VIBROLAND

The noble nautilus has a knack for navigating at night—a superb sense of smell serves this seafarer well as the only cephalopod still surviving with a shell.

Some cutaways of the monsters that appears in “Nancy in Hell on Earth” miniseries.

I thought at some point that would be funny to describe the internal secrets of some of the creatures that appeared in the books.

Say hello to my little friends! The staghorn hermit crab rolls with a deep entourage of stinging hydrocoral. Everyone benefits: the hydrocoral gets to travel the world, while the crab knows its bodyguards always have its back.

Children’s book is absolutely the most requested “I’ll pay you tuesday for a burger today” move in my experience though. I’ve had people who hadn’t even written the book..or *a* book…ask me to make work for free with promises of payment once the book “takes off”.  I realize that it’s not a case of malicious intent so i try not to get angry but it’s still a frustrating position to be put in. So you want me to drop all this work that is paying for my life and take several months to make this art ( under your direction and vision which im sure you have lots of experience with art directing and communicating with an illustrator to achieve the look you want) That devalues what i do and im not sure working with someone who doesnt value my work is a good career path. Yes, you like the work..but you don’t value it or respect the time that goes into it.

Don’t fall for this. I did at first because i thought i should be glad anyone was even looking at my art ( this is a thing i was told and believed because i didnt know better)   Guess what- “exposure” didn’t pay off. I made a lot of art that went to waste. If you are making work for a portfolio, work on YOUR ideas. People who offer exposure as payment rarely have the pull or professional awareness for that to mean anything.

If you are going to take a risk, take that risk on your own work. Taking a risk for someone who has already demonstrated that they have no idea how to start a professional project and are okay with putting someone else out for their own gain is asking for a big mess. A big mess that could cost you a lot of time and distract you from making GOOD work. The chances that person is going to know how to get the work published, marketed, sold, and make one red dime is very very low. A lot of people are full of shit, remember that. It doesnt mean they are bad or mean, just….a lot of people are good at believing their own hype and expect everyone else to buy it too.

It’s ok to say no.

Being an artist means that you will have to be the “bad guy” who reality checks people who think you should be grateful for the attention. Sometimes i just politely smile and nod when someone says “oh you should sell these at the flea market i go to , people would love them!” or pitch me wildly expensive, tone deaf ideas that they think will save me ( im doing fine and no i can’t cast these in bronze because i don’t have a home forge and most people arent going to buy $2000 figures and no i do actually think about the logistics of what i choose to make and costs and…sigh, never mind) One person recently insisted that i charge a lot more for my work- which is flattering- but would not listen when i explained why i cannot price myself out of my own audience. She knew my business better than i did , somehow- despite me doing this for 13 years and her doing it….never. Sometimes people want to use you as a sounding board for their own fantasies once they hear you are an artist and aren’t really interested in a conversation. A lot of people think art is magic and most people aren’t aware of the nuances and culture that comes with being a professional artist so they say some dumb stuff with the best of intentions but you really just want to strangle them…just a gentle quick strangle, nothing permanent…

Tatsuyuki Tanaka - Loderunner