illustration inspiration

Alphonse Mucha

2011-09-02T19:23:00.000-07:00

Naoto Hattori

2011-03-10T11:05:00.000-08:00

Naoto Hattori, born in Yokohama Japan, studied graphic design in Tokyo, illustration in New York. He mostly works in airbrush and acrylic. He says, "I've been creating the imaginary world within my mind ever since I was a child. My vision is like a dream, where it's a sweet dream, a nightmare or just a bizarre dream. I try to see what's really going on in my mind and that's a practice to increase my awareness in stream-of-conscious creativity. I try not to label or think about what is supposed to be, just take it in as it is and paint whatever I see in my mind with no compromise. That way, I create my own vision."

Naoto Hattori's official site (with gallery and prints)

Dave Cooper

2011-03-09T11:56:00.000-08:00

Dave Cooper has always intrigued me. He began as a comics artist and that style persists in his paintings. You can see influences from R. Crumb, crazy animation of the 1930's and 40's, Renaissance paintings and, what, I don't know... balloons? Verging between cute and grotesque, sexual and disturbing, happy and violent, his art grabs you in your pop-culture psyche without any clear reference. I just got his book, Bent, and I highly recommend it.

Dave Cooper's website
Dave Cooper at Jonathan LeVine Gallery
Dave's old site
Dave Cooper's art book, Bent

1872 Anatomy

2011-03-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

Check out these amazing cross-cut anatomy illustrations from Germany published in 1872. Quite beautiful. On Flickr by History of the Book / Typography, Amsterdam's photostream, be sure to take a look at the rest of the historical prints available there.

Andrej Dugin and Olga Dugina

2011-02-10T15:23:00.000-08:00

Andrej Dugin and Olga Dugina are what you would have if you took Arthur Rackham, Hieronymus Bosch, and Eugène Delacroix and mashed them together into an astonishing illustration team. There are notes of so many more influences from classic illustration, romanticism, and deco aesthetics that you'll get lost in time and magic and wonder that you are looking modern works.

I found these artists on the wonderful blog, lines and colors.

The artist's official website
Some great pieces
Another gallery
lines and colors post

The above illustration was done for Madonna's children's fable, The Adventures of Abdi. Not a great story, but great illustration. I recommend their own books, The Brave Little Tailor and, with Arnica Esterl writing, Dragon Feathers.

Peter P. Plasencia

2011-02-09T10:16:00.000-08:00

Ward-O-Matic (Ward Jenkins) shares some terrific illustrations from a Jules Verne book. Illustrations by Peter P. Plasencia. They're stunning in their design and tone. Peter P. Plasencia also illustrated a wonderful Space Alphabet book.

Jules Verne: The Man Who Invented the Future

Space Alphabet
Ward-O-Matic

Till Hafenbrak

2011-02-08T16:25:00.000-08:00

Till Hafenbrak has a wonderful way with a limited palette.

Till Hafenbrak website
flickr

via Drawn

cancer

2011-02-08T15:23:00.000-08:00

It's been a long, long time since I've been updating my blogs. I apologize for not being around, answering emails or requests, writing, drawing... just doing anything but healing. See, I spent all of 2010 fighting cancer. The good news is that the cancer is gone, I am healthy, and I am ready to draw and blog again! And it sure is great to be back.

More Tenggren

2010-02-25T12:11:00.000-08:00

I posted about Gustaf Tenggren previously but I wanted to mention him again... because, well, I just love his work. The Animation Archive (ASIFA) has couple more pages I wanted to point out - in particular is an article (with lots of images) about Tenggren's Little Golden Book style. When Tenggren left Disney he worked at making a name for himself. He also couldn't get fairly paid for a week's worth of work for a single illustration. He developed a beautiful simple style, reminiscent of illustrations from his Swedish roots. It became a Golden Book standard and influenced children's books ever afterward. Compare them to more elaborate illustrations.

•Tenggren's Little Golden Book style (ASIFA)
•Tenggren's Grimm's Fairy Tales (ASIFA)
•Previous Post

John Hanna

2009-09-03T14:55:00.001-07:00

Recently re-discovered illustrator John Hanna has been popping up around the internet. He was an Australian artist who lived in England from 1948 to 1962. Not much more has popped up yet. His illustrations for the covers of Country Fair magazine are gorgeous. It's not that easy to make such beautiful art with white, black, and a 3rd color. Check it out.

• John Hanna's covers on Delicious Industries
• A bit about Hanna
• A bit more
• And a photo of him.

Mirko Hanák

2009-08-24T14:34:00.000-07:00

Mirko Hanák (June 26, 1921 - November 4, 1971) was a Czech painter, graphic designer and illustrator, who was famous for his particularly distinctive illustrations and lithographs with natural themes. He died relatively young of leukemia. His fine illustrations portray a loose style, belying the amazing technical expertise of a great draftsman. Apparently using watercolor on rice paper, coming in with exquisite detail with finer brushes.

• Ondrej Kovacik's flickr page of Hanák's Bambi illustrations
• More images on Matou en Peluche
• Some scans on a Japanese site

Retro German Illustration

2009-05-19T12:34:00.000-07:00

Retro German Illustration... About as specific as it gets. Great blog of pre-1980 German Illustration.

• illuopa

Jon Klassen

2009-03-27T16:08:00.000-07:00

Jon Klassen has a wonderful, unique style. He's done some amazing design work for Coraline and animation work for Royal Bank of Canada and their Blue Water Project among other wonderful things. Check out his stuff.

• Jon's website
• Jon's blog
• Jon Klassen on Illustration Mundo

Links

2009-03-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

Here's a few links to some wonderful art I really enjoyed (via drawn!). Check it out!

• The Art of Fons Schiedon
• Brian Biggs Trick or Treat
• Linzie Hunter's Spam One-liners
• Lab Partners beautiful designs
• Mel Stringer's beautiful portraits

Femke Hiemstra

2009-03-19T11:10:00.001-07:00

Femke Hiemstra (Netherlands) does wonderfully surreal paintings on found objects (usually wood or old books). Her subjects seem to pop out of a children's book from a darker world, sweet but slightly disturbing. Read her info section on her site for more.

• her beautiful home site
• her blog
• at Roq la Rue
• on Paintalicious

Saul Bass

2009-03-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

Saul Bass - "Design is thinking made visual"

Saul Bass (1920-1996) was first and foremost a designer. An iconic designer of the 50's and 60's, famous for his poster designs, title sequences, and logos. The world of design owes him much, even to this day.

• an excellent article and collection of images
• Wikipedia
• more logo designs
• Grain Edit's flickr of a Saul Bass children's book

Kawase Hasui

2009-02-26T14:47:00.000-08:00

Kawase Hasui, (1883 – 1957) was a Japanese woodblock printmaker widely regarded as one of the greatest artists of the shin hanga style, known especially for his landscape prints. His simple graphic style with elegant play of colors and light evokes his yearning for simpler, older times.

• at the Hanga Gallery
• a nice gallery
• Wikipedia
• on Lines and Color

Lowbrow

2009-02-25T15:27:00.000-08:00

I am particularly fond of Lowbrow Art or Pop Surrealism. Pictured above is Mark Ryden's Allegory of the Four Elements. Here are a few of my favorite "lowbrow" artists, in alphabetical order:

• Glenn Barr
• Gary Baseman
• Tim Biskup
• Dave Cooper
• Lori Earley
• Audrey Kawasaki
• Marion Peck
• Mark Ryden
• Jeff Soto

Heinrich Kley

2009-02-25T10:24:00.000-08:00

Heinrich Kley (1863 – 1945) was a German caricaturist, editorial cartoonist and painter. His drawings comprised quick, loose, pen-and-ink sketches that captured an amazingly realistic and robust form. Known for his sometimes darkly humorous pen drawings, published in Jugend and the notorious Simplicissimus in Germany, Kley was an inspiration for a number of early Disney productions, notably Fantasia, as Disney was quite a collector of his work. Kley's work was also a big inspiration for me in my youth.

• Kley's Art
• Heinrich Kley
• Wikipedia
• twnty2wo blog

Ryohei Hase

2009-02-16T15:06:00.000-08:00

Ryohei Hase, from Tokyo, Japan, is a digital painter whose subjects are a surrealist, nightmarish fantasy. He does it all painting freehand in Photoshop.

• Hase's website
• Hase at Deviantart

Dan Krall

2009-02-16T12:35:00.000-08:00

Dan Krall is an illustrator, character and background designer, and animator and he has a wonderful chldren's book. He's responsible for the amazing look of Cartoon Network's Chowder, Camp Lazlo, and much or the look of the movie, Coraline (among many other amazing feats).

• Dan's website
• Dan's blog
• Dan on Illustration Mundo
• Dan on IMDb

d'Holbachi-Yoko

2009-02-10T14:49:00.001-08:00

d'Holbachi-Yoko paints surreal images of colorful puffy creatures, toys of a nightmare dimension, oddly adorable monsters that bring a smile to one's face and disturbs one's soul. Pretty cool, huh? Check out her site and this interview.

Mark Verhaagen

2009-02-09T09:37:00.000-08:00

Mark Verhaagen's digital illustrations are wonderful! Master of form, color, and composition. Go get inspired.

Update: Came across Mark's flickr and saw Mark's illustration in Computer Arts Projects magazine this month.

Golden Gems

2009-01-30T10:27:00.000-08:00

Thank you, Barbie Miller, for your wonderful blog, Golden Gems! "A collection of little golden books and other vintage & modern illustrations meant to inspire and delight." That's exactly what it is. Consider me inspired.

Grandma's Graphics

2009-01-22T13:42:00.000-08:00

A very nice collection of public domain children's illustrations and more at Grandma's Graphics.

Meg Hunt

2008-07-03T16:09:00.001-07:00

Arrrgh! What makes some people so gifted and talented? I feel like I'm a pretty good artist but people like Meg Hunt almost make me despair, she's so wonderful!

Meg has been featured almost everywhere. Meg Hunt's dome work for BeerAdvocate, Fantagraphics Books, K Records, Utne, the Washington Post, and Nickelodeon, among others. Her muted, limited color palette and print style make her work unique and delicious. Enjoy! And keep an eye on her.

•Meg's site
•Meg's blog
•Meg's flickr
•Meg's journal
•Interview at Design Inspiration

A few artists I've noticed...

2008-06-25T10:58:00.000-07:00

Javier Gonzalez Burgos - Illustrations Artworks. Surreal and serene illustrations.

Meg Hunt - Ooo-la-la! Delish! Her site, her blog.

Yara Kono - Her flickr, her blog. I love this stuff!

André Gribble - Ya callate André (blog) - Brilliant design and illustration.

Betsy Walton - Her site, her flickr. More fine art than illustration, with a dreamy imagination.

Potpourri

2008-06-25T10:55:00.000-07:00

Here's a few things of various topics you may want to check out...

Giant Golden Book of Biology - Illustrations by Charles Harper - a triumph of design and illustration!

Creating the cover of a novel. Irish illustrator PJ Lynch shows a step-by-step of how he goes through the process of creating a book cover.

Bear Tools I and Bear Tools II has Kevin Cornell of Bearskin Rug giving us his tools of illustration - guides on pencils, erasers, and inking implements.

Illustrophile, a blog "for lovers of illustration and commercial art" that started last August. It features mostly artists and designers that are currently working.

By the way - if you enjoyed the illustrations by Charley Harper (above), then check out more of his work here and here.

Alina Chau - Ice Cream Monster

2008-06-06T17:56:00.001-07:00

Alina Chau is well known among us congregating illustrators on the web. She contributes to a few illustration groups online and she comments on almost everyone's entries. But what makes her stand out from most of us is her sketchwork - with a few blotches of watercolor and some choice, flowing lines, she captures the essence of beauty of everything she sees or imagines. She's an animator and I'm looking forward to great things from her, but for now I can admire her sensitive and lovely sketches and her beautiful books. Explore her work and be inspired.

•Alina Chau's Blog
•Alina's Portfolio Site
•An Interview with Alina

Flora Chang - Happy Doodle Land

2008-05-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

Flora Chang is a graphic designer for work but her illustrations foretell a bright future - a future I look forward to seeing. Her retro-cute block-print style is so delicious and inspirational.

I asked her what her inspirations are and she answered: I admire many artists. To name a few: Mary Blair, Jim Flora, Richard Scarry, J.P. Miller, Tim Biskup. My favorite Japanese artists include: Shinzi Katoh, Piu Sudo, and Sakura Momoko (creator of Japanese cartoon "Chibi Maruko-Chan"). - I can certainly see all of these influences in her art, but her own personal flair shines through.

Flora is from Taipei, Taiwan and now resides in Kansas City. Besides being an amazing artist she is also a wonderful musician!

Enjoy the delightful art of Flora Chang!

•Happy Doodle Land
•Flora's flickr

Allison Sommers

2008-05-12T17:30:00.001-07:00

Allison Sommers is a visual artist working and living in Charlottesville, Virginia. And she's spectacular! I love her visions, colors, details. She works mostly in my favorite medium, gouache (an opaque watercolor). She paints most of work while looking through a magnifying glass, commanding exacting detail in her pieces. Her subjects are a blend of nightmare and festive fantasy, a Bosch-like world of meat and turtles. A true inspiration. Enjoy!

•Allison Sommers
•Allison's flickr
•Allison on Drawn!

Never Been

2008-05-09T15:53:00.000-07:00

Here's a tasty bit of illustration inspiration... Stuart Kolakovic presents a nice long strip of drawings that you need to click and drag to see all of it. Every bit of this scene is a treat for the eyes and will certainly make you want to do your own!

•Never Been
•Stuart's site
•Never Been, hanging on a wall

Chun Eun Sil

2008-05-02T10:47:00.000-07:00

Korean illustrator Chun Eun Sil is amazing! This is my kind of illustration inspiration. The flow, the composition, the colors... there's grace and love in every image she touches. Check her out!

•Her Site (Korean)
•Her Flickr

via Drawn!

Lou Romano

2008-04-04T15:15:00.001-07:00

I mentioned this guy before, buried in another post, but I wanted to highlight him here. Lou Romano is a brilliant colorist and has worked as illustrator and designer on various projects including The Powerpuff Girls and The Iron Giant. He soon got a little job at some place called Pixar (Monsters Inc., The Incredibles, Cars). He's also done some voice work there, including the lead character Linguini in Ratatouille.

Anyway, I got a bit of mail from The New Yorker asking that I subscribe (I did) that included a fold-out of covers. There was a beautiful one of a just-married couple in a taxi with a rainy night-time New York backdrop that grabbed me like... like... something that grabs... real hard. I thought, "heh, looks like Lou Romano's stuff, but better!" D'oh! I looked it up and it was indeed a Lou Romano, reminding me of just how much I love this guy's work. He has a mastering of color that kills me! Look, I'm dead!

•Lou Romano's blog
•Lou Romano (official site)
•Lou Romano (IMDb)
•Lou Romano (Wikipedia)
•The Trouble With Lou Oh, really?

Mid-20th Century Matchbox Labels

2008-03-21T16:06:00.000-07:00

A lot of incredible matchbox labels from the 50s and 60s, mostly from Eastern Europe, on Flickr courtesy of Mariad (who has some other nice photo sets as well). Enjoy!

•Matchbox Labels

Sam Weber

2008-03-19T17:00:00.001-07:00

There's a calm, frozen quality to Sam Weber's art, like a pond of ice, but just underneath that ice is a scene of intriguing terror. Sam finds beauty in blood and vacant stares. His work is a muted wash of monochrome colors with slashes of detailed branches or hair running through like Japanese brush strokes. A bit disturbing but you can't tear your eyes away.

Sam Weber is married to the fabulous artist, Jillian Tamaki.

•Sam Paints - Sam Weber's site
•Sam Weber at Lines and Colors
•Sam Weber at Illustration Mundo
•Sam Weber at Drawn

Joy Ang

2008-03-05T10:21:00.001-08:00

Joy Ang is a very young illustrator, still exploring her style, but producing such wonderful work that one can easily predict a great future. Her color, form, and composition are tight, unique, delightful, and just feels right. Keep an eye on her.

•Joy Ang's website
•Joy Ang's prints

Gustaf Tenggren

2008-02-25T16:46:00.001-08:00

Gustaf Adolf Tenggren (1896 - 1970) was a Swedish illustrator known for his Arthur Rackham-influenced fairy-tale style. Tenggren was a chief illustrator for Disney in the late 1930s, his greatest work being designing the old-world style for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and developing the dwarfs personalities. He also worked significantly on Bambi and Pinocchio. He then illustrated many children's books including several Little Golden Books like The Poky Little Puppy and Tawny Scrawny Lion. Sadly, Gustaf destroyed much of his early work and too little survives to this day.

•Gustaf Tenggren (Wikipedia)
•Some beautiful childrens' illustrations
•Classical childrens' illustration (ASIFA)
•Cute childrens' illustration (ASIFA)
•More Tenggren illustration (ASIFA)
•Illustrations for advertisements
•The Talented Herr Tenggren (Tinselman)
•Bio with illustrations

Color - Psychology and Trends

2008-02-20T15:40:00.001-08:00

In your artwork you use color. But color should never be considered incidental. Color carries personal, cultural and instinctual meaning. Color also comes in and goes out of style on an almost yearly basis. As a fine artist you consider color on an emotional level - hues and tones, complimentary, contrasting, clashing, bright or muted - all generating an emotional response. As an illustrator, you consider your target audience - primaries, pastels, gem colors, saturated hues, soft or high-contrast - what appeals most to who will buy the product. Illustrators will often keep up with color trends, especially when they design high-impact sales products like packaging and magazine covers. But for any kind of artist, understanding color and its psychology and trends can improve your work and actually increase your creativity.

The meaning of color can be defined fairly well - for most of western culture... for instance, while white is associated with pureness in western culture, it symbolizes death in most Asian cultures where wedding dresses are often red, a lucky color. But instinctual responses to color can be fairly universal - such as, dye any food or drink a true blue (not deep indigo like blueberries) and it immediately becomes unappetizing. Blue is absent from fast food places - the most appetizing colors, red and yellow, are dominant.

So here's your project: Explore the links below (I highly recommend using COLOURlovers). Observe colors of products, magazine racks, clothing. Think about the personalities of people and the colors they choose for their environments and clothing. Then, do some art. Start with a very small palette - 2 or 3 colors - that you feel effect each other and the subject matter in some way. Slowly expand your palette for other art. Notice how you are thinking about color. You'll find a deeper love of color that will expand your world in wonderful ways.

•COLOURlovers - all things color.
•COLOURlovers blog of trends
•In The Mod - download color palettes derived from artists' paintings.
•Color symbolism and psychology (Wikipedia)
•Color Marketing Group - color trend researchers.
•Complete Color Harmony Workbook (Amazon)
•Color Index (Amazon)

image from COLOURlovers

Franklin Booth

2008-02-18T16:46:00.001-08:00

Illustrator Franklin Booth (1874 - 1948) Franklin Booth's amazing and unusual pen-and-ink drawing style came to him as a boy in Indiana, from hours of copying illustrations he loved from magazines - illustrations he thought were pen-and-ink but were actually engravings and woodcuts. His ethereal and careful work lent itself well to works of poetry.

•On the Lines and Color blog
•A nice gallery
•Gallery of small images
•3 more nice images
•Google Image Search
•Wikipedia entry

N.C. Wyeth

2008-02-12T12:20:00.001-08:00

Illustrator N.C. Wyeth (1882 – 1945) Wyeth's illustrations were perhaps best loved by boys who would make a world of adventure in their backyards. His best known illustrations were for Treasure Island (1911), but he also illustrated Kidnapped (1913), Robin Hood (1917), The Last of the Mohicans (1919), Robinson Crusoe (1920), Rip Van Winkle (1921), and did work for prominent periodicals including Century, Harper's Monthly, Ladies' Home Journal, McClure's, and Outing. His children were raised wild, focusing more on discovery than academics. All his children became artists and scientists - Andrew, his oldest, went on to fame as a fine artist, his most famous painting being Christina's World (1948). N. C. Wyeth was the star pupil of Howard Pyle and became one of America's greatest illustrators. His paintings often reflected the wild west, with portrayals sensitive to the humanity of the Native American. Wyeth died too soon, in a car with his young nephew, stalled on the railroad tracks near his home.

•Nice collection
•Wyeth at Animation Archive
•Robinson Crusoe
•Google Image Search
•Wikipedia entry

Arthur Rackham

2008-02-11T11:48:00.000-08:00

Illustrator Arthur Rackham (1867 – 1939) was a prolific illustrator of children's and adult's books, from Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland, to Midsummer's Night Dream and Edgar Allen Poe. His work has influenced countless illustrators and artist, including Guillermo Del Toro and his Pan's Labyrinth. Enjoy!

•Over 200 plates (graphic-heavy gallery)
•Wikipedia entry
•More Rackham pictures

Jeff Soto

2008-02-08T16:59:00.001-08:00

Jeff Soto is one of my favorite artists on the lowbrow art scene. His art seems to me as graphic-heavy dreams, a dimension of logo-like gods invading into our own. And he's a real cool guy. It always amazes me how approachable these artists are. While highbrow artists of other genres can get wrapped up in their intellectual vanity, these "lowbrow" artists (and their kin, like graff artists, animators, comic book artists, etc.) really love the work of other artists and encourage aspiring artists. Anyway, check out Jeff Soto's website and then check out his blog (where he hangs with some of my other favorite artists like Mark Ryden and Gary Baseman).

Audrey Kawasaki

2008-02-08T11:29:00.000-08:00

Super awesome artist, Audrey Kawasaki, has a really nice livejournal blog. Her art - with its graceful lines, soft lighting, and natural textures - is inspiring enough but she also blogs about things that inspire her. A must for your bookmarks. Also, check out her portfolio.

She recently scanned some background art for the anime movie Tekkon Kinkreet. The art is stunning! I own the movie and I think it's one of the best movies I've seen.

Disney Backgrounds

2008-02-07T16:17:00.000-08:00

A really nice blog of some fine Disney backgrounds by Rob Richards (who plays organ at El Capitan). Explore by cartoon from the lables linked on the left. My favorites are Sleeping Beauty (seen here) and Alice in Wonderland (much of which is strongly Mary Blair influenced). I hope he gets some more Peter Pan backgrounds!

Old Children's Books

2008-02-05T16:02:00.000-08:00

Another flickrset... some really incredible scans of illustrations from old children's books. A must-see!

Classic Posters

2008-02-05T15:42:00.000-08:00

A flickrset of "Classic Posters"... I don't know about "classic" but these are certainly inspirational! Check 'em out!

The Progress of Steel

2008-01-30T15:19:00.000-08:00

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive website is always a treasure trove of preserved animation, cartooning, and illustration. Check out their recent find - a book of illustrations to accompany a John Sutherland's industrial film, Rhapsody of Steel (1959). The book is illustrated by legendary stylists Eyvind Earle (Sleeping Beauty, Pigs is Pigs) and Maurice Noble (Duck Dodgers, How The Grinch Stole Christmas) and is incredible in its textures and colors. Enjoy!

1937 Cartooning Book

2008-01-24T15:33:00.000-08:00

Some guy named Gerald uploaded a scanned 1937 cartooning book to flickr. Points On Cartooning is a fun look at drawing "funny pictures" in the golden age. Enjoy!

Oh! And when you're done with that, check this one out too!

Toon Style

2008-01-24T15:22:00.000-08:00

Some linky goodness to inspire you:

Dan Krall is an animation designer with a tasty retro look. He's worked on Chowder, Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack and more.

Lou Romano is a brilliant colorist and has worked on a lot of the same stuff as Dan until he got a little job at some place called Pixar. He's also done some voice work there, including Linguini in Ratatouille. Check out the amazing color he whipped out in a series of doodles he did in a day.

And on another note, but deliciously retro, Japanese artist Koji Tomoto (Cozy Tomato).

Charging For Your Artwork

2008-01-24T14:54:00.000-08:00

An illustrator (or graphic artist, writer, fine artist, etc.) is an under-appreciated worker. An illustrator is a skilled worker, but often clients do not understand what "skilled" means. Here's a little story that might help:

Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him.

"It's you — Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist."

So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.

"It's perfect!" she gushed. "You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?"

"Five thousand dollars," the artist replied.

"B-b-but, what?" the woman sputtered. "How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!"

To which Picasso responded, "Madame, it took me my entire life."

If she wanted an itemized bill, it could look something like this:

Drawing and materials: $1
Experience and knowledge: $4,999

The lesson here is one must not undersell their talent. Not only is it unfair to the artist, it's unfair to the whole industry you represent.

Links:

the lifetime behind every second
a rates discussion on drawn
copyright discussion on illustration friday
artist employment advise
Us Dept. of Labor statistics: graphic artist, artists and related

35 Free Graphics Programs!

2007-10-30T16:39:00.000-07:00

Go here, read about the applications, download for free and get busy!

Retro Art Inspiration

2007-10-17T17:50:00.001-07:00

For a little mid-twentieth century illustration inspiration, you can't go wrong with the awesome Retro Kid flickr group!

colour lovers

2007-09-18T12:45:00.000-07:00

Probably by now, most of you illustrators have been to Colour Lovers. If not, you're missing out. The title of the site says it all. Here you'll find colors (I live in the U.S. so forgive my Yank spelling if you don't) and color palettes to suit any mood. A limited color palette can really make an illustration pop. You can use the solid colors or blend them for your style. You can also create your own palettes.

illustration inspiration

2007-09-18T11:52:00.000-07:00

First post... Why another blog? On my illustration site I want people to see my illustrations and for most people, that's all they want to see. But I wanted to share more for those who want to know. So this is where I'll share other sites, art that inspires me, techniques, tutorials, and questions answered. I hope it will be a useful tool for those who want to learn - including myself.