F.A.Q.

Is Your Concept Art Portfolio Versatile Or Just Confusing?

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Is your concept art portfolio versatile or confusing? It’s easy to tell when it’s someone else’s work but it’s much more difficult with our own. [ Painting: 'Girl Before A Mirror' by Pablo Picasso ] Every good concept art portfolio showcases the artist’s versatility. But many artists think they are demonstrating versatility when they are [...]

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Artistic Growth Is NOT A Goal & How To Become An Early Riser :: ArtCast #58

IN THIS EPISODE :: 5 Tips to make the new year productive and creatively fulfilling. New Year’s resolutions I DON’T recommend. What art & religion have in common. How to learn to love early mornings. PLUS: Music by Good Old War!

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My Daily Routine: Comics, Podcasts & Visual Development At Disney

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People always ask me about my daily routine. Sometimes this question is code for or coupled-with “Do you ever sleep?” and sometimes they just want to know what my work days are like at Disney. Although a worthwhile productivity talk requires more words than this post can hold, I’ll share about my daily routine and [...]

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Exercise At Your Desk: How My Standing Workstation Works

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Every day at 3pm I was hit with back pain and fatigue.  Coffee didn’t help.  Lots of stretching didn’t help. I consulted the ergonomics department at Disney about creating a sit/ stand workstation and I’ve been in love with it since the day we set it up.  I used to sit all day, hunched over [...]

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How To Get A Portfolio Critique From An Industry Professional

I choose to be really accessible for a lot of reasons. One result of that accessibility is the inundation of critique requests. Unfortunately, there’s just no way I can critique the portfolios or websites of everyone who asks. The best advice I can give for getting professional and/ or experienced eyes on your work is [...]

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How To Create A TV Show Pitch Bible for Animation From CTN-X 2010

People are always asking me how to pitch their ideas for animated TV shows. I usually refer them to my  ArtCast episodes about pitching (find those here, here, here and here) and the book recommendations contained therein. Pitching – as a concept is both complex and vague and my own opinions about pitching have dramatically [...]

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Digital Comics, Ergonomics & How To Deliver Every Time :: ArtCast #50

IN THIS EPISODE :: I share some listener feedback and discuss how artists can develop consistency and professionalism through fundamentals and a refusal to settle for less.  I also briefly address the ongoing debate about digital comics and I talk about a new sit/ stand ergonomic solution for my workstation.

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Avoiding Artistic Burnout :: ArtCast #48

IN THIS EPISODE :: This one has a bit of a slow start (some heavy editing helped quite a bit) but it has a big finish: How I avoid burnout. I explore every possible creative block that I can think of and provide some practical advice for how to stay focused and fruitful during creative [...]

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The 2 Secrets To Success In Animation

As you might guess, I find myself giving portfolio and career advice to animation industry hopefuls all the time. There’s always a list of questions about the objective aspects of the portfolio like page count, layout, type of book, captions and the location of a homemade mediocre logo but none of that really matters… …not [...]

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