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Thread: Nick's Rage Against the Machine Spot

  1. #171
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    701
    You call that a rant - I think I need to coach you. You should watch the air turn blue when something technical goes wrong with my system - I've bought the cat ear defenders.

    Ooh - you've posted a link to my good mate Cris. She's a highly talented, driven and beautiful lady - in every sense of the word. Did you ever watch any of her livechat vids on It'sArt (to be found in the forum section)? She is another highly professional illustrator - and her partner Alex is just as dedicated to making their bsuiness fly. Great team. Anyone interested in Pin-Ups should definitiely check out her excellent site.

    Are you guys telling me that I've inadvertantly drawn a niche market hottie? Darn - back to the drawing board. That's not the idea - mutter, mutter, mutter. . ..
    Nick Harris Artwork
    http://nickillus.com

    New system as of April 2011
    i5 quad core - Asus P7P55LX
    Windows 7 Home Premium
    8gig DDR3 RAM
    Wacom intuos 3 A5
    Radeon 512mb graphics card


  2. #172
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    234
    Seen the Cris De Lara vids Nick and posted a link to them on Artrage in Tips and Tricks section.

  3. #173
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Valkenswaard the netherlands
    Posts
    262

    dragon's fire breath question

    Just got back from 3 days Barcelona Nick, So maybe too much sunhine......lovely city and ditto weather :-)
    just can't stand any broken tiles for the rest of the year...Don't know how that got to be so popular in the past.....if it's broken....FIX IT!

    anyway...

    Here's the illustration I'm struggling with, I'm working on a bedtime story book about "The Rusty knight"....All the great fairytales...but with a twist. The rusty knight completely fails were all the fairytale knights succeed...

    This time the target is the famous Rapunzel...but she's big, ugly and has greasy dreadlocks in stead of beautfull hair....and a very tiny but inflamable dragon to protect her...

    I would like the dragon to set fire to almost everything in it's neighbourhood...a lot of small fires (the sword will be made of wood...and I have yet to fix the hair...)
    So I would apreciate it if you could give me a hint on how to proceed ith the dragon's fire....

    There are 2 more illustrations, if anyone is interested, but surely this isn't the right place to post them..

    Arjen
    Attached Images Attached Images  

  4. #174
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    West Yorkshire, England
    Posts
    1,173
    Quote Originally Posted by Nickillus View Post
    Many thanks Jules - How the devil are you? Haven't really spoken much since the sad slip of the Ning into the hands of marketeering.
    Painter is a great software and did used to be my exclusive favourite - but has always been a bit overblown and fiddly to set up. Immensely powerful but could do with some of AR's friendly worflow thinking. Sketchbook Pro2 started the rot on my loyalty to it, being uncluttered and responsive like AR is. AR and SKB combined have weaned me right away from liking it much at all now.

    Being a pro - yep, definitely a double edged sword. Not that I can do much of anything else except draw and paint a bit, so not a lot of choices really. Rates of pay, haha. If I was a super quick young one (or even a super quick old one would be nice), then quoting hourly rates might not be a discouraging way to talk about payment. All three jobs are a flat fee, agreed up front, but there's not a lot of flexibility. The job's worth is dictated by budgetary constraints like everything else. Educational books for schools etc are pretty low down the pecking order because schools won't/can't pay for expensive editions en masse, no matter how lovely they might be. Just common sense.
    As an example - the finished illustrations (17 in total) as shown in progress in the grabs work out to about £60 each, and took several days per illo working 12-15 hours a day (told you I was slow). Safe to say I walk a thin line between treading water and going under. Luckily another of the three jobs paid about three times that because it was not for educational. I'm a terrible example of how to be an illustrator if you are thinking of making a good living. If you don't love it or have a burn that you can't turn off, I would suggest another line of work.

    Oh yes - meant to say - my screen - it's a 22in BenQ (rotatable so I could work portrait if I wished, but always forget to use that - too much hassle in my disorganised space too). Only cost about £150 a few years ago.
    Hows the cat doing Nick, has it still got its ear defenders in? LMAO!! You should come to my house when my pc crashes....the dog puts on its tin hat lol. Im great thanks still plodding on in cyberart land. Yeh Ning!! Money grabbing tossers. Ive been watching this thread, regarding payments. Ive just done a commission for my cousin, spent about 5 hours on a piece on artrage art, worked as fast as I could make my hands go with it, only charged £6.50!! Might have to start selling my body at this rate lol!!

    Keep up the good work hun!!
    You can view all my other artwork here http://spookyjules.blogspot.co.uk/

  5. #175
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    701
    Hi Guys,
    sorry for the delayed response - Up to my ears in chasing a deadline.

    Arjen - I've just not had time to address your burning issue - but I bet you will sort it out all on your talented own anyhow. I'm more or less tied to my desk on my current project deadline until the end of the month, but can take a look at it then if you still want me to - for the little my input will be worth.

    IMPORTANT - Talking worth and money again briefly - and I do mean breifly - So as not to put folk off considering illustration based on those awful figures I quoted for two jobs I'm doing - the other job I've finished just paid me over £3000 for 15 b/w plates (which nearly always pays lower than colour) - and there is a royalty deal attached, so if it sells well I may get some more fees. So there is decently paid work out there - it's just not as common as the other stuff.

    Jules - I tried the selling my body route, but ended up not only having to give refunds, but compensation for psychological trauma. So really not cost effective then - hurtful too. But that's just me. Even though you are far more attractive than I (not hard), I'd steer away from that plan, and up your fees for art instead. £6.50. Hang on while I reattach my lower jaw. Even I think that is waaaay too low, and you've seen what my yard stick is like (no innuendo on that last phrase please, chaps).

    Meanwhile here is a bit of progress on some of the Greek oriented project. Thought I was going to have to resort to Painter for it's speedier performance (spit curse) but couldn't stand it after about a day and a half - missing AR's lovelier work space and shortcuts like holding ctrl for a straight line. Yes you can switch between straight and free lines using V and B in Painter, but it's clunkier and really jarred, when I'm so used to just using the ctrl button on my Wacom for it. See how spoiled Ambient make you . . . . Love being spoiled like that.





    Nick Harris Artwork
    http://nickillus.com

    New system as of April 2011
    i5 quad core - Asus P7P55LX
    Windows 7 Home Premium
    8gig DDR3 RAM
    Wacom intuos 3 A5
    Radeon 512mb graphics card


  6. #176
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Valkenswaard the netherlands
    Posts
    262

    Great again!!

    It almost feels like the warm orange tones add more of an authentic feeling to the last drawings....the warm feel of Greece in the sunset..?!

    watched your dragon drawing for an hour of 3.... Think I can implement it on my own now....You can Laugh at me whem it's finished.. :-)
    Just stay focused on your own work for now!
    Have some client work to finish this week, and have to get my teachers license this week or I'll end up with an awfull lot of ambition, and an hamper box in a field somewhere.....

    But....thanks for the compliment!!

    Arjen

  7. #177
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Valkenswaard the netherlands
    Posts
    262

    rapunzel

    posted an update on the "work in progress" forum...

    Arjen

  8. #178
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Rome (Italy)
    Posts
    24,186
    You're going on with a wonderful Iliades series of illustrations, dear Nick.
    I hope this will pay royalties too in the years to come.
    I'm delighted by Your images and my schoolyears memories ...
    Thank You!
    Panta rei (everything flows)!

  9. #179
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    234
    Hi Nick


    Thought you and maybe other illustrators may find this of interest



    http://www.blender3d.org/e-shop/prod...roducts_id=134



    Blender and Artrage seems a brlliant combo to me for some of your work and may help you beat those nasty deadlines with tme to spare.


    The software looks scary and complicated, however, once you get to know the basics http://gryllus.net/Blender/3D.html even a dummy like me can build a high rise tower like this http://www.blenderguru.com/the-compl...ecture-series/

    James Gurney used clay and other materials to help him with his illustrations. In 2011, people like him are probably using the modelling software.

    Edit to add: David Revoy's website

    http://www.davidrevoy.com/portfolio.html
    Last edited by Chuckart; 03-24-2011 at 10:24 PM.

  10. #180
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    20
    back to OP, it is really funny this dark combination of lights. I was thinking of doing something like that myself. Very dark paintings have some unappreciated grace.

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