sky.[/QUOTE]
Hey thanks dude!
The blurriness/spazzy edges of the city is down to the roughness of it all; I was going for more a loose impression of the place as opposed to a nice clean reference-quality render. By colour blending do you mean the actual colour choices or the lack of in-between colours to smooth out the change from light to shade (under the city in particular)?
I know it doesn't look like a cave; the idea is that the cave walls and ceilings are covered in strong blue lights that, when combined with the artificial sun, create a blue-sky-like atmosphere.
I think I've improved somewhat, especially looking at newer pieces like [URL="http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/223/0/a/cardigan_1___house_design_1_wip1_by_zacharyhogan-d5arnkk.jpg"]this[/URL] but that's just my opinion. I'm still very frustrated by colour and form, especially when it's for subject matter that's not easily referencable (artificial ecosystems inside giant caves haha) and I know a lot of my works fall a bit flat in terms of realistic tones and surfaces
Also a quick little sketch from my sketchbook
[IMG]http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg405/scaled.php?server=405&filename=visdiary1.jpg&res=landing[/IMG]
Another thing without ink :
[IMG]http://uppix.net/d/7/6/e710e0a8c2e7c2fb6819ed8f34946.png[/IMG]
[QUOTE=Maloof?;37317653]Hey thanks dude!
The blurriness/spazzy edges of the city is down to the roughness of it all; I was going for more a loose impression of the place as opposed to a nice clean reference-quality render. By colour blending do you mean the actual colour choices or the lack of in-between colours to smooth out the change from light to shade (under the city in particular)?
[/QUOTE]
i mean the actual lack of in between colors, yup. that's something you always seem to lack on your pieces.
[img]http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/223/0/a/cardigan_1___house_design_1_wip1_by_zacharyhogan-d5arnkk.jpg[/img]
this one looks pretty good but the shapes aren't stable, they're not well defined. the windows and struts are jaggy but the rendering is definitely improved.
well, i say keep on working dude. you're a promising artist and you have amazing concepts.
[QUOTE=MenteR;37318157]i mean the actual lack of in between colors, yup. that's something you always seem to lack on your pieces.
[img]http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/223/0/a/cardigan_1___house_design_1_wip1_by_zacharyhogan-d5arnkk.jpg[/img]
this one looks pretty good but the shapes aren't stable, they're not well defined. the windows and struts are jaggy but the rendering is definitely improved.
well, i say keep on working dude. you're a promising artist and you have amazing concepts.[/QUOTE]
Ah yeah, thanks! To be honest with the in-between colours I haven't been focussing on clean rendering recently; it's all been about getting the idea or mood down in a really quick way. But what you're saying helps a lot!
I really want an aesthetic style similar to [URL="http://dischan.org/devblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/outside_city_park_06.jpg"]this[/URL] which is full of wobbly-rendered stuff and low-opacity, but still manages to look brilliant.
What do you think about my actual colour choices nowadays? I'm starting to understand light and shadow better (more saturated shadows in the colour of the object for 'internal' shadows such as in crevices, less saturated, more ambient-light-coloured shadows for 'exposed' areas such as the shadow cast by a lamp post in a relatively open patch of concrete) but I know I still have a long way to go. I keep telling myself that I will reference as much as I can but I keep not referencing much at all, so my bad on that one
I actually wonder if drawing lines would help your style, Maloof. It's funny, normally artists are taught to quickly ditch lines and render without them, but I think the style you have could profit with the addition of really precise lines. Your forms feel a little too loosely defined and I think precise lines would hold them together, since it feels too much like a bunch of shapes floating around, and don't feel like they're occupying space.
I think for a week you should try adopting a really line-heavy style, possibly just ditch colour altogether temporarily, just to try it out, and then maybe meet half way afterwards.
[QUOTE=Robbobin;37318586]I actually wonder if drawing lines would help your style, Maloof. It's funny, normally artists are taught to quickly ditch lines and render without them, but I think the style you have could profit with the addition of really precise lines. Your forms feel a little too loosely defined and I think precise lines would hold them together, since it feels too much like a bunch of shapes floating around, and don't feel like they're occupying space.
I think for a week you should try adopting a really line-heavy style, possibly just ditch colour altogether temporarily, just to try it out, and then maybe meet half way afterwards.[/QUOTE]
Interesting! I'm really into my lines, probably shown in my comic, but when it comes to digital work I tend to render without them, going for a more volume-based method. I guess I've always tried to emulate those guys who get beautifully busy, fluid almost impasto concept art and it appears less from a bunch of well defined forms and more a bunch of (apparantly) quick and sporadic brush strokes. I guess I've always tried to emulate this to some extent, but it never works out that well because I just end up with solid splodges of flat colour.
I guess on one level I try to be all quick and fluid and then also on the other hand try to clean up all my edges and go for crispness, which leads to the hard-edged blobs of flat colour which I really don't like
Maybe you could try emulating the style of those chinese mountain landscapes, since they're normally depicting the same scale as you, but they do it with strong, distinct marks. I don't have an image editor on this laptop but I imagine most of your digital stuff looks really bland when it's desaturated because all of your forms (which are almost always really really interesting, narratively) relies so much on such subtle changes in hue. I say just work in a really line intensive style for a short while and go for shitloads of contrast so you get something that looks great even when it's desaturated.
Those are just my thoughts anyway! You have some of the most interesting compositional ideas of anyone here (which I am incredibly jealous of since that's where I desperately need to improve the most) but they're let down by something (imo your values/lack of lines/indistinct forms, which I think are more or less the same thing).
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