Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with illustration

please draw a heart for me

logic vs love — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:33:47 -0800

How can I find a freelance illustrator to do some work for a small web project I'm working on? How much should I expect to pay? I need about 10-20 small, fairly simple illustrations for a new website I'm working on, and I don't think I trust my own artistic talent enough to do them myself. Where can I go online to find illustrators/artists who are both talented and interested in a small project like this? And how much would something like this typically cost?

What systems do illustrators use today?

tcv — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:22:34 -0800

I worked in printing directly for nearly 11 years. My last job that had anything to do with the industry ended in 2002. In 2002, the design side was still pretty Mac-centric. How is it today? Have people stayed with OS X and Macs? Or have they gone to PCs? I am asking for a niece who is interested in persuing 2D illustration in her college studies.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

misha — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:30:19 -0800

I'm interested in learning more about design and illustration, and I live in Florida. I thought about attending a conference here in Orlando (so no hotel or travel fees), but being new to this I am not sure about the presenters, and the price tag is hefty (even with my discount code, $395 for three days). So, creative Mefites, tell me what you think! The conference name is "Create Chaos," and I'm not posting a link in case the consensus is a resounding, "No, don't go!" I'm sure any interested Mefites can look up the info if they are interested.
Here's what I want to know. Do you have any experience with these "expert" speakers, good or bad?:

Jonathan Gouthier
Colin Smith
Geoff Stearns (Flash Engineer at YouTube)
David Blatner (author on InDesign and Photoshop, etc.)
Tim Cole (Adobe senior inDesign evangelist)
Ted LoCascio (Photoshop)

Artist seeks Santa 2.0

Ogre Lawless — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:01:35 -0800

Artist/illustrator seeks photo reference for Santa 2.0. Perhaps you source? No raunchies need apply... I have on a few occasions in the past years run across friends of mine or strangers on the street in some moment of beatific corpulence bordering on the hirsute and it has struck me that they represented either some facet of a theoretical Santa's existence (Santa as a young man, Santa on his wedding day, Santa as a disgruntled 30-something, Distinguished Black Santa, etc) but I was never able to capture them photographically and of course by now they have all shaved and moved on.

Conceptually perhaps you can see where I am steering. I very much love the powdered white Santa and regard that image as, of course, iconic but for my own card wanted to show a man having had an inner journey to become that iconic symbol.

Hopefully one of you digital photo obsessives will have captured one of your friends in a frame that fits?

Illustrator that creates interiors with outdoor elements?

suzen — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:57:39 -0800

I'm looking for an illustrator that creates images of interiors with exterior elements. I know I've seen something like it at some point and this image evokes my memory of the style cues. I'm having trouble constructing a searchable phrase that will lead me there.

Who illustrated Twitter’s whale and robot?

grant — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:45:27 -0800

I am looking for the name of the artist who created the “over capacity whale” and “technically wrong robot” illustrations for Twitter. Any information or pointers would be amazingly helpful.

Outta Stock

ejoey — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 01:58:31 -0800

I'm looking for decent stock web elements that aren't from 1998, but I'm totally stuck. Where should I go? All my googling results in 4 Hour Work Week-style stock sites that are clearly SEO-optimized, but don't seem to have very many if any stock illustrations or animations for professional website use that look or feel at all modern or of this decade. Any links would be greatly appreciated!

Goodly drawn girl

self — Sun, 25 May 2008 22:03:52 -0800

Have you ever known someone with so much artistic potential, who does nothing with it? My girlfriend is a very talented illustrator. She will sit and idle doodle amazing little scenes, creatures, and people while talking or sitting with me. I am constantly amazed at how casually she comes up with these drawings, as they rival some of the best stylized illustrations I've seen out there.

However, she has no faith in her own work while also seeming to take her talent for granted. I've tried and tried to convince her otherwise, but to no avail.

I've tried giving her projects- like draw a couple quirky characters for my band's site or CD, but she always puts it off and if I push her at all, she feels like she's under too much pressure. I've also tried using her own ideas as inspiration- she's interested in tshirt design and silkscreening, but when I offer to screen whatever she wants onto a shirt, she shies away.

How can I help her realize her potential without being overbearing?

She has a vague idea for a children's book (though currently sans illustration), and loves Yositomo Nara's work, so I'm going to buy her this as a gift. But I'd love to hear what else I might be able to do.

Any ideas?

How do you ink a drawing with a brush?

pantufla — Mon, 19 May 2008 21:34:06 -0800

How can I learn to ink drawings using a winsor & newton series 7 brush? I would like to learn how to ink clean, curving lines over my pencil drawings, and to have control over those lines. I've heard that the best brush to use for this is a Winsor & Newton Series 7. I've also heard that it takes lots of practice. Some of the brush masters I've been studying are Dan Clowes, Charles Burns, and the Hanukas.

I'm having a hard time generating those types of lines, or even finding information about how to create them. Can anyone offer pointers on brush inking technique? Everything from how to hold the brush to loading it with ink, different strokes to practice, etc. Thanks!

How much should my friend charge for this artwork?

Mikey-San — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:12:56 -0800

A friend of mine is a freelance illustrator fresh out of school, and he's been approached by a colleague of a former teacher of his. The teacher is retiring, and the colleague would like to commission a cartoon as a retirement present for the teacher. My friend is a brilliant artist, but lacks professional experience, so he's got little reference for what to quote for the work. Can anyone provide a good frame of reference for quoting this kind of job? Details inside! (I'm asking for my friend, of course, who isn't a MeFite but really should become one.) Pertinent details:

- The cartoon would be a single-page, 8 to 10-panel comic with approximate dimensions of 11"x14".
- Including proof sketches, research, and actual penciling and inking time, he estimates three working days to deliver.
- He typically works with 300-grade Strathmore smooth bristol and Winsor-Newton waterproof India ink.
- He's won a couple of awards for his illustration work, so people who work with him know he's talented, but still green professionally.

I can provide any other details if anyone has questions. This isn't my profession, so I wasn't able to give him a better answer than, "What do you think your work is worth?"

How can I prepare a bitmap image to print in black & white plus one spot color?

pantufla — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 20:43:08 -0800

How can I prepare a bitmap image to print in black & white plus one spot color? I'm doing an illustration for a magazine, and I've been given the instructions that it will print in black plus one spot color. I've scanned a drawing into photoshop (b & w) and created another masked layer with the specified spot color. My contact at the magazine does not know how to set up a photoshop file to print black & white with the one spot color. I tried creating a duotone (black plus the spot color) but that seemed to require tinting the whole image with the spot color, when I want some areas to be tinted, and some not. I tried creating a cmyk file and adding a spot channel, which allows me to tint the image selectively, but I'm not sure if that's the way to go. I'm waiting to get more info from the magazine people, but in the meantime, if you were asked to prep a bitmap (not vector) file to print in black & 1 spot color, how would you go about it? Thanks! (mac, photoshop cs3)

Commissioning Illustrations for an ABC Book

alms — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:11:38 -0800

How much should I budget for a series of 26 illustrations for an online ABC Book? How about 26 short animations? Any tips on finding a good artist who won't break the bank? I'm contemplating a small commercial project that would have an ABC Book ("A is for Apple, B is for Boat, C is for Cat, etc") as a component. The target audience is young kids, and of course their parents. I'm assuming I'll need something bespoke, but I'd be happy to use stock artwork if I could find something appropriate.

For illustrations, we're talking relatively small single images, e.g. a 200x200 pixel cat. For animations, we're talking very short, e.g. 4-5 seconds of a cat prancing.

I know that ultimately the answer will be determined by the market and my negotiating skills, but I'd like to get a reality check before I start looking for artists and requesting proposals. Do I have any chance of getting something good for $5,000? $10,000? $2,000?

Also, any tips on finding an artist to work with? Some graphic design skills (typography, web layout etc) would be a plus.

Inspirational illustration work

citizngkar — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 01:58:55 -0800

Please recommend some good inspirational illustration websites. I currently check Drawn.ca on a daily basis and I love them, but I am hungry for more. I also welcome recommendations for individual artist's websites that are guaranteed to blow my mind.

Illustrated ephemera

bjork24 — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 10:34:27 -0800

Looking for online collections of vintage hand-drawn illustrations (like so, but minus the envelope), preferably high quality. I'm specifically looking for smallish devices (i.e. telephones, pencil sharpeners, cigarette lighters, etc..), but would be interested in virtually anything illustrated in this style.

I have a couple books with clip art similar to this, but I'm looking expressly for online resources. Thanks!

Help me find 1980s Japanese airbrush art...aka who did the boxart for Hudson's Adventure Island

apetpsychic — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:29:19 -0800

When I was a kid (mid-1980s, early-90s) I was obsessed with these compendiums of Japanese illustration they had where I took art lessons. Most of the art was airbrushed; a lot of hyper-realistic work in the vein of Hajime Sorayama, which I don't mind, but some of it was this cartoony airbrush style I love. In particular there was this cartoon dog who wore a suit which I'd like to find again. I'm not sure what the advertisement was for, but it features a cartoon dog wearing a suit in various situations with a weird cast of characters. On a rollercoaster, etc. i know that is vague, but does anyone know what this is? The style is pretty similar to the boxart for Hudson's Adventure Island. Does anyone know who did the art for that game? Any artists I should check out based on that style?

I've written 2 children's books, now I'm looking for an illustrator.

allelopath — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:54:38 -0800

I've written 2 children's books, now I'm looking for an illustrator. I am an unpublished author of 2 children's books and I am now looking for an illustrator. I will probably publish using Lulu.com. Any suggestions on how to go about finding an illustrator?

I see this site for example. I've looked through the entire site and found a few that might work, e.g.
Fanterosa Lele
mamewo
jessicadietrich
I'm not sure of the approach I should take when contacting these artists (or others) because I don't want to send the ms all over the internets.

Also, I have to consider how I would pay an illustrator. e.g. a flat fee, or a percentage of sales.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Want Banana. Want Banana Image.

Cool Papa Bell — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:39:34 -0800

Where can I get a high-res version of the banana image that accompanies this article in the New York Times? I'm happy to make a purchase, but cannot find a means to do so.

Finding anatomy poster source image?

andreux — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 21:50:06 -0800

How can I find the original source image from an anatomy poster? I'm looking for the original source image that this poster is taken from.

It looks like it's from an old anatomy textbook and is probably something now in the public domain.

I've found similar old anatomy color plates on Wikipedia and Project Gutenberg but can't find this particular work. I've also tried Googling some of the phrases from the inscription, but no luck.

Any suggestions?

Name this (illustration / graphic design) style!

zpousman — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:54:04 -0800

I know you've seen this style of illustration (example, another example). But what's it called? There are a bunch more illustrations in the same style on each site, but I can't for the life of me figure out what the style is called. Any ideas? I am asking because I want to learn to do some of these (simpler probably, at least for the start) illustrations myself. But I can't find an illustrator /photoshop tutorial on them, because I can't describe what I want. So if you have tutorials on this, that'd be great too. But I still want to know what they're called....

How does a scientist start a career in illustration and design?

D J Robertstein — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 11:01:34 -0800

How do I get into a career in illustration and design with no qualifications or knowledge of the business? This year being my third year studying biological science it has become concrete to me that I do not wish to pursue a career in pure science. Since childhood I have been drawing, designing, doodling, taking photographs, making movies and so forth and have slowly realised that I would like nothing more than to be an illustrator (scientific and children's illustrations mainly), as well as develop my (entirely self taught) skills in digital art and design for character design and so on (t-shirts, posters etc).

However, I haven't studied art since I was 16, and now 5 years on I don't have any freinds involved in art or design, nor any clue as to how to even begin building a portfolio, let alone how and who to contact about showing it off. Furthermore I've no qualifications.

The majority of my artwork is on paper, with very little currently online since I've only recently been able to afford a scanner. Also, a lot of my best work has been made as gifts to freinds so I no longer have them.

I'm not that great at writing either, so I'm no good at ending essays, so I'll just end with this:

"Help?"

Courtroom illustration

MaryDellamorte — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:46:15 -0800

How does a person get a job as a courtroom artist? My friend is a professional artist, teaches drawing, and a considerable amount of the work he shows in his gallery shows involves drawing figures from life; he is very good at it. In spite of all of that, like many artists, he still has to have other part time jobs to pay the bills. He would really like to try being a courtroom artist, but, being more in the fine art world and virtually no experience as an illustrator, he has no idea how to do it. Any suggestions?

Best software for animated vector illustrations?

thedevildancedlightly — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:44:47 -0800

What is the best software that can be used to create a vector animation of a business process for use in a video? (MI) What is the "gold standard" software for creating animated vector illustrations? I'm creating a one-minute animation of a business process flow that will be used in a video? I have (via software lab) access to just about any imaginable program and (because of my current life status) the time and interest to learn how to do it myself.

The end result will be based on a cartoon storyboard, but I don't want it to look cartoon-y. It should be a slick illustration (and I'll do some post-processing on it separately).

I've seen Synfig in this context, but I'm not sure if it's simply the most popular based on the price (free).

By "gold standard" I mean the equivalent of Photoshop for still pixel images; Photoshop is the standard for that market, what's the standard for this one?

Thanks!

Help me find this Time Magazine illustration online

billtron — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 08:22:11 -0800

I'm trying to find an online version of the illustration from the Best Inventions of 2007 issue of Time Magazine. The illustration depicts a man on a bicycle covered overwhelmingly in gadgets next to a young woman holding an iPhone.

Image of Vault Boy Spoofing Ayn Rand?

brownpau — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 12:21:11 -0800

Does anyone remember a short comic parody of objectivism using an archetypal 1950s character in the style of "Vault Boy" from Fallout? I think the cartoon was called "Atlas Shrugged in Three Easy Steps" or something along those lines, and ended with two men locked in hand to hand combat. Assorted searches have yielded only frustration, but I know I saw a link to the image somewhere here on Metafilter.

How do you find your artistic style?

TochterAusElysium — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:43:20 -0800

Artists: how do you develop a personal style? I've been studying art for about seven years now; I completed a program in scientific illustration, and am working towards a fine arts degree. I love the work, but I'm running into a big problem: I don't have a single "style" that unifies all my work. And if I ever want to find work as an illustrator, I'm going to have to do so (or so I have been told).

I enjoy working in so many media, though. I like watercolors, pastels, pen & ink, printmaking...I like insects and skulls and flowers and landscapes...I like the bizarre and I like realism...I just can't figure out how to give up a significant portion of my interests and focus on developing a distinctive style. I feel like I will need to address this soon, or my art will remain a hobby, not a money-making activity. So: artists...what to do? Bite the bullet and only use one medium? Force myself to just choose a style? What if I get sick of it?

Here's some of what I've done lately. I appreciate any thoughts and insight into this dilemma; it's been driving me nuts. I've asked my teachers and another online community and haven't gotten very good answers. Any ideas? Or should I just keep studying and improve my skills, and hope it happens?