Greetings Artisan! Let's talk about a challenge every artist faces today: getting attention in a world where EVERYONE is fighting for eyeballs. We live in what I call the "modern attention economy" - a place where every possible trick for grabbing attention is being used to death. Snappy editing, bright colors, contrast, open loops, hooks, sex, violence, politics... if it can get attention, it's being exploited. As artists, this puts us in a tough spot. We want people to see our work, but...
8 months ago • 4 min read
Greetings Artisan! Figuring out composition is hard... When you consider all the options, all the ideas, all the different theories about what makes an image work...it's easy to get lost. For a long time, I thought good composition meant complexity. I was convinced that to create really impactful illustrations, I needed to show off. Looking back at my journey, I realize I was making things harder than they needed to be. I was also sleeping on something really powerful: the effectiveness of...
8 months ago • 3 min read
Greetings, Artisan! Someone dropped a comment question recently asking for basic digital drawing advice... Which 'pencil' tool in Procreate was the best. Because none of them seemed to have the same feeling as a traditional pencil. I said that the honest truth is that all digital tools still pale in comparison to the feel of traditional ones. Let me know if you agree... but this has been my experience so far. Despite the great leaps of technology and materials (the plastics in my wacom pens...
9 months ago • 3 min read
Greetings, Artisan! I hope your art is going well, One of the most enjoyable things to do as an artist, is to make things. To create our own worlds and projects. So many artists out there today are creating their own 'IP'... original 'Intellectual Property'. This has always seemed to be a strange label to give a collection of art In my latest Drawing Codex video, I wanted to talk about and explore the difference between worldbuilding as a creative exercise and building IP with a specific...
10 months ago • 3 min read
Greetings Artisan! 2025 is right around the corner… And if you’re like me, you’re probably thinking about those big artistic dreams again. The ones that keep showing up on your New Year’s resolutions. The projects that live rent-free in your imagination. Maybe it’s that graphic novel you’ve been planning. That art book you want to create. That world-building project that’s been nagging at the back of your mind. Every year we tell ourselves “This is the year I’ll make it happen!” But here’s...
about 1 year ago • 6 min read
Greetings Artisan! I’m not sure about you, but one of my dream jobs when I started drawing… was to be a Character Designer. Characters are often where we start. Sketching people. Sketching creatures. Sketching personality! But when it comes to designing with purpose, the blank page can be intimidating. Especially when you’re thinking of characters for a larger world—either for a personal project or a professional job. I spent many years designing characters for my own graphic novels, and over...
about 1 year ago • 2 min read
Greetings Artisan! Have you ever been overflowing with ideas for incredible worlds but found yourself struggling to bring them to life? Trust me, you’re not alone. This is one of the biggest questions and problems that people ask me about! The journey from that initial spark of inspiration to a fully realized project is filled with challenges—from nailing down foundational art skills like color theory and anatomy to maintaining the energy and focus needed to see it through. That’s why I’m...
about 1 year ago • 3 min read
Greetings Artisan! Character design can feel like navigating a labyrinth, a maze of silhouettes, shape language, archetypes, stereotypes—it’s easy to get lost with all of the advice. There is actually a lot of great advice out there. But some of it is poorly labelled. I remember when I first dove into character design, feeling overwhelmed by all these theoretical design concepts. I wanted to create compelling characters, but I wasn’t sure how all these rules fit together, or more importantly,...
about 1 year ago • 2 min read
Greetings Artisan! Is it dangerous to stick your neck out and create something new? Something fresh? Something no one has seen before? Stupid question... right? Or is it? We often look back at when people took everything to the next level... with warmth, with affection, with perfect 20/20 hindsight. The artists who pulled the collective consciousness kicking and screaming into a new visual modality. Those who created something new... but it was better! A page from Loan Sloan by Philippe...
about 1 year ago • 3 min read