Week 4 was one of the most exciting yet in the clubhouse with everyone sharing their work in progress and some fantastic finished illustrations.
Special thanks to everyone who took the time to help out their fellow participants with feedback and constructive critiques - lots of great advice and insights being shared and that is the essence of what makes this a great illustration community. I’m very proud of what both the Challenge and Clubhouse has become and that’s all down to you guys.
So that was week 4, now it’s time for week 5 and another 2 portfolio pieces beckon.
A short note about critiques in the clubhouse
As you will have noticed last week, the initial critique forum for week 4 turned into a rather unwieldy monster. To make things more manageable for week 5 and onwards, here’s how it will now work:
- Anyone wishing to submit their work for critique, please could you create a new discussion under your own name (eg. Jonathan Woodward Critique) and make sure you select the ‘Portfolio Critiques’ category.
- Please ensure that you use your own portfolio critique discussion thread to post any of your work throughout the rest of the challenge from this point onwards. This will not only help you to follow the feedback relating to only your own work, but also for others to follow the trail of the conversation centred around your work too.
A few thoughts about productivity
I wrote a post a little while ago on this blog about some of the challenges that I’ve stumbled upon as an illustrator. One of the main issues for me was my consumption-to-productivity ratio, whereby I always consumed way more illustration (checking out my favourite illustrators online and in my art books) than I actually produced.
This eventually became crippling as I forever looked for inspiration in their work before I’d start mine and compared my work to theirs - I never matched up.
Sound familiar to anyone?
I eventually had to go cold turkey and force myself to switch off the computer and put away the books - it was super hard at first as I had been using my favourite illustrators as a crutch and an excuse, but in time things started to gel together and move in the right direction. It was through forcing myself to go through this that my current style of work finally started to emerge. I’m not sure this would have happened if I was still consuming so much.
Why am I telling you this? Well, I see a lot of people on Twitter, in the comments on the post and in the clubhouse concerned that ‘they will never be able to get 2 illustrations done in a week on top of their day job’.
My response to this would be, how badly do you want this?
I’m not advocating that we shouldn’t have a life outside of our work (far from it - family time with Lea and our baby daughter will always come before my love of illustration), but how much time do we really waste through procrastination, sitting in front of the TV and worrying that we aren’t good enough illustrators?
The best advice I can offer…just do something! Even if it’s the wrong thing, you’ll at least be moving further towards your goal and learning along the way.
Another thing to factor in is that although we may be doing the illustration along side our days jobs at present and finding it hard to put in the extra work, do you really think you’ll have more time if you become as successful as an illustrator as you hope to be? Realistically, you aren’t going to love every commission you land and won’t feel like working on yet another illustration, but you will still need to do the work.
Consider this part of the challenge as practice for your future career…it’s also good practice for when you’re building up your career alongside the day job and working on live commissions.
For a little further encouragement and inspiration, watch out for a special mid-week guest post from Productivity Coach, Charlie Gilkey.
Note: If you saw my tweet earlier about the free giveaway, you will probably have realised by now that there isn’t one. I was going to get you to start thinking about branding this week and give away the first 3 chapters of a new e-book that Lea and I have been working on about DIY Design for Illustrators, but Lea pulled me up and suggested that you guys already had enough on your plate with the 2 portfolio pieces…you can thank her for this 
Just so you guys know I’m right there with you working away at this challenge, here are the two illustrations I completed this week (had to take digital photo of these two as I won’t have access to my scanner until next week so the finish is a really harsh but you get the idea)…
That’s all folks - have a happy and creative week 5…see you in the clubhouse.
“The best way to get something done is to begin.”
Unknown
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Totally agree! You just need to get in action and do something. If you did something, nobody can tell you that you wasted your time or that you did nothing. It may be difficult sometimes, but you’ll learn along the way. For me getting the final image, before coloring takes most of my time. The actual coloring doesn’t take that much time. So I just make sure that I have my final sketches ready and color them during the 3 weeks, so that I can finish the 6 pieces in week 7. My only concern is participating for all the other lovely member, I can’t sit too long behind the PC lately, because I’m just too tired. It’s even hard to keep track with my school work. I’ll do my best though, because I did saw people took the time for me to comment on my pieces! I really, really appreciate that!
Oh! Jonathan, I love your two pieces! The second piece is simply gorgeous! Love the structure in it.
This is my ramble comment haha.
Ciao!
Yay! Week 5! Great post Jonathan. The swan turned out fantastic! The textures really stand out. Love it! And thanks to Lea!
See everyone at the clubhouse.
Those are wise words. I did have to stop my addiction to the zero2illo blog and get on with my work. I always saw the challenge as something close to a real client with deadlines and everything included. Thankfully, I made a smart move and I have been able to meet all my deadlines and I am right on track but I will not post until the end as I think critiques are also somewhat time consuming (for me that is).
Nice work. Your pieces are visually enriching. I can see how they would bring a smile and a tickle to a child.
Hi Jonathan,
I LOVE the swan….!
Yes, I agree…while I find it frustrating during times (like this week, arrrggh) when I can only find an hour here and an hour there to work on my WORK, just taking it in tiny steps will eventually get you there- as a matter of fact, I find that intending only to do something small- breaking large projects into ‘micro’ steps- actually makes it easier to undertake large projects. It would be intimidating to say to myself, “ok, I have to write a novel”, say- I might never start- but if I tell myself “ok, I am going to write a paragraph”, I am much more likely to do it!
Jonathan, I saw your earlier work on the swan and was eagerly awaiting the finish - it’s just stunning!
Thank you so much for addressing this problem, on top of other things it’s a huge issue for me. You are absolutely right, and I take inspiration from you and I will take huge chunks of time off my computer consuming - very wise - and thanks to Lea too for holding off on the ebook.
I was very disappointed in myself for not being able to finish one piece last week, let alone two. I hope to make up for it, but if I can’t get the six pieces done within the three weeks, I hope to get them done at least within the 12.
Thanks again to both of you for your guidance, you guys rock!
thanks for sharing Jonathan. On the subject of productivity, I planned out my project in advance so that I know exactly what I am going to work on and approximately how long it will take me to finish it. I think having a plan in writing can really put you in the right direction.
That’s a great point that though many of us have full-time jobs right now, if we hope to be successful illustrators it won’t be any easier or any less time-consuming, so no more excuses from me! The illustrations I have planned out will be time-consuming, but I’m confident I will be able to finish by the end of week 7.
Thanks Jonathan, very good pep talk.
I reckon you’re right, and we should try and treat these deadlines for the six images as seriously as commissions.
We’ve decided to take illustration seriously, so fulfilling a commission by it’s deadline is pretty key.
I am redoubling my efforts, and stepping up a gear