Welcome to the next installment of
Art the Art Director...
I recently received a question as part of the
Ask the Art Director portion of
ArtOrder, and thought it was a nice industry-wide question. Due to the nature of the question, I sprinkled my list of AD's with some cover artists that I've had the opportunity to work with.
And here's the question:
"I'm a recent graduate from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco in illustration. My dream is to do fantasy book covers. I have really focused my portfolio on that and I know I have everything it takes to be a great freelance cover artist, but now I can't seem to get my foot in the door.
I was sure all I needed was a rep, but I've had no responses from any. By the looks of it, 99% of the artists I see being represented are doing graphic and cartoony stuff which I will never be able to do. The reps are only interested in art that is viable for advertising is how it seems.
So my question is--how do I meet the right people? How do I get my art seen? Do I need to start at a publisher smaller than Wizards or Tor? If so, how do I find them? Are the conventions really a good way to get started?
Check out my site if you have time to see what I have to offer."
I left the artists name and url out of the email on purpose. While they agreed to ask their question in public, I wanted to allow them the option of reading the critiques in private.
And the answer is...
I'd like to thank our contributors this time around. They took time out of their very busy schedules and participated in our little community. If you found this vaulable, please let them know...and send me your
Ask the Art Director question (instructions below)
From Lou
First, you cannot sit back and wait for a rep or agent to create opportunities for you. As with all things, you really need to do the leg work yourself and make those contacts. Yes, you can make contacts at conventions, although you need to identify which conventions Art Directors are actually attending, since it won't do you any good to attend a convention with no Art Director presence. Art Directors are beset every minute of the day with emails and postcards, most of which go straight into the trash. So you do need to be out there, portfolio in hand, putting faces on the names etc... Furthermore, I've never hired off a postcard and only once off an email. The vast majority of the artists that I personally have hired have come to me via a personal recommendation, either from another Art Director, or
from another artist. So be a part of the community. Meet your fellow artists. Related to this is the injunction that you be professional. I can think of two artists right now whose work I love but who I cannot work with because I cannot trust them to behave in a professional manner. How you carry yourself is just as important as what you do.
Second, I'm perplexed by your question about where to find publishers other than Tor and Wizards of the Coast. If you are interested primarily in science fiction and fantasy book cover illustration,
go to a bookstore and read the logos on the spines. There are a great many genre publishers besides those two, from major houses like Orbit to midsized publishers like my own Pyr Books to small independent presses like Tachyon and Night Shade. Many of the independent presses have a larger presence on the con circuit than some of the major houses these days (who are leaving traditional cons like World Con for the San Diego Comic Con). There are also smaller presses, magazines, websites, all hungry for art. And, of course, there are also international publishers. There are opportunities there but you have to seek them out.
Third, make sure you are at the top of your game. The competition is fierce, and no one owes you a career. Art Directors are only going to pick the cream of the crop, so if your work is 90% there, it might as well be 10%,and because you will get passed over for the artist who is 100%. Looking at your own portfolio, I would say that your work strikes me as more suited to concept art or interior magazine illustration than book cover art. The b&w pieces strike me as the stronger compositions, while the style of the color work is too loose for cover work.
So, as with everything, no one has your own interests at heart more than you do. When I took martial arts, they told me that anything less than the amount of force required to break the board would break your hand instead. So why aim for "good enough" and risk missing? Be the best their is, comport yourself as the most professional artist out there, make yourself part of the world of professional illustration, and don't wait for someone else to delivery a career to your in-box. Good luck!
Lou Anders
Editorial Director
Pyr Books
Follow me on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/Pyr_Books
From Todd
Attitude is far more important than anything else. It’s not something you can be casual about. If you are not passionate about pursuing a career in art, I can guarantee you that your competition will be. Study, draw, network, draw, paint, study, draw, visit museums, get schooling, draw, paint, and go to art shows. And draw. I know artists with sterling educations who cannot ignite any passion in their viewers. And I know artists with no formal training that can blow your doors off.
I hear an alarm bell in your comment "I know I have everything it takes to be a great freelance cover artist." Do you? How do you know that? Confidence in your abilities is a good thing, but if you're sure you've learned everything you have to know, you're wrong. You must be willing to learn,
and never stop learning.
The most important thing for this genre, is to have the basics down. Know your anatomy, understand the color wheel, light and shadow, perspective, and composition. Don’t think you can fake a human body unless you understand it inside out- literally. Most artists shouldn’t try to fake it ever.You have to know a little bit about everything, and I mean everything. Biology, anatomy, engineering, math, astronomy, meteorology, physics, religion, myth… It all comes into play at one time or another. Computers have changed everything, so you need some computer skills. More and more artwork is being done for computer games; I suspect that 3D computer art will be the best market for years to come. A good concept artist is hard to come by, and all the computer shops need ’em. That said, you have to know your art skills, and never assume that you have anything down "well enough." I can’t stress this enough, even if you intend to work mostly on computers. You can’t depend on computer applications to do your lighting and effects for you; you can’t tell when the computer is getting it wrong if you are letting it think for you. Learn what things really look like by painting or drawing them.
You're right that most agents simply aren't interested in this genre. It doesn't pay enough. They want those chunky advertising budgets so that when they take their 35% there's something left for the artist, too. You really will have to take your career into your own hands. Go where the artists doing the work you want to do go to hang out. For science fiction and fantasy, that would be science fiction and fantasy conventions. Almost all of them have art shows, but some of the better ones are Comic Con, Dragon Con, Gen Con, and World Fantasy (Search the web for more info on these). Network, get critiques, observe and learn. Attend the Artist Guest of Honor’s slide presentations. Talk to them. It will energize you and inspire you. This is the most important thing you can do: see and be seen, make friends, travel, learn the ins and outs of the business from the people who are already there.
Never stop learning.
Todd Lockwood
Freelance Illustrator
website
From Kate
For myself, I find new artists through a number of different avenues. A lot of times, I “steal” someone else’s artist. I see a cover that I like and find out who did it and give them a call. I also look at Workbook and Shannon Associates. But that doesn’t help Trevor, who hasn’t gotten a foot in either of these doors yet.
I also find artists through Spectrum (he could submit his own unpublished work) and through Art Drop and Art Order contests. Conventions can be a good tool too. You get face-to-face time to sell yourself as well as your portfolio of art. I also look through the websites of artists I like and check out their links to other artist websites. I’ve used recommendations from other art directors and editors, too. And of course, I watch the growth of our D&D interior artists.
Cover work is really hard to get. There is only one cover for each product while there may be 50 or more interior art pieces to commission. Most of my cover artists began as interior artists and many continue to do interior work in addition to the covers. One of the nice things about having so much interior work for D&D is that I can see if the artist’s day-to-day work actually meets their portfolio work, how they take direction and meet deadlines without the huge risk of commissioning a cover.
Kate Irwin
Art Director
Dungeons & Dragons and Mirrorstone Books
Wizards of the Coast
From Ralph
The fantasy art community is a friendly environment, and I am sure you will receive a lot of support in your endeavors, as evidenced by the ArtOrder blog itself, but you are also directly pitching your art, and your accompanying skill set,into a global market. I do believe the market operates broadly as a meritocracy, with quality and professionalism being the deciding factors. However positioning yourself where those factors can be appreciated is the challenge, and I am sure that you will receive lots of good advice from other respondents on the details of that.
Key is that if you want to do covers then show that you can, and you do that primarily by doing them. If that means working with smaller publishers, or taking less well paid work, to create covers rather than other illustrations, then you might have to do that to pursue your career objective. Publishers, understandably, are disinclined to take risks on the key visual aspect of their product. Your portfolio, combined with a published track record, will have to convince them of your ability. That said, you already have one thing you will need, confidence and self belief, don't be backwards in putting yourself forwards, and good luck.
Ralph Horsley.
Freelance Illustrator
Website/
From Mike:
Taking a quick glance through your portfolio I think your immediate focus should just be on creating compelling illustrations and continuing to grow as an artist. Covers will come with time. At present I'm not sold that your style or skill set is ready for covers but I think that it could be with some hard work. If you want to draw monsters, armor, etc. you may want to consider searching for full time employment in video games and taking on freelance work in the hobby games industry (there are plenty of companies out there). Once you've taken on a few interior illustrations and start to prove yourself you can start building a professional portfolio and a reputation.
As for conventions, yes they are a great way to network and get your name out there. The true test though is going to be how often you update your portfolio early on in your career and how much you continue to grow as an artist.
Right now if I were to critique your portfolio there are 3 things that jump out at me.
- A lot of your characters look rather posed. It's not that they aren't well rendered, they just look a bit lifeless. Focusing on gesture might help bring some life back into them.
- Fairly consistent camera angle. Try switching it up a bit. Have some fun with forced perspective, place your horizon at a 45. Bring the characters right up to the camera. Right now a lot of the pieces leave me feeling detached. I don't feel like I'm in on the action or I'm there observing what's happening.
- This brings me to my final critique and that's composition. Framing and figure placement mean everything! Draw the viewer in to the piece. Ask yourself, what is the most important element of this illustration and what can I do to focus on that both in composition and render?
The last thing is that there are some unfinished looking pieces and some older looking pieces in your portfolio. The pieces on page 3 are so dramatically different than the ones on page 1 that I would have no clue what level of work I could expect from you as a freelancer. I have to say that my favorite pieces out of your whole portfolio are Page 2: 2nd row far right. Page 3: Far left 1st and 2nd rows. Favorite is the first one 2nd row on page 3. I hope some of this helps!
Mike Vaillancourt
Art Director
CthulhuTech
From Irene
Agents:
In this internet age, no one really needs an agent unless you are the type
that finds it difficult to promote yourself. I know, and like, a number of
agents, and it is true that they have direct contact with some art
directors... but, in the end it’s ALL about your portfolio. Having an agent
or not wont change that. You are probably best trying to form relationships
with clients yourself.
If you are set on finding a rep, be sure they have the connections you want.
It doesn’t usually help to be the token sf/f artist in a group.
Portfolio:
Take a hard look at what the clients you want to work for are publishing and do everything you can to get your work up to that level of professionalism. That does not mean copying their style — now, more than ever, having an individual voice is key — but the quality of the work needs to match what is already being published. If you just graduated, then that is likely to be a few years of hard work before you start getting the bigger clients.
Marketing:
The unfortunate truth about marketing — you never know what is going to work or when it will work. A postcard sent today might get you work right off, or, it may stay tacked to an AD's wall for years before they call. I'm constantly going through years old Spectrums. A promising portfolio review my stick in my mind for ages before I have the right assignment. There's no
way around it: Emerging artists need to take advantage very means of showing their work, update those efforts, and try to stay confident that steady progress in their work (artistically and marketingly) will pay off in the end.
Networking:
While you are working hard at a portfolio, you should be networking with everyone you can. Go to the conventions, hang out with the artists and art directors, listen and learn as much as possible. I find many, many artists through word-of-mouth — either from direct recommendations from friends or through blogs and social networking tools. So, again, you never know what connection will come to fruition. The key is to be genuine and open minded — nobody likes the hard-sell. Start a blog or twitter account where you can talk to, and share ideas with, fellow artists...eventually your sphere of influence will grow...as long as that portfolio keeps getting better. ;-)
Irene Gallo
Art Director
Tor Books
And a word from our sponsor
I think there's some really great information and wisdom hiding in the above answers. Myself, I really enjoyed reading each one of them and comparing their opinions and ideas to my own.
I'm going to try not to repeat a lot of information, but I do have a few things that I would like to add/reiterate.
Getting into the game
If you want to be a cover artist, you need to remember one thing. Being a cover artist is like dreaming of being a MLB super star when you are playing little league ball in elementary school. It's a wonderful dream...but to make it more than a dream you have to have a plan, goals, and a willingness to do a LOT of long hard work.
The first thing you need to do is objectively review your art and compare where you are, and where you need to go. Having trouble getting objective with your own work? Then get some time with a professional, and ask them to give you a brief and concise measure of your ability. Don't ask your friends, your parents, or your significant other (unless they can be brutally honest, like my wife). Once you take stock in where you are at, figure out what it is going to take to get where you want to be.
Irene Gallo and I were having a discussion about a artist recently and she made a comment that really hit the nail on the head. She was talking to an artist and reviewing their portfolio and saw one piece that had promise. She said, "See this one - go do 10 more just like it, and then we can talk again." Dawn Murin once answered an artist question of ways to break in by saying simply "Get better!" The truth is simply, if you want to get work - you have to get better. If you want the top shelf work - then you have to get even better yet!
I've said this before, but it bears repeating. There are only so many book covers out there in the publishing world. Let's pretend their are enough covers for 50 artists. Are you one of the top 50 artists in the world? No? Then what are you going to do to become one of the top 50?
...or do you just plan on grabbing a voodoo doll and take out the competition one pin-prick at a time?
We can talk about representatives, portfolios, self-promotion, and a million and one different subjects that surround the world of the freelance artist, but let's cut to the chase here -- if you quality isn't up to par, you won't get the work...period!
Kicking it up a notch
So what do you do to get better? At the risk of sounding simplistic - paint, draw, create. Irene was spot on with her comment. Find you best piece in your portfolio and do 10 more just like it. Find the best of those 10, and do 10 more just like it...rinse and repeat often.
Need some inspiration? Join in with any one of the challenges you can find on the web...conceptart.org, CGHub, ArtOrder, and a million others. Use them as primers for ways to kick your work into gear. Learn from other folks entries, successes, mistakes, and ask for feedback from the community.
To borrow from Todd "Never Stop Learning!"
Burning desires
Do you have a big question? One that is bigger than one little AD? One that takes a community to answer? Then drop me a line, and
Ask the Art Director.
To Be Seen...
Got questions, or want to see a discussion on a particular subject. Drop me a line at
TheArtOrder.
Have you seen a new face, or seen an old face that is doing something new and exciting? Then send me a link to their website, and tell me why I should go check 'em out. Remember, this is a referral program - not a self promotion program! The genre doesn't have to be limited to fantasy and sci-fi either...
Send your referrals to
TheArtOrder, and put "Referral" in the subject line.
Don't forget that you can also send your art submissions to
Wizards of the Coast at
ArtDrop Submissions. Please make sure that your submissions do not total more than 5 Mb, or your email might get bumped.
Go Forth. Create!
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