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 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.

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 place at the top of a search result. If an artist practices their craft for decades and gets pretty good at it, then attempts to get eye-balls on their design and thus potentially make a sale, That's fair enough. 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 pro who has worked harder for it. 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 you're not up against the selection of dominant 'popular designs' (which forever prevent new work getting noticed by ranking top of the search listings,) you're 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 reviews on a couple of my own designs for review 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.

Finding the Magic Pill

Probably 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 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 know I used to believe this until I realised that being a good artist requires knowing how to create something, and this ability to create is not something you can get from a tool. 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!).

However, as a side note, software and Apps have come a long way over the decades and 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 kinda derivative images could be considered 'art' is up for debate, but 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?

It's true to say that if you're at a level whereby you feel clueless how to go about proportioning characters, drawing clothing, folds or choosing how to shade and colour your designs and so on, then I'd recommend ditching the computer and 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.

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 kinda 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 will be. Without wanting to go into a Mac vs PC debate, a PC (in my case, Laptop) has some definite advantages with 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 potability of my laptop means I can take it to and from a place of work.

Shameless Plug: I also discuss hardware, digital advantages and Photohop 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 (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.
• 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 10-20% increase on performance. It's just not worth it. I'll likely stick with what I've got for the next few years as 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.

~~~

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

How should I handle criticisms of my design?

Every artist will get criticised at some point- it’s to be expected. And it’s common for clients to not be satisfied with your work on the first attempt every time. Even though it’s often not personal, I always still find it frustrating when having produced a great piece of work (as far as I’m concerned) to then be told it needs amending. If a client is stressing me out with changes and criticisms, I take a break, talk to my friends or do something else for a while to calm myself down. If it’s trolling, you have to do your best to ignore it.

Do you work individually or do you work with other team of designers?

Almost always I’m on my own, which is the nature of freelancing. I’ve worked in-house on web design projects in the past, but these days it’s not common. I might liaise with another graphic designer or art director, but this is often only ever over email.

Have you worked with any print media before?

Many times. Other than my how-to books, I’ve created art and designs for magazine covers, posters, leaflets, apparel and gift items. There are certain considerations to think about when working for print compared to web, for example; print resolution, colours models such as CMYK, calibrating your screen and digital set up to mirror print profiles and reproduce your work as accurately as possible. I explain these in my book ‘Digital Manga’.

How have you been able to manage your time ensuring you have time for your family and friends?

Are there other people's designs that you admire, what is unique about their designs?

Sure. I love looking at art even more than producing my own! I’m a big fan of both eastern manga artists, and western comic artists, illustrators, graphic designers, tattoo artists and concept artists.  Too many to name.

The uniqueness is hard to pin point. It often comes from the attention to detail and flourishes added which gives the creation more depth, interest and vibrancy than a typical, bland piece of work.

What are the major qualities of a good artist/designer?

Every designer will have their own unique qualities and skills they can bring to a project. Universally we all share a love for art, visual communication, creating and aesthetics. A good artist is never satisfied with their current level of ability and aspires to improve and achieve a high standard of work.

~~~

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

Getting paid to draw in Manga style?

Since you're a freelance, is it difficult for you to find companies in the UK interested in manga drawings and style?

Its harder to find work compared to a more mainstream style (which I also have for customers who want an alternative to manga). However there is often a company or organisation who will find and contact me specifically asking for manga style artwork for a Japanese themed promotion or event. Speaking of events for example, Hitachi Europe (based in the UK) were exhibiting at a trade show in Holland a few years back and they had opted for a Japanese themed area that year to display their products. These included interactive large screen pen displays. To add to the Japanese flavour, I was hired to draw manga style art on the displays during the event in real time. I would never have expected that kind of work to come about, but goes to show there's a call for manga, even at non-related events. Having this website is the main portal for connecting me with customers. If you haven't already, make one of your own and then attempt to funnel as many prospective employers to it as you can.

Are you a fan of Comic Cons? Do you participate in any of them?

I really enjoy them, although attending lots throughout the year isn't economically viable for me.

I've participated in 17 cons here in the UK to date. If you're an artist interested in participating in any comic conventions, check out my extensive UK Comic Con article.

Should I sketch my designs before converting them to digital format?

Several years ago it was typical for me to sketch out all my work in pencil before scanning it in and colouring it digitally.  To this day there's nothing wrong with that. These days a lot of people are drawing and sketching digitally with a graphic tablet as well colouring, rendering and painting over the top digitally- myself included. The main reason being time saving. The best thing to do is to try different methods and see which works best for you.

How long should it take a designer to design a 300x400 banner?

That question is too open ended to give a simple or specific answer.

If the designer needs to create an intricate illustration, rendered art or animation as a part of that banner along with time for research, idea development and input or changes from a client, it might take 20 or 100 hours+ However a simple text banner created by someone who knows their way around Photoshop or Illustrator might take 5 minutes.

Clients need to consider their briefs in detail when hiring an artist or designer. Basic questions like "how much do you charge?" Or "how long does art take?" Are equivalent to "how long is a piece of string?"

What inspired you to get into designing?

Growing up on a diet of visual entertainment- cartoons, video games and fantasy movies along with a love of aesthetics and a drive to create something of my own.

At what age did you first design a marketable graphic?

The first time I took on a paid commission online was in 2001 when I was 19. I created an album cover for a rock band featuring the 4 band members as comic book characters. I think I earned around £80 for it. I had been paid to draw a few times before then while at school, painting a little graffiti style character for my teacher's grandchild and a painting my friend's mum's cat!

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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. Check out Art Q&A #1 for more.

I often get asked art questions from aspiring artists, so thought I'd share some answers from time to time. Let me know if you have any questions and I'll answer them on the next post :)

Does scaling down an image result in quality loss?

I know that if you resize images to make them larger the quality of that image is either blurred or not the best quality and loses detail.
What if you wish to scale down? Would all the details/quality look blurred? I have been asked by a client to produce art at only 1900x900 pixel dimensions. I would really like to draw on a larger sized canvas but if I size down my image It'll lose any detail?

Yes. You will lose detail if you down-scale since you're lessening the pixel information you have in an image. However There is no noticeable quality difference between down-scaling to say 1900x900 and working with those dimensions to begin with.

What I would do is work at the largest dimensions possible. Save a copy which you then down-scale to fit. You'll then also always have a higher detail version if needed.

How do I create an interesting Manga story ?

What are the basics? Is it okay to take reference from other stories (movies songs and so on). I know many stories are based on something else but I am afraid of making it to easy to recognise. How should a good story start ? How do I plan it?

Ask yourself what would you like to read about? What kinda stories inspire you? It's fine to borrow ideas. There are loads of time travel stories for example, but each one is told in a different way with a different cast of characters and different scenarios.

For manga I like stories about everyday life, where the hero starts as a loser and progress to greatness, usually with the help of something, someone or a special item or power that other people don't have. So far as I'm concerned if people stick with a basic premise like that they can't go wrong :)

Start by considering a chapter (20-30) pages and how you would convey your premise and introduce your main characters.
Start with rough draft or written script before finalising by moving on to the pencil and ink work.

Photoshop or Paint Tool Sai?

I really want to take my art to the next level and to get into digital painting and I'm not sure which program is better for that. I've only had brief experiences with both programs so I'm not that familiar with either. I also want to go to art school for animation and graphic design so if either of these programs could help me with that in the long run, that would be great as well.

1. Most companies or universities wont have Sai available or teach it.
2. Photoshop interface is similar in programs like Illustrator and Indesign which you'll use if you also get into graphic design.
3. Photoshop can be used much easier for things like photo editing and texture creation for animation.

Sai is an awesome program for art and illustration, but having said that, 4 outta 5 people who recommend it do so on the basis of: "it's easier for beginners", "That's what I've always used", and "It's cheaper". That's fair enough for hobbyists but it has more limitations than advantages over something like PS.

I wonder how many professionals in the art, design, animation and illustration industries exclusively use Sai? Probably not that many.

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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.

Following on from my posts: 'Art theft and stealing images online' and 'Art theft and further criticism of pod sites', I’m raising awareness of online art theft, while battling against sites who have taken and used artwork from me personally, along with hundreds of other artists, without permission.

I mentioned my plight on the DeviantArt forums - asking how can I/we, as artists, can stop this?

The general opinion was to not upload high quality images on to the net and use watermarking to at least help prevent this. Fair enough advice, and something I'd already started doing anyway. But it was interesting to find many of the replies indicated that they felt the onus was on the artist to minimise the damage beforehand and if the damage had already been done, then tough luck. There was a lack of criticism or interest towards the companies/individuals that steal or the sites which allow them to sell an artist's stolen goods on their platform, or the fact that these platforms (e.g Facebook, Instagram, Aliexpress, Amazon, Ebay) make it difficult to either report cases of copyright infringement or do very little, if anything, to act upon it.

Sure, there are ways for an artist to minimise the chance of their work being stolen and used by third parties, but if that fails, then what? We sit back and allow crooked individuals or companies to take our images to profit from while perpetuating the idea that if it's already on the internet it's free game? And should the artist be seen as the one at fault in such cases when they are ultimately a victim of the crime? You can make your home more secure- lock the doors and install a burglar alarm, but if you are still burgled anyway, there is at least a police force in place whose duty it is to investigate and hopefully apprehend the criminals responsible. Online there should be a similar system or authority in place...

Well, there is. But you've got to pay for it. One forum member pointed me at the DCMA - The Digital Millennium Copyright Act which works though a business, whereby if you pay them $199 they will initiate a take-down request to have your content removed from an offending site. For small scale theft this is obviously too high a price to pay. Especially if you're an independent artist living on a tight budget as it is. Plus what happens when another site or seller pops up and uses your image? Do you pay yet another $199 to get that one taken down too?

It shouldn't be hard to to get offending content taken down- I have a reputation, can prove I created it and have the original Photoshop files or sketches to boot, meanwhile I know for a fact the offending art thief does not have these, and would fail, if asked to produce any kind of written agreement stating permission to use the content in question. And then you just have to look at what else these jokers are selling to put things into context- a jumbled mix of artwork produced in wildly different styles (and arguably of different artistic abilities), obviously created by a wide range of artists with no mention where the artwork was sourced from, poorly edited or Photoshoped on to products. Sometimes still retaining the artist's signature or watermark, which is typically removed if licencing art to third parties. And it's being sold from China through unofficial channels and we all know China doesn't take piracy particularly seriously.

So as it stands, according to some artists, the blame seems to be primarily with the artist themselves. If you're a small independent artist being ripped off online, you often can't do much about it. The DCMA is there if you don't mind forking over $200 for help.

In a ideal world, perhaps there would be some kind of block-chain system whereby the rights to every image, film or piece of music could be traced back to a registered owner. This information would be embedded into the file itself, with a registry of previous owners being attached to each file. Might sound like a crazy idea, and I haven't spent too much time thinking about how logistically possible such a system would be, but surely help with digital piracy of images, music and video?