Thursday, September 18, 2014

Should I be Afraid of Drawing Glyphs?

What the glyph?

A glyph is a visual shortcut to communicate story information. Similar to hieroglyphics that have images for men, pharaohs, water  and more to help tell the story.

Glyphs take the form of stereotypes, caricatures, audience expectations and lazy drawing.

Stereotype examples





Caricatures


Expectations

There are some characteristics we associate with how an evil person can look, so we rely on glyphs to communicate that quickly to an audience.

The hero has the square firm jawline. The audience expects that, so when they see it, they think heroic character.

Lazy Drawing

This is an Asian man. 


This a lazy drawing of an Asian man, with exaggerated slanted eyes.


Drawing Crutch
An artist may also draw the same eyes and mouth all the time.The characters may be different, but the eyes, mouth and nose shapes will always be the same or similar. It’s a learned drawing crutch from mental or muscle memory.

This completes our look at the visual vocabulary used in comics, graphic novels and comic strips.

Next we start our look at anatomy. Oh, what fun we'll have!

read next - It's Not Grey's Anatomy
previous - How Much Should I Charge for My Art Services?

Keep reading and follow me. If you have found this helpful, please let me know and share with other creators. Are the explanations clear and complete? Feel free to ask me questions.

Remember… Just Create!

If you are interested in further expanding your knowledge, then I recommend these books.

You can support this blog when you purchase a book by clicking the link below, I get a piece of the action and helps me to continue doing this blog. Support an artist today.

Please support me making video tutorials on Patreon

copyright 2014 H. Simpson

Thursday, September 4, 2014

How Much Should I Charge for My Art Services?

How much is my time really worth?



The comic book industry is a different animal from the rest of the world concerning payment. Even at the major level, it sometimes compensates you for the time you spend creating and is still far below real world rates. Once you become a name creator, you can make much more than the rates listed below.

When you do work in the advertising, editorial, film, television or game industry, you will be asked what your rate is to do the work?

Here’s how you figure out what your time is worth.

1. Add up all your monthly bills. 
For example*:

  • Food - $200
  • Rent (with utilities) - $1000
  • Phone - $80
  • Internet - $80
  • Cable - $80
  • Car Insurance - $100
  • Gas - $250
  • Supplies - $50
  • Misc (laundry, haircuts, etc) - $200

Total = $2040

2. 40 hours x 4 = 160 hours per month 

3. 2040 divided by 160 = $12.75 per hour is your absolute minimum, Accept nothing below this!

$12.75 per hour is the minimum you can make in order to pay your monthly bills. The client is not just paying for time. If you only wanted got get paid for time, then you could work at a fast food joint.

Now let’s multiply $12.75 by 3. Why 3 do you ask? I’m glad you asked, because they are also paying for your talent, education and experience.

4. $12.75 x 3 = $38.25 per hour is your starting rate.

You may of course charge more ( and most of the time you should), but now you know the absolute minimum you need to make to pay your bills. You should try to avoid jobs that don’t meet your minimum. So if you need to negotiate, start  high and work your down to, but not past your starting rate.

*This is only an example. Your monthly bills will be different. Include what you have; health insurance, credit cards, debts, school loans, any quarterly payments (divided by 3), your child's dance lessons, diapers, your always broke relative, etc.

read next - Should I be Afraid of Drawing Glyphs?
previous - Color Troubles? Calibrate Your Monitor

Keep reading and follow me. If you have found this helpful, please let me know and share with other creators. Are the explanations clear and complete? Feel free to ask me questions.

Remember… Just Create!

If you are interested in further expanding your knowledge, then I recommend these books.

You can support this blog when you purchase a book by clicking the link below, I get a piece of the action and helps me to continue doing this blog. Support an artist today.

Please support me making video tutorials on Patreon

copyright 2014 H. Simpson