A Very Broken Pomegranate

Dry on doodling lately… Been trying to work on writing more.

 See the coke up there?  it’s in totally the wrong place.   KEEP YOUR BEVERAGE AT 4 O’CLOCK.  or 5, if you’re a leftie.  Keep your paint water on your table in front of you, and your beverage off to the side so that you have to physically turn around to get at it.  You will teach your brain that Drink Is Over There, Not On The Desk; your coffee will last longer that way, AND YOU WILL AVOID SPILLING IT ALL OVER YOUR WORK.

if you DO spill your drink, cover the page and call it “Organically Dyed Paper”  it ain’t coming out, run with it.

Instead of 7-hour continuous playlist, listen to albums so you’re stopping every 40 minutes or so to change the music THEN STRETCH YOU FOOLS.

Alternate caffeinated beverages with non-caffeinated.  your hands WILL start to shake if you keep mainlining coffee like that.

get this freaking pencil sharpener.  yes, that’s a lot for a sharpener, but this SOB will work forever, won’t eat pencils, and gets you the finest points possible.  this has been stress-tested by scientific illustrators and I promise we are the pissisest possible people when it comes to pencil points.  Mine it literally 6 years old now.  it’s great. (Yeah, yeah, it’s missing from the pic.  Have a backup in case of forgetfulness.)

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ART IN POOR LIGHT.  this means both too little AND too much.  You eyes, brain and spine will all thank you.  This mean making sure you’ve got direct, full-spectrum light indoors (it’ll make laptops and winter easier too, I promise) and wearing sunglasses outdoors.

FUCK PRISMACOLOR PENCILS.  The pigment’s good but the binder is brittle and breaks, and the wood is frequently warped.  literally 1 in 5 of the last prismacolor pencils I’ve had were totally unusable.  Faber-Castel is comparable in price/sometimes cheaper and had very high quality.

like, not shitting on cheap art supplies, because god knows I use them all the time, but pirsmacolors are EXPENSIVE and having the lead snap for the 7369205790235969th time will give you a goddamn stroke.

Remember to Eat maybe????

about every 2-3 hours, get up, leave the room, and do something else for at least 20 minutes.  Do the dishes maybe.  Gives your eyes and shoulders a break, lets your brain re-set and you’ll be able to see things that Need Fixing when you get back.

FOR FUCKS SAKE, USE REFERENCES.  All the greats did, you’ll stress less, and things will look so much better.  Just google image the sucker.

srsly eat something.  even some cheetos.  pls.

Buckled down like a good bean and faced my inking fears. And it didn’t come out too badly! Also threw down the flats. Some more dicking around will ensue before i try painting the shading, which intimidates me there too. Might give myself a couple days to mull it over and tackle it again this weekend.

Damn, I’ve not had a project quite this big in a long time. It feels amazing.

So over the past 10-15 years, as I’ve been trying to branch out, grow a following and sell commissions, there’s one phrase I’ve heard more than any other.

“I’d love to support you, but I have no money.”

And you know, I get that. I understand. I don’t have any either. But here’s the secret. The most powerful and useful thing you can do to support an artist? It doesn’t cost a penny. Reblog their posts, signal boost their commissions, advertise their patreon./ If you have commissioned them, or do support their patreon? Write a review, tell your friends, share their links. Keep circulating the tapes.

Every post is an artist laying themselves bare before you. You have the power to make them into somebody. You can make them into a big name, you can help bring them an income. All you have to do is share.

Here’s a handy infographic.

If artists get only likes, they never get any exposure. They find no followers, they make no money, and feel worthless.

But with reblogs, who knows how far they could reach? New people could see their work and follow them, and maybe one person will spot that commissions post or patreon promo, and maybe offer to help support them. And it didn’t even cost those followers a penny to reblog the post.

This doesn’t work if you repost art.