Can you believe we’re already at week 4 of the zero2illo 12 Week Challenge?!
By this stage you will have:
- Established the area of illustration that you want to focus on
- Created a one page business plan (your OGSM)
- Researched and compiled a list of the top ten clients that you would like to work for/with
- Compiled a list of 6 illustrations that you will be producing to attract those clients
You should now be able to see that we do actually have a plan for the 12 week challenge and aren’t just making it up as we go along 
This week’s task
Weeks 4, 5 and 6 are all about creating 2 portfolio pieces each week based upon the research and planning you have completed in weeks 1 - 3.
I’m sure I’m not alone in my fascination of other illustrators processes when creating their work, so I’d like us all to share the progression of each illustration including a few images of the work in progress, along with a little info about your working methods and materials used.
This information will come in handy next week when, along with the 2 illustrations you will be creating, we will start to look at our work flow to see how we can streamline things to make us more efficient illustrators.
Here’s how this weeks task will work:
- Write a post on your own blog to share your progress (feel free to share the final illustrations too, but don’t feel pressured to, as in the coming weeks we will be focusing on our portfolio websites and you may want to save the big reveal until then) and then add a comment on the zero2illo week 4 post with a link to your blog post.
- Use the Critiques discussion forum in the clubhouse to get any feedback and help you need while working on your illustrations (I don’t really need to say this as we have such a lovely community of folks on here but please remember to play nicely - only constructive and helpful critiques please).
If you don’t have your own blog, don’t worry. We’ll be working on our blogs and websites in the weeks to come - you can just post your progress in the clubhouse (please keep images to file sizes below 80kb).
I’d also like to encourage everyone to visit each others blogs over the next 3 weeks and leave comments of support and encouragement.
During the next three weeks of portfolio creation I’ll be featuring some inspirational illustrators to get those creative juices flowing, so keep an eye on zero2illo throughout the week.
Ok, what are you waiting for….go create!
Note: The schedule has been pretty heavy going so far and I think we could all do with a rest. Therefor, I’m planning to throw in a week of rest after we have completed out 6 portfolio pieces before moving on to week 7. I also realise that some of you will be working in more time consuming mediums than others, so the extra week will also give you more time to complete all 6 illustrations.
“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”
Scott Adams
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Huzzah! Let’s go!
Exciting!! Not trying to make excuses, but as I’m also working on a rather demanding personal project of several portraits (for promo purposes) in *addition* to the 6 portfolio pieces, I may be needing to play a little catch-up in the following weeks. So if my progress updates are a little slow, please don’t think it’s because I’m slacking off!
No worries Jo - are the portraits your world cup ones? I saw them on your site the other day, looking fantastic - I can so see them in something like the title sequence for World Cup Match Of The Day!
Great assignments!!! I’m excited to get started. BTW Thank you Jonathan for creating this challenge, it’s been a huge learning experience for me & I’m sure everyone feels the same, things that probably would have taken years to learn are all here in one place. And everyone is super nice. Thank you for all your efforts to keep it on track, managed & organized!
So happy to be a part of this!
Shell
Yikes - I thought it was going to be one per week! This’ll be tough for me too! But then again that extra week you’ve given us will help a lot. And I do like a challenge - it can be really nice to see what you can get done in a short space of time when you really have to.
I’m used to producing 2 full-page illos per week, but that’s at the stage when all the roughs have been approved so all that planning & sketching & thinking is already done! Might have to simplify some of my concepts slightly (but that’s no bad thing for me with my addiction to excessive detail!)
Haha, I have to admit, I’m glad we’ll have that extra week of rest scheduled.
My calendar for the next month is pretty insane, so I’m sure I’ll need it!
I’m sure glad I took the extra step of sketching out most of my roughs ahead of time! Two complete illos a week is quite a feat, especially for those of us who have full time jobs! Can’t wait to find out how other artists create their work (yes, process is fascinating!)
Oh boy…I think I might end up falling behind this week. I am packing tonight to leave tomorrow and will be gone through next Wednesday - yikes!! I will have to see what I can pack to try to work while I am gone! Wishing I had a field set of watercolors right now.
Heehee, I’m with Chelsea, thanks for the extra breather Jonathan! My colored pencil technique is indeed quite time consuming, so I’ll be welcoming that.
I personally can’t wait to see all the progressions from everyone, as well as the finished art. I am hoping that some will also post videos (I plan to) as it is really neat to watch the illos come to life that way.
And just take them one at a time and all will work out.
Hey guys, I’m totally there with you - 2 illustrations per week is a pretty heavy schedule. I too have another full time design business to run so fitting the illustrations in will be tough (especially as my traditional collage style is pretty labour intensive).
However, like me, I figured that most of us are currently doing illustration on the side and it’s unlikely that we can just quit our day jobs tomorrow to only work on illustration. So, for the time being to build up our illustration businesses to a point that we can quit the day job, we will have to work hard to find the time and energy to illustrate too - consider this weeks task practice
I’m glad you all think the idea of an extra week to complete this part of the challenge is a good one. Having a week off constructing and setting the weekly challenge will also free up a bit of my time to work on my 6 illustrations too.
@Shell - awesome feedback, thanks so much for the comment. It really inspires me to know that participants are finding the challenge useful.
@Kat - I hoping that the part of this weeks task of documenting our work in progress and having to write about how we created each piece will help us all look back and consider our work flow and make us more efficient illustrators.
@Tom - excellent idea about video recording our work in progress. I look forward to seeing your video! This is also something I have thought about too, doing a time lapse of one of my collage illustrations so that it almost looks like an animation of it building up itself piece by piece. I think this sort of thing can be really useful to look back on and examine our process and creative decisions.
Sounds great Jonathan! 2 pieces will be hard to get done in one week, but I am up for the challenge!
Yes, the extra week will help! I was wondering, can I use the blog that is on our Ning profiles for this part of the challenge? I have been posting the previous weeks challenges there, rather than my Illustration Friday blog. Thanks!
I better get my rear in gear! I’ll be posting progress at my blog as well as the clubhouse…I haven’t played with it too much, but I’m assuming I can feed my blog to the ning site?
Oops! I thought I already commented on this post hehe ^_^!
Yes! It’s a bit difficult to include too illustrations next to (in my case) school and own commissions! But I’ll manage! I made a commitment and I’m planning to keep it! Have to say that the creative vibe everyone’s giving is really awesome and helps me to stay motivated! I’ll hope to post my stuff this Thursday or Friday.
Cheers to everyone & stay tuned!