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Ask a Pro
Ask a Pro is a collection of illustration related questions answered by top art directors, designers, editors, artist representatives and other professionals in the commercial illustration industry.
If you have a suggestion for a question or know someone who might be a good candidate to answer a couple questions
Contributors
How do you justify getting paid for what you do?
(more questions)
First, I'll say something about art in general: I think one interesting
thing about art is that many people think it is an unnecessary and
frivolous addition to the mechanical functioning of life and is
therefore devalued. The Bauhaus notion of "form following function"
is a perfect example of this attitude, which has become very pervasive in
much of our society, not only in design (and art), but also in people's
beliefs about life and themselves. Luckily, we have had many decades to
dismantle some of this ideology. Obviously form will always follow
function in the commercial world, especially in product and
architectural design, but beauty is something deeper than function. Or,
as it has been said before: Form is Function. It may not put food in
your belly or literally save your life. But it does feed the soul like
nothing else can. How many times have you been completely devastated
(in a good way) by a beautiful painting or an amazing piece of music?
How many times have you been completely devastated by a well
functioning product? I think, as humans, we crave beauty, and that is
why it is valued. To ignore this is to call ourselves machines, which
is a sad illusion.
Now, about illustration: Illustrators clarify and embellish the
messages of their clients. We make things beautiful, or funny, or
scary, etc. We help establish a mood. We are basically trying to get at
the essence of the message via visual language. This is considered
valuable to clients because it is valuable to their audiences, which is
supposedly why we get paid for what we do. But the other thing it does
is that it adds beauty to everyday things. It is an essentially human
desire that we fulfil. I think that may be the real reason we get paid
for what we do.
Kristian Olson (more answers by this person)
Freelance Art and Design
Kristian Olson Art and Design
http://www.kristianolson.com
In your opinion which medium do you consider is the easiest and which is the toughest to work in and why?
(more questions)
I think they are all fairly difficult to get proficient at. Each has its own advantages
and disadvantages, and each artist must dedicate him/herself to their chosen medium
in order to become proficient. I will say that certain media are easy to learn
at first, but they are all difficult to master.
2D digital media (Photoshop, Illustrator, etc... my own medium of choice) are
somewhat easy to begin with. It only takes two seconds to draw a simple shape.
So you can throw a few shapes together, add some gradients, and now you have a
cute little character that you can license to someone. But to actually do something
that impresses people takes a lot longer. You are constantly fighting the cold,
cheap, mechanical look of the medium itself.
3D digital media seem to be much harder both to learn and become proficient at.
Oils are semi easy at first. You have so long to manipulate the paint because
of their slow drying time. You can stare at a piece for hours and come back to
it when you are ready... sometimes days later, depending on the paints and the
humidity. But, regardless of that freedom, to actually become proficient and make
art that is sellable
takes much more time.
Acrylics are somewhere in the middle for me. Their fast drying time allows much
spontaneity, but this also means you can’t screw up as much as you can with
oils. I’ve done several oil paintings that I've been very happy with, but
very few acrylics.
Watercolors are impossible. One mistake and it’s over... or at least it
seems that way to me.
So, there you have it: 3D and Watercolors are very difficult. Everything else
is just difficult, but might be easy to get into.
Kristian Olson (more answers by this person)
Freelance Art and Design
Kristian Olson Art and Design
http://www.kristianolson.com