JBatesArt

Tumblr! Hi! Remember me? I almost don’t remember me, it’s been so long since I’ve posted here. I just wanted to share this fun new project with you all. I created a new series called Sweet Tweets, which are ice cream bird cones. If you, like me, enjoy ice cream and bird puns, then this is for you!

Fennec Fox! Acrylic on paper, 11x17in. The signed original is for sale. Message me for details!

Working on a cool new project that’s got me drawing birds of paradise! This here is a male Victoria’s Riflebird performing his courtship dance. Just the preliminary sketch done so far, but I think the final product will be great.

A week ago, a rare bird endemic to the Soloman Islands called the Moustached Kingfisher was photographed for the first time. A team from the American Museum of Natural History located and captured the elusive male. When I read about this super cool news, I knew I just had to paint it.

This painting was done in gouache, and is for sale on my website.

Hey everyone! I reached 850 followers this morning. That's pretty incredible! I am so grateful for the Tumblr community and your support. I've made a number of connections and sales through this site, and that's just priceless to me.

In an effort to broaden my work's reach, I've decided to start a business page on the number 1 social network in the world, Facebook. My web handle is the same, so hop on over to www.facebook.com/jbatesart to give me a like or a follow over there! I'd really appreciate it! As always, I'm a regular instagrammer too. Content on all three platforms varies ever so slightly to reflect their different purposes, so if you don't want to miss a thing, you know what to do!

Here’s a timelapse video of an Anna’s Hummingbird painting I created yesterday. So many colors! Watch in HD if possible.

The original painting is for sale on my online shop! Head over to my website with the link below to check it out.

Everyone’s favorite bird, the Cedar Waxwing! This painting is for sale, so hop on over to my online store www.jbatesart.com/shop to check it out!

Cedar Waxwing Watercolor + Gouache 5x7 in. $150 + shipping

UPDATE: SOLD! This original painting is for sale! Hop on over to my online store www.jbatesart.com/shop to check it out!

Hedgehog Watercolor 5x7 in. $100 + shipping

Hey Rubén! Thanks for your message! Sorry it’s taken me a while to respond. I myself am still in the very beginnings of my career, so I don’t know how much wisdom I can shed, but I’ll tell you how I ended up where I am now.I’ve been making art since I was a little kid. It’s always been sort of a hobby throughout grade school. When I got to college I decided to study biology instead, because I thought it was fascinating and I wasn’t all that sure how I would fit at an art school. After I graduated I worked a few biology-related jobs here and there, but found myself to be missing art a great deal. I applied to the Science Illustration certification program at CSU Monterey Bay (if you’re not familiar with this program, definitely look into it!) and to my delighted surprise I was accepted. Going through that program has made me a significantly better artist than I was before, and it’s also given me the confidence to pursue a full-fledged career in science illustration. Two years ago, I definitely was not thinking about taking this trajectory in life at all, but sometimes things just happen and fall into place!Like I said, I’m still figuring things out and trying to forge my own path with this science illustration business. But that’s part of what makes it fun. Everyone I know does it a slightly different way, and there are definitely multiple ways to go about being a successful illustrator. Try not to get caught up in what other people are doing, and instead focus on what you love to do and think about ways to turn that into a career. More often than not, us science illustrators have to carve out our own jobs from scratch essentially, because many places don’t hire traditional staff science illustrators anymore.

I hope that helps! Best of luck to you!