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By Timothy Piotrowski, February 18, 2011 7:33 am

I’ve talked about the difference between having talent and developing that talent into skills. It’s hard to divide the two clearly. A person could have a natural talent for something like color arrangement, while someone learns it as a skill. Both may be equally adept at it, and it would be hard for a person to know that just looking at the finished work.

Below are some drawings I did over the last few days.

The final art however, were these illustrations:

The drawing displays my talent. I have a natural talent for drawing. (which can be seen in some of the other figure drawing I’ve posted in the past).

The illustration (And there is a difference between drawing and illustration), shows the skills I’ve developed over the years. With drawing, it’s more of letting myself free to work and to see what happens. Many times when I’m drawing, I will be really loose, and see what lines or shapes come out, and then go back and hi-lite those lines and shapes that I find help create the image. Some of my favorite characters have come about this way.

But when I go to take it to an illustration, There is much more thought up front. I find that if I spend time thinking about the final illustration before starting it, I get much better results. Often I will do a tight pencil drawing in between sketching and illustrating. This gives me time to think about the different aspects, how to approach them, what’s the best way to achieve the results I want, and more details just start filtering in.

The tight pencils are a blend of using my talent and skills. I let myself the freedom to explore with the pencil, but I also keep in mind the composition, what colors I might want to use, and more.

By the time I moved into doing the final illustration, I would say I’m mostly in the skills side of things. It’s skill that lets me get the shading how I want it, the texture of surfaces, and more. Is there some talent there? Yes sure, but I would say it’s in the passenger seat instead of driving.

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By Timothy Piotrowski, October 15, 2010 7:00 am

So, NYCC has come and went. I shared a booth with several friends, and even did my first panel, which turned out better then I hoped. It was at 6:30 Saturday, we walked over around 6, and got there 15 minutes early. There was a large crowd waiting to get in. We asked if they were here for the panel, and they were, and I got nervous. It was a lot of people. So many in fact, it became standing room only, and people got turned away.

But everything turned out great, and I got some good laughs, and after people said I was really funny and did a great job.

I had decent sales for the show. Last year, which was actually in February of 2009, I sold more books in less time. I made the cost of being in the con back and then some. So another good thing.

A person who works for Diamond distributors asked if I had any thing more then Kool Aid, because she thought my sense of humor was really great and wicked, but that mini’s are a hard sell for them. Which I totally understand. She gave me her card and said when I have something ready, to get in contact with them.

I didn’t get to go to the Marvel party for freelancers, it was invite only, and I didn’t know the people you had to talk to personally to get an invite. Besides, having only done one 8-page story, I might have felt like a gate crasher, with more experienced freelancers there.

The week after the con has been good too. I got several direct orders for Kool Aid, one of which was because it was reviewed on Pop Candy. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the orders where because of that site, since they all came on the same day, the day the review hit. I will send her a thank you, as it’s important to let people know what they did had an impact.

I also got another re-order from a store for Kool Aid. I love reorders, it means the store feels they can keep selling them.

And then X Magazine asked if they could get a copy of KAGF to review in their magazine. I said sure, and asked if a PDF would be better, which they said yes, because it helps them with tight deadlines. So wooosh! Off goes the PDF. Note to people, have a decent but manageable file size PDF of your work that you can send for just such a thing.

I would have been happy to send a printed copy, I do set so many aside just for that. But I always offer a PDF. One it makes it them not have to wait for the actual book, there is no postage, and if they want to run art, they can use the actual PDF for some decent printable art.

So if you don’t know how to make PDFs, I suggest finding a friend or person that can, and asking them for help, and then offer a little something, because setting it up correctly and all that, takes time.

I do love doing these shows, to see what comes out from them, other then sales. If you are doing these shows to make money, prepared to be disappointed much of the time. If you do them for fun, or a little vacation if you travel far, then whatever you get out of them is a bonus.

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By Timothy Piotrowski, August 15, 2010 9:16 am

Recently I went to GenCon, the best 4 days in gaming! It’s a total nerd-fest of gamers, and is a lot of fun. I went for the fun, but also to help out my friend Marc Scheff who had his first booth in Artist Alley. With us was Jeff and Caroline Himmelman, and Aaron Miller.

I sat there amongst all these awesome fantasy art illustrators. I was a little apprehensive at first. But that didn’t stop me from talking to them. Marc, Jeff and Aaron all introduced me as their friend and as fellow illustrator.

More then anything, that meant a lot. I’ve been calling myself an illustrator for the past two years, with confidence. No, I’m not fully supporting myself yet doing just illustrations. That’s probably several years off. It’s actually how I see myself these days.

When I got to meet other artists and talk with them, I was able to talk with them on the same level, a professional illustrator, and all that goes with being an illustrator, getting work, where to look for work, how to deal with clients. When you are a commercial illustrator, there are lots of area that are common, regardless of what kind of illustration you do. And I was able to say, I do editorial illustration and that was cool with everyone, there wasn’t any sense of “oh your not a fantasy illustrator…”

I gave out several copies of Kool Aid Gets Fired, and got a really great response towards it. Saturday, I got a text from fellow cartoonist Monica Gallagher, saying “Dude, I’m in a comic book store right now and this guy is totally gushing over Kool Aid!”. Then about a hour later, and email from someone that picked up Kool Aid from Midtown comics, telling me how much he enjoyed it (and how sad it was at the same time).

I left GenCon feeling really energized, and I wasn’t even there to promote myself or get work, though I did leave my comic with several art directors. You never know when a game company does a silly game and needs whimsical illustrations.

It also reinforced that being an illustrator is something you have to pursue actively. Marc was there to get his work seen, and hopefully sell some prints, which he did. For a first GenCon, I think he did pretty well. He got great reactions from people to his art. In particular to his animal prints. Sales are always great, but sometimes feedback is better, even though it doesn’t have any bankable value. Feedback guides you to make better choices.

Marc got to talk to lots of art directors, getting direction and possibly some work. We both got to talk shop with each other, and other artists, and it felt great. Actually it felt amazing to be honest. For me the moment that stood out most was one night (I can’t remember which night), before going to sleep. Marc, Aaron and I shared a room. It was late and we were just sitting around talking, and it wasn’t about art, just guys sitting around being guys (I’ll spare the guy talk details). But under that we shared the bond of having the same struggle and goals.

While a lot of the time was socializing, hanging out, watching Marc take his first nerd steps (He’s totally into Magic, the card game, thanks to Jeremy Jarvis), it was still networking.

Now, here is a list of the awesome artists that I got to meet and talk to besides the ones mentioned above.

Chris Seaman, check out his new book, inkBloom with the talented Jim Pavelec.

The Mohrbachers, Ania and Pete. They traded a very nice print for a signed copy of Kool Aid.

John Stanko, Eric Deschamps, Paul (the Prof) Herbet, Chris Burdett (rawr, I’m a monster!) and Grant Cooley were just some of the many artists there, but I actually got to talk to them the most.

While sitting at Marc’s table, I did some drawings, so here is a couple of them.

Kool Aid Goes to GenCon

Rascal Pile up at the dice bins

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By Timothy Piotrowski, August 1, 2010 6:16 am

When I started out trying to make money off my talents, I was very unprepared and lacked a whole world of knowledge. I’ve learned so much in the short time I’ve been in New York, and most importantly having networked with other illustrators.

So I feel I have to pass that information on when others starting out ask for it. I try and tell them what I would have needed to know when I was starting out.

PORTFOLIO
Make one. Really. Any way you can. The simple fact is that people are hired based on what they have done. Even the best art director is looking for some one that can already create the art they want.

A portfolio contains completed successful pieces. I think the key words are completed and successful. The project should clearly be finished. Not a sketch or missing elements. And it should be successful. It doesn’t have to be something you did for pay, only that it works as a final piece.

For years I never had an organized portfolio. If anyone came to me asking to see it, I would have to scramble to get something together. And I would always have to put in pieces that were not complete or that I wasn’t entirely happy with. And I’m sure it came across. I’m sure it also stopped me from getting work.

All the illustrations I did for Son of Kool Aid were done for myself. Each one is complete and successful. I feel I can show any one of them as part of my portfolio and feel it stands up on it’s own. They never fail to get a good reaction from people when I show them.

When you finish a piece, consider if it’s portfolio worthy or not. A piece might be successful and just what the client wanted, but it might not always be something you want to show to other prospective clients. I do a lot of maps for a boating magazine, to show the different locations of places one might visit in the area. I don’t put them in my portfolio because they don’t represent what I am as an artists. I’m not embarrassed or anything, they just don’t work as portfolio pieces.

I’ve got what I call my general portfolio, that I show for people coming to see what I can do. I then have other pieces that are my second wave. All of these are as good as anything in my general portfolio. If a potential client wants to see more, I know I can show them more, and not worry it doesn’t measure up.

Or if someone asks me to send examples of work, I can customize what I want to show them. Perhaps they use more painterly illustrations. Maybe they like simpler drawings.

This doesn’t mean you need hundreds of pieces. But around 15 would be a good start. If you don’t have those, Get to work. One idea is to take illustrated work, and ask yourself how you would have handled the illustration.

Get feedback. And accept it. If someone says you have some weak pieces, find out which ones, and why they seem weak. I suggest finding other artists or art directors. Your friends will probably just feed your ego over giving you honest feedback. And don’t be discouraged. Once I had an illustrator who I really liked suggest that I would make a better designer then illustrator. It hurt, but I didn’t take it to heart.

Feedback should guide you to making better choices, but not change your direction.

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By Timothy Piotrowski, July 18, 2010 5:40 am

Recently, several cartoonists friends have asked me for advice about what to charge for doing illustration work, something they didn’t have experience with. It meant a lot they came to me for advice, so I tried to give them the best I could.

But the truth is, one artist can’t tell another exactly what to charge. But thankfully, they just wanted general advice, and to bounce ideas. One conversation took place in a group and someone said “You need to make sure you get value for your work.”

What is value? To me, it’s getting what I feel I should be paid for my work. For some, it’s getting the highest a client is willing to pay. Others have set fees and never go below that.

I do similar style illustrations for two different magazines. The magazines are on completely different subjects, have different ad rates and circulation numbers. One pays about 4 times as much as the other because of that.

For the same amount of work, I get wildly different amounts. For me, that works. You will find illustrators that disagree, saying it devalues the work. I disagree. The lower paying magazine gives me on average 2-3 illustrations a month, and comes out 12 times a year. The higher paying magazine gives me 2-3 a year, and comes out 6 times a year. Over all, the lower paying magazine brings in much more money over the year.

I’m getting value for my work, either way. Ideally, I would love to fill my time with the higher paying illustrations. More of those means making more money, which means having to spend less time looking for work, and more time working on my comics.

But I’ve built up a really good relationship with the one magazine. You never know when my contact there will move on, and because we have a good relationship. Which is how I ended up at the higher paying magazine, because I worked with the art director when they were a designer at the same company I worked at.

It’s a tricky thing, having to come up with a price for your work. Start with asking yourself the following: How much do you want to do the project?

If the answer is, you could take it or leave it, then it gets easier, come up with a price you like, present that, and if they take it good, if not they will pass.

If the answer is, you want/need the work, then you need to strike a balance. The balance is between getting what you think you are worth, and what the client can pay, or is willing to pay.

First thing, how much does the client want to pay? If the potential client tells you what they can afford, if it’s within your acceptable price range, then negotiations will be short.

If they don’t tell you up front what they want to pay/can afford, the first thing to do is ask, or state what your rate is, but that you can work within a clients budget. You and the client then work out the details.

You can set minimums for yourself. For example, the minimum I work for is around $30 a hour. That’s the lowest end. So, if I’m getting say $150 for a spot illustration, then I won’t put in more then 5 hours of work.

Also, the less a client can pay, the less changes I offer. The client that pays the $150, gets thumbnails, they pick one, I flesh it out, they make changes/suggestions, I do finals that include those changes/suggestions, I send final with invoice. Pretty simple, straight forward, and gives the client some input along the way.

The client that pays me $1500 gets thumbnails, revised thumbnails if needed, roughs, refined roughs if needed, tight pencils, final art, one round of tweaks and changes after finals.

Keep in mind, this is also based on the amount of time I have to do the work. A $150 illustration is about half a days work, a $1500 illustration is several days over a few weeks worth of work. If I have a week or less to do a more complex illustration, the amount of changes along the way are going to be less for the client.

Value for your work comes down to you thinking you are getting a good price for your work over always trying to get the most money possible. That means being honest with yourself, and learning to be flexible from client to client.

In the end as long as you are making money, not just covering the cost to do the work, then you are getting value for your work, and your self.