Robotpencil

Talent is Earned

I get it. There are some people out there that do have some extreme capabilities right out of the womb, but this is targeted to those who are average joes, who think they can’t do things that a person with ‘Talent’ can.

Let’s start by defining the word ‘Talent’. According to dictionary.com it states

tal·ent  [tal-uhnt]

noun

1. a special natural ability or aptitude: a talent for drawing.

2. a capacity for achievement or success; ability: young men of talent.

3. a talented person: The cast includes many of the theater’s major talents.

4. a group of persons with special ability: an exhibition of water colors by the local talent.

5. Movies and  Television. professional actors collectively, especially star performers.

This definition, in my opinion, is misused when said to me. Because to me it implies that what I do, is specially natural to me and it comes easy. But the truth is, it did not come easy. I fucking worked for it.

I was the music kid when I was growing up. When I started to play guitar I was around 15 years old, and acquired a good skill at it by practicing day after day for 5-6 years. I deserved to be good at it, and I was. Then when that career path seemed grim I tried my hand at normal jobs, like retail, and even plumbing. Eventually I decided that I wanted to work in video games and went to an art school majoring in programming. That’s right programming. I had no portfolio for art, nor was I any good at it. I was just as good as any kid who can trace anime. Which I can do. But saw that art was a much more creative, and interesting path to go down. So I switched.

You see, once I decided that I wanted to be a concept artist, I became a concept artist. It didn’t matter that I was bad, being bad is only a reflection of my lack of training and knowledge. So what do you do, when you lack the training and knowledge. You go get it, and there is no easy way around it. It’s a grind, and always will be a grind.

So I began to grind. (not the dance)

I spent 10-12 hours a day painting, drawing, learning, studying, applying, teaching, and reaching towards my goal. One goddamn inch at a time. I did this for 1-2 years and landed my first few jobs in the industry.

And to this day I study like no other, and practice all the time. So I’m going on 7 years of practice and acquiring knowledge full time. So I deserve to be good. Everyone knows this, the problem is nobody does it. When it comes to health everyone knows that to lose weight you have to eat right and exercise, but they always look for the six pack abs program done in 2 weeks. It’s the same with art. You have to digest solid information and practice constantly to become an accomplish artist. No one is accountable for your abilities other than your self. Funny thing about excuses, they work. Excuses are a great way of getting away from working hard. To me, because something is hard to do, is no excuse not to do it. If this is what you want to do, start doing it.

When people ask what did I do to become the artist I am today, I answer with, “I studied and painted a lot for 7 years straight.” People already know this answer but yet that’s not the answer they are looking for.

You may think that it was easy for me to practice and study. Nope. I have failed on so many occasions and keep making mistakes to this day. The difference is I don’t care if my studies or my practice sucks. It’s supposed to, that’s why I do it. If it didn’t suck then I’m not learning or forcing myself to seek new and improved solutions to my problems. When I post stuff it’s the stuff that didn’t suck. I have 100x more images that are complete garbage. So don’t worry about being bad now, because it doesn’t last if you work for it.

To you it may look like magic, but to me, it’s so transparent. My talent, was earned. And yours can be too.

Good Luck,
AJ

The Starving Artist

This topic is about rates and wages that an artist should start to consider when taking on a new job. This is my advice, so take this as advice.

So let’s begin. As an artist you  should know right away that you are valuable. You can recreate people’s imagination and ideas into reality. You are the one who brings people together to be able to all see the vision for the final product. This is valuable. Keep this in mind when you take new jobs. Think about how many hours you plan on slaving over iteration after iteration. Because even though you may have a voice, if you agree to whatever the arrangement are, you must live up to their standards. So make sure you are paid well.

Imagine a client asks you to do 50 hours of work for only $500 dollars. That’s $10 an hour. That is not enough. You can go get a job that could pay you as much if not more, without being an artist. I’ve seen people’s salaries as low as 30k a year. This is not acceptable especially if they graduated from a college that costs them 90k in loans.

I suggest the following to all my fellow artists, that the minimum for your time should at least be $30 an hour. I have seen people make as much as $200-500 an hour to give you some perspective. Now that may seem like a lot but some of these artists deserve it, but some don’t. Either way the flux in income needs to be equalized so we all benefit from this, especially artists who are just starting out. It’s not fair that people get paid dimes and nickels for stuff that actually has tons of value.

If you have quality work, I’d highly recommend charging in the $75-$150 an hour, Novices $40-$60 an hour, and beginners no lower than $30 an hour. I hope this guide helps you and informs you of your worth. Your time and skills are valuable, don’t lose sight of that.

Good Luck,
AJ

And to give you guys some more perspective. I never go below $100 an hour for freelance gigs.

Also some images for a comic I'm putting together of many. Sneak peek