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Bibliography
The Report
Artist interviews
I spoke with local artist Jan Whitton at her 'Celebrating Colourful Cotswold Verges' at The Gardens Gallery in Montpellier. Speaking to a working artist and at an exhibition of theirs was very useful for me in my research as to what it is like working as a professional artist. She was able to give me an insight as to what it may be like working as a full-time artist. From my talk with her I learned that the exhibition space she was displaying her current pieces in was booked two years in advance prior to when it was put up. This was for two reasons, the first being because spaces to display work get booked up months, years in advance and secondly to allow herself time to work and create a catalog of artwork for the exhibit. Speaking with Jan about holding an exhibition she informed me that she enjoys creating pieces towards exhibits because she has creative freedom over the work she produces. When asked about working to commission she does do commissioned pieces but much prefers not working to a brief. From my talk with Jan Whitton I got the feeling that whilst a career as a full-time artist is what she wanted to do and enjoys doing it isn't always the most steady and reliable source of income which is why some do it part-time alongside another career choice.
Promotion and copyright
As an artist/illustrator something to consider is the promotion and copyrighting of your work. From my artists Q&A I learned that the promotion of your work is something that needs advanced planning - getting an exhibition space can take months, more often that not years in advance booking which then creates to a lengthy build up to the event. Methods for promoting an event include posters/flyering, word of mouth, emails, newspaper advertisements. Having copyrights to your work depends on how you produced it. If your work was created for Work for Hire then this could mean that the rights of your work is someone elses, this includes reproductions and original artwork. Exclusivity to a company allows you to keep the copyright of your artwork and it means you are licensing the use of it, however if you sell the copyrights you can earn more money but have no control over what or how it is used. Not owning the copyrights to your artwork may make you more money but it also means that you don't have control over it and how it is then used.
Commissions and projects
I have worked on some commissioned pieces of my own which has helped me get an understanding of what it is to be working as an artist as part of my professional practice. The pieces I had been commissioned to create were fine art orientated and were oil paintings but still proved a useful exercise to get some experience working for commission in order to prepare myself for future illustration commissions I may do. I personally at this current time don't find working on commissioned pieces too demoralizing as I don't have time nor the desire to paint for leisure so find working on a piece for a client quite exciting.
The first piece I was commissioned to paint was for a local veterinary nurse back in my hometown. She asked me to paint a portrait of her German Shepherd and asked that I worked in oil paints. I had some previous experience in animal portraits from my studies of Fine Art and Illustration at A-level where I did a series of animal paintings. These were the paintings that she saw in an exhibition and got in contact with me afterwards to paint her own dog. I had previously painting oils on board as I had access to boards within my school but as I was working from my home and not my old studio I chose to paint oil on canvas as a cost efficient decision. We discussed the painting itself prior to me starting and exchanged several photos of her dog to work from, I was given the artistic decision to pick which photograph worked best for me to paint. It was also decided that I left the background simple and put the focus on the dog. I found no difficulties painting this piece, it was only afterwards that we encountered problems. The canvas itself proved difficult to get framed and costly (expenses not paid by me) but what I had initially thought was keeping costs down by painting on canvas later led to further expenses getting the canvas framed. I was oblivious to my client wishing to frame the piece so was unaware of this additional cost and that would be something I have learned from and will consider in future commissions to ask. I was paid the sum of £100 for this piece and no additional costs that were needed for framing were taken out of my commission.
The second commission I painted was for the veterinary nurses mother who enjoyed her daughters painting so much she wanted to have one of her own dog. Learning from my previous experience I asked if the client wished to have the painting framed which she did so this time I painted on a board that would be cheaper to frame than canvas. Again the commission took form in an oil painting portrait of a dog, this time a black Labrador. Unlike the previous painting my client wished to have her dog incorporated in it's background setting which meant more work for me as I was painting both her dog and the landscape which was a field of bluebells. This would be something to consider as with more work it may change pricing, but I had agreed to do the piece for the same sum of £100 as I had for her daughter and stuck to my word. I encountered no problems working on this piece and was given freedom on size and content, with several photos to work from as reference and only the inclusion of bluebells into the background to work in as their only request.
Another project I had been planning and working for my professional practice was painting a mural at Park campus for the university's media, radio and music department. Whilst the project itself remains uncompleted it was a good learning curve for working in the industry. Our brief was relatively open, we were given a blank canvas (wall) to paint on and the theme was linked to the department with full freedom to explore our own ideas under this theme. However, working in a group of 10 others on this project there was conflicting ideas and decisions which made the process more difficult to get started trying to settle on a unanimous design. As well as conflicting ideas amongst the group we were also sending back and fourth our ideas to the head of department in charge of getting the mural painted who also had their own vision. I can use the planning of this project as a learning point for working in groups on commissions/projects, whilst the numbers would help with getting the bulk of the word done nailing down a final idea that everyone agrees on slowed down the initial process. Another difficulty we faced was working to a short deadline. The project was to be completed for an forthcoming university Open Day so we had a short time to plan and paint it which with conflicting social hours to do this is was difficult as we had to paint it out of university hours when the corridor would be empty and fit this in around other projects we had on. Whilst this project was never completed it was a useful exercise to get experience working to a brief, in a group and to a deadline.
Overall doing this has been a good exercise and helped me get an understanding of the industry, working in it and what it is to have a professional practice. Things such as working on commission, booking exhibition spaces, working to a clients needs and problems you may face through this was a useful learning exercise in preparation for a potential career in the industry.
Sarah Buell Dowling
I came across an american artist, cartoonist and illustrator Sarah Buell Dowling whose work I really enjoyed. I emailed her and we arranged a Q&A session. Below are the questions I asked and the answers she gave:
Why did you choose watercolour as your primary medium to work in?
I chose watercolor primarily because I love line and I can use my drawing more readily as part of the image. Also, watercolor has a distinctive look that I still don’t use to it’s full advantage. You can layer and create wonderful transparencies. I, also, understand it better than oil. I haven’t really given oil my full attention so I wouldn’t rule that out for the future. I just find watercolor easy and very beautiful. It has a delicacy which I like.
I chose watercolor primarily because I love line and I can use my drawing more readily as part of the image. Also, watercolor has a distinctive look that I still don’t use to it’s full advantage. You can layer and create wonderful transparencies. I, also, understand it better than oil. I haven’t really given oil my full attention so I wouldn’t rule that out for the future. I just find watercolor easy and very beautiful. It has a delicacy which I like.
Is there anything you find difficult about working with watercolours?The thing I find most difficult about watercolor is something I’d probably find problematic with any other medium as well. It’s the warm/cool, value issue. I have a tendency to muddy up my work. The beauty of watercolor is its light playing through the transparencies. This is really dependent on color values, complements, cool vs warm choices. I often don’t make good choices because I just wing it rather than thinking it through. I think I can intuit my way through a piece, and I’m really not proficient enough to do that. I may never be able to do that. A painting really requires a lot of thought and preparation, which has surprised me the longer I’ve painted. In art school, we were encouraged to “feel” the painting, and frankly more garbage was produced there, and much of what was taught, I’ve had to ignore.
What would you say your intentions are as an artist, illustrator and cartoonist?
I think I have several intentions as an artist. I am a Christian so I would say that my primary intention is to please God. I am starting to do some work with Christian themes, and that may increase. My husband, who is a writer, just finished a book of Fables, sort of morality tales, and I’m starting to illustrate those. I think they’re brilliant, and they will, in all likelihood, appeal to the homeschool audience. Maybe beyond that, I don’t know? I also have a real drive to succeed in the art world. I think I must be fairly competitive. I’m now competing in international watercolor competitions, and would love to win some of those. I’m starting to win awards, which is nice. It’s much harder to make it as a watercolorist. There is a real stigma against buying watercolor art. But it’s not impossible!
I think I have several intentions as an artist. I am a Christian so I would say that my primary intention is to please God. I am starting to do some work with Christian themes, and that may increase. My husband, who is a writer, just finished a book of Fables, sort of morality tales, and I’m starting to illustrate those. I think they’re brilliant, and they will, in all likelihood, appeal to the homeschool audience. Maybe beyond that, I don’t know? I also have a real drive to succeed in the art world. I think I must be fairly competitive. I’m now competing in international watercolor competitions, and would love to win some of those. I’m starting to win awards, which is nice. It’s much harder to make it as a watercolorist. There is a real stigma against buying watercolor art. But it’s not impossible!
Do you work from life or references (photographs, memory)?
I work from life, from photos and my interior mind, whatever’s in there… I seem to be always torn in two directions; either realism or a sort of folk/abstract art. I just saw a top gallery owner who counseled me on my work. He loved the piece “Pensive” which is highly realistic, and a he saw an exciting direction with the piece “Cautious.” He felt that I could probably get away with those two directions but people get confused if there’s too much diversity. Again, you’ll see the two styles on my blog. The “Cautious” piece I find exciting because it’s my invention. Some people love that. Other’s love the realism, like with the Canada Goose, and I have to be careful not to just copy a photograph. It needs to still have something of my interior life to give it life, I believe.
I work from life, from photos and my interior mind, whatever’s in there… I seem to be always torn in two directions; either realism or a sort of folk/abstract art. I just saw a top gallery owner who counseled me on my work. He loved the piece “Pensive” which is highly realistic, and a he saw an exciting direction with the piece “Cautious.” He felt that I could probably get away with those two directions but people get confused if there’s too much diversity. Again, you’ll see the two styles on my blog. The “Cautious” piece I find exciting because it’s my invention. Some people love that. Other’s love the realism, like with the Canada Goose, and I have to be careful not to just copy a photograph. It needs to still have something of my interior life to give it life, I believe.
Do you have a favorite painting or piece of work?
I suppose at the moment my two favorite pieces are the same two as the gallery owner, “Cautious” and “Pensive.” But that could change tomorrow. Often, after I’ve finished a piece, I’m not really interested in it so much anymore. The puzzle or the challenge has been worked through, and I’m ready to move on to the next thing. And, that can include laying a new wood floor in our living room. I, unfortunately, like doing about anything with my hands…
I suppose at the moment my two favorite pieces are the same two as the gallery owner, “Cautious” and “Pensive.” But that could change tomorrow. Often, after I’ve finished a piece, I’m not really interested in it so much anymore. The puzzle or the challenge has been worked through, and I’m ready to move on to the next thing. And, that can include laying a new wood floor in our living room. I, unfortunately, like doing about anything with my hands…
I just thought, I will
probably be putting some of the illustrations I’ll be doing for the
Fables in my blog, if that should interest you.
Just
remember to stay true to yourself. I believe everyone has something to
say that only they can say. God made you with a purpose. Be careful in
art school. Teachers can seem like they know it all, but they don’t.
Stay curious, and make sure you love what you’re doing. I really believe
if you love it, you’ll be able to find people who will love it too.
Work hard, and you’ll eventually succeed. You may, or may not, make much
money but you’ll never regret how you spent your life.
Failed ventures
I struggled to find work experience and found a lot of dead ends or failed ventures. I sent out many emails to artists and illustrators in the hope to do Q&A's and potentially some hands-on experience but most of my efforts fell short. The same with working at a school due to conflicting holidays and term times. I did manage to do a few commissioned pieces of artwork and interview a couple of artists about their practice.
Another big project I was involved with but never amounted to the final product being made was planning and painting of a mural at Park Campus for the University. This was going to be a group effort (with 10 illustration students working on it) and we met for several weeks planning and drafting ideas and concepts, as a group and with university officials. However unfortunately with working to a deadline of an upcoming Open Day in a month the project didn't meet it's deadline and never went ahead. It was a learning experience though as artists with fighting your vision and a deadline and there needs to be room for compromise. We sent back and fourth our ideas and below are some of our developing concept ideas for the wall:
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| Project: Park Mural |
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| Rough sketch |
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| Refined and allocated rough |
Pricing and CV's
Pricing
We went through a variety of different illustration pieces and looked at what you as an illustrator could charge for them in accordance to the AOI (Association of Illustrators) website (http://www.theaoi.com/) and their pricing guide. Below are a few examples:
CV Making
As an illustrator having two CV's is recommended. The difference between the two is that one is a creative CV and the other is a skills CV. Creative CV's can be sent out to potential clients, agencies etc. and are artistic, creative, contain images and can be fun. A skills CV would have a simple layout and would be used in the application of a job outside of the creative industry and sent with a covering letter if required. A skills CV would contain the following:
Having already written a skills CV's before I decided to look further into what a creative CV's was and checked out examples of Pintrest. The variety and complexity of the designs to these are outstanding and in the illustration industry you need them to be to get the attention of potential employers.
We went through a variety of different illustration pieces and looked at what you as an illustrator could charge for them in accordance to the AOI (Association of Illustrators) website (http://www.theaoi.com/) and their pricing guide. Below are a few examples:
Book/CD/Records Covers:
£400 - £1,000 (Dependent on sales anticipation)
Educational Books:
£300 - £500 (Double-page spread)
Children's Picture Books:
£3,000 - £5,000 (Paid in advanced)
Earning royalties on your artwork is not paid until the advance is paid in book sales.
Greeting Cards:
£150 - £250
Magazines/Zines/Papers:
Cover: £500 - £1,000
Full-page: £450 - £850
Inside: £150 - £450 (Size dependent)
Brochures:
Cover: £400 - £1,200
Inside: £250 - £1,000
Additional costs to consider that aren't in selling your artwork but useful to know as an illustrator would be things such as: Advertising fees, Re-use fees, Rejection fees, Cancellation fees, License fees and Agency fees.
CV Making
As an illustrator having two CV's is recommended. The difference between the two is that one is a creative CV and the other is a skills CV. Creative CV's can be sent out to potential clients, agencies etc. and are artistic, creative, contain images and can be fun. A skills CV would have a simple layout and would be used in the application of a job outside of the creative industry and sent with a covering letter if required. A skills CV would contain the following:
- Education background (Degree, A-levels, GCSE's)
- Employment history
- References
- Skill set
- Hobbies and interests
- Contact details (email, telephone, mobile, studio address)
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| Examples of creative CV/business cards |
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| Creative CV design (blank) |
Jan Whitton
Below are the questions I asked and the answers I was given:
How long in preparation did you spend before putting up this exhibit? (Celebrating Colourful Cotswold Verges)
Jan told me that there has to be a considerable amount of pre-planning before putting up an exhibition with having two years notice on booking The Gardens Gallery to exhibit her pieces. Whilst Jan had two years prior to the event it wasn't until a year later that she started working on her pieces as she took inspiration from the summer before when the Cotswold was in bloom.
You work in both oil paints and pastels, do you have a personal favorite medium?
Whilst initially Jan worked exclusively in oils she won the Staedtler prize in 1995 at the NEC Artists exhibition for one of her pastels and since a large part of her work is pastels also. Jan told me she doesn't have a preference over the two mediums but that her oils sold better and proved more popular amongst buyers.
This exhibition is all your own work and linked under a certain theme, do you work on commissioned pieces also? If so, do you have a preference to creating pieces or doing commission work?
Jan's exhibit was all work she had done towards this exhibit under the theme but she told me that she does also do commission. However, she prefers to do her own work and sell it.
As an artist, what would the average working day consist of in preparation for this exhibition?
Jan works Monday to Friday and the average day would be spent painting from around 9:00AM through until 12:30PM/1:00PM in preparation for putting on an exhibition.
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| Jan Whitton evidence (not in folder) |
BBC4 Radio - Word of Mouth: 'Character Invasion'
Each had a unique insight as to what it is that makes up a character. Helen Cross believed that making the character relatable and seem real was important, taking sentences such as "He told me to go away" and actually writing them as they would be spoken "He said like just go away" and to draw characters from real people and your own experiences. Andrew Hilton said that understanding our own failures as humans helps him to make great characters that people will like and understand.
Portfolio
As an illustrator part of your professional practice heavily will be making and presenting portfolios. Each portfolio will be different and tailored to specific clientele however having a general portfolio that you update regularly with your ever changing practice is also useful.
As an exercise we each presented our "5 best pieces" to the class, this got us thinking about what work we've produced we're most proud of and what we think displays us as an illustrator best. I included the following pieces:
These pieces I felt I was most proud of and best displayed my range as an artist and illustrator. There are pros and cons to this. If you were to have a portfolio of limited range with same techniques and pieces you may be limiting yourself to an employer but putting in too broad of a range you may come across not having a specialist skill and whilst it shows diversity it may be too vague. This is why keeping a general portfolio with a broad range of work is good but tailoring your portfolio to whoever it is your showing is important. In reflection I may want to make my portfolio more specific and perhaps include more prints and less of my fine art pieces.
Portfolios can be presented in all manner of ways. Together we looked at making a simple Japanese stitch bound book with ballooned pages as this was a cost efficient way of making a portfolio. You can double-up images per A4 sheet with the way this type of book is folded and constructed and reduce printing costs. As I was yet to nail down a final selection of artwork for my portfolio I made a blank portfolio.
As an exercise we each presented our "5 best pieces" to the class, this got us thinking about what work we've produced we're most proud of and what we think displays us as an illustrator best. I included the following pieces:
These pieces I felt I was most proud of and best displayed my range as an artist and illustrator. There are pros and cons to this. If you were to have a portfolio of limited range with same techniques and pieces you may be limiting yourself to an employer but putting in too broad of a range you may come across not having a specialist skill and whilst it shows diversity it may be too vague. This is why keeping a general portfolio with a broad range of work is good but tailoring your portfolio to whoever it is your showing is important. In reflection I may want to make my portfolio more specific and perhaps include more prints and less of my fine art pieces.
Things to consider:
- Do not use original artwork in a portfolio - risk of damage
- Paper quality - a good quality paper enhances your work and looks professional
- Orientation - try to keep all images the same orientation
- Talk points - can you talk about your pieces
Portfolios can be presented in all manner of ways. Together we looked at making a simple Japanese stitch bound book with ballooned pages as this was a cost efficient way of making a portfolio. You can double-up images per A4 sheet with the way this type of book is folded and constructed and reduce printing costs. As I was yet to nail down a final selection of artwork for my portfolio I made a blank portfolio.
Business Card
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| Original artwork |
Group Task: Presentation
After each being given our own area to research and planning putting up our theoretical exhibition we had to present back our findings to the other groups.
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| Artists |
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| Fundraising |
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| Location |
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| Launch Night |
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| Advertising |
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