Five Things Artists Wish You'd Stop Doing

There's probably already a blog post out there about this somewhere... But my thoughts on this probably vary from what others thoughts and opinions may be. Anyway, it's a list that's been on my mind this week, so I thought I'd try to blog about it!   



1.-  DON'T ASK IF WE WILL DRAW YOU


...for one thing, it's just rude, and also catches me as "attention seeking". Not only have I seen this with many other artists on social media, and had it happen a few times myself, it always seems that these people expect you to a.)  draw them for free, and b.) have plenty of time to do so. Both are rude assumptions, because artists DO like to be paid (for some people it's either a job or a part time job), and we don't just have scads of time to draw followers on a whim. Not only might we be busy with art commissions or personal projects, we also have personal lives that are busy!! Is it flattering to be asked? Well, sure... But it's definitely more rude then flattering. So please stop asking!!

2. -  DON'T ORDER SOMETHING AND THEN COMPLAIN THAT THE PRICE IS                UNREASONABLE

Dudes and dudettes. Seriously. I've had this happen on a few occasions, and it just left me feeling really... awkward. Because I didn't know how to handle it. But I will say, it's not fair to jump all over an artist about pricing, especially when you knew what the price was before ordering commissions. My prices are already set so low that I always undersell, and I also don't charge shipping in the USA. So to ask me what my price is for an 8x10, to give me the OK and have me start an order, and then message me and tell me that my price is too high and is there anyway I could do this for free...?  That's really demeaning and rude. I understand that we all have weeks where we need to pinch pennies. But to say that the order is OK and then ask me if I'll just give it to you after I already started the work is unfair to the artist.


3.-   DON'T GIVE A GOOD REVIEW AND THEN COMPLAIN ABOUT THE PRODUCT

I don't have an etsy account (yet) or anything where people can leave a public review about any work I sell. But one particular customer sticks in mind from a year ago. They ordered a custom 8x10, and mailed me a check, with which they included a letter saying that they thought the picture was "cute", but then at the end included a criticism that left me feeling really bad about the whole thing and I think I even completely deleted that picture from my computer files and all social media accounts, because I felt so bad about it. If you have a complaint (and it wasn't even a valid complaint... it was very nice picture) you should let the artist know, but I felt that by telling me first off that they thought it was cute and then ending with what the complaint, reading between the lines, felt to me like they didn't really like the picture at all. I probably shouldn't have taken it quite so personal... after all, some people out there WILL complain about everything... but it felt like a messy way to give me a review. 

4.-  DON'T ASK WHAT ART SUPPLIES WERE USED IN THE PICTURE WHEN IT'S STATED IN THE SAME POST... AND YOU JUST DIDN'T READ IT 

I see this all the time. Especially on instagram. Artists will post a picture and include in their post or hastags the art tools they used for coloring. First comment on the picture will be, "OHMYGOSHTHAT'SSOAWESOME... What did you color that with??"  And the tools they used are RIGHT. THERE. You just didn't read it!!  Read the whole post before asking those kinds of questions. And, generally, most artists are friendly and will just smile and answer those kinds of questions anyway... But I have read some answers from ticked off artists that are just tired of answering the same question when the answer has already been stated a bazillion times. So make sure to read the whole post before you ask a question!!

5.- DON'T ASK US TO FEATURE YOU OR TO "FOLLOW FOR FOLLOW"

When you're an artist just starting out, especially, you want to be noticed by the artists you look up to. But some people have no couth, and will just pester and pester and PESTER people to death for a feature on their account. Or to ask "will you look at my work please???"  Follow for follows are the worst... I don't follow everyone that asks me this. If I don't, it's most likely because I'm just not really into the type of art that you're doing, or because there were very vulgar things on your page. I have no problem with following a young person that's starting out in art and liking or commenting on something they worked very hard on, because I've been there and I know what a big ego-booster that can be! But to pester an artist to death is not cool. It will get you noticed... but it can also get you reported and blocked from said artist's account. So be cool about it! If you're worth noticing, most people will notice you without you asking.   =-) 


Off the top of my head, those are the first five things I think most artists might get frustrated by. One thought I could have included is when people comment on your work something like, "Wow! How did you learn to do that? Did you just copy it from a book?"   Any type of art is a thing to be mastered. The picture or piece you are looking at has a lot of hard work behind it. Great things do not just happen overnight, nor are they "copied".  The best advice I can still give to any aspiring artist is to just KEEP AT IT. If you keep at it, you'll get better!! 

This past Monday was July 4th.So I'll end with this patriotic picture from one of my doll photo shoots. =-) 

Do you agree with these five things? Have any of these happened to you, and if so how did you react to them? Is there something different you would add to the list? 


-Stasia-Chan '16

Stasia-Chan Tackles Acrylics...

Every little kid that thinks at age five, "I want to be an artist when I grow up!" envisions themselves at a canvas with their palette and brush in hand, creating Bob Ross type masterpieces. 

What they didn't tell you on that episode of Sesame Street where Ernie paints Bert's picture, is that painting is HARD. 

I was always afraid to try paints... I dabbled a little bit with some cheap acrylics in Junior High grades, trying to paint tree scenes that were Bob Ross-esque.  (Bob Ross's name will be dropped frequently throughout this post. That dude was the bomb diggity when it came to paint.) I remember getting to watch the artist that came to paint the mural on our church baptistry and thinking, "wow, he makes it look so easy!!" Well, as I am finding out, just because you can draw or have an eye for how colors should go together, DOES NOT mean that you naturally have the knack for painting. It is definitely a talent that is to be prized, and if you have it, share it for the rest of us that don't possess it!!!!  PLEASE!!!!! 


.....  So anyway. Water Colors are preferred mediums in manga art. Especially in shoujo, girly manga. The softer, splashy colors add to the romantic, fluffy feel of the genre. I held off from attempting those for awhile, but after seeing so many beautiful posts from artists I follow on various social sites, I bought some cheap ones at Joann Fabrics and Michael's, and after watching several tutorials, I had an idea of how to use them. I feel comfortable with them now, but I still have a long way to go before I reach the level I want to with them. 

Below are a few watercolors I've done this year...

I wasn't really thinking about trying acrylic again, until I started following an artist on instagram that makes her living painting acrylic Disney fan arts. And they turn out really cute, and her WIP posts looked like she was having fun with it!!  So I bought some canvas when it was on sale, and attempted a "Lion King" painting...  

This is the finished product (BTW, I'm still very unhappy with Simba's facial expression....  -_-) 

All in all, the end product turned out better than I thought it would, but in the process, I learned several things. They are: 

1.) Acrylic takes way longer to dry than watercolors do. Even when you think you have put down a very thin layer... Think again. It won't be dry for a lonnnng time. 

2.)  There are not as many helpful tutorials on acrylic painting on YouTube as you might think. I looked. Most videos were "speed paint" type ones that didn't offer any pointers or tips. (Even the instagram artist I mentioned before didn't offer any tutorial videos on her channel)

3.)  Mixing colors is trickier than water colors. 

4.) Doing bold lines was the worst... I wanted bold black lines around the lion cubs because they need to look animated among the background. I did happen to find a video on YouTube that helped me fix this problem... The trick is to mix your paint with water to the desired thinness you need, and for smaller lines, to use a thinner brush, which is how I ended up getting the black lines like I wanted. 

5.) It's hard to fill in the canvas. I had to go back over several times and apply more coats because there were blotchy white areas that just were not coating for some reason!

I admit that I made the mistake of thinking because I know a little bit about water coloring, that painting with acrylic would be easy. That was a poor mistake to make, because I know that mediums vary. Once I got over looking at it as "this should be just like water coloring!", the process became smoother, and I had fun with it. I do enjoy getting to try something new, and painting especially is a sort of relaxing process once you start feeling comfortable with it! The hardest part was doing Simba and Nala, but I had so much fun with the background scene... I even used glitter paint for the sky and stars, so this sparkles!! 

So I decided to start working on a new one,and for some reason, Eternal Sailor Moon was the inspiration this time. I actually have not seen many acrylic manga paintings (and I think I know why now!), so I'm working blind on this one. I've just laid down the main background colors over the last two nights and started laying down some colors on Usagi tonight. I'm excited to use the glitter paint again... I'm thinking on the crystals and moon, and maybe some stars in the background too... 

 I really had a hard time with those crystals and figuring out the right blues to use, and the whites, and etc., but when I look at it now, I can see it coming together, so that's promising!!! 

What have I learned through all this??  That I need to go watch all of the Bob Ross episodes that are currently on Netflix. Because I have no idea what I'm doing. Lots of passion and heart... no brains. 

Until next post... Painting when I can...


-Stasia-Chan  '16

......

I don't have a title for this blog post.  

To be honest, I'm not even sure why I have a blog...?  Blogging kind of seems to be "out". You don't really see many people keeping up the fad these days. I personally just don't take the time to keep up with more than one or two blogs I follow... anymore when I get online to check social media and email, that's about all I can take and I just want to get off of everything!!!  (Seriously. My DA account and Tumblr have not been updated with new art in forever, and I'm not really sure why I still have them... Hmmm.)

But, every now and then, I like to blog. There's something comforting about sitting down and clicking away on the keyboard, random thoughts like these ones today. 

So, here's what's been going on artistically: 

1.)  I was in a slump again for awhile... Yeah. I think it was an honest period of life being crazy and busy and I really didn't have time to sit down and draw like I wanted, and when I did have the time, I was just too tired or couldn't focus on what it was I wanted to do. I think I'm over it now... mostly because I told myself I wasn't going to let my summer get crazy busy so that I could specifically focus on some art projects, and I want to make myself stick to that!!!   So this week, I'm catching up on some concepts for my Fifties project... I have sketched a few things, but I'm mostly focused on catching up coloring things in that have been sitting in my sketchbook forever. Coloring concepts make them seem more like a reality, like the whole idea seems to come together once you start seeing it in color.  

2.)   My biggest problem as an artist (well, my personal biggest problem) is that I get an idea in my head, and I want to rush it along, right NOW. I seem to have this mindset of "If it doesn't happen now and doesn't take off now then that must mean it's not meant to be and never going to take off". That's a really crummy attitude to have, because anything worth doing takes time to do WELL. In the past, I have jumped into things so many times without thinking, and all I produced was really yucky looking art that, looking back, I'm humiliated that it ever even happened, or that someone bought it... I don't have to produce a 150 page manga, in published form by tomorrow. It's OK to take my time and really think about what I want for this project! 

3.)  I have two library comic cons coming up in the same week, so I'm working out the ideas for that and also the art I'll be displaying. Probably some of my nicer works from last year and maybe a few things from this year. They mostly want fan art at these things, and I feel like I haven't really produced scads of that this year (so far) because I've been working on commissions or fifties stuff. I may get to sell chibi commissions for a few dollars this time, so that would be a fun addition to what I've done for these in the past! 

4.)   I need to up my selling game. I'm not good at cranking out stuff to sell on a consistent basis. It's not that I'm lazy, it's just that I do have a life outside of art, and sometimes when I sit down to draw after a busy time, working on something that I have to sell just doesn't appeal to me. I'm also super bad about having to part with the stuff I make.... xD   And I feel like I'm awkward at dealing with customers. I'm terrible at sticking with prices, trying to not undersell myself while keeping in mind that times are tough for people and that a sale is blessing. But then when I sit down and realize I still need several refills for my Copics... I realize I need to get busy cranking out something on a semi-consistent basis to keep my supplies stocked. So I'm trying to come up with some better ideas and a schedule of what I can make without feeling swamped or unhappy about producing, and what I would like to make on a monthly basis that can go back into my art supplies. 

That's about it, just some things I've been mulling over the last few days. I've been feeling a little down this week and trying to not let that affect my art work. But I feel like getting some of these ideas rolling or worked out will help in the long run.    =-) 



-Stasia-Chan '16 

Happy, Healthy Artist!!!

Hello, friends!!!  Since tomorrow is Easter Sunday, may I wish you and your family a very blessed Easter day!!!  ^^   For me, it's a time of reflecting and thinking about the awesome sacrifice that Christ made for us, and the miracle of His rising again!!!  And also, I'm looking forward to having Easter dinner with my family tomorrow. My husband is currently on a missions trip in Puerto Rico, but my daughter and I will be having Easter dinner with my family and grandparents. I'm already drooling just thinking about homemade noodles over mashed potatoes, my grandma's awesome glazed ham, rolls, homemade stuffing...

And so on that note, let's get into the topic of this blog post...

In the past several years, poring through dozens and dozens of books helping artists, I think I have only ever come across one that talked about the need for an artist to stay healthy. It's a little bit of an odd subject, probably because it's a wee bit off subject for an artist, but!  As an artist, it is important to stay healthy, for so many reasons!!!


Let's face it... artists are not lazy. Don't let anyone ever convince you that sitting around, sketching, inking, or coloring for hours is not grueling work... because it is!!!  It takes so much mind power to crank out. It can be mentally stressing and exhausting. But to be a committed artist also means... you're sitting around a lot. And all that sitting isn't good for you. It isn't good for anyone!! Also, ever happen to notice when you're having a particular stressful time working on a project, and it becomes easy to stash away goodies... snack cakes, little candy bars... in your desk, and then you find yourself breaking them out and snacking away like crazy?  Don't worry.. I do this stuff too!! And when you're set in your ways... literally, SET in your ways of sitting for hours at a time drawing, and snacking on junk food, you can start feeling bad about yourself. Maybe you start noticing that you're putting on a little weight here and there... or maybe you feel really tired, and you can't figure out why, because all you've done all day is sit at your desk. I suppose this is a weird post, but I have a few tips to share from my own life that I hope might inspire you to think about becoming, or trying harder, to be a HAPPY, HEALTHY ARTIST!!!!   =-D





#1:   Try to eat a more balanced diet. If you're a candy bar or snack hoarder, try cutting down on those, or even taking them out of your desk or secret stash, and replace them with something healthy you can nibble, like nuts, or granola bars. Some of my favorite snacks are yogurt, granola bars, and apple slices with peanut butter. I'm not a crazy health food eater (and maybe I should be), but I do try to eat a balanced diet.. I usually end up eating lots of salad with chicken throughout the week. You'd be surprised by how filling a nice, big salad can be, and when you sit down to work (my art time is usually in the afternoon), you won't have that heavy, bloated feeling like you ate too much. Like I said, you don't have to go nuts with it.. but small changes make a big difference and really help you feel better about yourself, and thus, your art!!

#2  Drink tons of water.

It's recommended that you drink 6-8 glasses a day. Which is a lot. But you know what I've noticed? When I get really busy, it becomes harder for me to keep drinking water like I should. I have to make myself drink glass after glass of it... but you feel so much better when you do.


#3:   Work out!!!  Sometimes, it feels like your brain needs exercise more than your body. So taking the time to include daily exercise is a win-win for both your body, and helps your brain feel more alert and focused and can help you to be more creative. One of my favorite ways to stay creative is to take walks outdoors when the the weather is nice. The fresh air and colors outside can do so much to inspire you and give you fresh ideas!!   I also try to stay on track doing about an hour daily of exercise, splitting that up between the morning and afternoon. It helps me feel better about myself, feel better in general, and keeps my brain feeling alive, alert, and enthusiastic.   =-)

#4:   Let yourself have one thing each day to indulge in. Mine is coffee. If I'm having a normal, routine day at home, my coffee time is at 1:00 sharp. I usually put Lucy in her room for a bit of quiet time then, and I enjoy my coffee and some art time.  I like the comfort of that half hour or so where I can enjoy a cup of hot joe and focus on an art project!!  Some days, this really keeps me going. Coffee also gives your brain a little bit of a buzz and helps you feel extra creative.  ;-)  But I realize that not everyone is a coffee drinker. I know a lot of artists that prefer tea to coffee. Whatever it may be, try working something like that into your daily routine!


.... Well, I guess those are all the tidbits of advice I have. Maybe this post will just give you something to think about, maybe help you cut back on the candy snacking and pick up the apple crunching.  Whatever it is, I hope it inspired, and that you will do your utmost to be a HAPPY, HEALTHY ARTIST!!!    ;-)

-Stasia-Chan '16

SKETCH CARDS FOR SALE!!!

 

   Well, it's come down to this. 

 I am in need of re-stocking some of my Copics/ink refills. And so, I am blogging about selling some art, so that I can hopefully make some money to supply this artistic void in my life. 

 But in all seriousness... 

Remember, I AM just an artist. I don't even have a part time job... I'm a stay-at-home housewife and mom 24/7. So selling art and taking commissions is how I pay for the supplies that keep me going. And if you are a Copic marker user, you know those aren't cheap, and also are not something you can just run out to get at the art store. They have to be ordered in because they are manufactured in Japan!!   O_o   So when I start seeing that my marker flow is dwindling, I write down colors/numbers of what needs replaced, and then I start working on items to sell so that I can make that cost. Actually, the whole process is rather satisfying!!!  =-) 

So I am working on batches of sketch cards to sell. I currently have four original art sketch cards done and ready for selling!!  These come laminated and are roughly 4x6 in size. Copic marker on cardstock paper. I'm working on a few more for selling too, but this is what I currently have available!!   Since I've been working on my fifties project, I thought it would be fun to choose a few characters and dress them in fifties dapperness.   =-) 

   Elsa 

Princess Leia 

Hotaru Tomoe/Sailor Saturn 

Natasha Romanoff/ Black Widow (Who turned out so gorgeous in this dress, that I am actually sad that I have to sell her. But I need markers. And so.) 

These sketch cards are $7 each, with no shipping fees if in the USA. 

I've also got several nice Miyazaki pieces that I have available as prints!!

A 4x6 print is $3, 5x7 print is $5, and an 8x10 print is $7.  I can laminate prints for an extra $1. 

If you'd be interested in any of these original sketch cards or in a Miyazaki Monday print, you can email me at stasiachan89@gmail.com, and I accept payments through PayPal!!!  

Please consider supporting an aspiring artist!!!  ^^

*Note: I DO ask to be paid before mailing out art to the buyer. I am also accepting commissions at the moment and you can inquire about pricing and commission sizes via email.   

-Stasia-Chan '16

Welcoming Myself Back to My Own Blog..

I had thought that I had posted something in January.

Ding dong, I was wrong!!!

Last time I posted, it was Christmas Eve. Yikes. It isn't that I haven't been thinking about posting, or have a lack of ideas to post... Life is just crazy busy, and things like this sometimes get shoved to the side. So, let's start over.

Happy New Year!!!!

OK, now that that's out of the way... Let's fast forward through what's been going on. I've been faithfully keeping up with my "Miyazaki Monday" drawings for 12 weeks now... Which is harder to do sometimes than you would think!! But I've tried to stick to that once a week commitment. Not only does it help my drawing skills, but it's also a little bit of a breather for me, making myself sit down even if I've had a horrible day and no time to draw and just pick something from a Studio Ghibli work and focus on that. It's been stress therapy.  =-)

I'm getting ready to do a mini comic con at Sugarcreek Library next weekend. It's set up more as a meet and greet sort of event, so I think that might be nice change of pace. I like doing tutorial classes, but I get pretty nervous having to explain my drawing process, and constantly worrying that someone is going to correct me when I say "manga"... xD   So I'm interested to see how this event flows, and what people will have to say!

I'm still very interested in doing a 1950's sort of omnibus manga... What I want to do is a compilation of short manga stories set in the late forties and into the fifties. I've been checking out books from the library like crazy, writing down all kinds of things I find interesting from the era, watching some fifties movies, and putting bits and pieces together in character sketches. This whole process to me has been a lot of fun, like delving into a whole different world. There have been a few hard parts... Right now, I'm having a hard time actually figuring out how to write a storyline to be formatted to a manga comic. It's something I've been looking into, reading articles online, and thinking a lot about. Also, actually setting up a manga... The process is daunting to me. Drawing anime and manga style characters is one thing... Actually DRAWING a MANGA COMIC is another thing entirely, and it's not something that just comes naturally. I started sketching out a little Fifties Housewife short manga last year that I finished a few days ago.

I was really, really excited about it when I finally finished it, but then I realized I had made several mistakes...  #1 was that I drew the whole thing on a paper size that is too big to actually fit my scanner. So it was a forty minute project just lining it up, scanning it, seeing what needed to be adjusted, then scanning it in again until I got it close... Then editing in Picasa to try to crop and adjust the colors because I couldn't close the top of the scanner and it ended up looking really shadowy in spots. 

Also, some panels ended up looking crooked. Part of that was because I couldn't line it up right in the scanner, and part of it was that when I went back and looked at my original drawings, the lines were a little off. And so. It ends up being more of a really nice rough draft. Which, I admit, was discouraging to me. I was really excited and put a lot of myself into this little silly project. But, it's another learning experience, and another step in the direction I want to go. So though it's not perfect, I learned a lot from it. And I didn't throw a sketchbook or hurl a perfectly good drawing pen across the room (Yes, this has happened before). I had a brief time of despair over the whole thing, then I had another cup of coffee, took a deep breath, and decided it would be worth it to keep going. And so that's what I'm going to do. I've already invested so much of my heart into this project, I can't imagine quitting, no matter how inadequate I am!!

So, this ended up being a longer post than I intended. I mostly wanted to say this:   I am sorry for not posting regularly... I know I fell off the boat again, and I would like to get back to trying to post more consistently again. We'll see how this goes. I have a very busy schedule coming up this month!!  

I'll end with the inked version of my upcoming Miyazaki Monday. I chose to draw Howl this time (Howl's Moving Castle). I've been working to make more detailed backgrounds and landscapes in my pictures lately. The landscape scene here is based off one in a Chris Hart anime tutorial book, but I made my own adjustments and of course, changed the character to Howl.   

I hope to be blogging again soon!!!

-Stasia-Chan '16

Merry Christmas!!!

This would have made for a lengthy Facebook post, and I haven't posted on here for awhile, so seems like it all works out!!    =-)


I just wanted to write and say, a genuine THANK YOU to everyone that has been a supporter of my art in 2015. The artistic opportunities I have had this year were mind boggling, certainly ones I never would have seen myself being asked to do. Donating art baskets for the community, having my art displayed at the library, teaching two more classes at the library's teen anime program and being asked to participate in their comic con,  and all the commissions I was asked to do this year!!!  It's the first year that I sold my art out of state (went to New Jersey, all because someone from tumblr commissioned me!!),  and I had my biggest ever order that I worked on over the last two months, which included Christmas cards and several 8x10 drawings. I am certainly not saying any of this to brag or boast... I am completely humbled, and it is only because of people believing in me and liking the kind of art that I do that makes it possible. I have the lowest self confidence ever, and so when people ask for my work specifically, it completely boggles my mind. I never take it for granted, and it makes me want to work harder to put all of my heart into the work I create.

Thank you for being a fan, for being a customer, for being a friend. Thank you for your support of my art in 2015!!!

Many wishes for a blessed Christmas!!!

-Stasia-Chan '15