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Belle Love's Sketchbook

@belliebelle / belliebelle.tumblr.com

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almedha

ELI SHOWED ME A COOL THING where it generates a skeleton in various angles for you !!!!!!

oh shiiiit it’s the ultimate warmup tool yesss thank you

FEEL IT’S MIGHT 

ORT

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mariahgem

This site is SO FRICKIN COOL!!! OMG I am ADDICTED!!!

WHOA WHAT IS THIS DOING ON MY DASH AGAIN

posting for all my followers who art

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reblogged

Super easy world creator!

I was looking for an easy map creator that makes beautiful maps for a while now to make a visually stunning map to go along with my book. And now, after such a long search i have finally found one that suits my needs! Because i like it so much, i thought i’d share it with you guys! Just go to inkarnate.com and start creating! I have to warn you though, it is still in beta so a lot still needs to be added, but already it looks great and is easy to use!

I mean just look how beautiful some of these maps are!

And it is so much fun too! Someone even created a game of thrones map that is simply amazing!

So check it out and start creating your visual aid for your story. I promise you, it really is super easy and you will make one in no time!

You can find the site here: inkarnate

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beatrizklotz

Reblogging for the lore folk

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okolnir

THIS IS REALLY GOOD

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I’m tired of getting these stupid offers to work on people’s “passion projects” for free, usually with the promise of compensation when/if the project takes off. Guess what? I don’t care that you’re passionate about it, I care if you’re competent. When you knock on my door asking for free work, its a clear sign that you aren’t. You might have hopes that your project hits it big and that you’ll eventually get rich off of it, but if you REALLY believed in it, I feel like you’d be more willing to put your own livelihood on the line instead of asking an artist to do it for you. If I do a bunch of free work hoping it’ll pay off, I’m not doing other work that could actually feed me and pay my bills. And what happens when the project doesn’t get funded or some important factor blows up or everyone decides to quit out early? I get screwed. So, no. I don’t want to work on your passion project. Not unless I get paid up front.

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im not even an artist and these prices are hurting my feelings 

This is what I have to dig through every time I look for new jobs to apply for.

For non-artists, let’s give you a little perspective.

For me, an illustration takes a bare minimum of 6 hours. Mind you, that’s JUST the drawing part. Not the research, or the communications, or gathering information. Just drawing.

That’s if it’s a simple illustration.

My art deco or more detailed stuff can take 20+ hours each.

Even simple, cartoony things still take at least 3 hours.

Let’s go with the second one. 2 illustrations for $25. Figuring 6 hours each. 12 hours total, for JUST the drawings. That’s approximately $2.08/hour. 

Asking these prices is an insult. But what’s even more hurtful is there are people out there that will take these jobs. Which only encourages rates like this to be acceptable. And there are people who will try to say these are just what you have to do to get started.

I believed that. So my first coloring gigs were just $10/page. The day someone offered me $25/page for just flatting work, I realized just how wrong I’d been. I’m still not making the rates I’d like, but now I refuse anything below $25/page. Because there is value in my time.

In any standardized industry, even ones that pay piece rate over hourly, these numbers are criminal.

Do your fellow artists a favor. Never accept jobs like these. There are others that pay legitimate rates. Or at least closer to legitimate.

Such baby bullshit. Don’t even get out of bed for these rates.

    If you are an artist who wants to make money off their art, I highly suggest you buy The Graphic Artist’s Guild Handbook. It goes in depth about copyright issues and even contains contract and model release templates. The 2013 book *I believe* states the average professional charges $72 an hour. This article calculated that to make a 40k annual salary you would need to charge about $60 per hour.

  After graduating from Art Center in 2012, I think I asked for somewhere between $35-45 an hour and got laughed at by multiple big name clients, which was infuriating, sadly expected, and terrifying with over $100K worth of student loans staring me in the face. If they tell you it will be “great exposure” that’s a red flag. Ask yourself how their exposure can compare to your Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Flickr and Facebook pages combined? 

And when you do get a decent paying gig, PROTECT YOURSELF. You have the right to negotiate and revise a contract. Do not start a job until you have a contract signed. If they don’t provide you with one, MAKE ONE. And make sure you have your bases covered. You can specify in a contract that maybe two revisions are included in your cost, and if they ask you to revise the piece more than twice, they will have to pay extra. In terms of payment schedule, I usually do the 50/50 Method (50% before, 50% after) or the 3/3/3 Method (1/3 before, 1/3 in the middle, 1/3 after all work has been received). Both of those are pretty standard in the industry, as they guarantee you will get compensated for your time, even if the job goes bad.

Remember you have a skill, and you have spent time honing that skill and you deserve to be adequately paid for that time and effort. You will have clients dismiss you because, honest to God they think, “Well, I could do that if I wanted. Hell, my five year old does it now.” No they can’t, because they didn’t, they don’t, they won’t and they probably never will. And good luck hiring a five year old. They can’t keep a fucking deadline.

And in a last ditch effort they’ll say, “But that drawing only took you an hour!” Son, that drawing took me 20. fucking. years.

10 Dollars for 1 minute of animation.  Oh my god my heart.  It took my team 6 months and a team of 12 to make a 4 minute short. 

I second this book! I’ve had it for several years now, and it’s been a HUGE help in my work as a freelance artist. It gives great advice on what to charge for different areas of art!

Please remember. Your art is worth a respectable payment! Accepting ridiculously low prices actually hurts the arts/illustration/animation communities because it makes employers believe they can employ people without offering decent pay.

Check the internet if you need help figuring out what you should be charging for your commissions. Invest in the books that will inform you professionally, and put your foot down if you think someone is trying to cheat you out of your time and hard work. You have a right to refuse a job, and/or request decent payment. If your employer denies a you decent pay, well then they’re probably not a very good employer. Do not undersell your skills. it is bad for the art community and you are worth more then that.

For any freelancers out there

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myrmeen

This is fucking important information.

Reblogging because I have a lot of great artists on my dash and they need to see this if they haven’t already. Don’t sell yourselves short, my lovelies.

I know that on here, everyone tends to be in a desperate situation and that something is usually better than nothing. And I totally understand that.

But at the same time, please read this, maybe check out the book, and be aware of what professional artists can make! The world doesn’t always understand the value of art. Sometimes it falls on the artists to remind them.

Another reason for posting - you guys are all super talented! Look at the prices professionals charge and know that you can make a living off your art! It may be tough but it is totally a thing that can happen!

<3 to all who are in a tough situation right now.

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belliebelle

Reblog forever!

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Friendly reminder to all working artists or (especially) aspiring artists.

If a client says they can’t afford to pay you but you’ll get good exposure, one of two things is happening:

1. They are lying. They can afford to pay you, but they are choosing not to. They will pay the printer to print the books, they will pay the mail service to deliver them, and you’d better believe they’re going to pay themselves for sending you an email explaining that they can’t afford to pay you. They think you are a sucker, and if you take the job you’ll be telling them they are right.

2. They are not lying. They have zero budget, no audience and no real distribution system. They’ll still be paying the printer and mail service because people who work in those professions don’t work for free just because someone promises them a recommendation. But they aren’t paying themselves, they’re running on an incredibly small margin, and there’s a good chance they won’t exist as a corporate entity in a few years. Publishing your work with them will give you less exposure than putting it on tumblr or Instagram for free would. It will never lead to a paying job. 

If a client starts ranting about the “short-sightedness” of artists, or otherwise complains about artists in general in their opening offer to you, run. Run as fast as you would run if a blind date spent the whole of dinner ranting about how horrible your entire gender is. Yes, there are doubtlessly clients who’ve been screwed over by artists in the past, but the ones who complain about artists in general will not respect you, they will not treat you well. 

Working for free does not prove that you are passionate about something. It proves that you do not need to be paid for your work. How many doctors went into medicine because they are passionate about saving lives? Do you think any of them are asked to perform heart surgery for free?

No one will ever pay $50 for something if they can get something similar for $5. When you charge next to nothing for art that you’ve worked for hours on, art that required years of training to create, you are telling your client that it is worth next to nothing. They will remember that the next time they want to hire an artist.

People who are looking to exploit artists know that artists are hard on themselves. They know that most artists don’t think their work is good enough to charge top dollar. They know that artists have been told from the first day they started taking their art seriously as a career that they’ll never make any money off it, that it’s not a real job, that it has no value to society. They know how to push artists’ insecurities about their profession in order to convince them that that demanding fair compensation is unrealistic and uncooperative.

If you’re just desperate for a job in the arts, any job in the arts, give yourself a job. Start a webcomic, or give yourself illustration assignments that you post on social media regularly, create work for a gallery show even if you don’t have one yet, or make a book. Give yourself a job. If you’re going to work for free, you may as well be working for yourself, setting your own hours and following your own interests. Having original art with original characters and ideas in your portfolio, and making sure your art is visible online will get the attention of publishers who are actually looking to hire people for good jobs. Drawing a shitty comic for a defunct publisher based on someone else’s shitty ideas will not.

Protect yourself, because no one else will. Protect yourself, because no one else will. There are people lining up around the block to exploit you. Protect yourself because no one else will.

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 A little advice for aspiring animation folks. I wrote this response to an email, but I thought I’d share here. Hopefully someone finds this helpful!

  1. Absolutely focus on a specific area. Choose a MAIN skill, whether that’s storyboarding, animation, BG design, Vis Dev, etc. Having secondary and tertiary skills is a plus, but you should have a primary skill that is your most honed weapon. Being versed in other areas should inform your primary skill.
  2. Make consistently good work, and post it everywhere online. Get visible. It’s hard because we live in a world saturated with creators of one kind or another, but you have to put your stuff out there. Also, when you’re ready, reach out to studios as well. Many of them have open submission periods now and again when they’re looking for new talent. Go to events and conventions to meet people in person if you can. Meeting someone in person always has greater impact than an email.
  3. Personal projects are KEY. Working on something you’re invested in makes all the difference, because it will push you in the direction YOU want to go. Also, it will have your thumbprints all over it–personal projects are special because they show potential employers the unique perspective that you have to bring to the table. Lots of portfolios are full of school assignments, but a personal assignment will always stand out.
  4. Keep an eye on your peers. Look at work that is aspirational to you–and measure your own work against it. Are you competing legitimately? Look at the work of others and get ideas about how you’d like to improve your own work. Be specific rather than general. Think “I’d like to make work with fantastic movement like (PICK AN ARTIST)” rather than “my work isn’t as good as (PICK AN ARTIST).” The more specific you are, the easier it is for you to blaze a path forward. The less specific you are, the easier it is to feel stuck and depressed.
  5. Remember that you are not the work you create. You are a person with intrinsic value as a human. So often we get caught up in our work, and it becomes so preeminent in our minds that we begin to associate our own personal worth with what others think of the drawings we make. Being an artist is fun and rewarding, but don’t get so caught up in the pursuit of your goals that you forget everything else that’s wonderful about life.

Good luck as you move forward!!

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“People in other industries don’t provide their would-be clients with “spec work” for free. That would be asinine.

Toronto agency Zulu Alpha Kilo really illustrates just how ludicrous it is—in the great video below, in which a guy approaches real men and women (not actors) in other businesses and asks them to provide him with a product or service for free, to see if he likes it before committing to more.”

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skelobite

ATTENTION ARTISTS

Copyright law is about to change 

For more than a year Congress has been holding hearings for the drafting of a brand new US Copyright Act. At its heart is the return of Orphan Works

What does this mean for artists? it means it will make it easier for infringers to steal artists works and harder for people who are making or trying to make a living out of art more difficult. This will effect every artist and all the artwork they have created, are creating, and will be created. Corporates, Big businesses, and publishers want this to pass to make money out off artists works without paying us artists for past, current, and future artwork. 

Basic Facts About The Law Being Proposed

 - “The Next Great Copyright Act” would replace all existing copyright law. 

 - It would void our Constitutional right to the exclusive control of our work.

 - It would “privilege” the public’s right to use our work.

   - It would “pressure” you to register your work with commercial registries.

   - It would “orphan” unregistered work.

   - It would make orphaned work available for commercial infringement by “good faith” infringers. 

 - It would allow others to alter your work and copyright these “derivative works” in their own names. 

 - It would affect all visual art: drawings, paintings, sketches, photos, etc.; past, present and future; published and unpublished; domestic and foreign. 

** Ways to stop this or preventing these changes from happening**

 > > > > > > >  DEADLINE IS NEXT THURSDAY: JULY 23, 2015 < < < < < <

 - share, reblog this post, spread it for other artists to take notice and action.

 - You can submit a letter on how this law can be an issue for you as an artist here.

 - Non-U.S. artists can email their letters to the attention of:

Catherine Rowland Senior Advisor to the Register of Copyrights U.S. Copyright Office crowland@loc.gov

Articles about this - 1, 2, 3, 4

“Right now nobody has to understand copyright law because you’re protected by it, but under the law they are proposing, copyright law wont protect you anymore.”

- Brad Holland (Quote from the video - at 1:23:30)

PDFs via the official US Copyright website:

More information:

According to Will Terry, who uploaded the video:

They are working with big corporations who I will also not name who stand to gain big time. Think about a company that has the largest search engine on the internet…they are putting lots of money behind this because there is a ton of money in controlling and selling all of our work. (x)

Which may explain why Googling the Orphan Works and Next Great Copyright Act yields so little results. Please add any extra information if you have access to it, because I couldn’t find much.

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lazyfishyart

I interrupt a long-term hiatus to help raise awareness towards the new Copyright Laws that might come into effect starting next week unless we join efforts to stop it. 

A friend and fellow artist, Will Terry, has joined forces with Brad Holland to help us understand what this Copyright Law is all about, here is their message:

Orphan Works in a Nutshell:

- Congress is drafting a new US Copyright Act. If passed, it would replace current US Copyright law. There isn’t any bill yet, but the Copyright Office has issued its recommendations for one. Their Report is 234 pages long and is very complicated, so it’s risky to try reducing it to a few words. But here’s a summary of its basic features:

  • It would void your Constitutional right to the EXCLUSIVE CONTROL of YOUR work.
  • It would effectively reverse the default premise of copyright law; which means…
  • It would make the public’s right to use your work its defining goal; which means…
  • You would have to make your work available to the public.
  • You would have to do this by registering every picture you want to retain the rights to with for-profit registries.
  • Unregistered work would be considered legally “orphaned.”
  • Orphaned work would be available for commercial infringement by “good faith” infringers.
  • Good faith infringers would be anyone who believed they had made a “reasonably diligent,” but unsuccessful effort to find you.
  • Infringers could also ALTER your work and copyright the “derivative works” in their own names.
  • This would affect all visual art: drawings, paintings, sketches, photos, etc.; past, present and future; published and unpublished; domestic and foreign.
  • It would include family snapshots and any picture or work you ever put on the Internet.
  • The Copyright Office acknowledges that this would pose special “challenges” for visual artists…
  • But they conclude that it’s in the public interest for your work to be available for anyone to use.

The Copyright Office has also recommended the following:

  • Mass Digitization of the world’s intellectual property by corporate interests.
  • Extended Collective Licensing, a form of socialized corporate licensing that would replace voluntary agreements between artists and clients.
  • A Copyright Small Claims Court to handle the expected flood of orphan works lawsuits.

         —> The deadline is This Thursday, July 23, 2015″ <—

– WHAT CAN WE DO? –

  • Write a letter —> HERE <— Let them know why this isn’t a good idea!
  • Don’t know what to write? Here are Letter samples 
  • SHARE this information as much as you can! 

– LEARN MORE –  

This Copyright Act could affect all kinds of creators!!

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sakimichan

spread awareness and please send the letter in ! Re blog to all your artist friends !

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polymathpost

VIDEO: Scientists develop glasses to help color blind people see color for the first time

Fair warning: this might make you choke up a bit…

here’s the video:

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reblogged
Success is not just based on luck. Hard work still remains as a requirement.

attackonstudying (via attackonstudying)

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gueseg

Happy International Women’s Day ! #funny #lol #lmao #lmfao #instahappy #joke #jokes #joking #epic #instagood #instafun #funnypictures #haha #humor #wd2015 #womensday2015 #women (at OTS Monkey Champagne Room)

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When I was a freshman, my sister was in eighth grade. There was a boy in two of her periods who would ask her out every single day. (Third and seventh period, if I remember correctly.) All day during third and seventh she would repeatedly tell him no. She didn’t beat around the bush, she didn’t lie and say she was taken—she just said no. One day, in third period, after being rejected several times, he said; “I have a gun in my locker. If you don’t say yes, I am going to shoot you in seventh.” She refused again, but right after class she went to the principal’s office and told them what happened. They searched his locker and there was a gun in his backpack. When he was arrested, some of my sister’s friends (some female, even) told her that she was selfish for saying no so many times. That because of her, the entire school was in jeopardy. That it wouldn’t have killed her to say yes and give it a try, but because she was so mean to him, he lost his temper. Many of her male friends said it was “girls like her” that made all women seem like cockteases. Wouldn’t have killed her to say yes? If a man is willing to shoot someone for saying no, what happens to the poor soul who says yes? What happens the first time they disagree? What happens the first time she says she doesn’t want to have sex? That she isn’t in the mood? When they break up? Years later, when I was a senior, I was the only girl in my Criminal Justice class. The teacher, who used to be a sergeant in the police force, told us a story of something that had happened to a girl he knew when she was in high school. There was a guy who obviously had a crush on her and he made her uncomfortable. One day he finally gathered up the courage to ask her out, and she said no. The next day, during an assembly, he pulled a gun on her in front of everyone and threatened to kill her if she didn’t date him. He was tackled to the ground and the gun was taken from him. When my teacher asked the class who was at fault for the crime, I was the only person who said the boy was. All the other kids in the class (who were all boys) said that the girl was, that if she had said yes he would’ve never lost it and brought a gun and tried to kill her. When my teacher said that they were wrong and that this is what is wrong with society, that whenever a white boy commits a crime it’s someone else’s fault (music, television, video games, the victim) one boy raised his hand and literally said; “But if someone were to punch me and I punched him back, who is at fault for the fight? He is, not me. It’s self-defence. She started it, so anything that happens to her is in reaction to her actions .It’s simple cause and effect.” Even though he spent the rest of the calss period ripping into the boys and saying that you are always responsible for your own actions, and that women are allowed to say no and do not have to date them, they left class laughing about how idiotic he was and that he clearly had no idea how much it hurt to be rejected. So now we have a new school shooting, based solely on the fact some guy couldn’t get laid, and I see men, boys, applaudin him, or if they’re not applauding him, they’re laying blame on women as a whole. Just like my sister’s friends did. Just like the boys in my Criminal Justice class did. This isn’t something that’s rare. This isn’t something that never happens, or that a select group of men feel as if they are so entitled to women that saying no is not only the worst possible thing a woman can do, but is considered a form of “defence” when they commit a crime upon them (whether it be rape or murder-as-a-reaction-towards-rejection). Girls are being killed for saying no to prom invites. Girls are being killed for saying no to men. They are creating an atmosphere where women are too scared to say no, and the worst part is? They are doing it intentionally. They want society to be that way, they want women to say yes entirely out of fear. Even the boys and men who aren’t showing up to schools with guns are saying; “Well, you know, I wouldn’t do that, but you have to admit that if she had just said yes …” If you are a man and you defend this guys’ actions or try to find an excuse for it, or you denounce what really happened, or in any way lay blame on women, every girl you know, every woman you love, has just now thought to themselves that you might lose your shit and kill them someday for saying no. You have just lost their trust. And you know what? You deserve to lose it.

"Wouldn’t have killed her to say yes? If a man is willing to shoot someone for saying no, what happens to the poor soul who says yes? What happens the first time they disagree? What happens the first time she says she doesn’t want to have sex? That she isn’t in the mood? When they break up?" -vampmissedith.tumblr.com

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