Feedback on artwork
September 18, 2020 7:50 AM Subscribe
I've been wanting to be an illustrator for most of my life. I'm at the point where I'd like to try to make that a reality. But I don't know if my art is good enough or I'm talented enough. How do I find out? Can I cold contact artists to get their feedback? Would that be creepy?
I've been drawing since I could hold a crayon, and I distinctly remember spending most of my childhood thinking I'd be an illustrator when I grew up. Then life got shitastic and obviously those particular plans didn't pan out.
I didn't go to art school. I've taken a few adult education classes here and there, some more helpful than others. I've never worked up the nerve to say to the instructor, hey, I'd like to be an illustrator, is my stuff good enough? Besides, it seems as though many of the the criteria would be different for fine art painting versus children's illustrator.
A local art college offers a certificate program for illustration. I signed up for it last year, then decided it was foolish to spend $5000 on this pursuit when I wasn't even sure if I was good enough, and withdrew in time to get a refund. I should mention that I'm allergic to student loans and giving schools my money, since it was a long hard slog to pay off my grad school loans, but if something were truly worth it I would spend the money.
I do realize that there is no true dividing line between "good enough" and "not good enough" because art is subjective and one can always improve. I suupose I'm wondering if my native abilities have any kind of spark that suggest it would be worth it to invest the blood sweat tears sacrifice money etc into trying to make this into a real career. Is there someone I could pay a sum, like $100 to 200 or more to look at my art and say this is good, this needs improved, but if you work on x y z then it's within the realm of possibility for you to work in this field?
I'm not posting a link to my art here because I want to keep my mefi life and real life distinctly separate.
I've been drawing since I could hold a crayon, and I distinctly remember spending most of my childhood thinking I'd be an illustrator when I grew up. Then life got shitastic and obviously those particular plans didn't pan out.
I didn't go to art school. I've taken a few adult education classes here and there, some more helpful than others. I've never worked up the nerve to say to the instructor, hey, I'd like to be an illustrator, is my stuff good enough? Besides, it seems as though many of the the criteria would be different for fine art painting versus children's illustrator.
A local art college offers a certificate program for illustration. I signed up for it last year, then decided it was foolish to spend $5000 on this pursuit when I wasn't even sure if I was good enough, and withdrew in time to get a refund. I should mention that I'm allergic to student loans and giving schools my money, since it was a long hard slog to pay off my grad school loans, but if something were truly worth it I would spend the money.
I do realize that there is no true dividing line between "good enough" and "not good enough" because art is subjective and one can always improve. I suupose I'm wondering if my native abilities have any kind of spark that suggest it would be worth it to invest the blood sweat tears sacrifice money etc into trying to make this into a real career. Is there someone I could pay a sum, like $100 to 200 or more to look at my art and say this is good, this needs improved, but if you work on x y z then it's within the realm of possibility for you to work in this field?
I'm not posting a link to my art here because I want to keep my mefi life and real life distinctly separate.
Unfortunately, this is an area where the specifics of what you're aiming for matter a lot. And based on what you've written above, I think you're too early in this process to be thinking of art as a profession you could transition into quickly. Which isn't to say that there's no way to make this work for yourself, not at all, but rather, I think you need to do a lot more research and clarify what it is you want to do.
Do you want to design logos and other spot art for businesses? Do you want to do editorial illustrations? Do you want to work on picture books? Chapter books? Comics? Do you want to specialize in book covers, maybe for self-published authors? Do you want to do private commissions for individuals? Do you want to do concept art for games or film? Do you want to do anonymous work-for-hire making things like coloring books and tie-in books for licensed properties, where you need to closely match an existing style?
All of these paths (which are just what I thought of off the top of my head) are different from each other both in terms of the skills required, the pay you can expect, and most importantly, the professional connections/resources necessary to gain access to them.
For instance, if you want to do editorial illustration for newspapers or magazines, one common path would be to build a killer portfolio that shows your skill at this kind of work, use that to find yourself a well-connected agent, and work with that agent to find jobs.
If you want to be a cartoonist, you should concentrate on making comics on your own time to share on social media, maybe apply to well-regarded anthology projects, and start to build a social/professional network with other comics people.
If you want to work with businesses to design logos and other spot art for things like menus and ads, you can put together a portfolio of work that showcases these skills, research what standard rates are, and then approach local businesses in your area who you think might want to hire you.
All of that said, if the thing that's most important to you right now is to get feedback from professionals, the keywords you're looking for are "portfolio review." In my experience, this is not a service you pay for, but rather something that's volunteered by artists and art directors. Cons aren't a thing this year, but many folks offer this sort of service via their social media as a way of giving back to their communities. And if you politely email someone who you admire -- preferably someone you have some kind of relationship with -- to ask if they are available to do a portfolio review, that's not unreasonable. Just be prepared for many of them to say "no."
posted by Narrative Priorities at 8:17 AM on September 18, 2020 [7 favorites]
Do you want to design logos and other spot art for businesses? Do you want to do editorial illustrations? Do you want to work on picture books? Chapter books? Comics? Do you want to specialize in book covers, maybe for self-published authors? Do you want to do private commissions for individuals? Do you want to do concept art for games or film? Do you want to do anonymous work-for-hire making things like coloring books and tie-in books for licensed properties, where you need to closely match an existing style?
All of these paths (which are just what I thought of off the top of my head) are different from each other both in terms of the skills required, the pay you can expect, and most importantly, the professional connections/resources necessary to gain access to them.
For instance, if you want to do editorial illustration for newspapers or magazines, one common path would be to build a killer portfolio that shows your skill at this kind of work, use that to find yourself a well-connected agent, and work with that agent to find jobs.
If you want to be a cartoonist, you should concentrate on making comics on your own time to share on social media, maybe apply to well-regarded anthology projects, and start to build a social/professional network with other comics people.
If you want to work with businesses to design logos and other spot art for things like menus and ads, you can put together a portfolio of work that showcases these skills, research what standard rates are, and then approach local businesses in your area who you think might want to hire you.
All of that said, if the thing that's most important to you right now is to get feedback from professionals, the keywords you're looking for are "portfolio review." In my experience, this is not a service you pay for, but rather something that's volunteered by artists and art directors. Cons aren't a thing this year, but many folks offer this sort of service via their social media as a way of giving back to their communities. And if you politely email someone who you admire -- preferably someone you have some kind of relationship with -- to ask if they are available to do a portfolio review, that's not unreasonable. Just be prepared for many of them to say "no."
posted by Narrative Priorities at 8:17 AM on September 18, 2020 [7 favorites]
You can purchase a critique or skype session via Art Prof. Might be one place to start.
posted by bunderful at 8:35 AM on September 18, 2020
posted by bunderful at 8:35 AM on September 18, 2020
Forgive me if you've considered and dismissed these, but a lot of folks join Deviantart or Behance as places to post their work and be seen. You'd need to participate and comment on others' work to eventually get your work seen and it isn't guaranteed you'd always get feedback on your work, but it costs you nothing to sign up and look around.
posted by zadcat at 8:43 AM on September 18, 2020 [4 favorites]
posted by zadcat at 8:43 AM on September 18, 2020 [4 favorites]
Clara Lieu was an art professor, and you can purchase a critique through her current venture, Art Prof. For $100 you can get a critique from one of the teaching artists on her team. (I am not sure about the others but Alex Rowe is an illustrator.)
You can also submit 1-3 pieces that might be chosen for a free live art critique.
Art Prof on YouTube
EDIT: Dangit someone beat me to it. :D
posted by Glinn at 8:43 AM on September 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
You can also submit 1-3 pieces that might be chosen for a free live art critique.
Art Prof on YouTube
EDIT: Dangit someone beat me to it. :D
posted by Glinn at 8:43 AM on September 18, 2020 [1 favorite]
I'm not 100% sure that there is a way for someone to tell you that your skills are "good enough" to be an illustrator or not.
Personally from your question, I think you WOULD benefit from the certificate program you dropped out of, because it will both give you what you're looking for here (art crits) and will hopefully show you some of the reality of being a professional illustrator, help you network, and perhaps give you some confidence to go out there to market yourself saying "I am the illustrator you want for this" which I feel like you might struggle with right now - unsure of whether your chops are even good enough for the job isn't the ideal negotiating point!
I went to art school. I even have a BFA! I started in the illustration stream, as my goal career was to be in character design for video games (so was everyone else's.) I dropped out of the illustration stream halfway through my first year because the reality of "illustration" turned out to be less appealing to me than the dream of it. To self critique I would say I had a slightly above average drawing skill in comparison to my classmates in my first year. 4 years later when I graduated as a metalsmith, any one of the people I started with in illustration could draw perfectly proportioned circles around me. Artistic talent is practice. "Spark" is practice. Success is practice. A good eye is practice.
If you're not sure you want to start investing the blood, tears, sacrifice and money into making this your career - don't do it yet. But do start investing the sweat. Draw constantly. Find people who are illustrators and see what kind of practice they do. Become a patron for a few of them so you get to see their sketchbooks and ask questions, like - what do they do to practice? Learn adobe illustrator. Learn Lightroom. Learn Procreate. Learn a little of Indesign. Go to life drawing classes. Draw people who are watching tv next to you. draw your plants, draw your pets, draw your shelves. Develop a style as you develop your confidence, but practice drawing outside your style because illustration is a job and people will want different styles from you sometimes.
You also need to start building a portfolio. I was going to go into more detail on this but I don't know exactly what you're thinking of when you say illustration, and I don't think it's actually too hard to look up what this is. (and narrative priorities has done a bit on preview!)
I and a lot of my friends work as professional artists/craftspeople one way or another, and it is a career where you need an iron clad confidence in your own abilities. There is a ton of rejection inherent in being an artist who works for hire. You need to be your own biggest fan. When someone comes to me with a project, I truly believe that they have made the right choice by choosing me. And if they don't choose me? I think they've made a mistake - Ah well, maybe we can work together on their next project, because I'm still the right choice. This is, for me, a very important headspace to exist in, because otherwise you will spend your career second guessing every choice you make, every price you give, every example of your work that you show.
posted by euphoria066 at 8:43 AM on September 18, 2020 [6 favorites]
Personally from your question, I think you WOULD benefit from the certificate program you dropped out of, because it will both give you what you're looking for here (art crits) and will hopefully show you some of the reality of being a professional illustrator, help you network, and perhaps give you some confidence to go out there to market yourself saying "I am the illustrator you want for this" which I feel like you might struggle with right now - unsure of whether your chops are even good enough for the job isn't the ideal negotiating point!
I went to art school. I even have a BFA! I started in the illustration stream, as my goal career was to be in character design for video games (so was everyone else's.) I dropped out of the illustration stream halfway through my first year because the reality of "illustration" turned out to be less appealing to me than the dream of it. To self critique I would say I had a slightly above average drawing skill in comparison to my classmates in my first year. 4 years later when I graduated as a metalsmith, any one of the people I started with in illustration could draw perfectly proportioned circles around me. Artistic talent is practice. "Spark" is practice. Success is practice. A good eye is practice.
If you're not sure you want to start investing the blood, tears, sacrifice and money into making this your career - don't do it yet. But do start investing the sweat. Draw constantly. Find people who are illustrators and see what kind of practice they do. Become a patron for a few of them so you get to see their sketchbooks and ask questions, like - what do they do to practice? Learn adobe illustrator. Learn Lightroom. Learn Procreate. Learn a little of Indesign. Go to life drawing classes. Draw people who are watching tv next to you. draw your plants, draw your pets, draw your shelves. Develop a style as you develop your confidence, but practice drawing outside your style because illustration is a job and people will want different styles from you sometimes.
You also need to start building a portfolio. I was going to go into more detail on this but I don't know exactly what you're thinking of when you say illustration, and I don't think it's actually too hard to look up what this is. (and narrative priorities has done a bit on preview!)
I and a lot of my friends work as professional artists/craftspeople one way or another, and it is a career where you need an iron clad confidence in your own abilities. There is a ton of rejection inherent in being an artist who works for hire. You need to be your own biggest fan. When someone comes to me with a project, I truly believe that they have made the right choice by choosing me. And if they don't choose me? I think they've made a mistake - Ah well, maybe we can work together on their next project, because I'm still the right choice. This is, for me, a very important headspace to exist in, because otherwise you will spend your career second guessing every choice you make, every price you give, every example of your work that you show.
posted by euphoria066 at 8:43 AM on September 18, 2020 [6 favorites]
I agree with euphoria066, don't worry about "good". Develop your craft. In the end its the hours of practice, your drive which will determine whether you'll make it.
I went through the same thought process when I first started writing as a second career. I had this nagging question about whether I was good enough. Turned out it was a huge dead end. Lots of wasted time agonziing over what turned out to be a meaningless question.
I realized also that obsessing over the question was a deadly form of procrastination. A reason for me to excuse myself from practicing and perfecting.
Finally, some of the best practitioners in writing really *sucked* when they started. What made them succeed was putting in those hours.
That's the creative side of the question. There might be another implied question you are asking. What do you mean by "success"? Are you expecting to make a certain amount of $? That's a question that needs some market research. My imnpression is that illustration is one of those steep pyramid occupations - those at the top make a ton of money and the majority do not. If you're expecting to be in the top tier, I would say that you would be facing strong odds regardless of whether you are "good".
tldr: It's the hours, not the "good". But what are your expectations?
posted by storybored at 10:51 AM on September 18, 2020
I went through the same thought process when I first started writing as a second career. I had this nagging question about whether I was good enough. Turned out it was a huge dead end. Lots of wasted time agonziing over what turned out to be a meaningless question.
I realized also that obsessing over the question was a deadly form of procrastination. A reason for me to excuse myself from practicing and perfecting.
Finally, some of the best practitioners in writing really *sucked* when they started. What made them succeed was putting in those hours.
That's the creative side of the question. There might be another implied question you are asking. What do you mean by "success"? Are you expecting to make a certain amount of $? That's a question that needs some market research. My imnpression is that illustration is one of those steep pyramid occupations - those at the top make a ton of money and the majority do not. If you're expecting to be in the top tier, I would say that you would be facing strong odds regardless of whether you are "good".
tldr: It's the hours, not the "good". But what are your expectations?
posted by storybored at 10:51 AM on September 18, 2020
Response by poster: Thanks for sharing these perspectives. To address some of the questions:
I'd be fine with sharing my work with people over memail, I just don't want to post it for all to see.
I'm mainly interested in cartooning and children's illustration, possibly line art for chapter books or even for readers. I've also considered greeting cards or trying to sell my own stuff on etsy. Frankly, I don't have the time to do all of these, so have mainly focused on cartooning.
Thanks for clueing me in on portfolio reviews! I plan to pursue this.
I have major confidence problems. My spouse wants to share my work with family and I get panicky imposter syndrome just thinking about it. I feel like I've put in enough hours through the decades, drawing pretty much every day, to see at least some glimmer of confidence in myself, but it's not there.
posted by ThreeSocksToTheWind at 11:10 AM on September 18, 2020
I'd be fine with sharing my work with people over memail, I just don't want to post it for all to see.
I'm mainly interested in cartooning and children's illustration, possibly line art for chapter books or even for readers. I've also considered greeting cards or trying to sell my own stuff on etsy. Frankly, I don't have the time to do all of these, so have mainly focused on cartooning.
Thanks for clueing me in on portfolio reviews! I plan to pursue this.
I have major confidence problems. My spouse wants to share my work with family and I get panicky imposter syndrome just thinking about it. I feel like I've put in enough hours through the decades, drawing pretty much every day, to see at least some glimmer of confidence in myself, but it's not there.
posted by ThreeSocksToTheWind at 11:10 AM on September 18, 2020
I am lazy/occasional illustrator with middling skills. I can tell you that developing your art is not about innate talent, it's about practice, connections, tenacity, and hard work. You're already on the right track seeking out critiques from pros. You can pay for them (see comments above) and often at cons and other events some artists will have portfolio review sessions for free. For example, Lightbox Expo was this past weekend (virtually) and there were several slots for portfolio reviews.
You don't have to go all in right away. Just start slowly and work on your anatomy drawing or whatever you wanna focus on, go to some cons, watch tutorials or WIP videos from your fav artists*, take a few classes here and there...
*I have learned a LOT from these.
Also, I just saw your update. Almost every artist I know will tell you that it's normal to dislike your work or feel insecure about it. The important thing is to push on despite that.
posted by Stoof at 11:15 AM on September 18, 2020 [2 favorites]
You don't have to go all in right away. Just start slowly and work on your anatomy drawing or whatever you wanna focus on, go to some cons, watch tutorials or WIP videos from your fav artists*, take a few classes here and there...
*I have learned a LOT from these.
Also, I just saw your update. Almost every artist I know will tell you that it's normal to dislike your work or feel insecure about it. The important thing is to push on despite that.
posted by Stoof at 11:15 AM on September 18, 2020 [2 favorites]
Hey Socks - I am an illustration agent. I've sent you a dm.
posted by LongDrive at 8:29 PM on September 18, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by LongDrive at 8:29 PM on September 18, 2020 [3 favorites]
See if there’s a comics jam group you can join. The kind of thing where people get together in a cafe for a few hours and just draw and look at each other’s stuff. Well, they used to. Maybe now they keep it going on Zoom. Anyway, find your local cartoonists and illustrators and interact with them.
posted by matildaben at 8:05 AM on September 19, 2020
posted by matildaben at 8:05 AM on September 19, 2020
I have been commissioning artists for book illustrations and covers, off and on, for twenty-five years. If you can memail me a link to a portfolio I can give you some comments.
posted by Hogshead at 12:00 PM on September 20, 2020
posted by Hogshead at 12:00 PM on September 20, 2020
Just a quick thought from someone who is not an illustrator:
I think you're right to be wary of sharing your art with family, as your spouse suggests, just because family and friends are rarely the best source of critique on your creative projects.
Getting feedback from professionals, especially professional illustrators and people like LongDrive who are illustration agents, would almost certainly help you a lot more: it would be much more specific, it would be more informed by what paying clients are looking for right now, and it would be detached, free of the personal awkwardness that arises when creatives get feedback from family and friends. Start by sharing your work with professionals, especially if you can find some who are realistically encouraging.
Good luck! I'm looking forward to seeing your work when you're feeling more ready to share it with the world!
posted by kristi at 4:27 PM on September 20, 2020
I think you're right to be wary of sharing your art with family, as your spouse suggests, just because family and friends are rarely the best source of critique on your creative projects.
Getting feedback from professionals, especially professional illustrators and people like LongDrive who are illustration agents, would almost certainly help you a lot more: it would be much more specific, it would be more informed by what paying clients are looking for right now, and it would be detached, free of the personal awkwardness that arises when creatives get feedback from family and friends. Start by sharing your work with professionals, especially if you can find some who are realistically encouraging.
Good luck! I'm looking forward to seeing your work when you're feeling more ready to share it with the world!
posted by kristi at 4:27 PM on September 20, 2020
I'm a bit late to this conversation, but you might consider signing up for the (relatively new) Illustration Department forum. Its a positive and encouraging community of active and aspiring illustrators, skewing towards children's illutrations. A great place to ask for free advice.
The forum is an offshoot of The Illustration Department, through which illustrator and art director Guiseppe Castellano offers various illustration courses, but also portfolio reviews either by Google meet ($125) or by email ($75). From his comments and advice in the forums and elsewhere he seems an honest, generous, encouraging and practical art director.
posted by Kabanos at 8:07 PM on September 27, 2020
The forum is an offshoot of The Illustration Department, through which illustrator and art director Guiseppe Castellano offers various illustration courses, but also portfolio reviews either by Google meet ($125) or by email ($75). From his comments and advice in the forums and elsewhere he seems an honest, generous, encouraging and practical art director.
posted by Kabanos at 8:07 PM on September 27, 2020
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This is unfortunate because there are quite a few working professional artists here who'd be happy to give you unvarnished thoughts about your work.
To directly answer your question, I would suggest contacting a local (perhaps) college/university with a well thought of art program and nosing through the faculty and sending out feelers to them to see if they'd be amenable to performing a paid critique on a non-student.
That said, you're an illustrator if you illustrate. If you want to get paid for your work, then your job becomes not only to improve, but to market yourself. All the critique in the world won't help you land work, so, if you're not prepared to hustle, there may not be much point in changing up your life to suit.
Note that one of the most important things about attending art school isn't necessarily the instruction or critique, it's building a network amongst the other students and faculty, and getting recommendations of venues that would be interested in your work, whether it's video game studios, magazines, comic book publishers, advertising studios, editorial, whatever your style and desired market is.
Finally, making a paid living as an illustrator is going to be a rough road unless you get employed full time to do it. So don't upset your life just yet until you have a concrete plan for going forward with a new career.
posted by seanmpuckett at 8:01 AM on September 18, 2020 [3 favorites]