Character Design Page

Hello! Despite a sprained ankle and the terrible weather I can't help but feel chipper today. That's right, I use words like chipper! Anyway, while I'm in such a good mood I thought I'd share a really great website called "Character Design Page."

"Character Design Page" shines the spotlight on some of the best character design talent in the business. Not only the big names like Stephen Silver but one's who you may never have heard of, especially if like me you're an outsider looking into that particular market. For me it's a great resource, not only for the inspiration it gives me but also for the insightful process videos they share. If you're an illustrator then you should really take a look. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

The master at work!

If you don't know Stephen Silver's work then do yourself a favour and look him up. Quality artist!

Timelapse watercolor pin up by Melissa Ballesteros Parada

You've got to check out this watercolour painting by Melissa Ballesteros. A sign of true skill is making something really difficult look easy which she does. I think you'll agree it's pretty inspiring stuff and makes me want to dust off the watercolour set!

Moo printing services

A couple of weeks ago I posted an illustration which I was having printed into postcards. Well, they arrived about a week ago and the mail outs have all been sent. Why am I waffling on about this I hear you ask. I just wanted to give a shout out to Moo printing services for the awesome job they did. I've only used local printers who are in my opinion a little pricey. I'm sure there are valid reasons for this and I suspect the automated nature of online printing services has it's savings. Getting to the point I thought Moo were reasonably priced, and the user interface was clear and easy to understand. They had a user guide for preparing your design. How big it should be, where the cropping will occur, what file types to use, how to deal with fonts and colour settings. I also liked how you could customise the back of the card with a logo. There may be a load of other sites offering similar and even better services and if that’s the case leave a comment. I'm a creature of habit so I’ll be sticking with Moo. I was well chuffed!

It’s also worth mentioning they print many other things, only I can’t talk about them as I’ve never used any of these services. If you have please let me know what you thought.  

Chris Oatley

If you are looking for illustration inspiration and resources I highly recommend visiting Chris Oatley's website. Sign up for the newsletter and receive some of his custom brushes which I used in my last piece. It's also worth listening to the podcast if art and animation are your thing.

Textures

I recently came across this site called Lost and Taken which is all about free textures for use in personal and commercial work. I realize there are plenty of sites like this but this is the best I've seen. I recommend you take a look for yourselves.

Ninjamountain

If you are not aware of Ninjamountain then do yourself a favour and follow the link provided. It's a really great podcast about the sci-fi, fantasy art business. I'm not a fantasy artist but the business and the manner of which illustrators promote themselves is fairly universal. It's well worth a listen.