61 - Saying no.

Kinda long, but lots of art!

I’m still getting comfortable with this iPad. Here is a painting test I did based on a reference photo. Below is a timelapse if you're interested.

ROBO WOLF

I made this pinup illustration to help promote Jake Smith’s new book, Robo Wolf. I met Jake at HeroesCon a few years ago and have loved his work since, we were chatting and he asked if I wanted to do a pinup for his new Dark Horse book and I had to say yes.

JOSEPH

I did the last weekly illustration for this series. There are still a handful of illustrations to do for the collected series but we are going to put that off till probably May when my schedule slows a little.

PROJECT: Buckets

I am in full swing on this project. I can’t share much, but I did spend an hour drawing this shoe before finally getting it right. Gah, that was frustrating. (bonus points if you can identify the shoe…)

PROJECT: Coal

Still penciling, but almost done. I got some good feedback from the creative team about how to keep one of the main cast more on model. I feel like I am growing a lot with this project.

PROJECT: Drill

I had my first production meeting on this project. We reviewed character/creature designs, next step is thumbnailing out the book.

HOPE NEVER TO SEE IT

The signing tour is almost set, and a few dates are yet to be finalized, here is the first date, more to come.

The Launch Party is in the evening, on March 1st, at Cine in Athens, GA and I welcome any and all to attend. At the launch, and every other signing, I will have copies of the book, original pages, and an original art giveaway! I look forward to seeing y’all on the road!

I am drawing a series of “How to Draw this" for some zoology books. Here is one for you. I would love to see your version!

WATCH: Tall Tales of True Deliveries

Last month I ragged on crappy ads made by AI and so I wanted to highlight some fantastic storytelling and animation with these fun ads from FedEx. The painterly style is very engaging and the animation is smooth as butter.

READ: Red Rising

I read this trilogy back in college and then got the 4th book a few years later only to be completely lost on page one. Therefore, I am starting from the beginning. I audiobooked the first book but I might switch to physical books for book 2.

The series is Hunger Games adjacent, but more sci-fi, and an abundance of Roman mythology and historical references.

LISTEN: Wellerman Sea Shanty

I don’t have a Goblin-Core playlist on Spotify, but I do listen to Pirate-Core. The Wellerman sea shanty is one of my favorites.

PLAY: Blank Slate

In this party game, one player selects a card with a blank and word such as “_____-port” The other players must fill in the blank. You earn 3 points for having the same word as only one other player, 1 point for having the same word as 2 or more players, and 0 points for not matching anyone. First to 25.

Saying no.

Gah, it’s hard. I started this newsletter telling you about the Robo Wolf pinup and how I “… had to say yes.” and yet, I turned down a big project because it wasn’t quite right.

I got an offer from my agent for a book that ran from March to October of this year with a page rate below my normal by about half. But, the property is really strong and has good brand recognition. It is also a genre and subgenre that I really like. I wanted to say yes so bad.

Here’s why I said “no”

The Timeline: Right now, I have a full plate through the end of March and a light plate through June. If I were to take this job it would truly stretch me to my limit from March to May. demanding the additional work hours that would require would mean I need more compensation. I also still have 4 months to find more work before anything dries up, so I am confident that something like this or better will show up.

The Pay: The offer was ~$80 a page which is less than half of my current asking rate of $200. Sometimes clients justify this by saying, well, it’s 100 pages, are you really gonna say no to $10k. The answer is yes, because in art there is no such thing as a bulk discount.

Bulk discounts only work with duplicative bulks, not unique bulks. In duplicative productions such as printing, the machine, or human, making the work does not have to generate anything new. Every item is a copy. If you have ever printed custom shirts you will notice that one shirt is expensive like $50 but then 100 shirts are only ~$5 each. That’s a bulk discount because once the printer is up and running, it’s actually quite cheap for the printer to print more. Startup costs are high.

If I’m hired to draw a book, every page must be different and new. the project in a sense does not get easier as it goes along. it doesn’t necessarily get harder.

I responded to the book offer with three requests

1. increased page rate

2. Royalties

3. 100 comp copies

I decided that I could take the project if I got two of these. The publisher did offer an increase to the page rate, but could not accommodate the other requests. The page rate was still not at my base page rate that so I had to pass.

Saying “No” was scary. The publisher is a big one and the property has a large fanbase so I know it will be a popular book. I am so busy right now that it feels smart, but I am still nervous that I passed on a cool opportunity. All that said, I am very excited for the projects I am currently working on and look forward to what the summer holds.

Cheers,

&