Hey guys!
(Hope this is in the right place)
This is a thread where I answer all kinds of questions from everyone about my art.
You can see my art in my PC gallery here: X
I'm also under various social media as my name Nina Buie or misnina.
Hopefully that will be vague enough for some questions!
CURRENT QUESTION AND ANSWER MASTERLIST:
It's a little hard to think about. I came up with a lot of random stuff when I was trying to write objectives.
I think I just want to create things that are nice to look at! There's a lot of heavy artsy feelings that I want to express, but I do that better with my game design ideas and other writings. For art, I like decorate, floral, and light feeling things. Sometimes I'll go gross and creepy, but just in general I want something decorative or interesting.
On the left I have my tablet on top of a small scanner, I try to keep those open with nothing on top so I can get access to it. My computer and screens are on a riser because I am very tall! I don't want to be looking down at my screens and hurt my back! I have my mic on a mounting arm! It was actually a pretty cheap buy, and it's worked out great for me. The only problem is that I ended up making my cord come out of the back of my mic all the time and it broke it, so it's not permanently in via DUCK TAPE, so take care of you cords kids! I keep a bunch of pens at my desk because I use them on my bullet journal often.
Some people don't promote having drinks near technology, but hey, I need to drink more water!! Behind me was supposed to be a sort of inspiration wall of a bunch of plant shapes, though there's a lot of duplicates and the vent right above it blew everything around. I need to take it all down, and maybe put some of the prints I got up, but I need to get them framed.
Unfortunately it's not very clean at the moment, but it's not the worst. It's mostly a mess of cords! I do have a glass table that I usually do traditional art on but at the moment...
I used it more when my main desk didn't have enough space, but now I just kind of push stuff aside and draw on the main one with the computer. If I got into painting or anything, I would definitely clean it off. It's adjustable, so the top can be pulled up to be like drafting table. It's a good buy! It's just because I have two desks in my very tiny room I don't have enough bookspace at the moment. If I end up finishing redoing my room, I think I'll show you as 80% of it is for art purposes.
UGHHHH
I want a specific studio really bad! I don't really need a super huge one, but even having a different room like I had in savanah would be great!
I'd like a room that had a decent amount of room, but also a couch for visitors! I want it near a big window for natural light (not on ground floor that makes me nervous) and there's not much else more I would want in it. I just need a desk for my computer and screen, a big one to make sure I have enough room for all of my various items. I'd be able to buy and make a better organizational system.
I think the biggest thing is that I'd want a printer but a GOOD one. I keep having bad luck with crappy ones that won't let you do anything until you change ink, and it's very clear it's not out of ink yet! Maybe a larger flatbed scanner would be good as well!
After that, would be my glass table that I already have. I have a lot of stackable plastic drawers for my art supplies and cheap half broken bookcases, but I'd really like to invest in wood bookcases and sorting cubbies that could last for awhile and make it through moves. If it was somewhere permanent, I would really like incorporate elfa shelves and organization into my supplies area! But as traditional art isn't something I do all the time, just having a good computer room would be adequate.
Photoshop! For a small while I dabbled in Paint Tool Sai, and I got pretty good at it, but I like the transform and effects functions too much in photoshop. I adjust my colors and what not a lot, and I do take a lot of photos as well, so double duty.
It's strange, actually. When I ask, my parents support me all the way, even taking on a very high amount of debit for me to go to the school I wanted, but I don't think the fully understand what I want to do.
So they support it, but don't know the particulars, and my dad will send me job listings for things not even slightly related to what I do and is confused when I'm not happy or excited for the prospect of that job.
"What do you mean you wouldn't want a job where you move around a lot doing IT work? You can make some designs, it's realated sorta."
I don't have a favorite color, but I have a favorite color ramp!
Boredem and watching anime! I drew little crappy anime characters in middle school, and I liked it, so I just wanted to get better. In highschool one of my teachers recommended I be a graphic designer, and I had no plan for the future, so I went for it and changed school for it. I ended up wanting to do more drawing, and now that I draw all the time, it's something I can't live without!
I really want to learn how to do 3D modeling, and 3D art in general! I've dabbled in it, but I really want to move forward in it.
Digital art! You can't live without traditional, but there's just so much I can do with digital!
AH I MISSED THIS ONE
Uhhh this one?
It's a youtuber who lost in a hardcore world underwater and dropped flowers so I just idk I was inspired by it and that it was really neat imagery and I like having it sketchy and not finished.
It's one of the oldest things in my portfolio, but I still like it.
Welp. I'm not doing so well as a freelancer right now. However, I did learn in college how to approach bigger clients. Going into magazines with editorial illustration, you can find the address and name of the art or creative director, and send them a sample of your work. (basically print post cards with your work on one side, and your information on the other.)
I ended up printing a really large amount of these at the end of college, to send them off once I got a list of art directors and get work that way, but between the end of college and working full time, I didn't, and also just got really shy of the idea of working in editorial because I feel like my work wasn't good enough and wasn't idea driven enough.
Editorial work is the bread and butter of freelance illustration, so it's not something you should look over because I'm not doing it. It's bad that I'm not pursing it right now.
What I am doing right now, is advertising on Reddit, as well as just having a a general commission post on tumblr that I can link to. For pricing and things like theses there's a difference between personal commissions, and actual illustrative work.
On tumblr I have my listings for personal commissions. Personal commissions means, someone wants me to draw their character for their own enjoyment, or draw their mom for a gift. A common person can't really spend more than $50 for a simpler illustration. My base prices for one character fall between $10 - $40 because of it.
For getting hired as an illustrator, that is a different ball. If someone said they wanted a picture of their thief character fullbody, I'd say $40. It's just for their enjoyment and I can do it quickly.
If someone wanted a drawing of their thief character fullbody, and this drawing is going to appear as the talk sprite in-game, used in the guide, and for promotional material on social media, I'd say atleast $100 or more. While this is technically the same prompt, the fact that the illustration would be used in game means it's going to reach a greater audience, and I need to put more time, effort, and polish knowing that it will be shown to more people, as well as the fact my illustration will be used as an asset for another product. If they are going to gain money from the use of my artwork, it becomes an illustrative job and it should cost more. Also, there is licensing and contracts involved as well. If they end up selling super well, and I got $40 out of the deal with no rights to my work and no credit, I just got screwed.
While gamedev prices are not set very well, considering like 95% of indie devs want it for free or for rev-share (we'll give you money when we get money, which might be never),
The Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook to Pricing and Ethical Guidelines is a good place to go for your basic professional pricing. (actually it's now 3 books, have not investigated it.) It's an industry standard, so if anyone balks at your prices, you can show them this and say this is the normal pricing.
However, in general, what you want to do is to start logging how many hours it takes for you to make a work of art. This includes research and sketching as well! Take those hours, and think of how much that is worth? While you might do the math and say "wow, at the state minimum per hour of my area, this is fairly expensive!", and you have to realize that it's not equatable. The minimum wage of an area is determined by knowing that you're going to work 20 - 40 hours a week, ever week, and that much per hour is a fair wage.
Since freelancing is a job that doesn't have steady work, you need to work the math different. If I need to pay $2000 in bills every month, and it takes me roughly 10 hours to do a good looking professional illustration I will either have to:
At 7.50 an hour (Arkansas Minimum Wage), I will need to make 26 full illustrations in a month.
In reality, back and forth between a client, and illustration will take a week to make. You'd have to do close to 10 hours an day for the entire month. This 10 hours job will be $75 per illustration.
At 20 an hour (this should be the bare minimum you charge with a college degree), I will need to make 10 illustrations in a month.
Going by the taking a week to make an illustration, you're still crunching for time, it's is more doable. And that 10 hour job will be about $200.
This is assuming, you can get this many freelance jobs. Even at $75, there's not a good chance you're going to get 26 jobs a month, and the cheaper the client gets the art, the more picky they're probably going to be! So while you can't count on hitting that $2000 magazine cover, like, ever, if you can get some consistent mid level clients, then you can get an income flowing.
My fullbody personal commission in $40, but usually because they are simple they take maybe 5 hours? That's still only $8 an hour, but that's me trying to pad out at least some income for small personal gifts. For someone who is legitimately hiring you for a product they will make money off of, they should be paying you the correct amount, and in the begging the correct amount is how much money do you need to survive? Base your prices on that.
I don't aspire to a style! I just do what come naturally right now, but that process took being inspired by anime and manga in my youth, then the more painterly or colorful work of a few artists! I keep a very large inspiration list.
(Hope this is in the right place)
This is a thread where I answer all kinds of questions from everyone about my art.
You can see my art in my PC gallery here: X
I'm also under various social media as my name Nina Buie or misnina.
A short background on me to get things started is that I'm 24 and I live in the United States! I've lived here all my life, so I've went to school there.
I didn't ever go to specifically a fancy art highschool, but I did get into a program senior year that allowed me to have a dedicated desk space and a special class.
For college, I went for 4 years to the Savannah College of Art and Design, and I graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Illustration, with a minor in Drawing.
I didn't ever go to specifically a fancy art highschool, but I did get into a program senior year that allowed me to have a dedicated desk space and a special class.
For college, I went for 4 years to the Savannah College of Art and Design, and I graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Illustration, with a minor in Drawing.
Hopefully that will be vague enough for some questions!
CURRENT QUESTION AND ANSWER MASTERLIST:
Spoiler:
I remember looking up to Signomi back in the day! I actually have a pretty poor memory honestly, and I don't remember much else! Right now, I really enjoy Fairy's pixel work! I need to take a good look and comment on all of the galleries currently, I'm just so rusty at it.I AM INVADING YOUR THREAD NINA.
Both of us talk a lot about our design lives on skype so been thinking of things I haven't asked you yet.
I always like asking this question to artists on this forum, but are there any artists on PC who you've admired or looked up to (both older/veteran PC artists who are here or have left) and newer ones too.
Do you have any artist/design values?
It's a little hard to think about. I came up with a lot of random stuff when I was trying to write objectives.
I think I just want to create things that are nice to look at! There's a lot of heavy artsy feelings that I want to express, but I do that better with my game design ideas and other writings. For art, I like decorate, floral, and light feeling things. Sometimes I'll go gross and creepy, but just in general I want something decorative or interesting.
If you're comfortable with, show us your artist workspace.
On the left I have my tablet on top of a small scanner, I try to keep those open with nothing on top so I can get access to it. My computer and screens are on a riser because I am very tall! I don't want to be looking down at my screens and hurt my back! I have my mic on a mounting arm! It was actually a pretty cheap buy, and it's worked out great for me. The only problem is that I ended up making my cord come out of the back of my mic all the time and it broke it, so it's not permanently in via DUCK TAPE, so take care of you cords kids! I keep a bunch of pens at my desk because I use them on my bullet journal often.
Some people don't promote having drinks near technology, but hey, I need to drink more water!! Behind me was supposed to be a sort of inspiration wall of a bunch of plant shapes, though there's a lot of duplicates and the vent right above it blew everything around. I need to take it all down, and maybe put some of the prints I got up, but I need to get them framed.
Unfortunately it's not very clean at the moment, but it's not the worst. It's mostly a mess of cords! I do have a glass table that I usually do traditional art on but at the moment...
I used it more when my main desk didn't have enough space, but now I just kind of push stuff aside and draw on the main one with the computer. If I got into painting or anything, I would definitely clean it off. It's adjustable, so the top can be pulled up to be like drafting table. It's a good buy! It's just because I have two desks in my very tiny room I don't have enough bookspace at the moment. If I end up finishing redoing my room, I think I'll show you as 80% of it is for art purposes.
edit: adding this in cause why not
If you had the chance to make your ideal studio (without any limit on money or what kind of place it is), what would it be like? This includes what kind of art tools and equipment both digital-related, furniture, workspace/Drafting Tables etc and whatnot.
UGHHHH
I want a specific studio really bad! I don't really need a super huge one, but even having a different room like I had in savanah would be great!
I'd like a room that had a decent amount of room, but also a couch for visitors! I want it near a big window for natural light (not on ground floor that makes me nervous) and there's not much else more I would want in it. I just need a desk for my computer and screen, a big one to make sure I have enough room for all of my various items. I'd be able to buy and make a better organizational system.
I think the biggest thing is that I'd want a printer but a GOOD one. I keep having bad luck with crappy ones that won't let you do anything until you change ink, and it's very clear it's not out of ink yet! Maybe a larger flatbed scanner would be good as well!
After that, would be my glass table that I already have. I have a lot of stackable plastic drawers for my art supplies and cheap half broken bookcases, but I'd really like to invest in wood bookcases and sorting cubbies that could last for awhile and make it through moves. If it was somewhere permanent, I would really like incorporate elfa shelves and organization into my supplies area! But as traditional art isn't something I do all the time, just having a good computer room would be adequate.
What are your favourite signature tools (and programs too I guess) when making art? [/B]
Photoshop! For a small while I dabbled in Paint Tool Sai, and I got pretty good at it, but I like the transform and effects functions too much in photoshop. I adjust my colors and what not a lot, and I do take a lot of photos as well, so double duty.
Taking art as a career brings a lot of mixed feelings especially from family and from family friends and such. What did they think of you studying arts and making a career out of it?
It's strange, actually. When I ask, my parents support me all the way, even taking on a very high amount of debit for me to go to the school I wanted, but I don't think the fully understand what I want to do.
So they support it, but don't know the particulars, and my dad will send me job listings for things not even slightly related to what I do and is confused when I'm not happy or excited for the prospect of that job.
"What do you mean you wouldn't want a job where you move around a lot doing IT work? You can make some designs, it's realated sorta."
Thread has been stickied!
Okay, quick silly question that only vaguely relates to art! What is your favorite color? :3
I don't have a favorite color, but I have a favorite color ramp!
Hi Nina! <3
Here's my question that's pretty related (or something).. What made you start drawing/art-ing in the first place? Inspiration? Boredom?
Also, if you were given the chance to learn a new kind of art, what would it be? (Pixel, 3d, traditional, etc)
Last... Digital, traditional, or edible art? :D
Boredem and watching anime! I drew little crappy anime characters in middle school, and I liked it, so I just wanted to get better. In highschool one of my teachers recommended I be a graphic designer, and I had no plan for the future, so I went for it and changed school for it. I ended up wanting to do more drawing, and now that I draw all the time, it's something I can't live without!
I really want to learn how to do 3D modeling, and 3D art in general! I've dabbled in it, but I really want to move forward in it.
Digital art! You can't live without traditional, but there's just so much I can do with digital!
Pick one of your pieces that best describes you as an artist GOGOGO
AH I MISSED THIS ONE
Uhhh this one?
It's a youtuber who lost in a hardcore world underwater and dropped flowers so I just idk I was inspired by it and that it was really neat imagery and I like having it sketchy and not finished.
It's one of the oldest things in my portfolio, but I still like it.
Ooh hi Nina, nice to meet you!! Lovely work- and thanks for sharing your workspaces!!
I have a few questions as well!
I was wondering where, as a freelance artist, do you usually find your work? And if you're comfortable answering, I was wondering how often work comes by- and how you generally decide on how to price your works?
Welp. I'm not doing so well as a freelancer right now. However, I did learn in college how to approach bigger clients. Going into magazines with editorial illustration, you can find the address and name of the art or creative director, and send them a sample of your work. (basically print post cards with your work on one side, and your information on the other.)
I ended up printing a really large amount of these at the end of college, to send them off once I got a list of art directors and get work that way, but between the end of college and working full time, I didn't, and also just got really shy of the idea of working in editorial because I feel like my work wasn't good enough and wasn't idea driven enough.
Editorial work is the bread and butter of freelance illustration, so it's not something you should look over because I'm not doing it. It's bad that I'm not pursing it right now.
What I am doing right now, is advertising on Reddit, as well as just having a a general commission post on tumblr that I can link to. For pricing and things like theses there's a difference between personal commissions, and actual illustrative work.
On tumblr I have my listings for personal commissions. Personal commissions means, someone wants me to draw their character for their own enjoyment, or draw their mom for a gift. A common person can't really spend more than $50 for a simpler illustration. My base prices for one character fall between $10 - $40 because of it.
For getting hired as an illustrator, that is a different ball. If someone said they wanted a picture of their thief character fullbody, I'd say $40. It's just for their enjoyment and I can do it quickly.
If someone wanted a drawing of their thief character fullbody, and this drawing is going to appear as the talk sprite in-game, used in the guide, and for promotional material on social media, I'd say atleast $100 or more. While this is technically the same prompt, the fact that the illustration would be used in game means it's going to reach a greater audience, and I need to put more time, effort, and polish knowing that it will be shown to more people, as well as the fact my illustration will be used as an asset for another product. If they are going to gain money from the use of my artwork, it becomes an illustrative job and it should cost more. Also, there is licensing and contracts involved as well. If they end up selling super well, and I got $40 out of the deal with no rights to my work and no credit, I just got screwed.
While gamedev prices are not set very well, considering like 95% of indie devs want it for free or for rev-share (we'll give you money when we get money, which might be never),
The Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook to Pricing and Ethical Guidelines is a good place to go for your basic professional pricing. (actually it's now 3 books, have not investigated it.) It's an industry standard, so if anyone balks at your prices, you can show them this and say this is the normal pricing.
However, in general, what you want to do is to start logging how many hours it takes for you to make a work of art. This includes research and sketching as well! Take those hours, and think of how much that is worth? While you might do the math and say "wow, at the state minimum per hour of my area, this is fairly expensive!", and you have to realize that it's not equatable. The minimum wage of an area is determined by knowing that you're going to work 20 - 40 hours a week, ever week, and that much per hour is a fair wage.
Since freelancing is a job that doesn't have steady work, you need to work the math different. If I need to pay $2000 in bills every month, and it takes me roughly 10 hours to do a good looking professional illustration I will either have to:
At 7.50 an hour (Arkansas Minimum Wage), I will need to make 26 full illustrations in a month.
In reality, back and forth between a client, and illustration will take a week to make. You'd have to do close to 10 hours an day for the entire month. This 10 hours job will be $75 per illustration.
At 20 an hour (this should be the bare minimum you charge with a college degree), I will need to make 10 illustrations in a month.
Going by the taking a week to make an illustration, you're still crunching for time, it's is more doable. And that 10 hour job will be about $200.
This is assuming, you can get this many freelance jobs. Even at $75, there's not a good chance you're going to get 26 jobs a month, and the cheaper the client gets the art, the more picky they're probably going to be! So while you can't count on hitting that $2000 magazine cover, like, ever, if you can get some consistent mid level clients, then you can get an income flowing.
My fullbody personal commission in $40, but usually because they are simple they take maybe 5 hours? That's still only $8 an hour, but that's me trying to pad out at least some income for small personal gifts. For someone who is legitimately hiring you for a product they will make money off of, they should be paying you the correct amount, and in the begging the correct amount is how much money do you need to survive? Base your prices on that.
What styles do you aspire to the most? Or which styles are you most inspired by?
I don't aspire to a style! I just do what come naturally right now, but that process took being inspired by anime and manga in my youth, then the more painterly or colorful work of a few artists! I keep a very large inspiration list.
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