3 Point Perspective: The Illustration Podcast

In this episode we swallow some pride and take a look at some of our less stellar moments. These are the times we wish we had a rewind button for life and could do things over. We have take away points from each story so you don’t have to make our mistakes again. Hopefully, none of you are as dumb as us! Story 1: Will’s Phallic Tortoise [01:31] Take away: When you’re learning how to draw it’s a lot like a golf swing. To do a golf swing right there’s 50 things you’ve got to know how to do and you can’t be thinking about them all at the same time. They have to flow naturally. And so you can concentrate on 5 of them at the same time. As an illustrator there’s 50 things you’ve got to know how to do to make an illustration, and one of them is composition. Make sure you’re composition isn’t set up in a way that it compromises the entire piece. Story 2: Lee’s Name Critique [7:45] Take away: Do your homework on who you’re meeting with. Take some time to understand what they are about, what they do, and why they want

Ship Happens Today it is all about shipping something and getting it out into the world. Often we talk about what the difference is between a professional and an amateur, the art is one difference, but another difference is professionals "ship." Link: Merlin Man Podcast When people are successful, one big hallmark of that success is that they actually ship things, which means that they finish things. They don't just finish things and keep it in their house but they share it with others, they ship it. Also, Seth Goddin, Linchpin Make sure you don’t just start a project and let it fizzle, don’t start one after another and let them fizzle.  Look at all of your artistic heroes under the lens of finishing things and shipping things, what you find is a constant project based mentality. Where their projects go further than they do, they have to figure out how to publish it, and look at who it is going to go to. Lee’s Story: After school, Lee needed to try and get work, so he did the postcard thing. His ide

Many people wonder, is it too late? Or, am I too old to start? Will, Lee, and Jake talk about this age old question and discuss how it isn’t too late. There are many successful creatives that didn’t start until they were older. Lee shares his story and how he didn’t start art until later on in life. We talk about ways you can amp up and make the most of your early years if you are starting for the first time, or looking to accelerate your growth later in life. We discuss some of the benefits of age and the need for sacrifice and prioritizing to create a thriving career in art. Links: Svslearn.com, schoolism, CGMA Sang Jun, https://www.sangjunart.com/ Lee White, https://www.leewhiteillustration.com/ Zombies video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngZ0K3lWKRc Jon Klassen, http://jonklassen.tumblr.com/ Craig Mullins, http://www.goodbrush.com/ Design 100 Somethings, Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxa01j9Ns7o Uncovering Your Style, SVS, https://courses.svslearn.com/courses/uncovering-your-style Yuko Shimi

MY ART IS GREAT, WHY WON’T ANYONE HIRE ME? Will got a really long letter from an artist who felt that they had done everything they were supposed to, they felt that their work was great, and they were frustrated that they still weren’t getting work. Jake and Will looked over this artist’s work and felt that the work was pretty good but not great. It was missing the style that fit the market that the artist wanted to go into. The style didn’t match the genre. You can’t do characters that look like they belong in World of Warcraft for a children's book. Often, it’s not that you can’t draw or paint, but that you are missing the mark on where you need to go. Your style isn’t hitting the mark with what you want to go into. Your style needs to match the intended audience. WORK ON YOUR CRAFT Sometimes we feel that when we can render something nice, we have arrived, and we feel really good about ourselves. While that’s a great start, and an important step, this is really “fool’s gold.” There is a lot more to good ill

Welcome to the 3 Point Perspective podcast. This is the podcast about illustration; how to do it, how to make a living at it, and how to make an impact in the world with your art. Your hosts are Jake Parker, Will Terry, and Lee White. For the last 25 years, they've all worked with just about every major publisher and every publication in the biz. They've collectively published about 50 books, and have all taught at universities. Each week, they're going to tackle a subject related to illustration from their three different perspectives. Sometimes they'll agree, sometimes they're gonna argue, but you are gonna learn something new every time. Here are some of the questions that will be discussed: How do you get discovered as an artist? Once you're discovered, how do you negotiate a deal if you've got a job? How do you get an agent to represent you? What are the tools that illustrators use (computers, software, pens, pencils, brushes)? Why do you create? How do you stay motivated? How do you battle creative blo