Logically Illogical

1.  In the end, a lot of people who go into art are people who are passionate enough they don’t really care about whether they’ll make a living as long as they’re doing what they love to do.  And strangely, by some cosmic coincidence, the people who care less about the money and more about the craft always end up making the most money.  You’d be surprised.

Gallery art is difficult to make a living from, because you’re relying on selling original pieces for a large amount of money.  Entertainment art, though, if you can get a job in it, you can totally make a living no problem.  In animation, a lot of studios are under the union called The Animation Guild (google them up, they have a site).  The rate for a storyboard artist at a unionized studio range between $30-$60 an hour.  $30/hour is when you first got hired and you have no experience, $60/hour is when you work for a big name like dreamworks.  If you can’t make a living with $30/hour, I question your lifestyle.

The difference is, of course, in entertainment art, you get paid well because you’re doing art for other people.  It’s never about what you like, but about what your director likes.  If your director likes what you like, great.  If not, you gotta compromise.   In gallery art, or freelance jobs, you can be more picky.  You can turn down jobs you don’t like and you can paint only stuff you want to paint.  You’re your own boss, but of course at the risk of not being able to make a living if no one finds your taste appealing.  There are pros and cons to both, you just gotta prioritize.

2.  The most rebellious thing I’ve done was back in elementary school when I snuck out to a friend’s house TWO HOUSES OVER to play SEGA when my parents specifically told me not to.  I got beat with a feather duster.  Needless to say, I’ve never had any rebellious phase since then.  

I don’t think I’ve ever been emo either.  There are a lot of good little things in life to be thankful for, so you just gotta look for these little things.  The big things normally suck, but the little things can make life worth it.  The closest I’ve ever been to “emo” was when my hair covered up one of my eyes like Sanji from One Piece.  Even that can hardly be called emo.

Oh god I even found the picture from 6 years ago.  This is so embarrassing.

3.  Wow, I dare not.

4.  Nop.  I didn’t have that many friends in highschool.  I blamed it on the mullet.

5.  I like to start with E51 as a base, then go over it with YR00 if I want more orange skin, E01 if I want a redder skin, or E41 if I want really pale skin, like for nighttime scenes.  Sometimes I can’t decide and I just mix everything together and hope for the best.  On top of that mess I like to lay E21, a bit of V91 and BV20 for cool shadows, and E33/E35 for the dark areas.

6.  It makes me honestly sad when someone as young as you are feel you’re too old to start.  Yes, I’ve drawn really bad stuff when I was younger, mainly copying Dragon Ball Z and Detective Conan, but I didn’t start drawing seriously until I was 21/22.  I am 27 now and I think I’m doing just fine.  The only tip to get past “I should stop drawing” is to stop thinking like that and just draw.  Look at a lot of different art.  Japanese, French, American.  Copy a lot of artists, take the things you like from them, forget the stuff you don’t like.  Everyone starts by copying.  Even students in art school have to do master copies as homework.  A master copy is when you take the work of a master / professional artist you like and you copy them.  The trick is to not just copy, but to also learn and break down how the “master” did it.  It’s never too late to learn.  

7.  What I just said above.

8.  Maybe, if I have time.  I do miss drawing OP stuff, but right now I really want to focus on original stuff, stuff that can define me as an artist, rather than stuff that gets me the status of a bootleg Eiichiro Oda.