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Exciting times

It's now official. I'll be attending MCM Comic Con in London on 23-25 of October. It's the first time having a table in the Comic Village and I'm looking forward to it 🙂

I'll be selling original art prints and copies of my book Digital Manga. If it goes well, my plan will be to attend others and will use this blog to report how it went and perhaps give a few tips to other artists interested in exploring the UK Comic Con scene.

A big deal for me

I've seen or heard of many artist I know attend and sell at comic cons over the years. In my early 20s, some of my online artist buddies would ask when I'd be attending so they could meet in person. I never mentioned that due to crazy amounts of social anxiety and doubts about my own ability when I was younger, I felt I could never join in and be a part of it. It took me several years to get to a point where I felt more confident in myself and my art. So, to just show up and have a table at one of these things is a pretty big deal for me. 

Whether it goes well or not, it'll be chalked up as an achievement either way.

For future reference, here's my ad for local art tuition in Kent:

One to One Tuition using Adobe Photoshop to create and colour character artwork by experienced anime and manga style artist and author Ben Krefta.

Ideal for art university students, anyone interested in digital art, video game art, manga, comics and traditional media illustrators. Students are expected to have a minimum basic understanding of computers and Photoshop. Students will also need to have their own computer or laptop with software and a graphic tablet. To practice techniques in their own time.

Location: At his private art studio in the centre of Chatham, Kent (or can travel to student at an additional pence per mile rate).

Cost: Lessons are £60 per 3 hour session. There are 3 sessions to complete the 9 hours worth of demonstrations. Students are expected to take notes during these demos.

For further information, please contact Ben Krefta. You can Google him, to see further examples of his artwork, or visit benkrefta.com

Here's a little walk-through of me discussing the artwork currently on my website.

Thought I'd share a little gallery of photos I'd previously taken and posted on Instagram. I usually just post art on Instagram, but sometimes you just come across something interesting and want to capture or document it.

Creepy Tunnel

Butterfly

Flower

Orchid

Crane at Rochester

Harris Hawk

Thistle

Waves Edit

Isle of Grain

Isle of Grain

I’m forever repairing laptops!

Bluebells at High Halstow

Swap

Family of Swans

Rochester Castle

Duck Jump

Did you know I tattoo?

Tui the Cat

Tui the Cat

Designing something a bit different

Most designs you find at local retailers are boring, ordinary, common or look cheap and tacky- especially this recent craze for rectangle prints on the fronts of t-shirts which look like an uninspiring ink-jet transfer paper job. A design on shirts, any other clothing, or even tattoos on skin need to be placed properly. A top-heavy shirt with a design covering just the shoulders and chest or an a-symmetric piece of artwork can look great, but most companies just churn out the same, basic, small to medium sized square or round design slapped in the centre with no consideration to flow, composition or just trying to do something a bit different.

Recently I designed a full-print shirt with one of my doodle-mech designs after stumbling upon a UK company who can process full-coverage 'dye sublimation' shirts at small quantities. Check out www.sublab.co.uk for more info. I designed the shirt to fit the provided template, then sent it back as a PSD Photoshop file. Wanted a dark purple tee with contrasting orange for a while, so here's my opportunity to get one 🙂

All-Over Shirt printing

There was no mention of shirt dimensions other than chest size on site at the time, so did a little research for "American apparel t-shirt" to get a fairly good idea of the size I'd need. Being 6'1" male, with a 40" chest and 35" waist, I went for a medium and it fit pretty well. Some sizes hinted at a large being more appropriate for me. Although I prefer a slightly tighter fit, so wonder if a 'small' (described as a 34-36" chest size) would have looked better on my frame? I wondered if it would be possible to find and supply your own shirts for printing to guarantee a better fit? If spending over £30 for a t-shirt, you'd hope for it to fit well as well as look good.

The design came out very nicely with colours nearly as vibrant as my RGB computer screen. Tonal contrast was lacking a touch in certain areas, which is worth taking into consideration when designing my next shirt. There wasn't enough contrast with the subtle greys on the inside neck logo, so would also look to make that darker for next time. Very fine lines don't show up so well- keeping things a little bigger and bolder is the way to go.

The biggest problem was the inevitable white creases around the seams and armpit areas. Patches, nooks and crannies where the print doesn't reach. I knew there would be a strong possibility of this happening and they looked pretty bad if the arms were raised. I manually filled these areas with a black Sharpie, which over time fades out to a grey tone. Took some effort but now looks A LOT better than it did upon arrival, and probably not noticeable unless pointed out. I'm hoping it'll hold up in the wash. I may need to try other permanent ink or fabric markers if not.

The Result

I like the idea of selling full front and back print shirt designs, but with my mark-up on top, I'm not sure people would be willing to pay £40-£50 for a single t-shirt? It may not be everyone's cup of tea, so for now I'll continue to create my own custom shirts from time to time for personal use and leave it at that. Many thanks to Sublab for providing the opportunity to try this. The shirt looks awesome!

Apologies for the poor photo quality of on my phone, but you get the idea 🙂

My old art website

Organic Metal- moved to a new server today. I then needed to spend days updating the entire site since a lot of the code originally written in 2000 was so out of date.

Organic Metal is nearly 15 years old now, with it's latest web design being around 10 years old as of 2015. Web design and tech moved along at crazy speeds over recent years, and yet I still like it. I'm proud to have created, at the time, one of the best looking art portfolio websites on the entire internet.

My Fame short lived

The internet has changed- people want relevant content and quicker. Most people aren't looking to read through 100s of pages of content on a single person. Especially now that nearly everyone who draws, paints and designs has some kind of web presence, be it on their own personalized sites, or, more commonly, through social media platforms.

I'm still planning to keep it up and running in the background for now as a testament to the 100s of hours and many months I'd spent creating then tinkering with it. It's a forgotten project which belongs in a museum. Although, sadly, like all pages on the internet, it'll no doubt eventually die and be removed.

I've created a new web portfolio - https://www.benkrefta.com [You're looking at it] - something a little cleaner and simpler to replace my previous Organic Metal website. Let me know what you think

It's built on WordPress making it easier for me to update, as well as easier for visitors to navigate and interact with. It is also responsive- meaning the layout becomes simplified to fit tablets and mobile phones.

I totted it up - putting the site together took me about 130 hours! (So Far)

As a freelancer:

I joined up to Freelancer.com a number of years ago- my first experience with crowd sourcing- which is basically a case of assigning work you need done to a crowd of potential bidders on the internet.

It sounded like a great idea- there's lots of work to go around from potential employers and providing you can put forward a good case for each project, there didn't seem much reason not to be provided a regular stream of work.

However, there's a few issues I wanted to highlight after having used the site several times.

1. Getting work is difficult!

When bidding on a project you start at the bottom of the rankings list. That's until you complete more jobs, earn more money and receive positive reviews through the site itself. You may have had decades of experience off-site, but that fact is irrelevant to how you're ranked on the freelancer.com bidding list. Competing against the regular freelancers on the site will therefore be challenging- they will have already completed work specifically through the site and boosted their rank, despite not necessarily being the most talented, hard working, professional or suitable candidate on the list. To compete you'll need to build your site rank and to do this to start getting better paid jobs and until then, you'll have to under-sell your services to stand out and have a chance of being selected to work on any given project which may already have a several, if not dozens of bidders already.

2. Reviews can be bullshit

I entered a graphic design competition on the site, won it out 20 or so other entries. Great! Especially considering I'm a much stronger illustrator than I am graphic designer. However, being given a 2 star review from it wasn't so great! Why did this happen? I was marked down in my review for things like 'lack of communication' despite the fact there was never an opportunity to communicate - the competition format simply allowed submission of entries and then a winner was chosen. As a person who takes his level of service and professionalism seriously, I'll always aim for nothing less than a 5 star rating and will go the extra mile with my clients to make sure their expectations are always met if not exceeded. It's pretty annoying that my account is now stuck with this unfair, unjustified poor review and it gives a completely wrong impression of my work ethic, lowering my chances of getting hired for future projects.

If my art or design ability wasn't up to an employers standards, I'd be more than happy for them to award a different winner, or in this case I'd rather just give them the work for free than receive a poor review... Yeah, it pissed me off.

Reviews count for a lot on Freelancer since they contribute to your ranking as a professional, but they don't always indicate a freelancer's actual knowledge, ability, experience or professionalism.

3. Can't compete with the rest of the world

I don't live in a developing country. I need to earn enough and charge an adequate fee to an employer to be able to pay the cost of living in the UK. Most freelancers are from countries such as India and Bangladesh where the cost of living is less and so are able to complete a project for 10-50% the cost of out-sourcing to a UK freelancer. If you want to earn a fair amount for your time and pay your bills with the money you earn through Freelancer, forget about it!

As an Employer:

I've also used the site as an employer to find assistants to help with parts of a project I couldn't quite finish myself. When it works, it's great- you get exactly what you want for a very reasonable price.  When it doesn't work out however it can become a very stressful experience.

1. The standard of freelancers vary

Communication is an issue- since most are from non-English speaking countries. Be prepared to deal with broken English and a degree of rudeness and unprofessionalism from many freelancers on the site.

2. Lots of Time Wasters

I've so far awarded seven projects to bidders, but only two ended up starting and completing the work. The others would either ignore messages or make endless excuses, stating they'll start it tomorrow and tomorrow never comes. This wastes days or weeks dealing with freelancers who have no intention of working.

3. Piss takers

Right now I am listing a 'micro project' to edit a few lines of code on a web page. I've listed my budget of £10-£20. It's 1-4 hours work max. Yet some freelancers will ask for hundreds of pounds. One guy is currently asking for £2600 for the job! Obviously they can charge whatever they like, but surely a lot of freelancers don't even read the briefs of the jobs they bid on.

Freelancer.com acts as the middle man between Freelancer and Employer and is always looking to leach as much money off everyone as they can. Making Paypal deposits incurs a fee. Awarding a project incurs a fee, accepting a project incurs a fee, resolving disputes incurs a fee, deleting a project incurs a fee and that's before dealing with the many up-sell or boosting services the site constantly pushes for. They'll even steal your earnings or deposits if you don't log into your account on a regular basis!

So I'm currently listing my last micro project on Freelancer and hopefully once it's finish, I'll never have to waste my time with the site again.

Selection of screen shots featuring some of my web things...

'About me' https://about.me/benkrefta also covers most of my web presence.

I Did a thing

Here's a little compilation of characters I'd created from my tutorial book 'Drawing Manga - Step by Step'.

It's a relatively short how to draw guide book I worked on years which and had been re-released more recently. The idea being to create a cast of characters, teaching how they can be drawn. For those still learning how to create a character artwork, this book offers initial guidance and step-by-step instruction.

I get nostalgic looking back at previous projects I'd worked on 🙂

Learning to draw (Manga and Anime)

Learning to draw anime and manga characters is both useful and fun for several reasons. Firstly, it provides a creative outlet for self-expression. Anime and manga styles allow artists to convey emotions, tell stories, and create unique worlds through distinctive character designs. This fosters a sense of accomplishment as artists bring their imagination to life on paper.

Moreover, mastering anime and manga drawing techniques enhances overall artistic skills. Artists learn proportions, anatomy, and dynamic poses, honing their abilities to capture movement and expression. This foundational knowledge is transferable to other art forms and styles, contributing to a well-rounded skill set.

The anime and manga community is vast and global, making it a shared cultural experience. Learning to draw in these styles allows artists to connect with a diverse audience, share their work online, and participate in a vibrant artistic community. Collaborating with fellow enthusiasts, attending conventions, or even creating fan art fosters a sense of camaraderie and belonging.

Additionally, drawing anime and manga characters is a gateway to understanding Japanese culture and storytelling. It provides insights into different artistic traditions, narrative structures, and character archetypes prevalent in Japanese media. This cultural exchange broadens perspectives and enriches the overall learning experience.

In essence, learning to draw anime and manga characters is a fulfilling and enjoyable journey that combines artistic growth, cultural exploration, and the opportunity to connect with a global community of fellow enthusiasts.