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Finding a style that works for you.

Things you need to keep in mind when coming up with your own personal workflow and Style.

Are you going to be a freelance artist? If so then you need a style that you can complete in a reasonable amount of time without getting too exhausted while doing it.
If an image takes you 8 hours to do, you want to make sure you're making at least $10+ an hour.

I have my prices set up so I can make slightly above average pay 5 days out of a normal work week. My images can normally take over 8 hours with breaks and also talking to my friends. But I make sure I at least make $80+ a day. Even if that means sending out screencaps of WIP sketches I calculate that in as pay for the day. That's why my TOS says That "I count the approved WIP's as 50% of the commission paid for."

I don't suggest any artist to even consider that money actually yours till the commission is complete! Until the customer receives their order that money shouldn't be touched. Unless you absolutely have to use it for an emergency. If you have to use it for an emergency try to get the commission at least started ASAP! Even if you have to take out a sketchbook and doodle out the idea. And if you're unable to do that at least notify your customer about a possible delay.

Also, always take the money upfront, not after the work is complete. If you're going to take payments plans take a 50% downpayment and start working on and sending out the WIP sketch so you can atlest claim that half of the money.

Think about images you like doing and colours you like to use. Will your style always fit those choices?

I really wanted to incorporate coloured line art into my style as I loved the soft look it can give an image. But I quickly found out it can also make the characters blend in with the dark backgrounds that I also enjoy doing.

For me personally, the coloured line art gave a nice soft pastel look to an image on light or solid backgrounds.

But also made it harder to see the characters on a fully rendered background with a lot of props. I tried to bring the characters forward by blurring out the background and giving a highlighted outline to try to make them stand out.

(Another problem with this image: Mandark vs Dexter.
Is the staging, The background doesn't help frame the action at all! And just looks like a cluttered out of focus mess.)

I also I tried painting the backgrounds and use less or no lines to bring focus to the characters more. It worked pretty well but not quite what I was looking for.

Finally, I tried using a thicker line art with coloured lines on the inside and a darker or black line art on the outside with fully coloured line art for the background.

this helped the characters really pop despite the somewhat busy backgrounds I enjoy doing.

And it even works with my simple backgrounds. So I decided this would be something that I would apply to my current style.

Here is an example of a background chewing up the characters.

While this background isn't bad, it's also not good. Even though it's painted it still manages to interfere with the action instead of framing it. The building they're standing on seems way too close in color to Zim's spider legs. Making them kinda melt into the background.

The bright pink building behind Dib helps bring focus to the middle of the image, but also you're looking more at the building and less at the character. There's no real flow or anchor in the image so your eyes are left to wonder instead of having anywhere to rest.

Style Vs Backgrounds

A style is more than just how you draw something it's also how you balance your art pieces. Its finding whats complements your images to the best of your abilities.

As a freelance artist commissioned to draw other peoples characters it's my job to make those characters stand out and be the centre of the attention. The background is only supposed to bring more focus to the character not engulf them.
So if you plan on being a character artist with backgrounds, you should try to come up with a complimentary background technique to help push the characters forward like they're on a movie poster or book. In fact look at those things for inspiration.

Alright, I'm done boring you with my brain dribble. I'll be quiet for a while now. I just like to share my art theories in hopes of helping other artists.

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