Freelancer's Guide part 4: Release

The best day for a freelance designer, aside from the day that the check clears, is the day that you get to show your work.

Usually this is a straightforward affair-once the project ships, you're in the clear to show your stuff. Sometimes, though, things aren't so smooth. The most common scenario is that the project is shelved indefinitely, which means your work is in limbo- you can't show it because in theory the project could go live at some point, but in the meantime it's just gathering dust somewhere. A canceled project on the other hand, though painful, usually means that your newly orphaned work is immediately showable. 

 Personally, I like to get a written release before putting anything up just to be sure. International release dates, "Art of" books and other ancillary material complicate your ability to self promote, so when in doubt, ask. I've seen more than a few artists drop something on their blogs and then get dinged for it within hours. This is especially true if your project is high profile.

 The reason for all these useless words is that Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure is finally out!! It was a great project to work on and gave me a chance to work in a different style from most of the projects I do these days. I'll be posting works from this game from time to time, but for now, The Undead Dungeon!!! Make the jump for some swell pics...

Freelancer's Guide, Part 3: The Caged Bird

The world of the freelance artist is alot of hurry up and wait, not unlike being at the front of a line to receive a punch in the mouth.

The interesting thing is that you never know when you're going to suddenly have a small gap of time where you've got nothing to do. You may have 3 projects going simulataneously, but there will be one day when one art director is out sick and can't give you any feedback, one is in hawaii for the week, and one is just a jerk who can't be bothered to answer your emails for days at a time. And just like that. you'll have a half a day on your hands.

You may be paralyzed by this new found free time, just as a caged bird won't immediately fly out of an open cage..you've both forgotten how to be free. At some point during the last 6 months of drawing zombie pirate robots, all those thoughts of doing a nice landscape painting or learning some new media have gone from your mind. So, the lesson for today is: do not waste these precious moments. They are sparkling jewels in otherwise muddy sludge of your schedule. Do some personal work...read some tutorials...figure out what on earth the high pass filter is for in photoshop and why anyone would want to use it. But regardless, do something.

 In that spirit, here's a rough study for what will hopefully become a polished matte at some point when my schedule opens up. one of the areas which I'm sorely lacking in is matte painting, so with any luck, that'll be my area of focus in the coming year.

On another note, for anyone that remembers this guy:

He's found his way into the latest edition of Exotique, from Ballistic Publishing. This is kind of odd considering these books are generally full of sexy robots and all, but go figure. Monstro, you've hit the big time!