If you're an independent creative professional, you probably already have a website showcasing your amazing portfolio. Portfolios are a necessary component of…
Most of us use line without thinking much about it. Since early childhood we’ve used pencils, pens and crayons to make marks.…
The first 14 weeks of the year are known in the U.S. as tax season; the income tax filing deadline is April…
How to mix skin tones is one of the most common questions I'm asked by students and emerging artists. While there is…
Do you feel like you're stuck in a rut with your pricing? Do you want to charge more per hour or per…
Beginning with the basic structure and proportions, here’s one approach to draw the head in a front view. You can apply these…
Mark Zuckerberg wants Facebook to be a place for people to connect and engage. His post on January 11, 2018 decried the…
Abstraction is likely one of the most misunderstood techniques in design and fine art. In general, it’s confused with anything that’s non-objective,…
It's widely acknowledged that there is a direct correlation between reading and success. But it’s not the amount you read, it’s what…
This is Part Three of my series of instructional articles about linear perspective. Three-Point perspective is used to depict objects and structures…
Every business needs regularly-scheduled tune-ups. Just like with automobile maintenance, tune-ups keep things running smoothly. They're most effective in maintaining performance when…
Is there a difference between depth and volume? And, if so, how are they different? This question was posed during a classroom discussion…
Planning is necessary for any business owner. Going through an end-of-year assessment in order to set up for the next can lead…
An Eye Level reader wrote: What would be the forward steps to draw realistically, in correct proportions, from imagination? Especially imaginary (though…
From the Freelance Road Trip mailbag: A Freelance Road Trip (FRT) member shared an experience with a non-paying client. The member gave…
This article is Part Two in a series of tutorial articles explaining linear perspective from a visual, non-technical approach. By visual, I…
Successful freelancing is a matter of finding the right clients in the right places for the right reasons. Every client you take…
This is the first of a series of tutorial articles dealing with linear perspective. Read Part Two here. And there there's Part…
Successful soloism is about 80% mindset and 20% mechanics. I’ve learned from experience that you can get the mechanics right, but still…
Light and Dark Value is the term used to describe lightness and darkness of color in design and art. Our ability to…
On his Dear Design Student blog on Medium, Mike Monteiro, design director at Mule Design, author and speaker, discusses designers and their…
While I think that designers in general should be able to draw well enough to communicate their ideas, (Von Glitska @Vonster tweeted…
I’ll get to it when I’m ready. I’m sure you’ve had the experience of planning to get something done and then putting…
I want to preface this by saying that as you learn and apply design principles, and gain experience with organizing elements within…
Creative freelancers invest time and effort carefully crafting brands for their clients. In regard to their own brands, they often come up…
Older people provide a varied facial landscape to draw. In many ways, it's easier to describe the external contours when there are…
So you have a brand-new shiny client that you're excited to be working with. You're looking forward to helping them achieve their…
In this Sketchbook Session I demonstrate my approach to drawing a hand. I start by sketching the general structure and overall shape,…
Building a business requires connection with people: prospective clients, colleagues, mentors, customers, and sometimes even family members. When we connect, we share…
Are you ever unsure how to create a color scheme? Do you tend to use color directly from the tube because you…
Art and design students focus on developing their portfolios during the final terms of their education. The portfolio is the most important…
Color is fundamental to life. We not only see color, we experience it. To apply color appropriately in art and design, you…
Because pretty much everything runs on design and other forms of visual communication, the role of the visual communicator (designer, illustrator, photographer)…
One of my latest illustrations is a portrait of Albert Pujols, who plays first base for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim…
I recently read Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, in which the author, Cal Newport, makes the case for engaging…
Whether drawing from photographic reference or from life, we can easily adopt what I call a line-by-line approach to drawing. We look at…
You can get more out of a creative review than just a go-ahead to move to the next phase of the project.…
If you want to be successful, you need to be influential. Influence can be positive or negative, and everyone has influence. The…
There are two ways color is mixed to make new colors. One is commonly known as admixing. The other is optical mixing,…
Q: As a freelancer, do I need a marketing plan or can I just wing it? A: Indeed, you do need a…
Light logic is a system of using value pattern to create the illusion of real space and form. It is simply the idea…
Whenever we create design and art we are composing. Composition is the make up, arrangement or structure of a work, whether it's…
When you’re in business, you use social media differently than you do personally. I was an early adopter on many social media platforms…
When you work project-to-project, you can experience inconsistencies in your schedule and revenue flow. One way to mitigate those gaps is with…
In my article, Show Your Work, I talk about how showing your creative process increases your value to clients. If you are…
Planes are probably one of the least known formal elements of design outside of the classroom, but understanding what they are and how…
As I write this article I'm in the middle of a contract negotiation involving copyright and licensing of one of my character designs.…
The first 3 1/2 months of the year are known in the US as tax season. If you are an independent creative professional,…