young artist tips master post

hi, y’all! i get a lot of similar, very broad questions about being an artist so i thought i’d take some of my time and make you all a master post with basically my be all end all advice/references/etc so y’all can refer to this whenever you need.

1. there is no right or wrong way to do things. there’s only learning, figuring out what works for you, and finding ways to incorporate skills you accumulate through time and research into your working method. there are rules, some of them are great, some of them are stupid, most of them can be broken when you know what you are doing.

2. learn as many things as you can. doesn’t matter if you think it’s useless, if you’re having fun, if you like something, research it, learn as much as you can about it. the more things you know about the more interesting and varied your work will be, the more opportunities you’ll have, and the more unique you will be (and that matters whether you want a studio job or to be self employed!) sometimes you’ll learn something you really enjoy and you think it is COMPLETELY useless for what you actually want to do but then five years later you’ll be using that cool skill you had fun learning and be grateful you learned it!

3. make things for yourself. make things you like. when you enjoy what you’re making, you work harder on it and you make better stuff. people can sniff it out when you’re just trying to make something you think will be popular and more important, you’ll enjoy it less and feel bitter if you’re not doing it for you.

4. push yourself. this goes back to 2: learn as many things as you can and work hard.

5. don’t compare yourself with others. everyone comes from different backgrounds. some people learn more easily or quickly than others. you don’t know how much they work or what their history is and it’s very easy to see someone else doing something cool and think that it must come easily to them and then feel jealous. let me tell you: it is not worth it.

6. art is just as much about seeing as it is about drawing/painting/etc. you have to train both your eyes and your hand. that’s why figure drawing is so important – it challenges you to be able to see more correctly and precisely.

7. growth is not steady or constant. generally you get bursts of growth and then stretches of “stagnation” – essentially times when you haven’t figured out anything new and are just making things. this can be frustrating because during this time is usually when your taste/ability to see will grow and outpace your drawing ability. it happens to everyone, the fact that you are not happy with your work just means that your ability to see is improving!

8. for the love of god, track your art-related earnings and expenses (google sheets is free!) and learn how to do self employed taxes. they are not difficult as long as you keep updated records!

9. build a group of peers, people near your skill level (ideally also around your age), in person or online. these people will support and challenge you and help you grow!

10. if you want to learn how to do something, there are numerous tutorials for just about everything on google. it’s just a matter of learning how to refine your search terms and having the determination to stick with it. some things will be really easy to find, others less so. all the cool people online telling you to google stuff aren’t brushing you off. it’s how most of us learned things and the wealth of information available is far greater than you’d get asking some random person!

reading material for learning:

• making comics - scott mccloud
  
• figure drawing for all it’s worth - andrew loomis
  
• wally wood’s 22 panels that always work
  
• perspective for comic book artists - david chelsea
  
• color and light - james gurney
  
• framed ink - marcos mateu-mestre
  
• pricing & ethical guidelines - graphic artists guild
  
• steal like an artist - austin kleon

reading/watching material cuz you can learn a lot absorbing good stuff:

• persepolis - marjane satrapi (the movie is also great)
  
• asterios polyp - david mazzucchelli
• amphigorey - edward gorey
• the amazing world of gumball
• paprika - satoshi kon
• tekkon kinkreet - taiyo matsumoto (movie adaptation is also great)
• cucumber quest - gigi digi
  

online resources (they’re all free!):

• dear art director
  
• line of action
• croquis cafe
• muddy colors (specifically this entry)
• 10 perspective errors
• gurneyjourney
• google sketchup
• griz and norm
• frenden tool reviews
• kyle webster brushes (some of them are free!)
• paletton
• cgtextures
• lostandtaken
• adobe kuler
• gamutmaker
• fontsquirrel
• animationbackgrounds
• losttype