Thoughts about Etsy (as a seller)

I've had my Etsy store online for a few years now. Etsy being an online marketplace built to house arts, crafts and creations by original content creators, artisans and designers. I've never actively promoted it since the store here at Benkrefta.com lists everything I sell on Etsy and more. Also at a lower price since I do not need to pay Etsy's middle-man fees.

This isn't going to be a huge in-depth article about Etsy as a selling platform with how to guides on how to set up an Etsy store. Instead, just a few current thoughts I have after using it for a few years now.

Why do you have an Etsy shop, if you already have an online store?

Initially I set it up hoping to use it more as a marketing tool. A way to direct people from Etsy's market place to my shop here. As it turned out, people preferred just buying via Etsy. Despite mentioning this website on my Etsy page and profile and despite my products being cheaper here at BenKrefta.com, customers didn't seem to want to venture off-site. They were happy to simply complete their purchase through Etsy. Perhaps the thought of going to the source doesn't cross a potential customers mind? Or customers miss the call to visit my site? Perhaps it feels like too much effort to click an extra few links when the product is already right there in front of them? Perhaps customers value Etsy's buyer guarantee in the case something were to go wrong with an order?

Ultimately it doesn't really matter what platform a buyer purchases from. It's all good so long as the customer is happy with the price they pay and I'm happy with the price I get. It's just a shame I can't get to pass on the saving to customers I'm otherwise paying Etsy to host a product listing, process payments and communicate. I already have these facilities set up here.

In short, I've learned that it never hurts to list your products on as many platforms as possible. It's been a benefit to use Etsy in addition to my own website and generates additional sales I would otherwise not have had.

What's it like to use?

As selling platforms goes, It's not bad. Setting up and editing listings or multiple listings is straight forward. More so than my own site which uses the WordPress eCommerce module 'Woo Commerce'.

Payments reach my bank account within a day or two. Not instantly, which is a shame, but a lot quicker than Amazon.com for example. Amazon insists it holds my money for 3 months in case of needing a reserve to deal with potential returns and refunds.

Layouts are clean and everything works as it should without being overly complicated.

A battle against art thieves

One thing I, along with many marketplace sellers often complain about is the amount of businesses which abuse the platform. The site is set up for individuals and small businesses who produce handmade, niche products. However, there are way too many sellers on the site which will, for example, steal a load of images and content online then reproduce it on t-shirts, posters and apparel. Yes, it's against Etsy's terms of service, but there's so much of it and not always easy for a layman to tell who has the right to reproduce what. It becomes a complicated and time-consuming task to moderate. 

On a personal level, I've now seen 8 different sellers who have stolen my artwork and attempted to sell it printed onto products without my permission on Etsy. I don't even regularly search for it, and often just stumble across my stolen art. No doubt there's someone on Etsy right now attempting to profit from my work illegally. I've simply not got around to finding it yet.

I have managed to get my artworks removed from each of the Etsy seller's listings. However as far as I know the offending sellers have never received any disciplinary action or been banned from the site for breaking the law. They are all are still able to sell other products. One or two of my artworks being taken down from their store doesn't seem to be enough to raise questions about the authenticity of their remaining products. So far as I can see these sellers are still blatantly stealing and profiting from other artist's work. This suggests to me that so long as Etsy is making money they're not going to go to any great lengths to remove seller accounts listing products which all obviously infringe upon copyright.

Therefore it seems that the responsibility to educate customers about this situation has fallen upon us artists and original content creators. I went on to mention this on the site in "My Ebay Story".
See below:

My Etsy Story

"I graduated with a 1st class BA Degree in Graphic Media in 2008 and have since worked in the art and design industry since. I've written and illustrated several best-selling how-to-draw books, selling close to a million combined copies to date, translated into 4 other languages and sold globally.

The work I sell on my site and Etsy store is original- created by yours truly from the ground up. Typically an image starts out as a sketch, the line-work then refined before adding the colour and tone. I try to bring my love of varying art styles; from manga to tattoo to graffiti art into my work and with the aim to make each piece eye-catching and unique.

On a personal note; The art game can be tough. I often feel frustrated that I (along with other original art creators) am competing in a huge arena of sellers who produce little more than a carbon copy of an existing picture or art thieves who literally steal an image from Google and stick it onto a product to sell. Several times a year I'm having to request that stores online, including a few other Etsy sellers stop stealing and using my art - it's a never ending battle and I'm just one artist of many this is happening to.

Prospective buyers are often none the wiser to this situation. I'd like to see shoppers support artists who have made the effort to bring something original into this world, who aren't looking for shortcuts or to make a sale off of another artist's works. So please read about the individual creators on Etsy- find out who they are and how they create their arts and crafts. Are they genuine? If you were to purchase an item on Etsy, will the profits support an artisan or simply fall into the pocket of an art thief or merchant who may not even have permission to reproduce the work they've made use of?

Thank you :)"

I can’t say I have a great answer for this one since it’s been years since I used anything other than Photoshop. I guess the reason for using something other that Photoshop would be to save money. Or find something that suits you better- whether it be simpler and easier to use or more relevant to creating the type of art you produce. I used to like Paint tool Sai, Painter and Clip Studio Paint  (was known as 'Manga Studio' back in the day when I used it). Krita should do the job if you don’t want to pay any money.

It's also worth looking into tablet based drawing apps which tend to be easier to learn with limited functionality. Autodesk Sketchbook, ArtRage and Procreate are spoken of highly within the artistic community. Although I've personally never tried them - I don't have an Ipad or Tablet computer.

The best thing would be to try all of the above and see which one suits you. Most Apps will provide at least a 30 day free trial if they're not already free. How about setting yourself a project to create an artwork with each piece of software? This would allow you enough time to evaluate it's pros and cons before making a decision about which to use on a regular basis.

When creating a character and a background, would it be best for both to be detailed, or only one of them to keep the focus on one feature?

If the brief / objective is to create a character for example, concept art character designing, then focus entirely on the character. Sure, you can add background elements to give some context, but it’s not necessary to go too detailed unless you are deliberately illustrating a scene.

Do you have any other tips or recommendations on digital drawing or creating an original character?

Before even picking up a pencil, it’s worth writing down 3-6 themes or elements you want to include in the character. Ask yourself- What’s their gender? What genre/s are you designing for? What part of the world are they from? What’s their job/role? What kind of abilities do they have? What tools do they use to help with their duties? What type of clothing would make their job easier? For example:

Gender: Male

Genre: Medieval fantasy

From: The Mountains

Role: Hunter

Abilities: Strength, tactics and cunning

Tools: Bow and Arrow, Axe

Clothing: Something to keep him warm in the mountains and camouflaged and protected when hunting

Once you’ve figured out these questions, think of a feature that makes them special and stand out from every other generic hunter character. Maybe he’s got a crazy scars from battle, or a huge, magical bow that fires 20 arrows at once?

Also consider what wouldn’t work with this character. For example, a metal arm wouldn’t help if you’re in cold environments. Loud and colourful clothing wouldn’t help sneak up on your prey. It’s about creating something over the top and fun, but whilst still being somewhat believable. I touch on this question in both The Artists Guide to Drawing Manga and Digital Manga also.

Prints for sale

Print sales both online and at comic conventions have increased this year, which is a definite bonus. I've always been a commission artist; taking on projects for both business and individuals alike, and it was only in recent years I'd made some effort to produce art prints to sell. I'm focusing on A3 size and still keeping them at the lower rate of £11.99 on this website, compared to £15-£16 at other online retailers. They'll continue to be sold for this rate for at least the rest of 2019, so head over to the store for last minute Christmas shopping.

Colouring Book

I've more or less just finished working on a colouring book I had been commissioned to create around 3 months ago. The title is 'Manga Unicorns' - Yep, a combination of Unicorns with manga characters! It will be released next year and will post some more info once it's available. To work on a colouring book had been on my to-do list for a long time after the adult colouring book boom started around 3 or 4 years ago but at the time I was still busy finishing The Artist's Guide to Drawing Manga whilst working on my tattoo business. Although now I've finally got one colouring book under my belt, I'm considering working on at least another for 2020.

Tattoos

Despite my website focusing on my illustration and manga artwork, I'm still spending half my time tattooing and like the mix of working with a customer in my studio as well as times to lock myself away and sit in front of the graphics tablet for hours each day. My thought right now is finding time to produce some custom flash (tattoo designs) to pitch to potential customers. You might be surprised at how many people like and want tattoos but don't really know what they want. They often end up settling for whatever is fashionable at the time, so if I can provide an alternative to 'pocket watches' and 'dream catchers' then I'll be able to start cultivating a tattoo portfolio showcasing the artwork I'm best at and like to produce.

Finding the time

Like with many creative types, I think the tough part is often finding enough time to complete the many projects and ideas floating around in my head, and in that to-do list I mentioned earlier! If artworks like the ones above can take 10-20 hours or more to produce, there's only so many images that can be made each month alongside the usual tasks of admin, social media management and client communication. The challenge then becomes trying to narrow down exactly what to work on and when. Taking on new projects is exciting. I just wish there was enough time to turn them all into reality!

Years ago I wrote about one of my early experiences with 'Print on Demand' Site, Society 6. It was short article, mostly to complain about a few problems with S6's platform. Here I'm addressing my experiences, thoughts and issues with a similar site- Design By Humans (DBH). With so many aspiring artists asking me, "how do I make money online?", this should give some insight, or at least a different perspective on this topic, even if it doesn't point the way to the pot of gold every artist is looking for.

What is a Print on Demand (POD) site?

There’s now dozens of online stores/platforms which allow artists and designers to create their own store page and upload their artwork, designs and digital assets to be sold on prints, products such as phone cases and apparel such as t-shirts. A royalty or commission then gets paid to the artist after the store sells, prints and post orders which make use your work.

It seems like a great idea to earn a small passive from income your artwork without needing to develop and run the platform from which you sell it on- you just spend a little time putting the art online (which you may have already have created) and then wait for the money to begin rolling in! Or rather, more often than not, then wait for the tumble-weed to go rolling past!

What is Design By Humans?

It's a USA based POD site, born over a decade ago, which specialised in printing T-shirt designs and has now branched out to offer other products in addition such as prints, stickers and mugs. Several years ago when I first joined the site, it was a small artist's hub offering up designs which other artists and customers alike had voted for in a competition-like format. The voting system generally ensured that everything the site printed and sold featured a quality design worthy of being worn in public. A number of years ago the site updated their business model to allow anyone (artists were initially vetted however) to populate the site with their designs without needing votes, in the same way POD sites like Tee Public and Society 6 work. This now meant artists like myself could at least have the opportunity to sell our designs in a more open market system.
However without the voting system, the quality standard across the site has, in my opinion dropped and without wanting to sound like I'm blowing my own horn, the more professional artists like myself are now firmly in the minority. Both as an artist and consumer, I find this frustrating. The vetting process for designs that DBH now allow is somewhat lacking, which I'll discuss later as it's kind of amusing.

What Does Design By Humans pay?

DBH is one of several POD sites I have experimented with over the years, which does typically earn me at least something each month; even if it's just a couple of bucks. Although it's hard to say whether or not I'd recommend other aspiring artists and designers bothering with it. To format your designs, upload your work through their 'add a product' system and create the relevant keywords to aid search results takes a long time, like with any POD site. And you may not end up being adequately financially compensated for your efforts. Like all ventures of this nature, there's some risk involved and whether or not you'll succeed on such as site is not a simple answer.

As an example- I might upload a design which takes an hour to format into the correct size PNG file, upload and configure. That design might not make a single penny over the course of years. Other designs might make a few dollars, while others still could generate hundreds of dollars. In my experience, generating hundreds of dollars for a design isn't common for most but with POD sites it's worth noting you're playing the long game; you go to the effort of uploading your designs in the beginning and might have to wait a number of years before seeing a significant financial return.

For example, one of my Sugar Skull Girl designs has currently generated me over $50 total on DBH. The design was uploaded nearly two years ago. So let's say the design is earning me $25 a year. Not much, right? But providing the design carries on selling for 10+ years, that's $250 of passive income. Is that worth it to you? You decide. Keep in mind I use this same design across several other POD sites and well as for print sales on my own site or to sell at conventions and events. Therefore when you add up the amount of money this one design makes across different platforms and sales channels over the course of a decade, it's considerably more than if I were to instead work solely as a commission artist who charges, say, $250 for a single, one-off artwork or design which I then never derive any further income from.

To answer the question of pay-out royalty, DBH currently offers a designer around $3 every time they sell a $25 shirt. DBH state they offer competitive rates, which is true compared to some POD sites which only offer a dollar per sale. As an artist, do I think $3 is fair? No way! The only reason a T-shirt sells is because the customer is buying the design on it. While I appreciate Print-On-Demand / order quantities of 1 are going to carry a higher cost to produce compared to a mass-produced shirt printed in the thousands, I'd imagine the artist isn't getting even a third of the net profit on each sale and without the designs us artists provide POD sites wouldn't exist in the first place.
When it comes to retail, the artist, inventor or original creator taking the smaller share for a sale is nothing new and it can equally be true to say; without the opportunity to sell on their site, us artists would also have zero. And so the market determines if DBH's rates are profitable enough for them to run their business whilst satisfying the expectations of enough artists who are willing to give it a go and populate their site.

Are POD sites a reliable money earner?

With all POD sites, you should never rely on them as your primary source of income. Some people seem to have found the magic formula to be able to do this- I know of a few people who make thousands of dollars a month from POD sites, but like with a lot of these types of venture, those people make up a very small percentage of total sellers. For most it's a complete dead-end or just a trickle of passive income you could never expect to live off, especially if living in a first-world country.

While a design has the potential to keep generating a passive income for years, maybe decades, it also has the potential to dry up at any time. The business could cease trading, the search algorithm used to find your design could change (either on-site or via external search engines which point to your designs), or your design could get buried under a pile of other designs which come after it.

Also expect dry spells and more active selling times of the year towards x-mas, where sales will suddenly spike compared to previous months.

Too much garbage

So many POD sites have emerged over recent years, and you can understand why. It seems like the perfect business model: You provide a platform then get online designers and artists to populate it with products for you to sell and make a profit from whilst paying the majority of your work-force (us artists) nothing unless the product sells! And even then, the amount they pay seems a little unfair to the artists. Sure, these POD companies advertise their platform which brings customers to their site, but any business needs to do this regardless. So to reiterate, even though it might be worth artists experimenting with POD sites it's worth noting you'll likely not earn a great deal and the royalty is kinda lousy (even if it is considered the going rate or better for such sites) but if any designer out there is making mega bucks and wants to prove me wrong, great! I love a success story :)

The fact the payouts and earning potential is relatively low for most POD site artists, means many top-end professionals are probably going to avoid bothering with it, and instead it attracts designs from the likes of lazy opportunists, kids, novices or amateurs whose standard of work is pretty bad. Part of DBH's mission statement reads, "Embedded in the culture of Design By Humans is a passion for brilliantly designed tees, detailed illustration and a strong appreciation for all things creative." So while we can try to appreciate the 'all things creative' part, there are a lot of tees which are certainly not brilliantly designed or illustrated in detail. You might be thinking, but isn't that a good thing as it means your work will stand out above the competition? Sure, it's always a bonus if a large portion of your competition on a site is producing sub-par work to make your stuff stand out. However it's not so good when such work pushes your designs to the bottom of the pile, effectively banishing them to page 10+ of an on-site search result and otherwise making them difficult to find.

DBH, like many POD sites are a bit of a free-for-all allowing almost anything to be uploaded and sold. I'm putting a lot of time into my art and designs, bumping up the quality, adding the "detail" and trying to produce something which I think might sell and do well on the site. It's not just me, but any competent artist in this position who can generate sales on DBH deserves to have their work more prominently placed in search results, yet this isn't always the case.
While I agree it's fair to give every designer the opportunity to upload their work, it's not necessarily fair to give equal allowances or privileges to artists of lower ability levels or standards when it comes to a design holding it's place at the top of a search result.
If an artist practices their craft for decades, gets pretty good at it, attempts to get eye-balls on their design and thus potentially make a sale, that's fair enough, right? But it is unfair for an amateur or lazy designer's work to get bumped to the top of the pile whilst pushing down the experienced pro's offering just because the amateur happened to be the last person to post or because they have lots of designs to populate search results. Basically I'm all about fairness and rewarding designers on a meritocratic basis.

To some degree this issue could be mitigated during the submissions process. Once upon a time DBH only used to allow artists to open a store if they could prove their artistic worth (perhaps they still do, but people are now lying about their credentials?). But I don't think that's the case any more, and I'll show you what I mean below. Therefore the design submission process needs to be a little stricter in regards to quality control.

Examples:

I did a general search for "anime girl" since I've listed several designs with those keywords and here's some of the not-so-great examples of what came up within the first 10 pages, much of which frustratingly pushes my artworks/products further down the search results list:

[caption id="attachment_4171" align="aligncenter" width="660"] Not formatted for a T-shirt[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4172" align="aligncenter" width="660"] Again, not formatted for a shirt[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4173" align="aligncenter" width="660"] The emotion is conveyed at least[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4174" align="aligncenter" width="660"] A poor copy of existing character art?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4175" align="aligncenter" width="660"] This style is better suited elsewhere[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4176" align="aligncenter" width="660"] Not at the commercial level yet[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4177" align="aligncenter" width="660"] How did this pass quality control?[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4178" align="aligncenter" width="660"] This seller posted 4 near identical versions of this stolen and poorly optimised art! Why?![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4179" align="aligncenter" width="660"] This artist also uses other artist's stolen artwork in their store[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4180" align="aligncenter" width="660"] Consistent style but...[/caption]

"But Ben, who are you to judge? Art/beauty is subjective". That argument doesn't apply in many cases. The artistic rules such as anatomy, proportion, lighting, rendering, colour theory, composition and style apply regardless. By all means draw, paint and design no-matter your level of experience or ability, but please re-consider attempting to profit from what you're doing if you've never encountered the rules above. On the flip side, there are some worthy designs listed also. Again, searching for the keywords "anime girl". And like I say, if you can't tell the difference between the 10 examples above and the 5 below, you shouldn't be looking to sell your artwork or designs on T-Shirts just yet. Level up your skills and come back when you have something of value to offer. And I'll just take this opportunity to make the point that I don't want to appear conceited about my own abilities. My work is by no means perfect but it's good enough to sell, and does.

[caption id="attachment_4181" align="aligncenter" width="660"] Colourful, nicely composed design. Seller: Retkikosmos[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4182" align="aligncenter" width="660"] This guy's a master of exaggerated proportion and anatomy. Seller: Rafchu [/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4183" align="aligncenter" width="660"] Art by yours truly: Seller: bomazu[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4184" align="aligncenter" width="660"] Looks good on a shirt and artist has a consistent style in their store. Seller: Freeminds[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_4185" align="aligncenter" width="660"] This is a cute sticker. Seller: Cayzi[/caption]

I guess ideally DBH expects you, the artist to direct customers to your unique DBH Store page and bypass the need to use their search engine? Personally, if I'm going to market my designs as well, I'd rather direct customers to my own website and have the designs printed myself, or use a drop-shipping service to do this on my behalf. I expect POD sites to direct traffic to my products if they're taking the lion's share of the profits.

What does DBH get right?

My intention isn't just to hunt down all the flaws with their platform and the site has some benefits over similar sites I've worked with:

No pay-out threshold: Some sites, such as Displate and Zazzle require you to earn $50 before they pay you YOUR money. DBH don't try to unfairly skim off the top from their designers and always pay monthly no matter how much you've earned.
Decent Support: I've contacted the staff on several occasions and they've always been helpful and try to resolve problems.
Quality T-shirts: I've bought a number of shirts from DBH in the past and the quality and fit has always been good.
Less Piracy: Some moderation takes place to limit the number of stolen, infringed designs being sold on their site. There's nothing worse than a huge free-for all POD site such as Red Bubble which is happy to allow art thieves to profit from re-posting art they pull from an internet image search. DBH still has too much of this, but not in such high numbers.
Measures to prevent art thieves: Unfortunately It's not uncommon for artists to upload their design to a POD site, for it to then be stolen/downloaded some time after by an immoral dick-head who re-posts it on another POD site without consent. Luckily DBH used low-res images in their store, making this harder to download and use elsewhere.

Final thoughts

DBH- a nice idea and company filled with lovely staff, I'm sure. It creates opportunities to make money which artists wouldn't otherwise have, but the experience of competing on the site can be frustrating and isn't something you'll ever get rich from. If it's not for the fact you're up against the selection of dominant 'popular designs' (which forever prevent new work getting noticed by ranking top of the search listings,) you're also having to deal with the site's many amateur designers and art thieves unfairly given a place at the table. I'll carry on supporting DBH and using their site, but can't give them a strong recommendation to other artists or designers. Making any money from them is too hit and miss.

For independent reviews of designs, shirt quality and POD sites themselves, Check out Teefetch. I stumbled across them recently and noticed the site had featured some favourable reviews on a couple of my own designs which was cool to see.

And feel free to click here if you want to check out the range of anime or tattoo inspired t-shirts and I have available on DBH which features artwork from yours truly. If you wan't to purchase one too, I'll greatly appreciate the $3 of royalty!

How do I draw manga hair?

Like with anything you want to draw, it's a case of looking at examples of existing manga characters you can use as reference to figure out how other artists are doing it. Usually it's a case of simplifying and grouping clumps/bangs of hair together into sections or spikes, then considering gravity, wind and how that will effect the direction the hair is moving. If you're a beginner to drawing manga, I'd suggest checking out one of my How-to-Draw books such as 'The Artist's Guide to Drawing Manga'. Read it cover to back, and if you're still having trouble with anything specific, let me know and I'll do my best to answer.

Searching for a Magic Pill

One of the most common questions I've been asked over the years relating to art and design are ; "what tools do you use?", "what software do you use?" or "what equipment do I need?

There's load of amazing tools, Apps and hardware out there which can improve your ability to create art. But before I discuss what I use, it's worth noting that there is no one tool that'll make your work look significantly better if you're just starting out. I'm sure a lot of beginners think, "if I just had the correct piece of software I'd be creating art like my favourite artists!". I certainly I used to believe this might be the case. I later realised that being a good artist requires knowing how to create something. Acquiring skills and knowledge about art and design are the first thing an artist must do in order to create a good looking artwork. No tool or particular piece of software will ever significantly improve your artwork.

I know; it's annoying to have to devote hundreds if not thousands of hours to art before seeing significant improvements, but this is just something us artists must endure (but ideally enjoy!).

As a side note- software and Apps have come a long way over the decades. It is indeed possible to convert existing images or photos through a single-press digital filter to create something totally unique and somewhat artistic-looking. Whether or not these kind of derivative images could be considered 'art' is up for debate. Although it's true to say chucking a filter over the top of a image taken from a Google search is at least lazy, uncreative and limited.

A bad workman always blames his tools?

Do you look at your work and think it sucks? Not satisfied with the software you use? Your problem might not be anything to do with the tools you use. It's fair to to say that if you're at a level whereby you feel somewhat clueless how to, for example; go about proportioning characters, drawing clothing, folds or choosing how to shade and colour your designs, then I'd recommend ditching the computer altogether. Instead start spending most of your time with a pencil and paper. Once you're making progress with traditional media and able to create some decent work, sure- try going down the digital route.

To answer the question "what tools do I use?": For digital work, I use a Laptop PC, Wacom Cintiq Graphic Tablet and Adobe Photoshop CC.
Is this what you need? Not at all- If you want to, for example, work on a Mac with a Huion tablet and Clip Studio Paint as your software of choice, there's nothing wrong with that. It's possible to create virtually all the same content with most combinations of any modern hardware and dedicated art software available.

Stick with what you know

Part of the reason I use PC, Wacom and PS is due to habit and what I'm familiar with. You might ask the question, 'why stick with what you know?' and sure, I'm always open to the possibilities of new equipment being able to improve my workflow. But, the familiar can be your friend. I know how to diagnose and resolve potential computer crashes on a PC, I know where all the tools are in Photoshop and Wacom has always provided decent tablets which so far haven't let me down.

When I was younger I wanted a job as a graphic designer. In the graphic design industry Macs are (or at least were) the norm, so I went to University, in part, to get to grips with the hardware and software which the industry was seemingly demanding. While it wasn't a massive hardship to understand the differences and quirks between a Mac and PC, there was a still learning curve which I now feel wasn't necessary to tackle. Particularly as a freelancer artist, my clients are only concerned with the finished results and files they can open and content they can view. So long as it looks good, no one cares what you use to create it and so my new-found Mac skills are kind of redundant.

Like I say, whatever you're familiar with should be top priority. The more used to it you are, the quicker and smoother your experience of creating art and designs will be. Without wanting to go into a Mac vs PC debate, a PC (in my case, Laptop) has some definite advantages. The main one being the fact it's cheaper so I can afford a higher spec machine or update and upgrade components more often. Also where I'm located we have 4 or 5 power cuts/ outages every year so having a laptop with battery avoids a sudden loss of work. The portability of my laptop means I can take it to and from a place of work.

Why I do I choose Photoshop? I discuss hardware and the advantages Photohop and the advantaged of digital in-depth in my book Digital Manga. If you're a beginner to intermediate artist who'd like a good grasp of Photoshop in relation to character creation and colouring, I'd recommend buying a copy- I don't know of a better resource.

Hardware Tech / Spec Summary:

To be more specific about what equipment I'm using as of 2019 (and for the tech nerds out there):

• Laptop: MSI Prestige PE70 7RD-221UK 17.3" 1080p:
• CPU: i7-7700HQ @ 2.8GHz
• Memory (RAM): 32GB DDR4 @ 2666MHz (G-Skill Ripjaws)
• Graphics: Geforce GT 1050 Graphics 2GB (GDDR5)
• Hard Drive 1: (For OS) 250GB SSD: Samsung 960 EVO 250GB M.2-2280 (Increased speed over deafault 128GB by 4.7x)
• Hard Drive 2: (For Data) 2TB Seagate HD
• Hard Drive 3: An external 5TB back up and overflow drive.
• Operating system: Windows 10 
• Graphics Tablet: Wacom Cintiq 27QHD Touch 
• Tablet and Laptop Stand: Ergotron LX Arms x3
• Additional Monitor: (For reference images) LG IPS 21"
• Scanner: Plustek OpticPro A320 Flatbed A3 Scanner
• Printer: Epson Stylus 1500W A3+ Deskjet printer
• Mouse: Microsoft Wireless Mobile 5000
• Additional Keyboard: Microsoft Microsoft Comfort 5050
• Speakers: Logitech 2.1
• Additional Web Cam: Microsoft LifeCam HD-3000 and mounted Microphone is a Samson C01U
• Chair: Steelcase Black Leather
• Screen Colour Calibrator: Spyder 5 Elite
• Extras: 90x40cm Custom Mouse Mat to rest tablet on + Gel wrist mouse mat to avoid RSI. Blue-light screen glasses from Prospek.
• Also, see my Post: My Work space / Desktop Area for my previous Tech / Spec List

Cost-wise, this is all reasonably expensive kit which I've accumulated over the years. As a beginner to digital art I definitely wouldn't recommend spending thousands of pounds on a similar set up and instead look for entry-level equipment or whatever you can afford. If I really wanted to, I could upgrade a lot of my equipment but I couldn't justify the expense. I'd likely need to spend 3-4x what I had paid to get for my current set-up to get, perhaps a 10-25% increase on performance. It's just not worth it. I'll likely stick with what I've got for the next few years. I'm pretty satisfied with it all for the most part.

If anyone wants a non-bias opinion on any aspect of the above tech or set-up, leave a message and I’ll add a follow-up comment 🙂

What do you listen to while you draw?

For me personally it depends on my concentration level. For maximum concentration when working on challenging artwork, silence is best. When things ease up, instrumental music (no lyrics). Songs with lyrics or Podcasts are for when I draw something more routine when my brain is in less demand and I’m more able to take in information.

How to you make sure inked art doesn't smudge?

How on earth do you make your drawings so clean? Whenever I erase the pencil lines on mine, it smudges.

I know the feeling. Smudges are so annoying and I still get them from time to time. I usually wait a few hours before erasing pencil lines to make sure the ink is dry. Another tip is to carefully sandwiching a piece of toilet paper or paper towel between sketchbook pages can help it dry quicker and reduce smudges. Too much graphite from pencil lines can cause the ink to sit on top of it and then smears, so lighter or less pencil strokes can help. And lastly, try experimenting with different pens and papers. As soon as you find a good combination, you know you're good to go for life.

Photoshop Alternatives?

For those of us who can't get to Photoshop, what tools (color pencils, marker, paint or etc...) have you worked with to get really bright/shiny colors?

How do you become an actual artist?

Becoming any kind of pro (proficient) basically means you’ve worked your arse off to a level where you can either impress a substantial amount of people with your skills or be good enough to make an income from what you do. Doing so as an artist just takes a lot of practice and understanding of your craft- how to make things look beautiful, and/or communicate well. Once you’re there, it’s time to market yourself and your work so people know you exist

How do I become a manga artist?

I’m sorry if I’m intruding you with these questions and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to but I was wondering how did you start your business as a mangaka? How did you get contacts and create these guide books that’s able to sell worldwide? I’m a total newbie when it comes to this so I was hoping to get some tips and insights on how to start business and broaden it myself, thanks a lot! ^_^ 

Thanks for the question and you're not intruding at all. The way I got my stuff published was kind of unconventional. I don’t want to lie to people or give the usual non-specific BS of “work hard at school and it’ll all pay off” or “post your work on the internet and perhaps you’ll be discovered by a publisher” - That one almost NEVER happens in this day and age I’m afraid. 

However, luckily that did happen to me. The difference being, I got my first book published back in the day when the internet was still a baby and there wasn’t much competition- a publisher happened to be on the look-out for a UK based artist who could draw manga style and I happened to have a portfolio website online which ranked on the first few pages of Google (I’d image for the keywords “UK manga artist”). They found me, asked if I’d be interested in working with them and even though I felt my artistic standard wasn’t up to scratch I took the opportunity anyway and it then led to creating 3 other books over the years…

So for me- it was a case of creating artwork, posting it online, then a simple case of luck! Being in the right place at the right time. Also being willing to take the opportunity that arose.

What can you do? 

Luck can happen at any time, so in the mean time, I’d suggest improving your skills and being patient. Everyone’s path to success will differ. There’s the social media route to raise your profile and allow people to find you- Some develop a Youtube channel and invest 1000s of hours into creating unique content for it, others Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook, or art specific sites like Deviantart and Behance. Or try being bold- write to publishers and companies directly to pitch your ideas and portfolio and expect 100 rejection letters or non-responses before you succeed, or if that doesn’t work, move on to something else. I’d say just keep trying things. Think outside the box. For most artists expect a massive chunk of your time to go into marketing, trial and error business ventures or experiments in order to get noticed or profit from your art. Or maybe you’ll also find some luck. Perhaps entering a competition to create a serialized manga, which ends up landing you a full-time gig? Look out for stuff like that too.

Where can I purchase cheap bulk Prints?

I recently went to an art market/mini Comicon thing in my hometown, and I'm thinking about selling some of my stuff there next year. But then I thought....how do I get cheap bulk prints of my work to sell there? Any suggestions?

Great- Give it a go! I'm always interested to hear how people get on at events. So far as prints go, I have a large format printer so can print my own. This helps since I can produce small quantities to test the waters and not over-stock. Googling ‘custom poster prints’ or ‘giclee prints company’ in your country might be the way to go. Searching for those terms on eBay might even be an idea.

How much does your art cost?

I have prints and original pencil drawings available to buy at in the Shop.

If you’d like to commission me to draw your character, logo, mascot, or work on your project, the best thing to do is send me a brief/description of what you’d like and I can provide a quote. A head shot for example might be less than half the price of a full-body image so it’s it’s best if I give a price once I know what needs creating. Head over to the Hire Me section for me info.

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If there's a question you'd like answered relating to art, or digital illustration, feel free to contact me or leave a comment.