Our second child, Grace Catherine, was born yesterday at 6:28pm, 6lb. 11oz, 18-3/4 inches long. Mother and daughter are doing fine. She’s a sweet little girl—and a nice last-minute tax deduction for her freelancing dad.
Regular blogging will resume again soon. Happy new year to one and all!
People celebrate Christmas for all sorts of reasons. For me it’s not just about the presents or the time with family or even the little manger scene on the mantel. It’s also about why Jesus was born: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). Since I’m definitely a sinner, that’s good news. I tried to hint at that theme in this illustration.
This was intended to be my Christmas card promo. Unfortunately I didn’t quite get it finished in time to mail out to my clients. I was so busy meeting other clients’ deadlines that I missed my own. So I sent it out as a Christmas email instead.
Warmest Christmas wishes to all you blog readers and your families.
I’m afraid I’m going to have to go light on the blogging for a while. My wife is very pregnant with our second baby, so much so that she has been put on strict bed rest (doctor’s orders). In other words she’s supposed to stay in bed 24-7 for the next few weeks until the baby comes (mid-January, maybe sooner). It’s not too serious—more of a precaution than anything—but it means in addition to working full-time I’ll be handling our toddler, doing all the house work, running all the errands, and helping my wife to keep from going crazy from boredom lying in bed all day. With the Christmas season kicking into high gear that’s going to make things extra-crazy. And those of you who are parents know that once a new baby comes the craziness doesn’t immediately go away.
I may do some blogging here and there if for no other reason than to take a break and attempt to connect with the outside world. However, the posts will probably be few and far between for the next few weeks. Once life stabilizes for us I look forward to things getting back to normal. Until then, thanks for your patience.
For the last two years I’ve sent Christmas packages to many of the clients I’ve worked with during that year. Now I’m debating whether or not to send anything this year.
Two years ago I sent out a fairly elaborate package (pictured). I bought giant-sized Hershey’s Symphony chocolate bars, removed the labels and replaced them with labels illustrated by me. I then put each candy bar in a cardboard box filled with green-and-red shredded paper, along with a couple of candy canes, a Christmas card also illustrated by me, and everything sealed up with a sticker also illustrated by me.
Last year I bought fancy tins filled with Life Savers (didn’t replace the label), reused the last year’s Christmas card, and left out the sticker.
This year I’m illustrating a new card and that’s probably all I’ll send. (Provided I can get them printed in time.)
Whether or not to send gifts to clients is an important question. Based on my own experience and after reading a few blog posts on the subject, here’s some of the thinking behind why you should or shouldn’t send Christmas gifts to your clients:
WHY YOU SHOULD
1. It lets the client know how grateful you are for their business.
2. It sends a personal message that you appreciate them as a person and not just as a way to get a paycheck.
3. It’s a great way to self-promote. In theory, the receiver of the gift will be more likely to think of you for their next project.
4. It’s also a fun opportunity to show off your creative skills (i.e. designing a Christmas card, or a candy label, or the wrapping paper, etc.)
WHY YOU SHOULDN’T
1. Everyone else is doing it, making it harder for you to stand out. Some clients may even start to resent all the gifts. “Oh great, more Chirstmas junk food. That will help my diet!” Same goes for cheezy gifts, cheap gifts, and unoriginal gifts. (“Oh goody, another mug.”)
2. Some say you shouldn’t need to send out gifts to get business. Your doctor, your accountant, and your plumber don’t send you gifts and yet you still do business with them. And you are just as much a professional as they are.
3. Some clients (especially those with whom you have a close working relationship) may feel obligated to send something back in return. No one likes to be put in the position of thinking “Gee, I didn’t get you anything”.
4. Sending Christmas gifts is expensive and takes a great deal of effort. There may be easier and more effective ways to invest your advertising dollars.
What do you think? Do you send Christmas gifts to clients? Why or why not? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
I have a confession to make: Lately I’ve been getting lazy in my drawings. When designing a character I’ve been so focused on the overall design that I’ve completely neglected the importance of good posing. My designs have been improving in recent months but my characters wind up mostly just standing around (at least in the concept phase of a design project). That’s a missed opportunity because a good pose can say a lot about a character’s personality.
Recently while watching some classic Popeye cartoons on DVD (Amazon.com link
A while back I posted several links to artist John K’s observations on character design (here and here). Yesterday Mr. K posted even more thoughts on the topic, complete as always with many examples. This time he tries to analyze that elusive and magical quality called “appeal”:
John gives a lot of thought to the topics he posts about and his blog is always great reading.
I never know when I might have a few spare moments and be inspired to sketch, so I carry a small hardcover sketchbook in the pocket of my winter coat. For the next few months wherever I go I’ll be ready when the sketching bug bites.
Here’s a few of the newest faces from its pages:
If you missed the 2008 Creative Freelancer Conference in Chicago, you missed some terrific info about how to manage your freelance career and build your business.
Have no fear. You can now purchase and download the audio and materials from all the presentations, whether you attended the conference or not. You’ll get MP3 audio recordings, session handouts, and each speaker’s PowerPoint presentation files. Each session can be purchased separately at $24 each, or you can get the entire package for $147.00 (which is almost like getting two of the sessions for free).
Topics include:
The website even offers a 365-day money back guarantee: “If you don’t see an amazing improvement in your business within a year from the date you order, simply contact us for a full refund. The audio materials, handouts, and presentations will still be yours to keep as our thanks for giving the Complete Conference On Demand a try.”
Of course that means you have to wait a year to get your money back, but I’m guessing you won’t need to. I found most of the presentations to be very helpful. The talks on “Creative Collaboration” and “Reaping the Rewards” didn’t particularly hit me where I was at, but if you buy the whole package you basically get those two for free anyway. “How To Talk To Your Clients About Fees” was my favorite seminar and pretty much anything from Ilise Benun or Peleg Top was terrific. The rest of the presenatations were also very good.
Finally, next year’s conference will be Aug. 26-28 in San Diego. Mark your calendars!
Sad news. It appears that VeggieTales may soon be no more.
Big Idea, the studio that fifteen years ago gave us Larry the Cucumber and Bob the Tomato, has recently laid off most of its staff and announced that the company’s owners are facing bankruptcy. Details are posted at Phil Vischer’s blog.
This isn’t the first time Bob and Larry have seen hard times. Phil Vischer founded the company in 1993 and VeggieTales became an overnight sensation in the Christian retail world. The company grew fast and furious but eventually overextended itself. Vischer was forced to lay off staff and in 2003 filed for bankruptcy. He’s written an excellent book about his rise and fall entitled Me, Myself, and Bob (Amazon.com link
After Vischer’s bankruptcy Big Idea was auctioned off to Classic media who eventually sold it to Entertainment Rights. Due to a number of factors (including a steady decline overall in the children’s video market) Entertainment Rights is now deeply in the red. Hence the massive layoffs. Like I said, Bob and Larry have been through tough times before but this appears to be the worst they’ve ever faced.
I know several Big Idea employees personally and worked with a few of them on the TV series 3-2-1 Penguins! (which was also a Big Idea property). They are all quality people, total professionals who were absolutely terrific to work with. My heart goes out to them and their families as they search for new employment in a less-than-stellar economy. If you think of it, remember them in your prayers.
And if you are looking to hire any animation artists/writers/directors let me know. I’ll be happy to give you some terrific referrals.
Here’s a few YouTube videos I’ve stumbled upon recently from some artists whose work I admire:
Dennis Jones is a phenominal illustrator. He draws very fun, entertaining cartoon characters and then paints them with a master’s eye for color and shading. Here’s a quick demo of him painting in Photoshop. View Dennis’ YouTube channel for more videos:
Here the very talented Denis Goulet posted a link he found to a quick tip about how to get more out of your Faber-Castell PITT brush pens:
Caricaturist Joe Bluhm discusses his process while painting Bill Murray:
Finally, Stephen Silver demonstrates a “memory sketch”. Memory sketching is a challenging exercise where the artist stares at a subject for a few moments (no drawing, just observing) and then later sketches the pereson from memory:
Stephen teaches a terrific class on character design over at schoolism.com. I took the class myself and I learned a great deal. Highly recommended!
Do you have any favorite YouTube artist videos that you’ve found educational or inspiring? If so, please post a link in the comments section.
