Talent or Hard Work?

He is talented. She is very talented. How many times do we hear this?  This term is used for people who excel at anything, whether it's sports, music or other examples I can't think of at the moment.  Well, I'd like to talk about this term being used as often as it is when it comes to illustrators, whether it's about 2D, 3D, concept art, all the way to traditional.  We see artists being labeled this term all too often, and I believe people are making a mistake when they say or write this.

The artists who are that good are at that level because they work their asses off.  They study and paint at a rapid pace, far more than others.  Illustration for me is certainly a skill that you can improve on the more you do, and I'd like to believe this applies to anything else.  10,000 of practice to become a master in your profession.  This quote that's overused makes a lot of sense.  I say this for people getting into the business or simply fans of these artists.  It's a backhanded compliment.  You don't have to take my word for it, you just have to take my word when I say that I've heard and read interviews of people far better than I state this.

Doesn't matter how good you are, everyone needs to work their ass off to succeed.

I'm not saying talent is irrelevant.  There are freaks out there that have incredible talent.  Tesla, Beethoven, Shakespeare, Musk are all freaks of nature when it comes to their fields.  But you can bet that they've worked their asses and engross their lives into their field.  Look at Romario or Ronaldinho for Brazil, incredible talents that could have been much better if they had a better work ethic despite being freaks of nature when it comes to football.  Now look at Cristiano Ronaldo, whose won every title for two of the biggest clubs in the world.  He doesn't drink and is the first in training and works his ass off given by many interviews of football players who have played with him.  What's my point?  That even talented people need to work their asses off. 

gumroad, tutorial videos from the best artists by paying a bit of cash

I really didn't know how to make a title that was both very short and gave you an exact idea of what this blog post is about... well that's not true. I just didn't want to waste more than 20 seconds thinking of one. Ok? That's the absolute truth. Now, gumroad. It's a website that people can upload a video off which involves anything from 2D, 3D illustration in areas of concept art, creating environmental art, how to make fire, characters all the way into how to work using different programs. Only thing is that you pay a bit of cash for it, in some cases some videos are even being offered for free for the absolute cheap bastards. There's plenty of videos based on the 10-12 that I have seen so far ranging mostly anywhere between 1-7$. There's another video that's 35$ that's a 9 hour tutorial. My advice would be to stop being a cheap asshole and buy at least one video that relates to an area you know you need to work on. Why am I being so insulting and rude? Honestly, partly because I don't think anyone is reading this even though that's a bad excuse. Plus a bit of harsh love is sometimes needed to spring someone to action.

https://gumroad.com/l/TZTO

A lot of talented people are getting on this and you can learn a lot from them. I have seen one and will be buying two more from the same artist today. If you are afraid of spending so much money on the big files, just spend 2-3$ on one of the cheaper ones and see if they are worth it. This could be very helpful to young creative people that may be in school or just out of it. My ideal is that you should always look up to others regardless of time or experience to see what they can teach you to further improve yourself as an artist, developer and/or designer, but that's just me. We're in this world for a very short amount of time, so we might as well learn as much as possible in the time we've got. Some notable people uploading videos in the illustration/2D, motion graphics and 3D fields are Dan Luvisi, Maciej Kuciara, Ash Thorp, and.. I really didn't do any research for this to look up more names. I would apologize but I'm not getting paid for this blog, so I'd like to do as little work as possible while simultaneously updating people on some (hopefully) important news in the creative world. Enjoy it boyos & start learning.

work by Dan Luvisi, an example of what it looks like

The Collective Podcast

I'm sure many of you are sitting in your cubicle, listening to music as you work until your 9-5 workday is over.  Well you're in luck, because I'm going to shove my preferences down your throat so you can enjoy exactly what I enjoy.  I initially started listening only to music when I worked through projects or during 9-5 jobs.  Then I began listening to podcasts to mix it up.  I'll be uploading a few of the podcasts I listen to hoping that it will help the only person who reads this blog post through their day.

The first to start it off is the best one for people that work in creative fields.  I say creative because it can range to too many mediums and I don't feel like listing them all.  My blog, my rules. The one you need to go listen to is The Collective Podcast, hosted by Ash Thorp.

https://soundcloud.com/the-collective-podcast

Ash works in the motion graphics industry but dabbles in illustration.  I know this not based on knowing him personally, but merely by listening to his podcast and following him on facebook.  He questions many people in the concept art, design, 3D/2D, video game/movie industry, film making and even a student trying to get into concept art/illustration.  He covers a lot of bases and asks some good question.  Thankfully he isn't a stiff robot that only sticks on the subject matter the entire time to bore us all to death, instead the podcast feels organic which makes it far more interesting in its set up.  He has interviewed some of best guys in the industry, so I don't see why you wouldn't listen to his podcast.  Go to the link, start at #1 and keep moving on up.  He and the people he interviews are more experienced and far more knowledgeable than any of things you will read here, unless it's a statement that's copy & pasted by the same people that know more than me.  Now that I've trashed myself enough for the day, here is a link to some of his great work:

http://www.ashthorp.com/

Your cubicle work sessions will be a lot more informative from now on.

Unforeseen Problems in the Creative World

Unforeseen problems happen in our lives constantly, so it makes sense that they also happen for work as well. I have been using an Macbook Pro for roughly 5 years now. For as good as it has been even upgraded with RAM, it still isn't anywhere where I needed it to be for Photoshop and AfterEffects, and Cinema 4D at times as well. Last month, I received a maxed out iMac that I bought which should hopefully do well enough for the next 5-6 years before buying something better in the future. I make a youtube speed painting and release it on the first of the every month (or 2nd, 3rd, 4th and so on when I have to re-upload it because Youtube flagged one of the niche songs I used by a company that is not connected to the publisher of the song at all). When I was rendering the video of my latest speed painting, I realized on Adobe Premiere that the quality of the files was not up to par. I even took the next day off work and worked until 9PM that night to eventually get a solid quality on the Premiere file with the issue being very few minor things. This caused the video to be released a day late which was frustrating. The entire process before took roughly 70 hours and the complications afterwards took an additional and grueling 20 hours.

The reaction we have to unforeseen errors.. well my reaction...

The point here is that if you do design, web design, illustration/concept art, motion graphics or 3D, unforseen issues will come even if you do everything beforehand to ensure that no future problems will happen. My best advice based on 2 years on the professional field is to do the work early. If you are working for a client, send them a timeline in the contract that is later then when you expect to finish it. This way when you finish it as quick as you expected, then you're ok and everything is dandy. You feel like a fucking superhero and can either relax or do your own personal work during the extra time you have on the contract. However if you get some random, unforeseen issue that no one could even predict, then the normal timeline gets pushed back by a day, 2, a week, 2 or even a month depending on what type of work and/or scenario. This is where the contract comes in because this way you finish it last minute and it ends up being the same quality as intended even with the issues you couldn't predict. However, your contract says 3 weeks because that's how long you believe it takes and an extra week gets added, you either send them a shitty product and lose a potential long term client, or ask for more time. Now if you have built a realationship and they aren't in a massive hurry, this won't be a major issue. If that's not the case, lots of complications where both the work doesn't end up being good and the relationship goes down the shitter. You are in a lose-lose situation since this is work you don't even want to put in your portfolio or your website at this point.

CG Hub down officially, potenially new website for designers, 2d/3d illustrators & more

CG HUB is officially down.

They have closed it and their reasoning is "because they feel like it".  One really has to question why they didn't at least sell it to several potentially, rumored suitors, but I guess they felt like it.  Exact reasons have not been given and a lot of this have been vague, but many artists are wondering why the fuck this has happened the way it did.  CG Hub for people that don't know was a website where artists in 2D, 3D, caricatures, concept art, and many more uploaded their work.  This involved anything from personal projects to movies, tv, videogames, and books.  Many of the best artists in the world uploaded their work there.

Besides CG Hub opining a "Pro" version which allowed many artists to pay for the full year and start to get a few extra benefits.  This happened roughly 2 months prior to the website shutting down.  So this if not illegal, is incredibly shady.  People paid money and got screwed over it since CG Hub decided to close the doors.

At the end of the day, it's their product and they have every right to do with it as they please.  However since part of freedom of speech has not been completely closed off by government officials on the internet, I'd say this is a pretty douchey and illogical move from them.  They could have at least sold it off to another company that would have kept going.

hope of a new website

However there is hope that there might be another website made in a very similar fashion to CG HUB, where they take the best design/UI aspects and take off the crappy variations.  There is a potential Kickstarter coming out soon, but until then I can just send you the link to the company creating the website, Shakuro.  I'm still skeptical, but at least it's something.

Link Here

cghub, THE website for concept artist fans

For those interested in illustration or specifically concept artwork, my personal favorite website for me is cghub.com.  It's the cleanest website, where you can also find some of the best concept artists in the world in it.  Each has their own profile with information regarding work, website, who they did work for etc etc.  My favorite part of the website is that the first page has pieces of artwork that are some of the best/recent which filters out the rest of the work that isn't quite as good.  I like this because sometimes you don't want to see any work, just come in quick for 5-10 minutes and look at the best work if you haven't been on the website for a week or more.  It's convenient, and it works well in my opinion.

Obviously you can see early released work of everyone in the website in the specific section and even I myself cannot possibly compare myself to these greats yet (which is why I no longer put some of my work until I get better here unlike deviantArt).  Not that I discourage anyone that visits the website to not put their work if it's not up to par with the best, I do this and my way sure as hell is not the best.  It's just something I chose to do until I get a bit better and also I have not jumped into the concept artist genre specifically.

The website also has the typical things you need in places such as this.  Challenges section where in the forums a challenge is to illustrate a certain object/monster/etc. and then whoever wishes creates it, then people vote for their favorites.  It's a great way for fellow artists to get better, improve themselves by these challanges.  I again, have not done this but I'm too busy nowadays unfortunately and have my own ideas that I have to flesh out first.  I would recommend others to do this if they don't have anything to do and want to test themselves.  The forums are well designed, clean and have a nice pop to it.

newest release section, 3D and 2D work next to each other

There are also lessons you can take from the website, obviously which you would have to pay.  You learn from some of the best out there if people are interested.  Another interesting side that they have is for those looking for jobs is that they have a solid amount of job postings out there for freelancers and potential full time work for those of you looking for it.

Just so if you are reading, you have a clear idea of what it looks like ^ and are too lazy to go to the website, I picked some images.  One thing that did surprise me was how massive the amount of 3D work is at the website.  There is plenty of 2D and 3D to go around for all that are interested.  Some artists seem to be quite capable at both genres (those talented bastards...).  Along with articles and blogs being added by artists, it has plenty of content, it's designed in an appealing way and overall works very well.  For me, it's the best or rather my favorite concept art website though there's a few good ones out there which I will get to later on.