Friday, July 08, 2011

Episode 102--Questions and Answers ( or reasonable facsimiles there of)).

In this episode Socar, Drew, Kieran, and Jeremy join forces to answer questions culled from facebook response to our desperate call for show topics.
Many thanks to all who dropped us their questions for this episode! We had a blast discussing them.
Apologies for the lateness of this episode. Jeremy is buried in work and preparations for an event he is overseeing in his hometown so editing time was at a severe premium.
He's also been hiding in his basement in fear of ninja monkeys with guns.

We hope you enjoy the show!

***Don't forget to get your World Toilet Day cards ready! We'd love to see your take on what a Hallmark card would look like for that revered holiday. :)

***Share with us your convention horror stories!

note: We lost Kieran at some point in the recording. He was not devoured by his dogs as our dire imaginations had posited. The internet merely proved a fickle hellcat and stole him from us the rest of the show. He'll be back soon!

17 comments:

Joe Slucher said...

yeah yeah yeah it's Alvin not Alfred.

As far as selling out I guess I was thinking more in terms of pursuing work that pulls away from your goals. Like if your a fantasy illustrator and somebody offers you X to essentially do graphic design, web design, cartoon,etc. Yeah it puts money in your pocket for the short term but you might quickly find it sabotaging your long term career goals.

Jan said...

Many thanks for answering my question!

(Jeremy, you weren't that far off with my name. Probably one of the closest attempts I've ever heard by westerners.)

Kieran got to the core of it I think, with the comment "one needs to figure out a process that's the same for all the illustrations, so they'll end up more or less similar".

I had to "finish" a couple of pieces for a project I've been working on for over a year - because they looked completely different to the newer pieces for the same project. At the time I simply took less time to do them, they were rough and crappy.

If all of them were on this level, they might've been acceptable, because at the time we thought they were kinda ok.

But I either started caring more and painted the later ones nicer, or I just got better at painting. And the contrast in quality and style was just too obvious.

Answerig part of my own question - there simply was no time to repaint them from scratch and I still liked the composition. So I tweaked and finished them.

It took 3 days and 3 nights without sleep, but it worked. ;P

I didn't do all the illustrations for this book, but I've done more than I usually contribute to RPG projects. The book is done and done and will be released soon. :)

(and I'll finally be able to share all 18 pieces on my blog, yay! \o/)

Sam Manley (MidnightIllustration) said...

Hi Ninjas,

I used to have back problems from working at a computer, but I've sorted it out by taking regular breaks to stretch, and I practice Tai Chi which helps immensely with posture in general.

Jeremy - re. a 'Ninja Map', I sent you an email a while back with a couple of possible approaches to it. I can re-send if you didn't get it.

mikeburns@mikeburnsart.com said...

World Toilet Day sounded way too ridiculous for me to not give in...

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/190/7/9/world_toilet_day_by_flammableperson-d3li0lq.jpg

Aledin said...

Being a fulltime artist makes things easier when freelance requests come in.
I can refuse them ALL! hahah
Joking, but at least having a steady income makes me a lot pickier and focused on the things I like to do on my spare time.

I agree with Socar regarding themes: I'd refuse political content as well, AND religious stuff.
Anything else is fine, ESPECIALLY boobs!

Jan said...

Jeremy, Ultimate Warrior's main problem isn't that he spoke too few words, it's quite the opposite.

I recommend watching this documentary on Youtube - The Selfdestruction of the Ultimate Warrior. Hilarious stuff, if you don't find this level of insanity sad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7_RgCG9AE4

Chantal Fournier said...

It seems Jeremy really isn't always so blurry if he's a model now:)

The conversation about the possibility of a master class was interesting. I've been considering teaching (not necessarily in a college, but there are smaller private schools, or I could teach privately) but I don't know if I'm there yet, and I feel it would be a little pretentious to put myself out there as a teacher.

On the other hand, if a get together were to happen not too far from me, I'd be willing to join. Aside from Drew and Jeremy, are there other ninjas in New England?
Maybe you guys have heard of the retreat thing organized by Dan Dos Santos where a bunch of artist spend a week in a barn doing art (a lot of ppl have blogged about it, it's not hard to find info and pics)
So something like that might be nice, if it were rather shorter than a week.

On a completely unrelated subject, I noticed that some ninjas are part of the owners of Illodeli, so would it be possible to get some of them to talk about their experience with it? is it gaining momentum? Would they do it again? How much work is it, comparatively to how well it does?

I have also read about freelance curators lately, basically, how some people just find alternative spaces to organize art exhibits and don't wait for galleries or museums. I have a show currently up in an alternative space (concert venue) and I was wondering if any ninjas have experience with exhibiting and tips regarding that. Also, do you think it's good for illustrators to spend energies on show or do you think your time is better spent working on commissions?

Sorry for the rambling!

Alonso said...

regarding ArtOrder's contests I'm right there with Socar. I'm not entering because it's going to be used to evaluate me for possible work, therefore it has to be top polishable work, not fun push the boundaries exploration stuff, which kind of has defeated the purpose of the contests. You're only as good as the worst thing attached to your name. or so I see it

Unknown said...

This may be a little bit on the late side, but I felt an urge come over me to comment upon the whole IRN BRU thing.

I'm originally Norwegian, but I've been studying illustration in Wolverhampton for a year and after hearing Socar Talk so longingly about Irn Bru I felt I had to check it out. So I went to my local Tesco store to see if I could find said legendary brew. I did, and I have to say that that stuff looks like it could fuel nuclear reactors or something. I was going to try it out but after seeing it I actually wimped out. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite so orange in my life.

(Love the Podcast and have been listening to it in silence for quite some time. Never quit guys)

From Anita at www.anitanight.blogspot.com ^^

Patrick McEvoy said...

Hey everyone - sorry no one's been answering your incredibly cool posts! And I, predictably, have nothing cogent to add except to say that we REALLY appreciate your comments and THANKS for listening. And if I ever have a single thing to add you can be sure that I will.... Because as you may have noticed it's hard to shut me up.

Jeremy McHugh said...

Likewise--sorry for being away. I've been organizing a juried exhibition for the NH Creative Club this past week and a half. It was a ton of work I can tell you--it also explains the lateness of the episode.

So much to do!
Glad I didn't completely butcher your name, Jan. Gave it my best shot. :)

midnight illustration--I remember that and am looking at the options. Many thanks for the heads-up on that. Just have to figure out how to implement one of them for this show. :)

Mike--that earth looks like its holding on for dear life! Bravo!

Chantal --An art retreat seems very much in line with what I'm imagining. It need not be an expensive large event. Food for thought. I hadn't heard of Dan's art retreat . Pretty cool.

Alonso--out of fairness to Art ORder---Jon doesn't make recruiting the focus of those contests. It is really only a small side effect of them. There are plenty of good reasons to get involved and not to concern oneself with that aspect of it. Understandable though to be worried about how the quality of the work might affect how one's work is seen.

Really glad you folks enjoyed the show!
We should be recording another episode this week!
---Jeremy

Anonymous said...

Anita, don't be discouraged by the virulent orangeness! IRN BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!

(I swear, my craving keeps growing. I will have to order some online, soon.)

Unknown said...

Glassman: Hehe didn't you mention that it turns your insides orange?

I sympathize with your longing though. I have been craving "Urge Intense, Red Sting" which is a Norwegian energy drink for almost a year now. Thank goodness I'm going back to Norway soon :p

Can't family or friends just send you a batch of Irn Bru? Must be cheaper than ordering it one would think.

Kiri Østergaard Leonard said...

I want to do something for World Toilet Day, what's our deadline on this? :D

Also are there any ninjas in the New York City area?

Max Antonov said...

Hello.

First of all, let me thank you for doing your podcast, it’s just amazing!

I’m beginner artist and want to break into industry, so I’ve got a few questions, if you don’t mind.
Right now I’m in process of building my portfolio. I have several pictures in pin-up style and I want to post them on stock sites, like psptubesemporium.com, stickerchick.com and also show them on my website as demonstration of my skills and style. I plan to do fantasy illustration and art for Trading cards as well. So the question is: is it Ok to have my pin-up art in separate section of my gallery (on all-purpose site) or should I have two different sites (fantasy and pin-up)? My point is to show my clients that I can work in two different directions and show both armor-design and sexy-drawing skills.
But also I don’t want to scare of serious art directors from fantasy illustration field. I’m curious ass well if it’s any chance that posting my art on psptubesemporium.com or stickerchick.com can bring me bad reputation in eyes of fantasy-related clients?

P.S.: Sorry for bad English.
Thanks for any information and my best wishes.

Max Anotnov

Eve said...

Hi ninja! I have a question for you.

I have often heard (or read) that it's best to have a bit of a conversation going on when an A.D. checks your portfolio. I was wondering if that was indeed true and if so, what do you talk about?

Unknown said...

Hey guys awesome shw and i love the links to that ergonomic stuff. Very very important and useful.

The bananas were indeed at those ridiculous prices for a while there because the last Hurricane to hit the Queensland coast wiped the whole industry nearly off the map. Its the only place in Australia where they grow them, as far as i am aware, and it just cleaned them out. Whole fields in a few hours, along with the houses and boats and anything else in its path, goneskees.