Stare 6

Stare 6 by ~bipeds on deviantART

my Stare series have reached number 6.
nice, I think I'll put more work on this series.

made on white paper as usual,
with black gel ink as lineart as usual,
various pencils as shade as usual,
photoshoppe tweakings as... you get the idea..

Why is it ... so ExpensivE !? ( π • π )

Why wonder ? just ask.

do you know why art pieces always soooo horribly expensive ?
an oil painting on canvas would probably cost you 10k either it in $, or ¥, or £, or RM.
a caricature of your simple face can dig from your pocket RM 10.
a potrait could make you RM 50 poorer.
and I think you Malaysians have heard that MAS have bought an art piece that priced RM 3, 000, 000 and made them broke.

• TalenT
  

yes, it is always about talent. people don't develop talent overnight.
an artist took years and years of development of talent, development of stroke, of style,
of favorite choise of medium, development of everything.
from a stick man drawing, to detailed real life-like man,
through and over of gruelling practices, researches, comments, critics, under estimations and whatever you think you can put on the list.

and these whole learning process is nonstop. there are always new things to discover in art.
and learning needs money by the way.

• IdeA

building the idea is a living hell, everybody knows that, especially if you're working in any creative department.
it takes times, a lot of times to build a good idea, and a lot of times more to make a very good one. sometimes it took just a couple of hours, sometimes ridicolously it took years. I have a drawing that I was started working on it since 2003 but just finished it last year.
and these mind block sometimes came out of nowhere just the time we need the idea the most.

and then, we have have to transfer the idea to the paper. this is when things getting more complicated.

• MaterialS

paper, canvas, pencil, pen, computer, printer, sensitive tablet, food cost money. not to mention the oil price is higher nowadays.

Art is not just about idea, it's about perception. it is about how the artist define the world we living in and translating it to the canvas.
and just like thumbprint, every single different artist differs from one another. the piece that you had in your hands, there is nothing else like it.

of Being an Artist : Part 2 (last part)

Graphic artists, illustrators, painters, etc., are skilled tradesmen. As such, to consider them as, or deal with them as, anything less than professionals fully deserving of your respect is both insulting and a bad reflection on you as a sane, reasonable person. In short, it makes you look like a twit.

A few things you need to know;

1. It is not a “great opportunity” for an artist to have his work seen on your car/’zine/website/bedroom wall, etc. It IS a “great opportunity” for YOU to have their work there.

2. It is not clever to seek a “student” or “beginner” in an attempt to get work for free. It’s ignorant and insulting. They may be “students”, but that does not mean they don’t deserve to be paid for their hard work. You were a “student” once, too. Would you have taken that job at McDonalds with no pay, because you were learning essential job skills for the real world? Yes, your proposition it JUST as stupid.

3. The chance to have their name on something that is going to be seen by other people, whether it’s one or one million, is NOT a valid enticement. Neither is the right to add that work to their “portfolio”. They get to do those things ANYWAY, after being paid as they should. It’s not compensation. It’s their right, and it’s a given.

4. Stop thinking that you’re giving them some great chance to work. Once they skip over your silly ad, as they should, the next ad is usually for someone who lives in the real world, and as such, will pay them. There are far more jobs needing these skills than there are people who possess these skills.

5. Students DO need “experience”. But they do NOT need to get it by giving their work away. In fact, this does not even offer them the experience they need. Anyone who will not/can not pay them is obviously the type of person or business they should be ashamed to have on their resume anyway. Do you think professional contractors list the “experience” they got while nailing down a loose step at their grandmother’s house when they were seventeen?

If you your company or gig was worth listing as desired experience, it would be able to pay for the services it received. The only experience they will get doing free work for you is a lesson learned in what kinds of scrubs they should not lower themselves to deal with.

6. (This one is FOR the artists out there, please pay attention.) Some will ask you to “submit work for consideration”. They may even be posing as some sort of “contest”. These are almost always scams. They will take the work submitted by many artists seeking to win the “contest”, or be “chosen” for the gig, and find what they like most. They will then usually have someone who works for them, or someone who works incredibly cheap because they have no originality or talent of their own, reproduce that same work, or even just make slight modifications to it, and claim it as their own. You will NOT be paid, you will NOT win the contest. The only people who win, here, are the underhanded folks who run these ads. This is speculative, or “spec”, work. It’s risky at best, and a complete scam at worst. I urge you to avoid it, completely.

So to artists/designers/illustrators looking for work, do everyone a favor, ESPECIALLY yourselves, and avoid people who do not intend to pay you. Whether they are “spec” gigs, or just some guy who wants a free mural on his living room walls. They need you. You do NOT need them. Say NO to free art.

And for those who are looking for someone to do work for free…please wake up and join the real world. The only thing you’re accomplishing is to insult those with the skills you need. Get a clue.

of Being an Artist : Part 1

Every day, there are more and more Craigs List posts seeking “artists” for everything from auto graphics to comic books to corporate logo designs. More people are finding themselves in need of some form of illustrative service.

But what they’re NOT doing, unfortunately, is realizing how rare someone with these particular talents can be.

To those who are “seeking artists”, let me ask you; How many people do you know, personally, with the talent and skill to perform the services you need? A dozen? Five? One? …none?

More than likely, you don’t know any. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be posting on craigslist to find them.

And this is not really a surprise.

In this country, there are almost twice as many neurosurgeons as there are professional illustrators. There are eleven times as many certified mechanics. There are SEVENTY times as many people in the IT field.

So, given that they are less rare, and therefore less in demand, would it make sense to ask your mechanic to work on your car for free? Would you look him in the eye, with a straight face, and tell him that his compensation would be the ability to have his work shown to others as you drive down the street?

Would you offer a neurosurgeon the “opportunity” to add your name to his resume as payment for removing that pesky tumor? (Maybe you could offer him “a few bucks” for “materials”. What a deal!)

Would you be able to seriously even CONSIDER offering your web hosting service the chance to have people see their work, by viewing your website, as their payment for hosting you?

If you answered “yes” to ANY of the above, you’re obviously insane. If you answered “no”, then kudos to you for living in the real world.

But then tell me… why would you think it is okay to live out the same, delusional, ridiculous fantasy when seeking someone whose abilities are even less in supply than these folks?

to be continued