Thank You!

Words can't begin to describe the feelings I've had over the past few years since making my first video tutorial: "How To Illustrate Children's Books". I've recieved hundreds of letters, emails, Facebook messages, etc thanking me for making that video and the subsequent videos I made afterwards. I get to chat with people everyday about their enthusiasim and renewed energy for working on their art projects.

With permission from James Horvath I'm sharing his letter because it really touched me yesterday - I'm glad I was home alone so my kids didn't see me get all mushy. My emotions come from the leftover feelings I have growing up in the shadow of academic achievers in my family and thinking that I would never be able to do anything important with my life. There really isn't anything better in life than knowing you make a difference - so I thank all of you for the kind words you've sent me in the past few years!


Hey Will

It's been a while since I downloaded and watched your video series, "How to Illustrate Children's Books". I just wanted to write to you and let you know how well your course has worked for me. 

I've been a freelance children's illustrator for many years. I worked primarily in the education market doing work for Scholastic, Pearson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and a few others. And while I've enjoyed some modest success, I always wanted to write and illustrate my own children's picture books.

About a year and a half ago I decided to get off my butt and actually do it, instead of just dreaming about it. I found your video course online and decided to spring for the $29.99.

I developed my story, worked on some sketches and sample art, basically, followed your process and submitted my dummy (an email with a PDF) to one publisher. A test run so to speak. I braced myself for the almost inevitable rejection that I was sure would soon follow. 

Instead, within 24 hours, I received a response with a very enthusiastic reply. That was on a Tuesday. By the end of the week I had a 3-book deal with HarperCollins Publishers. My first book comes out on April 30th. And is up for pre-orders at practically all major on-line retailers.

I just wanted to send you this note and say, "Thanks". I really do credit you and your course with outlining a path for my success. I would, and often do, highly recommend your video series to anyone looking to break into the children's book market.

Thanks again!

James Horvath

Check out his work! 
 

Congratulations James - I can't wait to buy your books when they come out and to brag that I might have played a tiny part in their creation. It's been a crazy ride with our Folio Academy project. We've now sold our videos in about 40 countries and counting. Never in my wildest dream did I think this would happen when we uploaded our first video a few years ago!

New iPad APP Composer Tutorial - Demibooks!

Great News! Folio Academy just released a new tutorial that teaches how to produce a children's story app using the Demibooks Composer software. Here is a link to the TUTORIAL.

Heidi Berthiaume gives a very in depth and clear tutorial on how you can take your story and art work and use the Demi Books Composer to create your own iPad app. You use your own iPad to download the free software from Demibooks.http://demibooks.com/home/ You import images and assets to your iPad and actually create the app on your iPad for the iPad - how cool is that? No programmer necessary. After you're finished you have a few options: you can choose to publish to the Apple app store on your own and/or submit your book to Demibooks Storytime and become part of a growing library of books from other indie developers AND McGraw Hill and Kane Miller. DBS - is promoted by Usborne Books.

In the first option you pay Demibooks $249 to get the digital file to upload to Apple - then every sale you make apple will pay a royalty of 70% to you. So, if you priced your book at $1.99 Apple would pay you roughly $140/sale. In this option you would also need to set up a developer account with Apple for $99/year. The cool thing is that they will hold your hand and do the submitting on your behalf!

Personally I feel that this is really worth it. I've already made back the money I spent on I EAT YOU! and then some from Talespring and my royalty is 50% with them. I would advise that you do everything in your capability to make your app appealing emotionally i.e. amazingly funny, cute, sad, gross, offensive, touching, etc. The time for A is for Apple is over.

The second option is really a continuation of the first - I just wanted to make sure that we discussed it separately. If you go through the development and publishing process in the first option and Demibooks likes your book they may decide to include it in their Storytime library. This is especially exciting because it's hard enough to get attention for your digital book without any extra "love". Demibooks curates it's library for artistic quality, story, and overall product integrity. In some ways this feels like a higher form of indie publishing and what I have been predicting for many months - that there will be collections developing online to help consumers find higher quality digital story books.

Here is a little on Hedi - creator of "Develop A Children's Book iPad App"

Heidi Berthiaume loves to create stuff - from websites to iPad apps to written stories to fan music videos. She spent fifteen years as an information architect providing instructional documentation for programmers and designers so they could develop applications and websites for businesses such as 3M, Hilton, and American Airlines (which paid the mortgage but was less fun than writing a novel and developing her children's picture book Bud the Bunny into an iPad app). The portal to all of her stuff is http://www.heidi2524.com/

I'll be doing an update post on "I EAT YOU!" in the not too distant future...

Fun With Pooch

I'm working on a bunch of freelance projects at the moment but I can't show any of them to you :(

So you get a cat with a red cape riding Pooch. Pooch is my dog. I go hiking with Pooch almost everyday...and snap action shots just for fun.

And I've played with a few of them in Photoshop. I know - it's weird - but I'm weird - so....

I don't know why I like to draw other animals riding on my dog's back...I think it's ok as long as she doesn't find out.

Cool & Warm Colors

I painted this as a demo for my digital painting class this semester at UVU. I really wanted to play around with a dramatic lighting situation.

One of the reasons I'm a big advocate of getting out there and seeing the world with your own eyes is the feeling you get and the inspiration to find a place for it in your work. I woke up to this last year in Utah's Goblin Valley last year - my tent was about 5 feet to the right.

So this is how I begin my sketches on my iPad. I call this the ugly stage. I'm basically making a "map" for me to trace and perfect on another layer. At this point I don't care about detail - just the raw elements and proportions. It's sketchy and loose but it will serve as my guide.

I'm using "Procreate" now because I can have a much larger file size then "Brushes"  - AND - I can rotate the "paper". That's a huge improvement. Down side: (why is there always a downside?) It's much slower than brushes. I'll be making an update video for my "Painting on the iPad" video tutorial that demonstrates how you can use Procreate for your workflow.

And this is the perfected sketch. I probably used about three more layers to get to this point reducing the brush size and increasing the value of my lines.

I think it's really neat to look at this part of the painting because it looks so dark and different than the part in the sunlight...similar to the photo I took. I added the color in Photoshop CS5.

I love light and shadow. You really can't have one without the other can you? I really like exploring with cool colors vs warm colors to see what interesting blends happen and the mood it creates.

Oil Start - Photoshop Finish

One of the problems with digital painting for a lot of artists is that it's often hard to get the subtleties and happy accidents that traditional mediums provide.

One of the problems with painting in traditional mediums - like oils for instance is the lack of control or the tedious nature of finishing details - not to mention the fact that you can't undo, adjust color, or zoom in.

Of course the solution won't work for gallery painters or people who enjoy having originals but I had fun painting on this little oil painting in Photoshop. Originally I painted it on a gessoed board in a few hours in my University painting class but never got around to finishing it. So yesterday I thought - why not scan it and spend an hour in photoshop?

This is the original oil painting that I never had time to finish

You can see the flat strokes I made in the oil painting and the gesso texture.

 I used one stock photoshop brush - the flat blunt (bristle tilt).

and here is the same oil painting with the digital strokes added in.

My process is far from perfect. I don't do this sort of thing every day but it can give you an idea of what is possible if you wanted to start your paintings in oil and finish them digitally.

The Teacher In Me

The teacher in me is excited to teach the student in you.
The teacher in me wants you to find out what you can do.
The teacher in me knows what it's like to have dreams come true and wants yours to come true too.

The teacher in me is afraid you won't do what you need to do - but the teacher in me is still rooting for you.

The teacher in me lives through your triumphs.
The teacher in me knows you will fail again and again but prays you won't quit.

The teacher in me can't wait to see the teacher in you.
The teacher in me wants to be taught by the teacher in you.

Classes begin for me again today at UVU and I love it! I get so much out of teaching. Last semester in my children's book class I gave my students the option to work on story apps. A hand full went in that direction and it was really fun to see what they came up with. We didn't have time to work on their stories since it is an illustration class so they lack some of the polish that taking a children's writing class would provide - but they learned by doing and are that much further along.

Here are a few of the apps they created last semester...but one is missing :(   Alicia VanNoy Call had her (TOTALLY AMAZING) app rejected by Apple twice because it didn't have enough animation/interactivity. They wanted her to publish it as an iBook but she doesn't want to do that for various reasons - so it's in limbo at the moment.

I will really miss this group of kids - we really had a lot of fun!

Kitty Wants by Ginny Tilby (pink sweater) - check it out! 

Ricky the Fortune Cookie by Jared Salmond (second goof from the right) - check it out!

Jumping Jackie by Kari & Von Brimhall - check it out!

Jumping Jackie is from my long time college friends Kari & Von Brimhall - They did an amazing job animating their app using Talespring.com ...if you want to see what's possible at Talespring you should check out their app! I love their enthusiasim for creating ebooks and story apps. Kari is a homeschooler who's kids are flying the coop and doing very well at college and now she and Von are living out their dreams creating for the pure love of it. They are one step ahead of me in that they already created a website to showcase their titles called instant sunshine.

Ask For An Honest Critique

Oh, and don't buy American.

What? Don't you care about your country?

Of course I do - but supporting manufacturers because of geographic location or membership in a group is devolutionary.  Good products come through trial and error and plenty of failure. Good companies too. Products are like living organisms and giving artificial unearned support will only weaken a product by providing positive feedback for poor performance and secure mediocrity. If you really want a company to evolve you should only support them when they have earned your business. In nature if an organism can't cut it - it get's replaced.

So shouldn't we want the same for our books, art, illustration, animation, ebooks, and story apps? Shouldn't we wish for an honest critique even thought what we hear or read might be very painful? Of course we want a 5 star review and a description that will send customers flocking to our _______, but what if it's undeserved? How do you feel when you watch, read, or use something you bought because of a good review - only to be disappointed later? We are fast becoming a society that relys on reviews more than ever. With more products and services available online we often buy items that we don't get to experience until they reach our doorstep or tablet.

If you and I want to survive and thrive we need to create - get good feedback - make changes and create again - repeating this process over and over. We shouldn't get caught up in trying to game the system with "like me" - "vote for me" - "give me a good review" or "give me a 5 star rating". This is time WELL wasted! If your product doesn't cause an emotional change in your target audience you failed - isn't it wonderful? Wonderful because you did it! Rather than trying to peddle a bike with flat tires make a new bike - one that's pumped up and ready to go. Ask for an honest critique so you can evolve and say "thank you."

How To Price Your Illustration For Clients

I've been wanting to make this video for quite sometime. I get asked all the time by students, people at conferences, and visitors to my blog - how should I price my work? In this video I share my opinions about figuring out exactly how much to charge and how it can vary depending on many factors that are happening in your life. I realize it's a bit lengthy but I didn't want to leave stones unturned. I wanted to have a detailed answer that I can email out whenever I get asked this question in the future.


If you've even wondered how much to ask for on an art project I hope my ideas help you.

Nice To Take A Little Break

WOW! I can't believe this year is coming to an end so soon. I've been so busy - this year went by in a blink!

I started this little painting in class a few weeks ago and decided to finish it for fun. I love Christmas imagery - I've always wanted to make a Christmas children's book...you never know :)

I wish all of you the best of luck on your art projects in the coming year! ...and have a wonderful holiday with your families and loved ones.

Experimental Demo

I painted this as a demo in my media techniques class a few weeks ago. I'm not very proficient with watercolors so I decided to combine it with photoshop for a hybrid traditional/digital piece. I really like some of the accidental textures watercolors (or watercolours for those across the pond) provide. The pooling water and pigment dry in some unique patterns that are nearly impossible to generate digitally (unless you have a smoking machine).

You can see that the texture is a little heavy in the original but I was able to "tame" it using opaque layers of digital paint in the final.

What I really wanted to accomplish was the texture in the larger areas...hmmm...I might want to do a few more this way.

Are You Killing Your Blog? - RANT!

Ok from time to time I make a nuisance of myself and do a little video rant. Spoiler alert I'm going to type it out as well for those using google translate - so watch the video or continue reading...


This is going to be pretty short but basically it's like this:

Sometimes before I get going on my own sketching or designing I like to blog hop other illustrator's sites to get some inspiration (aka creative borrowing). Inevitably I'll find my way to an image that really stops me and I get totally absorbed in it's amazing qualities....and sometimes I'm moved to leave a comment to compliment the creator. Most of the time I say a few words and move on but every now and then I run into a blog (usually composed in Wordpress) where the blogger has made it extremely difficult to leave a little comment. Upon typing a few complimentary words I'm smacked with: "You must first login to leave a comment on this site". Hold up. Back up. What the? Are you kidding me?

I'm not going to sign up for your blog. I like you but lets get something straight. I want to give you something. I want to tell you how awesome you are. I'm not going to jump through hoops to do so. I'm already feeling like I need to get to work.

If we were to meet at your gallery show and I found myself diggin your art and I finally get to meet you and tell you how much I love your art - are you going to put stipulations on how I do it?...then why do it online?

I already know the answer...you want to be able to spam me later when you have a new "fill in the blank" for sale....sorry...I care...but not enough to jump.

Buy One Get One Free - Folio Academy!

For the month of Dec Folio Academy is running a buy one get one free! (equal or lesser value)

How it works: If you already bought a video(s) or if you buy a video at Folio Academy in the month of December 2012 you can simply go on the Folio Academy website and send an email to Folio Academy asking for your free video. Just make sure you specify which video you would like to receive for free and it needs to be of the same value or lower than the video you purchased.

We're working hard to increase your video library and we just got this one (Learn To Draw Cartoon Zombies)  in from Justin Cook - our friend from across the pond.

New Photoshop Tutorial Makeover

I'm happy to announce that I just finished another tutorial and this one is a re-make of "Digital Painting in Photoshop". I bought better screen capture software so I decided to make another tutorial that displays higher quality video so viewers can see the settings more clearly. If you've already purchased the old version of this tutorial - you get this new one for FREE! You can still view the old version but you'll now notice that this new tutorial has replaced the old one. To view the old version you'll have to click the link at the top of the Digital Painting video page at folioacademy.com

In addition I demonstrate how to actually make several physical textures - scan them - and manipulate them to be used in digital paintings.

I begin with a sketch and describe how I begin adding value and then work into color.

I also made a sped up version of the painting and put it up on my Youtube channel. I love making these tutorials because I get to paint something I love - and talk about it - I love helping others unlock their potential!


Note: This is not a general "how to" in Photoshop - rather it's how I use textures to paint illustrations in Photoshop. You can purchase the tutorial here!

Also, we are doing a buy on get one Free (of equal or lesser value) at folioacademy.com for the month of Dec.! More on that in my next post but if you want to take advantage of it simply purchase a video and then email us from the folioacademy website which video you would like for free and like Christmas Magic it will appear in your account!

The Secret To Your Success

How's that for a title? Like I have the answer right?

I often run into budding artists either in person or online that ask me what I think they can do to be successful. Aside from portfolio advice, going to school or getting tutored, blogging, sending out promos, making awesome art & products, etc (all of which are super important) here's what I think the most important thing is:

Drum roll....

I think you have to be committed for life. Some plan on writing and/or illustrating a book but if it doesn't get published they'll move on and find something else to do. Some plan to apply for studio jobs but fall back on something else if it doesn't pan out. Just the other day someone told me they were going to try making a story app to see if it will sell. I think this is the wrong attitude. What if it doesn't sell? Does that mean you didn't learn something valuable for your next one?...and the one after that?

One thing I've come to realize is that the truly successful artists have been and continue to be - committed for life. It's all they want to do. It's all they live for. It's what they do. It's who they are. If they have a set back they accept it as part of the journey. I dare you to show me a successful artist that doesn't have his/her fair share of bumps and bruises. I can't count the number of time I've had to lick my wounds - but they scab up over time and those scars become great stories later on.

Stan Lee - creator of Spider Man said, "Mine is the longest overnight success story of all time!"...he was committed even when his comics were being canceled by his publisher - he stuck it out...what if he had quit? Think of all the super hero movies he's responsible for...

The piece above was a pretty crappy demo in class but I love working on art so much I came home and played with it in Photoshop for two hours. I love art and I'll be making it for the rest of my life.

NOW! - Get My New Tutorial - Free!

The first 10 people to enter their email in the comments section below will get a free copy of my latest tutorial - "Making Art For eBooks & Story apps" !

But please don't get it if -

You're an expert in photoshop. This new tutorial was designed for the person who isn't very familiar with digital graphics and illustration. It is a basic tutorial on scanning, cleaning up, working in photoshop, creating assets, managing an image library, working in layers, making animated GIF's, making PNG images, light animation techniques, etc. It really won't teach you anything new if the a fore mentioned is well within your wheel house.

However...

I also made an hour long Youtube video that teaches how to make a story app using Talespring.com (below).



This video will take you through the entire environment of Talespring.com. This is a companion video to the paid videos. Think of it as "part 2" The reason I didn't want to include it in the paid series was to separate myself from Talespring as far as any liabilities or responsibilities. Also, if Talespring decided to upgrade or change their online tools I didn't want it to detract from the overall resource that the paid version is meant to be...and, the paid version will deliver good information for working with many different app builder tools.

I will be fulfilling the free videos on or before Wednesday, Nov 27th.

Good luck!!!

Get My New Video Tutorial - FREE!

I'm finally finished!!! Wow - these videos take a while to put together...and then there's the normal mishaps that take place like my kids barging into my studio asking if they can go to their friends house...or one of my personal favorites - the unplugged mic that you notice after a half hour session - trucks driving by etc.

So lets do another give away!

"Making Art For Story Apps & eBooks" will be live at Folio Academy in the next few days. I'd like to give away 10 copies to you guys.

THIS IS NOT THE GIVE AWAY YET - how it will work:

1. Sometime between Monday & Friday the 30th of November I'll make another blog post announcing the give away.

2. If you see the blog post - quickly enter your email in the comments section below. Please use the email that's already associated with your Folio Academy account - or if you don't have an account just enter your primary email address so I can set you up with your free account and video.

3. I'll give a free video to the first 10 people who leave their email in the comments section.

Last time I did this if I recall right we gave away 25 copies of my last video in just over an hour! Here's a link to that one.

Tips: 

1. Have your email address an anything you might want to write ready to just paste in the comments section so you don't have to worry about spelling under pressure.

2. Some people use Google Reader to keep up on blog updates quickly so they won because of that - simply "join this site" on the right in order to get up to date information.

GOOD LUCK!

Having Fun In Photoshop

Here's a quick one I just finished -  I'm trying to gear up on my Photoshop skills for an upcoming video tutorial that I'm working on.

Other things I'm currently working on:

Video Tutorial for Folio Academy - Making Art For eBooks & Story Apps - almost finished! check back after Thanksgiving for the give away! I'll be making the announcement so if you want to get my public updates you can follow this blog.

Working on a new Picture Book for next Halloween! - I wish I could show character sketches.

Working on a few freelance projects  - also can't show them :(

Working on my next story app - I'll be using Kwiksher - a photoshop plug-in and it looks really sweet!

and....the semester is coming to a close! Time to get some stuff done!

Learning From A Master: Donato Giancola

Last night Donato Giancola spoke to BYU, UVU, USU, and SLCC students about his work. I couldn't fight through the crowd to get to meet him but in his talk he mentioned that he was going to go out today and shoot reference for up-coming Lord of the Rings Paintings and he really needed good pictures of mountains.

So I weaseled my way into taking him for a hike with Justin Kunz (former Blizzard Studio artist). Note: sometimes good weaseling skills are better than money, degrees, connections, bow hunting skills, etc.

I asked if he knew where to go to get some good shots and he said he was just going to drive around and shoot whatever he stumbled on - no no no...we can't have that...

If you're one of my facebook friends you know I go hiking every now and then and post a few pictures :)

So naturally I had to inflate my knowledge of the Utah mountains and offer my services as his guide - and I took him to my stash.

Donato is very personable and I related to many of the things he pointed out in his lecture about teaching, making art, and life.

He's a great example of a man committed to excellence, teaching, and family.

Thank you Donato for making Nov 15th a great day!!!

New Tutorial! Beginning Photoshop - LIVE

I just finished a new video tutorial for Folio Academy - a basic video series on how to get started in Photoshop. We had been receiving requests over the past year to offer a video that would help the person who has never used Photoshop get started.

This tutorial is a focused on helping the student learn Photoshop for painting in my Digital Painting in Photoshop tutorials Parts 1 & 2. Instead of being a general beginner course I leave out all the photo editing specific tools and methods. I only teach the tools, settings, windows, and controls that I need to make a painting in photoshop. I do share my Wacom tablet settings and opinions as well.  If you're familiar with Photoshop you won't need this video but will probably be fine jumping into parts 1 & 2 of Digital Painting in Photoshop.


If you know anyone who has wanted to move from traditional mediums like acrylic, watercolor, colored pencil, etc - this video might be just the thing to get them started.

If any of you have already purchased my Digital Painting in Photoshop parts 1 or 2 and would like this beginner course please just leave a comment below - make sure you leave your email address associated with your http://folioacademy.com/ account so I can look you up - and I'll GIFT you this new tutorial for free!

One more thing - I do not paint in this new video but I do explain how to get around in photoshop in the most basic ways - and how to use many of the tools. Check it out at Folio Academy - click here.

Have You Ever Cried Over Your Art?

Have you ever shed tears because your art didn't turn out the way you wanted it to?...then you're an artist.

Have you ever gotten angry over your art?...then you're an artist.

Have you ever torn up your art in frustration?...then you're an artist.

Have you ever burned a painting in anger?...then you're an artist.

Have you ever quit being an artist?...then you're an artist - face it.

Have you ever been defensive of your art?...then you're an artist.

Ever purposely hid your art?...then you're an artist.

Had a temper tantrum over your art?... you're an artist.

Felt like you'll never be as good as _________?...you're an artist.

Wish you were appreciated for your creative contributions?...sounds like an artist.

 

If you answered yes to any of the questions above you my friend are an artist - deal with it. You cry because you care. You're anger will make you better because you have a  vision of what it could have been - should have been. Your passion fuels you to push on - push past. Your fear is motivating. Your emotions are a result of your desire. You are learning to speak a visual language. You may stray but were meant to create. You have a calling.

I was never the best. I am not the best. I almost got kicked out of my college illustration program. I later taught in the same program. I don't draw as well as some of my students. I cringe at the piece above and remember the feelings of disappointment because it didn't turn out half as well as the vision in my mind of a cool family portrait. I'm glad I can laugh at it now - you can too - we learn by doing. Doing and failing and doing and failing...and failing again but learning from our failures.

This process should be taught in public schools. It's not. It's a beautiful natural way to learn. The reason we struggle is because we've not been taught to embrace this process. We take it personally when we fail.

I have cried, gotten angry, yelled, torn up, quit, and shed tears over my art. I was never content. I am not content. I won't be content. I love what I do. I love sharing what I do. Do you?

I am an artist and so are you.

My New Story App - I Eat You! - Live!

I'm really happy to announce that I Eat You! is live in Apple's app store! I learned a ton working on this little puppy - I mean fish. And as fate would have it my sister found a typo right after we submitted the app! Dang it! Even after my wife and I went over it a bunch of times! Well - I'm not going to tell you which word it is - you might not be able to find it either - and no this isn't a marketing stunt - I'm not that clever. Anyway - the good thing is I can make the fix and offer it as an update - presto! Can't do that with print...or with Amazon or Pubit ebooks. If you take your file down to replace it on Amazon or B&N you will lose your sales rank - kiss of death if you were getting sales...one more example of how Apple thinks things through before they launch.

My next story app will be a bit more complicated - working out the story now - I love working with sound, animation, illustration, and voice! So much fun!

I'd love to get feedback on this app if you decide to check it out. The target age group is about 3-6. As soon as the update goes into effect I'll start submitting it for review. Check it out here.