Here's my notes, typed out for my fellow students at school. My English is pretty sorry so please excuse any misspelling, bad grammar, and misunderstanding on my part. If you could kindly point out the latter I would be very grateful
I know I probably missed many important parts too... a bit sad I couldn't hear the Marko talk because of the fuzzy speaker and my fuzzy hearings
Here goes.
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Digital Painting lecture by Bobby Chiu
• Pay close attention to the position and the shape of highlight. When unsure, Bobby sometimes creates a highlight on a new layer and moves it around. The shape of the highlight reflects the shape of the surface at all times.
• When creating a fictional subject, it is important to draw inspiration from life.
• Learn something every month and build up the library in your mind.
• You should always be trying to figure out your client’s vision rather than trying to push creative boundaries of your own. While on the job, you need to be enhancing the client’s vision rather than changing it.
Making a natural-looking brush in Photoshop:
(I recorded tips only. If you need the exact how-to, ask me or find tutorials online.)
1. Scan in an ink splash, or any other natural mark you’d like to use.
2. The size of the brush should be the brush size you most often use.
3. Add a texture to the brush. Bobby likes to set it on “darken” in the texture mode. For more unique results, use scanned textures rather than default ones. Also, the texture should be made to tile seamlessly in all directions.
4. Bobby likes to set the flow of his brush low, and he doesn’t use opacity jitter.
5. Adding some “noise” in the brush settings can help.
6. If a clear texture is desired when painting, stamp the brush rather than dragging it in strokes. Think slapping paint onto a canvas rather than painting.
Bobby’s quick digital demo:
• Make sure you can always see the thumbnail of your image. You can use navigator for this. Bobby opens a second window of the same file he is working on instead. To do this, go to Window – Arrange – New Window for <file name>. Put the new window next to the window you are working in, and resize it so that you can see the thumbnail of the entire image. When painting, make sure it looks good in the thumbnail window or your picture may not be working properly.
• Do not rush to put down strokes. One thought, one stroke. The speed of putting down marks has nothing to do with your work speed. What makes you work faster is if you train yourself to think faster.
• Bobby likes to start in a dark background, sketch using a very slightly darker color. He believes that to preserve the imagination in one’s sketch, one must not kill it with too much contrast too early on. It’s very much like looking into the dark at night and seeing shapes. If it’s broad daylight with everything in plain sight, sometimes your imagination stops working.
• It is important to establish the lighting scheme early on. Work in layers, and if the contrast becomes too great too fast, turn down the opacity so you can easily paint over it on a new layer.
• Bobby starts out with the texture brush, then switch to the default round brush.
• Avoid using complete black. Try to think about colors a few steps ahead. On the other hand, highlights are also very rarely white.
• Bobby alternatively paints in the dark and the light, gradually increasing the contrast.
• Use contrast wisely. It’s a tool to attract the eye.
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Story-telling Lecture by Marshall Vandruff:
• Stories are told because “you weren’t there.” The goal is to give the listener a sense of involvement in the series of events.
• People who create trouble make good protagonists.
• It is important to create protagonist empathy and make people feel like the character is just like them: vulnerable, flawed, under-appreciated, low on the totem pole, morally better than others around them.
• The struggle between desire and obstacles drive the story.
• Good story-tellers do not stereotype their antagonists. Evil people don’t generally think they are doing evil. A good story-teller should be willing to give everybody a fair shake.
• A story is a record of trouble when the protagonist goes after what he wants. It should be told in patterns of reversals (turning points, plot points, or twists, same thing.) It swings the audience between worry and hope.
• When turning stories into pictures, show but don’t tell. Do not explain things. A good way to test this is pull out all the text, and see if the story still makes some sense.
• The style of the visual story affects mood. A scary scene in candy colors can be a children’s comic.
• One of the advantages comic has against movie is that the frames of the comic can naturally vary according to need, while movies have to consciously try.
• Use touch stones, look around: who has done this before? Get out of the ordinary in this, and try looking into other genres.
• Use visual metaphor – this does not mean symbols. An example of this being “this comic feels happy because it looks like candy.” Colors do not have to be literal. Feel your scene, find something else that has the same feeling, and draw from it.
• For dramatic effect, play with opposites and create a visual “arc” in a series of panels. No shot exists on its own right. Shots should be both visually related and contrasting enough to pack a punch. Example: draw the same subject from completely different viewpoints.
• Website:
www.marshallart.com . Marshall’s site has a lot of valuable resources in his “resources” section.
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Business Talk for Artists:
• For commercial artists, art is a product and you must learn to sell it to your boss, your client, or the public.
• “How much do you charge?”
Think about what you want – do you want to impress them? Do you want to make money? Do you want the experience?
How much time does it take? How much time are you really using to work on it? Be truthful and don’t pretend to do something you cannot. Everybody works at different speed. Know your limits.
If you don’t know how to do certain things, you can almost always find someone who knows, especially in online artist communities.
Pick a number you will not negotiate below. Let them know why it’s worth it.
• People will use excuses to talk you down, but they would not be talking to you at all unless they believe you can do the job.
• Read contracts carefully. Jason Manley suggests that one should always have the rights for non-commercial self-promotion. If you want a clause changed but do not know how to write it legally, simply write out what you want in simple language with the least amount of words possible. If a clause is absolutely unacceptable and you cannot change it, write “unsignable with this clause.”
• When negotiating, remember that they are just people too. Figure out what they want and highlight the common goals.
• The client is always right. Sometimes, you can either be right or win.
• When negotiating, use positive feedbacks for acceptable terms. Be willing to walk away and avoid being stuck with horrible deals. You must have trust in your own ability and what you bring to the table.
• Property ownership: what does owning it mean to you? How valuable is it to you? Remember that sometimes it is impossible to get a fair deal.
• Make sure to have “change order” clause in your contract. A change order happens when you are asked to work on a different piece of art than what you initially agreed, or if feedback causes considerable delays. The language should be: “If there are any changes after production has begun, the consultant (aka artist) will add a new bid with increased cost and time.” Only in this way can you ensure that you will be reimbursed for the extra work rather than held accountable and punished for not meeting deadlines.
• Document everything. If an oral discussion happened between you and the client, type out the summary immediately after the meeting and email it to the client, saying something like “please check and make sure this is the specification we agreed upon during the meeting. If it is not correct, please let me know within xx hours.” Keep the paper trail so that, at any time, you can say: “Sorry it didn’t come out the way you wanted, but here is what you have signed and agreed on.” If you do not put it in writing, the client is always right and you cannot argue with them.
• Come across as being helpful rather than defensive and difficult.
• Business agreements are in existence to make sure that nobody can cause damage to the other side. There is virtually no good reason to not sign a mutual NDA.
• In the contract, always specify number of revisions. Example phrase: revisions beyond three will be billed on agreed-upon hourly rate.
• It is good to get payments via wire transfer. This way, you don’t have to wait to receive a check and wait more for the check to clear.
• Amnesty clause: protects the artist from legal troubles such as copyright infringement caused by materials, tech specs, art directions or contents supplied by the client.