history of pets:

Animals and people have always been connected, even back when people used BC to calculate years! They’ve been with us from hunting to sitting on us while we’re asleep, it was only so long until we became friends and even family... And who wouldn’t want a memento of their most loyal family member?  

The oldest paintings of animals go waaay back (19000 years back!) and were actually found in multiple different caves. But the first actual art of a pet comes from Babylonia, 3500 BC (5,500 years for all you counting) and were paintings of people with their goats and horses. Speaking of old times, did you know there’s an about 9500 year old grave of a cat and a person being buried together? That’s how I’d want to go out personally 

Cats live like they’re above everyone else and we mostly have the Egyptians to blame for that attitude. Back then only the Pharoah could own a cat and the rest could only appreciate their beauty by making art of them. They were also worshipped as deities such as Bastet which, once again, does not help the ego problem. Egyptians also loved dogs too, being connected to the deity Anubis 

The Greeks also appreciated dogs in a similar fashion, making thousands of sculptures, mosaics and pottery featuring them. They saw dogs as intelligent, Socrates calling them “true philosophers”. Rome even went a step further as this was the era people finally started taking care of their pets! Their dogs also helped them in wars, which now that I say it sounds a bit reductive doesn’t it? They still loved them though, the famous Cave Canem (Beware of Dog) mosaic coming from this era! 

In both the Middle Ages and the Renaissance era, noblewomen and upperclassmen had many portraits of dogs on their laps. Cats were also beloved and drawn in Asian countries such as Korea, China, India and Japan all the way back in the 1700s. Because Victorians finally had cameras, having photos of pets became much more common 

Nowadays you’d have to struggle to not find a pet around! The internets always had a home for pet photos, images and yes even art. Some draw parodies of other famous art like the Mona Lisa, others draw animals in their natural state of being adorable. There are many different ways to appreciate pets, so no wonder arts become one of them 

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freelancing:

The pandemic hit the freelancing scene hard, but illustrators are still going. Companies looking to cut costs have ditched freelancers but industries such as advertising, journalism and of course design still contract work with them. Freelancing sounds scary to many people, having to keep track of your own finances and deadlines, but its not as bad as you’d think. In fact, most creative jobs take this route of work!

Before even starting you have to prepare. Having a few clients who already like you is a good start as it means you won’t have to scramble for clients at the beginning. When starting out its actually better to stay in your current job, this provides financial stability and allows you to back out if you change your mind. Be 100% sure this is the right path before even thinking about leaving your job too, building your own portfolio can take much longer than you’d expect. For some lucky people it can take only a few months but for others it can take even years to have a proper portfolio!

To stay afloat as a freelancer, you have to find your niche and market yourself to others. The best way to market yourself is on social media, its an easy way to set up your portfolio and an even easier way to get people to find your work. Of course there are other places to put your portfolio, having your own website for it is a good idea too

It’s good to establish yourself as a small business, mainly to keep personal and work life separate. As boring as it sounds its also good to come up with a business plan, even the most basic ones can help you. Making a list of responsibilities, all the services you do, how much you charge and the prices it’ll cost you are all basic things you should already know. Yes this includes managing your own finances, as boring or scary as it seems someone has to do it

Most freelancers work at home, especially because of you-know-what, and it isn’t as comfortable as it sounds. Its hard to stay focused while you’re at home (I know this all too well) so it’s best to create a separate workspace. This can even be a separate building you can bring your clients over to if you work with locals. Having a daily plan and separating your day into sections is good as well, especially at the beginning so you don’t feel lost. The goal is to set a routine you can follow

As gigs are starting to make a comeback again, another important thing to know as a freelancer is your rights. Over the years laws have been put in place to protect freelancers but there are still pitfalls one can fall into if they’re not careful. Never work underpaid!

Looking for jobs? Have you tried LinkedIn, Behance, Working Not Working and Freelancer? These sites can help you get on the map, even Fiverr can be used to establish an audience when starting out. If you’re a seasoned illustrator you can even use Guru, a more professional platform. Job boards, grouping with other freelancer artists and selling your art online are also great ways to start out

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animation vs illustration:

What’s the difference between animation and illustration you ask? Well ones animated and the others not. I could stop there but some companies out there still get confused and the differences run much deeper than that!

There’s a running problem with people assuming animation is for kids only, but that definitely isn’t the case. Animation can be used for many different things, a popular example is for advertisements or for videos giving a lot of information. Staying focused on one video is a hard task nowadays, animation is able to keep people engaged while also helping them understand what’s being said better. Animated advertisements are so common they’re seen as oversaturated, to pull statistics out of thin air here its said that animated ads get 73% more attention than static ones do

Illustration is different in that the art never moves, it’s always static. However unlike in animation, illustrations can be more thought-provoking as you can interpret the art differently. Not like this isn’t possible at all for animation, but its much more difficult to pull off. Despite the slow decay of print (I promise this isn’t a self-jab), art prints are still very popular. Illustrations aren’t just for posters and books too, they can also be used for advertisements such as business cards, signs and even on companies trucks

In work, animation is much more of a team effort. Many people such as background artists, concept artists and storyboard artists are just the few jobs that do the heavy-lifting when it comes to animation. Illustrations are commonly much more individual. As an illustrator its much more important to be able to stand out above the rest for your own individual style and art, while in animation its more about variety and consistency. Having a portfolio full of different types of artwork (background design, character design, short animations) that are consistent in quality can help much more in animation than having a portfolio full of portraits. Knowing about anatomy and being able to pull it off consistently is extremely important as companies look for foundational skills more than individualism. After years of working professionally you’ll be able to blossom into individualism and possibly be hired just for your art style

A way to develop your own art style is to… Practice drawing. The most common and basic form of advice I know, but it does really work. Take inspiration from other artists but try not to compare your art to the same artist every time. Try out new things, see if you like them and eventually you’ll have an art style to call your own

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generative art:

In this new world of technological advancements, it was only time until art caught up too. With the latest technology comprising of code, computers and an eventual robot takeover, there’s been a wave of art that can only be done on a computer screen. ASCII art is a popular example, but today we’re diving deeper into generative art

Well, first I have to quickly run down what code art even is. Its exactly how it sounds, art using code. There are many different types, CSS is often the most common one. Generative art is actually a category of art, taking inspiration from modern and pop art. The artform mainly uses geometric shapes and patterns. However, unlike code art, generative art works on its own rules

The first rule of generated art? Randomness. Every time the art is reloaded or refreshed, the art is completely different and unique to whatever it was before. There are more orderly systems though, such as going off of a timer or set date. Making generative art that’s truly orderly is impossible though, randomness has to be a part of it. This is because generative art has to be different every time its been refreshed. There’s also generative art mashing both order and randomness together, creating something that could never be replicated

Generative art can be seen as a dance between an artist and a computer, they work together to pitch in for different things. The artist controls the randomness and order of the artwork, then the computer handles acting it out and can change the system to their liking. There’s even interactive generative art, where the audience can change what the art looks like. The process of making generative art is fundamentally different from any other artform and stands out for being truly experimental

To make generative art you can either let the computer do what it wants or to set a goal in mind that you want the art to look like, then try to work with the computer so it can make the art you’re looking for. Prior knowledge of scripts like Javascript can make the process easier as all you need to make generative art is p5.js. What’s P5? It’s a website dedicated to allowing artists to make their own generative art, whether that be illustrations, sound, video or even webcams. The “art” in generative art can really be anything you put your mind to

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costume design:

Costume design is an unsung hero for many types of mediums, a piece of clothing can become synonymous with a character. Clothing can tell you all about what a character is like completely nonverbally. But it’s not like costume designers come up with outfits all in their head, for some it takes visualisation. Inspiration.. Illustration

I doubt I’ll need to explain what a costume designer is, its right in the name. Unlike fashion designers though, costume designers work on theatre, film and TV. Its much harder than it sounds: sourcing outfits yourself, making sure they’re comfortable enough to be acted in and it’s not just the main characters you’re dressing! You’re dressing everyone on set, including the background characters that’ll only be seen once or twice and never again. And that’s not including the fact that you have to decide on what they’re all wearing too

To help with that, costume designers often draw their outfits so they know exactly what they want. This happens during the planning stage so they’re able to visualise their outfits to the director. Traditionally or digitally, being able to draw your ideas is an extremely useful skill as a costume designer. Being able to draw from memory is also a great skill to have as you might find yourself making outfits on the fly

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hobby:

Here at vision, we appreciate all kinds of art and walks of life. The illustrations, animations, even newer editions such as code art. Throughout the issue we’ve talked about art as a career, but it isn’t just a career though. To a lot of other people it’s a hobby to be enjoyed and celebrated and we’d be amiss to abandon those folks too in this issue

Art can be many different things when you do it as a job: fun, frustrating at times and to make deadlines meet it isn’t uncommon that you have to sacrifice on detail for a few parts. However as a hobby, art can truly flourish. Not that people who only do art as a hobby don’t come under the same stress factors as professionals do, but it’s a much less demanding environment

Art as a hobby can calm you down and even improve a few of your traits in the meantime too. Depending on how young you are when you start, it can even help a few important skills like hand to eye coordination, mobility and concentration. Art obviously helps with your creativity too, affecting your problem-solving skills for other parts in your life

Being able to freely express yourself is a huge reason why people do art as a hobby too, being able to visualise your intentions and emotions can be a powerful tool (seen in our article about costume designing). It can even help you socially if you choose to go to local art events and join art clubs. And last but not least, did you know art counts as a valid hobby to put on your CV or university application? It not only acts as a good conversation point in an interview, but it also shows how creative and passionate you are