What Progress?

Thoughts

I'm tired! It's been a very busy week. I've gotten some major projects done and others haven't gone so well.

What I'm Creating

I just finished up 8 images for my black and white portfolio. I will be adding more to this, but I feel like 8 images is a minimum for any portfolio. You can see what I've done here: http://daniduck.com/b%26w I plan to do some grayscale images as well, but I have to start somewhere!

In other news I've already sent my portfolio out to one company digitally. Before I did this I went back over my portfolio. I saw a lot of images that had to be re-edited for one reason or another. Some of them were too blurry/pixelated, others had white around the edges, and a couple had pencil lines (from drawing the border around the illustration). I think I caught everything this time! Glad I got all those little things fixed. This all delayed me from sending out my work, but I want to put my best foot forward!

Schedule

I'm not sure that this schedule is really based on any real dates anymore. 😂 Actually I'm not too far off right now. I will likely be able to have my post cards done by April 1st and possibly I'll be sending out submission packages by the 9ths, but I feel like I won't be able to finish any color spreads this week. The black and white work I've been doing has taken up a TON of my time. Mainly because I did them digitally and I haven't done that in a while. I also am figuring out a new program. I will be faster with future digital work because I learned a lot this week. 

April 1st  - Have postcard finished and sent out for printing
April 8th - 2-3 color spreads finished or almost finished Delayed
April 9th - Send out 5-10  Submission Packages

Back to it. I'll see you again in a week with another update! 

Monday Coffee

Sometimes I take on more than I can handle. I always take on more than I'll likely get done. I'll have a lofty goal and though I think I'll not make it I'll be able to pull through like I did for the #kidlitart28 and the #30paintingsin30days combo. 

The problem is finding the difference between a lofty goal, and a terrible side project that can derail everything. One such project is being part of a group reading "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron. I bring this up because I have it sitting on top of my computer untouched since I borrowed it from the library. Don't get me wrong: "The Artist's Way" is a great book. I just couldn't keep up with any part of the group. I couldn't read the chapters, do any of the projects or participate in discussion. At the time I was working on some illustrations that I was trying to finish. 

What made this a terrible side project for me? Well right now my focus is on developing my illustration portfolio. I could make time to read, do projects and participate in discussion, but it would be about all I could do this month. So I reluctantly decided to sit out this group. I made a lot of progress on my portfolio and I'm happy with that. This wouldn't have happened if I stayed with the reading group. Would I have learned a lot from the group? Absolutely, but it would have been terrible for my illustration portfolio. I will have to re-read the book later when I can focus on the book. Sorry Julia Cameron. I'll have to catch up with you later!

What Progress?

It's progress day today! I forgot and I don't even know why. Anyway I'm typing this up on my phone because toddler won't let me get up.

Thoughts
Toddler got up at midnight. He had a fever and was coughing. Hard to get him to sleep again. He'a cuddling next to me now and is the whole reason I'm typing this on my phone.

What I'm Creating

I'm working mostly with black and white right now. I've got some progress images up on my Instagram account right now. https://instagram.com/p/BgeayV4lNIU/

Schedule

I think my schedule stays about the same. Maybe a little less likely that all these things will happen but we'll see! 

March 25th - Have 7-10 B&W/Greyscale illustrations completed (enough to have a page on my portfolio)
March 30th - Know where I'm sending work to. At least 5-10 places.
April 1st  - Have post card finished and sent out for printing
April 8th - 2-3 color spreads finished or almost finished
April 9th - Send out 5-10  Submission Packages

Monday Coffee

I obviously haven't had enough coffee this week because I almost forgot to post this post. I had this all typed up last night and forgot to hit "Publish". 😅 Pretty sad because it's only the second week! I'm going to think of a picture to put with these and add that later..

Not as much to talk about this week as last. As many of you know I'm on Instagram. What you may not know is I'm doing some giveaways there. You know those images I did for Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 (#30paintingsin30days) and #kidlitart twitter chat's #kidlitart28?  You don't remember? Haven't you been following my blog? 😂 Anyway, I'm giving them away on Instagram! You can join the fun here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgedSRSFFOn/?taken-by=smart_dummies_challenge

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bgg9EYsl_o5/?taken-by=dani_duck_art

Don't live in the USA? That's okay. I'm not limiting shipping anywhere (yet) so feel free to enter.

What Progress?

I've randomly decided that Wednesdays are progress days. I'll be talking about my progress (or lack thereof) on these days. I will also be talking about what I hope to achieve for the coming week. Also anything else that may or may be relevant (because why just play in a box when you can also be on the box? 😁).

Thoughts

I have a cold that just won't go away. I could go for another coffee. Toddler on my lap for no given reason but "up".

What I'm Creating

Right now I'm still working on my portfolio. I have 10 images in there right now, so not bad. Mostly I'm trying to figure out what I want to add to my portfolio.

Possible additions to my portfolio:

B&W/ Grayscale images
Spot Illustration and Spreads
Anthropomorphised Animals
Detailed Backgrounds and Domestic/Indoor Scenes

There are lots of other things I want to add to my portfolio but these are my focus right now. I have a lot of images I could ink and stick into my portfolio so I'm going to do that. I've decided that most (if not all) of these will be done on the computer. It's about the same speed to get them done, and most places that want black and white want it to be digital.

Schedule

March 25th - Have 7-10 B&W/Greyscale illustrations completed (enough to have a page on my portfolio)
March 30th - Know where I'm sending work to. At least 5-10 places.
April 1st  - Have post card finished and sent out for printing
April 8th - 2-3 color spreads finished or almost finished
April 9th - Send out 5-10  Submission Packages

This is my basic schedule and may or may not have anything to do with really happens. The important thing is I made goals. Now to go make some of this happen!

Monday Coffee

I need to keep posting on my blog, so weekly I'm going to do a series called, "Monday Coffee". I'm hoping to post this early enough every week so that you can read it with your morning coffee or tea. I've had a lot of exhausting weeks, so this could be a lot of incoherent ramblings. You're probably tired too, so likely you'll understand me either way. 😂

This morning I'm listening to Will Terry talk about, "When to Say No to Illustration Work" on YouTube.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWBaRkjNCM0&t=238s The funny thing is it's made me feel a bit better about some of the jobs I have taken. I had a book I did for a self publisher called "The Magic Mask". The job itself didn't pay a lot, but it wasn't hard and I am currently using the images in my portfolio. There are times I have turned down work, and I luckily made the right decision. It's hard to know the line, but I think Will Terry's video covers most of it!

I know a lot of people who are using Photoshop to illustrate. If you are a digital illustrator you probably know that Photoshop is the program to use. The big problem is that paying for Photoshop on a monthly basis is expensive. I can't tell you that there is something better out there, but here are some alternatives:

1. Older Versions of Photoshop: I believe you can still buy an older version of Photoshop outright. Many of these older versions will work on a newer computer. If you go too old the disk won't read right in your disk reader. I have a version of Photoshop 4.0 that I haven't been able to use for years, so maybe don't go that old!

2. Procreate on the iPad Pro with an Apple Pen. If you are thinking about getting an iPad you may consider the iPad pro. It is expensive but some professional illustrators are switching to the iPad, because it's like a Cintiq but is more versatile. Photoshop and a Cintiq together are better quality, but this may be a good alternative for you. I have not had the pleasure of using this yet, but I hear great things.

3. Clip Studio Paint (Formally Manga Studio): I have not used Clip Studio Paint for coloring. I had Manga Studio 4EX and was not happy with the coloring portion. I do love the ink pen, though. You can create straight lines, or a more brush like line. The great thing about this is you can use the pen like vectors and adjust each line individually if needed (but you don't have to use the vectors at all). There are good sales for this. This is not being updated as they have sold the company, but maybe the company that bought them out will make newer versions.

4. Corel Painter: This program is fairly expensive, though you can find older versions of the software. This can be used to make beautiful paint like illustrations. The bad thing is the software crashes a lot. I currently have 11. I have downloaded newer versions and they all seem to suffer from the same instability problems. When it does work it's a lot of fun!

5. Krita: I love the idea of this program, but I can not get it to work on my computer anymore. It does have decent brushes and a good layout. This is a free program so it wouldn't hurt to try it out.

6. Gimp: I feel like this is sort of the last ditch resort. Gimp is absolutely free, but it's pretty clunky. I do use it for minor image editing especially after scanning.

Other programs: Here are some other programs I haven't had the chance to try out or heard much about:

Inkscape: (alternative to Illustrator -- Vector software.)
Affinity Photo
Corel Paintshop
Pixelmator (Mac)
Sketch (Mac)

There are also some free online software. I don't like the idea of this, because the software can disappear. Also there is a huge lack of privacy when you do this.

Which programs do you use for your illustrations? Do you know of any great programs I haven't mentioned here?