Hi folks!
I wanted to make a little series about stuff I have learnt over the last years to give you an insight of my work methods, the interaction with clients and all stuff around the job "Illustrator/Artist."

All I have written here is based on my own experiences and those methods work for me. That means not that it is the ultimative solution for everyone, but maybe it might be helpful for one or another artist in future.
I will continue it when I find the time. If you have questions, please ask them in the comments! They are very much welcome and I can answer them in future articles. Ask anything you want if it is regarding Art/Illustration/Work/Methods/Training, etc.

So, today...this little series starts with inspiration , how to keep your creative juices flow - and the job in general.

First thing --- ...
...being an illustrator is no 7 to 4 job at all. Keep that in mind if you´re planning to make a living out of that. If you like to have your weekends/evenings free, consider another job. Seriously.
Painting/illustrating is more than a job, it´s dedication, it´s passion. If you feel that painting is a burden for you or you have more art blocks than anything else then step away from that career.

On the other side, being an Illustrator is a fun job, no doubt, and a cool one too. But it´s not always "the easy funny painting" job. It takes always alot of dedication, tons of discipline to kick your own ass, the stubbornness to improve and push yourself further and further permanently. I think of it more as a mission and also passion instead of a job to earn money. If you just intend to chose such the illustrator job "because it´s cool and easy and I´m too lazy to do regular work", - I can tell you: it takes more will and discipline to reach your goal and make actually a living from it than working in a "normal" job.


Freetime? Yeah.
The freetime I have inbetween commissions I paint for myself.
Why? Uh...let´s guess - to piss my partner off who is hopefully waiting for me to emerge from the closet of doom in hope to spend finally some quality time with me? Nope.

In my freetime I am trying out new techniques, trying to improve and develop my style further - things you can´t do when you paint a set of illustrations for a client.
Aww, why not trying something new in a client´s painting?
They commission you because they like your style from what they have seen in your portfolio and expect getting the quality they have seen there. If they put the money into your services you simply have to make sure that they will get what they have paid for. You just can´t send one inked, cell shaded comic-like picture in and the second one has only rough oil brush strokes, no outlines and heads more for fine arts. That just doesn´t work for the client and in return it doesn´t work for you.

So those technical experiments have to be made outside of your work time. And they are necessary (at least for me) to find out what you can adapt into your work later to improve your own style without going away from it.

The second point is if you´re staying in your usual work style and painting one commission after another, you stagnate with your skills and practise. And that is nothing an artist likes to experience, it makes the workflow pretty boring, then you´ll lose the kick when you´re painting and your artwork is getting worse instead of better. The pretty nasty downward spiral. Beware!

Another point is the inspiration. If you have commissions to finish you can´t allow yourself "having a bad week and no inspiration". This you will do once, and the job is gone. Promised.
Just one example from an all day situation: If you go to the hairdresser, ask for a new haircut and the hairdresser rolls with their eyes and says: "Oh no, I´m not inspired to cut your hair, I have a bad day/week..., please understand." This is exactly what you don´t wanna hear. Your client doesn´t want to hear it either, because illustrating is just another kind of service. (And needs to be paid like any other service too, but this is a completely different chapter.)

There is also a difference between personal work and commissioned work. The latter contains a certain frame which the illustrator has to keep and work in it, and it depends from client to client how detailed it is. So all you need to paint a commission is a description and here we go. If the client wants to have a sci-fi chick painted you don´t need to get "the big fat hairy inspiration", the theme is given and all you have to care about is the pose, the colors and the general picture composition.

If you want to paint for yourself, you have to get an idea first. (Sometimes it strucks me 'out of the blue' while I am in the most impossible situations. Sometimes I have a very clear image in my mind, and sometimes the idea/concepts develops itself further while I´m already in the painting process.)

Not getting ideas? Is something stuck in your brain and doesn´t get out?
Let me tell you how I avoid them.
(As I said before, it works for me, but might work for others too.)
On a sidenote: In all those years I had one really nasty art block, and that was because my mother was very ill. I couldn´t concentrate on anything else. Such art blocks are understandable, of course, and they will happen unfortunately to everyone sooner or later. :/

What I´m trying to avoid are those "self made" art blocks. Of course I have days when I pick up the pencil and all I produce is shit. If I feel that I have such a day I put my pencil away, put on my jogging shoes and run. Doing sports or taking long walks in nature is for me the best thing to avoid slinking deeper into a "shitty day" attitude.
When I am back at home I have the solution to the problem. It works always.
Plus if you are sitting 10 hours or more infront of a computer, your body is thankful to get some fresh air and it´s always good to keep the balance between brainwork and physical work.
Both are substituting each other, and it is always made for win.

-- And if we talk about health, keep always some fruits and a HUGE water bottle beside your workstation, and make regular breaks to losen the muscles and get fresh air. --

Another thing that works positive towards my creative juices is music. It inspires me alot. I listen always to music when I´m painting. When I need to paint an action pic with lots of dynamics, then some industrial stuff will work for me very good to get the action reflectioned in the pic. If I paint a landscape/fantasy world, mostly Power Metal, Classic or Celtic/Ambient stuff is going well with my mood and inspiration. So each kind of music has its place for me too.

There are alot more ways to get your inspiration kick in, but keep in mind that if you´re planning to work for clients, you just have to function like any other service guy/gal in their jobs too. Getting an inspiration flash can be counterproductive also, if an idea strucks you so hard that it needs to get out, come what may. For that you need the iron will to finish your serious work first. Don´t let your muse prattle around, just concentrate on your work. I think that is the hardest part for a "crazy artist". Hehe.

Wow, this was alot more than I intended to write. I hope it´s kinda useful for someone out there.
As said above, ask me questions regarding my work, you´re most welcome!


Stay tuned!