Category: Publicity

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Farewell to 2010, a very good year.

Well, that year went pretty damn fast!

I’ll be honest, I tiptoed into 2010, since there were warning signs that the economy was going to hit me pretty hard. Thankfully, I came through relatively unscathed, even though I suffered some bumps, bruises, and frayed nerves. In the end, however, it was a better year than the one before, which is saying a lot, since 2009 was pretty good.

I went back and skimmed some of the blog entries from this past year, and I’m pretty pleased with the way the year unfolded.

Editorial Cartoons

When 2010 began, there had been some pretty big shakeups in the industry. I lost a bunch of newspapers in January when Sun Media told all of its editors to ditch their freelance cartoonists. It seemed every week in January and February, I’d get another phone call or email from an angry editor (not angry at me) telling me my services were no longer required. Some of those editors I’d worked with for years.

Canwest News Service was in severe financial trouble as well, and it was a very scary time for anyone working in the newspaper industry. I seriously thought that this might have been the beginning of the end for the editorial cartoon portion of my freelance career, but as the year went on, I recovered those losses and then some, and it really didn’t hurt me. If anything, it was the wake-up call that I needed to start planning for a future that likely won’t include editorial cartoons.

A few of my colleagues didn’t fare so well, and in the ‘Be Careful What You Wish For’ category, I’m very thankful that I never did get that daily newspaper job that I wanted so badly when I was still new at this ten years ago. Turns out there was a lot more stability in freelancing.

While you never know which cards newspaper budgets will deal in 2011, I’m a lot less nervous about it than I was last year at this time. The big lesson is the same one nature herself has been teaching throughout history; those who adapt, survive. In this economy, that’s true for every profession.

Freelance Illustration

I was more selective about work that I accepted this year. Clients that I like working with who pay their bills took precedence over the ones who began a conversation telling me they wanted it cheap and fast. When I was just starting out, I took whatever came through the door, as most of us have to, but I’ve learned from most of my mistakes, and can now recognize which jobs will advance my career, make best use of my skills, foster relationships with long term clients, and in a perfect world, will be enjoyable to work on.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t make mistakes this year, because I had a couple of big ones. One of them could have cost me a fortune had I not recognized it for what it was before I’d invested too much of my time and money into it. So, I did need to relearn a couple of lessons in 2010.

Get EVERYTHING in writing, and if it sounds too good to be true, it is.

Those Animal Paintings

In January, I posted my third painting in the animal series, the Bull Elk, and in that blog entry, I said, “Hoping to get at least 15 of these done before April.”

I laughed out loud when I read that again this morning. 15 by April?! Sure, if I had NOTHING else to do, that might have been feasible. Not sure where the line is between optimistic and delusional, but at least you can’t say I didn’t aim high.

At year’s end, I have seven of them finished, with two more in the final stages. While I still would like to have fifteen done by April (hey, I didn’t say which YEAR in that blog entry), I’m not going to beat myself up if it doesn’t happen.

When the year began, I was just starting to look into getting prints done, and talking to galleries. As the year closes, I’m regularly doing painting demos in Banff and Canmore, the paintings are selling well in both locations, I’m now getting queries for commission work, and I’m making long term plans for many more Totem paintings in the years to come. It’s exciting, and I’m looking forward to seeing where it leads, because I can’t remember ever enjoying my work as much as I do when I’m painting these animals.

The challenge is, of course, finding more time to do it.

Surprises

I was asked to illustrate a 1970 Mach 1 Mustang in a somewhat realistic but still cartoon style by a friend for their annual car club auction. This friend handles all of my computer work, builds my custom computers every couple of years when I upgrade, and is only a phone call away when I need help, so I agreed to do him this favour.

This was very difficult and I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off. I didn’t have much fun while working on it and wished I’d said No. In the end, however, I was quite pleased with how it turned out, and I’d like to try something like this again in the future. I’ve had some nibbles from other car enthusiasts who’ve seen it and while no real bites yet, it was a nice piece to add to my portfolio. And I’m sure I can do better on the next one.


Another surprise was that I bought an iPad, and I’m really not a ‘gadget guy.’ I spent weeks going back and forth on whether it was just a toy or legitimately worth it for my business. When I finally decided to buy one, I kept waiting for the buyer’s remorse to kick in, but honestly, I love the thing (and not just for Angry Birds). It’s a great portfolio display device, an enjoyable magazine and book reader, and an incredible portable sketch pad. Who knew that I would love finger painting so much?

Photoshop World

Las Vegas was easily the highlight of the year for me. I had known before going to Photoshop World, that I’d been nominated for two Guru Awards from the three images I’d submitted, and while I wanted to win, I went into the event expecting to lose, especially for Best in Show. The number of talented people that attend that event means you can’t take anything for granted, so as cliche as it sounds, it really was an honour just being nominated.

I could play humble and say that awards don’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but I’d be lying if I said that these particular ones didn’t mean anything to me. I was very pleased. The icing on the cake was the Wacom Cintiq tablet that came with the Best in Show Award. While I still use my Intuos4 every day for cartooning, that Cintiq is a joy to paint with.

While I plan on returning to Photoshop World again in 2011, it is very unlikely that I will enter the Guru Awards. The work that I would submit would probably just be another in the Totem series, so while it would be new animals, the style wouldn’t be anything they haven’t seen. It would also be very difficult to top the experience I’ve already had.

I’ve met some wonderful new people this year through my work, formed new relationships, built on old ones, and for the most part, I’ve kept moving forward, even though I ground the gears a few times while shifting. It hasn’t always been the smoothest of rides. Despite a few errors on my part, I wouldn’t have done anything differently in 2010, because I’m happy with where I’m at right now. I will, however, be starting 2011 with some course corrections.

But that’s a blog entry for next week. Happy New Year.

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Final Painting Demo of the Year


Last Saturday, I was painting in Banff, but this Saturday, I’ll be in Canmore again for the final painting demo of the year. Still working on the Owl and the Bighorn Sheep, and they’re really starting to come alive. I’m working on the fine details of both paintings and while they won’t be done ’til January, they’re awfully close. Probably another five or six hours left on each.

If you happen to be in the area on Saturday the 18th, and would like to see some digital painting, ask some questions, or just stop by to say Hello, I’ll be at Two Wolves Trading Company from 11-3.

Hope to see you there!

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Painting Demo Prep


A couple of half finished paintings I’ll be working on today at Editions Gallery in Banff. This morning, I’m taking an hour to do my prep.

The prep work for one of these sessions is fairly easy, just making sure I have all of the pieces I need. For hardware, it’s my laptop, Cintiq, spare Intuos4 tablet, iPad, secondary display monitor, connection cords, power cords, and extension cords. For software, it’s having the working files for the paintings, the reference photos to paint from, the Photoshop brush set for live painting and making sure that it’s all working well. Finally, I need to bring any surplus canvas and paper prints to have on hand if the event generates any extra sales.

I’ve done 6 or 7 of these now, and each one gets easier. What’s the difference between the first one and the one I’m doing today? Well first of all, I was incredibly nervous the first time, and today, no nerves at all. As in all things, the hardest part is usually taking the first step. At this point, it honestly just feels like going to a part-time job.

In the beginning, I was disappointed if these live sessions didn’t result in sales, but that’s no longer the case. The paintings are selling well now without the demos, so the goal from these appearances is just to generate interest and provide a little education. While somebody may not buy a painting today, they may see one a month from now and remember that they saw me working on something similar. Sometimes having a connection to a painting, having a story to tell about it, makes the image more desirable.

There’s a lot more I need to learn about the publicity and sales aspects of these paintings, and I imagine that will always be the case. So I’ve chosen to keep doing these painting demos on a regular basis, and just consider it ‘on-the-job’ training.

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NAPP-A-THON


Anybody who knows me professionally will have figured out that I’m a fan of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. I’ve been a member for 6 years and I’ve often told people that if there was only one organization I could belong to, it would be NAPP. I have learned a lot from this affiliation.

Whether it’s their online training, their crash courses on the first day a new version of Photoshop is released, or the great experience of attending two Photoshop World events, NAPP consistently gives me good value. And best of all, I consider so many of the people I’ve met online and in person through NAPP to be valued friends and colleagues, not to mention some of the most talented people I’ve ever run across.

The best thing about NAPP, is that they try to have fun with their training, even though it’s often intentionally cheesy. If you’re not a NAPP member and would like to get an inside look at how they operate and what they offer, tune in tonight for NAPP-A-THON. Even though it’s free, be sure to register in order to qualify for prizes. 7PM Eastern for three hours. Should be fun.

And yes, there will be cheese. Guaranteed.

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Another Painting Demo in Banff


The Bow Valley is usually quite busy this time of year. Whether it’s folks visiting for skiing or other winter activities, shopping for the holidays, or just taking a break from the city and coming out to see the fresh snow on the mountains, there are plenty of people milling about Banff and Canmore on the weekends.

With that in mind, I’m going to be doing a couple more painting demos before the year closes out. This Saturday, December 11th, I’ll be at Editions Gallery in The Cascade Plaza in Banff from 12-2, 3-5, and 6-8, working on the Bighorn Sheep and Great Horned Owl paintings that I currently have on the go.

If you’re in the area, stop by and watch a little digital painting, ask a few questions, or just say Hello.

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Painting Demo


Today and tomorrow, I’ll be doing another painting demo at Two Wolves Trading Co., as mentioned in a post earlier this week.

The images you see here are what I’ll be starting with. At this point both of them are still at 72 ppi, which is only web quality. I still consider these both quite rough. I usually don’t blow an image up to 300 ppi until I’ve got ‘the bones’ of the image done, which I’m pretty sure I’ve got for the bighorn sheep, but not quite for the great horned owl. There are still some structural issues I’m not quite happy with, but that will come with a little more time.

The reason I start at 72ppi is that I even though I have a fast computer, Photoshop doesn’t always do well with really quick sweeping brush strokes when it comes to a large size image with a high resolution. With painting at a lower resolution, I can move the pen/brush as fast as I want without any lag. Lately I’ve found a lot of good results with painting very fast in the beginning at low resolution. It gets to a point where I’m not thinking too much while I’m doing it, and if you ask anybody that knows me well, they’ll tell you I almost always think too much. At this size, I’m just throwing colour and brush strokes around, figuring out what’s going to work and what’s not.

The other reason I start with images at this stage when I do painting demos is that people don’t want to see the first blobs of paint and then be told that eventually it will look like a bighorn sheep or an owl. They want to be able to see the animal I’m working on.

A little different method this time around. I’ll be using my new Cintiq tablet, which means I’ll be painting right on the screen. Another great use I’ve found for my iPad is using it to store my photo reference. Great screen quality, and I can flip through the different images I’m using quite easily.

If you’re around Two Wolves Trading Co. in Canmore today (across the parking lot from Safeway beside Starbucks) between 2-4 or tomorrow between 12-2, stop in, ask questions or just watch. I’m able to talk and paint at the same time.

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Photoshop User Magazine


Got a nice smile this month when I opened the December issue of Photoshop User magazine. While NAPP had asked me last month for permission to use my images, I didn’t realize it was going to be such a big spread, so it was a very nice surprise. While this image of the Wolf Totem is the first page of the article, all of the Guru Award winners from Photoshop World in Las Vegas AND Orlando earlier in the year are featured on the subsequent pages, so my Moose Totem is in the article as well. A great spread of images. They even quoted my Photoshop World blog entry.

The above photo doesn’t do the image quality justice. I switched to the Zinio reader and the digital version of Photoshop User when I bought my iPad, so this is a photo of the screen, which never quite works out. The magazine was already great quality, but I prefer being able to zoom in on the images to check out the detail. And it takes up a lot less space on my bookshelf. The actual iPad image of this page looks incredible.

Photoshop User is available on newsstands, but it’s included if you’re a NAPP member, just one of the many perks. Usually it’s 8 issues a year, but just recently NAPP announced that they’re increasing it to 10 issues. For regular readers, that’s a big bonus, as it’s one of the few magazines I read religiously.

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Another Painting Demo


Another painting demo is scheduled for this weekend in Canmore!

Two Wolves Trading Co.
Saturday, November 13th, 2:00PM – 4:00PM.
Sunday, November 14th, 12:00PM-2:00PM.

Of course, if there is enough interest on either day, I’m happy to stick around longer than the times listed above. In addition to the giclee canvas prints, Two Wolves now has two sizes of matted paper prints available for the Grizzly, Ground Squirrel, Moose and Wolf paintings.

For this painting demo, I’ll be working on the next two paintings in my Totem series, a Bighorn Sheep and a Great Horned Owl. If you’re in the area, and are curious about digital painting, come on by and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have.

Here’s a sneak peek at the Bighorn Sheep in progress. This is still pretty rough. I begin these paintings at a resolution of 72ppi, so that I can move as fast as I want with any brush, and there won’t be any lag whatsoever. After I get the basic image worked out, I’ll increase the resolution to print quality before painting in the detail.

I anticipate that the horns are going to be the big challenge on this one. There are many ridges, with lots of texture, and to get the detail that I want, I would imagine this one may be the toughest one to date. Then again, wait ’til you see the feathers on the Great Horned Owl.

If you’re in the Bow Valley, hope to see you at Two Wolves on the weekend!

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NAPP-Canada Facebook Page


Having been a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals for the past six years, it should be pretty clear by now that I’m a fan.

There are only a couple of organizations I belong to, and this is the one I’d hate to be without. From weekly video tutorials, the latest news and info about the digital image industry, not to mention that these are the folks that put on Photoshop World twice a year, NAPP has almost everything I need to stay at the top of my game.

I consider many of the people I’ve met through NAPP to be good friends, and I’ve yet to meet a more helpful bunch of talented people. While many of the forums you’ll find online often degrade into squabbling playgrounds, the NAPP forum is well moderated, very civil and supportive, and is one of my most valuable resources. I can’t count how many times over the years I’ve had a problem that was solved instantly by posting it on the forums, whether it was specific to Photoshop or just freelancing in general.

Since social media is obviously not a passing fad, NAPP has recently expanded their already active online presence to include localized Facebook pages. In the U.S., they’re focusing on cities and states. Here are the links to the NAPP-Chicago page and the NAPP-Arizona page to give you an example.

Internationally, there are national Facebook pages for different countries. I was asked to run the NAPP-Canada page and I’m happy to do it. While much of the information I post will be related to NAPP events and releases that aren’t region specific, I intend to put a Canadian spin on things wherever I can, which will hopefully involve more than references to Tim Hortons and hockey.

You don’t need to be Canadian to ‘Like’ the page. You don’t even need to be a NAPP member, although when you see all of the great benefits, you’ll probably want to become one. Become a NAPP member, I mean. Not Canadian.

Here’s the link. Hope to see you on the Facebook version of the Great White North. Cheers!

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Business As Usual

While I normally try to have a blog entry done every week, lately I have been remiss, simply because of my heavy workload. Because of the projects I’ve agreed to, and the fact that I want to put my best effort into them, I have decided not to take any new commission work until the new year.

Here is a brief update of the various items I’m working on, in addition to the daily editorial cartoons.

Cartoon Illustration DVD
This has been a big learning experience so far and I’ve got nothing but positive things to say about PhotoshopCAFE. I’ve had a ton of great support while I learn the ropes. In a perfect world, I’d like to put everything else aside just to pour all of my energy into this, but the bills have to be paid, so it’s a juggling act.

There have been a few hiccups, but nothing insurmountable. The first install of Photoshop CS5 Extended didn’t take, and it was freezing up daily. A reinstall thankfully solved that issue and it’s been working well ever since. Camtasia Studio 7 is the video screen capture software that I’m using, and so far, it’s working smoothly. For any Mac users out there, I’ve been told it doesn’t work well on that platform, so fair warning, but I’m on Windows and the only issue I experienced was a conflict with my Wacom tablet. A download of the latest tablet drivers solved that problem.

I’ve been using a CRT monitor as my main monitor for years as I’ve always preferred them to LCD screens, but due to aspect ratio limitations and the requirements for recording, I finally had to make the switch to the 24″ Samsung that I’ve been using for my painting demo display. I’ve used a dual monitor display for years, but the new size makes it feel like I’m using three. Whether it was the LCD or the larger size, the first couple of days I had a splitting headache and sore eyes. I’ll admit to being worried that this was going to be a major problem, but I’ve since gotten used to the new display and am quite enjoying the increased screen real estate.

Lesson plan and sketches have been approved, test recording has been done and submitted, so all that’s left is the actual recording, which I’ve started this week. I won’t lie, it’s been pretty intimidating, but I’ve no doubt I’ll be pleased with it when it’s done.

Totem Prints
The paintings are no longer available at Editions Gallery in Red Deer as I removed them earlier this month. After a number of months in the gallery, there wasn’t one sale and apparently not much interest in them. Whether it was because of the style or the subject, I don’t know, so I’m just going to accept that Central Alberta may not be the right market for these paintings, at least not now.

The paintings are selling well in Canmore and Banff, and I made a trip into Calgary yesterday to pick up another batch of prints. This is the first batch of framed canvas prints and I’m very pleased with how they look. The framed Wolf and Moose Totem paintings will be available in both Banff and Canmore today in the 18″X24″ size.

A line of matted paper prints will be available at Two Wolves Trading Co. in Canmore today as well. The Moose, Wolf, Grizzly, and Ground Squirrel in two sizes, 11″X14″ and 16″X20″. Each print is mounted with a black matte, open edition, ready for framing. I’ll eventually have all of the Totem series available in matted paper prints.

New Totem Paintings
Another live painting demo is scheduled for Two Wolves Trading Co. in Canmore on November 13th and 14th, working on a bighorn sheep as my next image. I’ve wanted to do this one for awhile. I already have the next four paintings planned out, and have secured the rights to the reference photos for three of them. As I haven’t done any new paintings since I finished the Wolf, I am very anxious to get started.

There are a couple of other projects I’m working on that I can’t talk about yet, but needless to say, I’m busy, and while there are days I’m hanging on by my fingernails to balance it all, I’m doing what I love for a living, and grateful for it.