05 Jan 2015
In the first interview of this year 2015, we had the pleasure to talk with Iban Barrenetxea, extremely talented illustrator from Basque Country, who after more than ten years devoted to graphic design changed his focus to books illustration, achieving great success. Iban is also a PRO user of Drawfolio and you can view and enjoy his work at www.ibanbarrenetxea.com.
You worked a lot on graphic design before focusing on illustration, and you are also the author of the texts of some of the books you illustrated. How was this journey, and what made you start it?
Books have always been very important to me, but I suppose I saw graphic design as a more realistic way to build a professional career. I always thought it as something "temporary", but it turned out to be more than 10 years! I took my time, but changing to illustrating books was a very natural step. I shared some work on my blog from time to time and began to receive proposals from editors. I gave the final step four or five years ago and.. here I am!
How is working in the publishing sector? What is that you like the most or the worst about it?
It is a highly complex world, but I think I'm slowly getting the grasp of it. I love finding people who are passionate about publishing books and dare to do something different. Working with the calendar always in sight, that I like less: deadlines and terms are crazy nowadays. But without deadlines, I think I still would be polishing my first book.
What qualities does a client and project need to have for you to feel comfortable and motivated?
I never see editors and publishers as "clients", but as people with whom I work with a common goal: to make the best book possible. The editors and publishers I like the most are the ones who are passionate and get involved in the project as much as I do.
What good (and bad) things do you feel the Internet and the new technologies have brought to the illustrator profession?
The positive: the communication opportunities and spred of our own work. The negative: with a daily overload of information, we are consuming everything faster and in a more superficial way.
And last, but not least: any advice for aspiring illustrators just starting up their careers?
Work a lot, read a lot and always keep learning.
Thanks a lot Iban!
31 Dec 2014
2014 was a busy year for Drawfolio, and we want to share with you some figures that tell what happened to us this year. During 2014, we had:
| 366.932 | pages viewed |
| 78.146 | visits |
| 17.452 | images uploaded |
| 1.786 | galleries |
| 1.621 | registered users |
| 858 | twitter followers |
| 537 | facebook followers |
| 75 | PRO users |
| 60 | posts in our blog |
| 28 | newsletters |
| 17 | media appearances |
| 8 | pitches and talks |
We could have not achieved all of this without your support, so we want to wish you a Happy New Year and give you the most important figure of all of them:
1 MILLION THANKS!
29 Dec 2014
Let's carry on with our interview series! We really want to interview illustrators from other places in the world, but our home city Valencia has got so much talent that we are still sticking there for our interviews.
This time we talked with illustrator and comic author David Belmonte. Among other things, David has published the comic book [1840: La Rosa Secreta](http://misteriolondres.blogspot.com.es/] with writer Carmen Pardo under Glenat - Editores de Tebeos. David is also a PRO user of Drawfolio, and you can visit his portfolio website right here.
How did you get into the world of illustration comic books?
Like most of people in our profession, I had an early inclination for watching and creating images. Step by step, I learnt the techniques and work process on my own but also on schools, academies or faculties. I discovered the different professional fields there and slowly began to choose where to focus.
You work in client projects and national-published personal projects alike. Which are the pros and cons of dealing with both dedications?
When a company, agency, or publisher is interested in one of your personal projects and supports it, getting involved in its production, that project has already become "work". Until then, that project is in a seed stage where is a child of yours of sorts, and that "love" side makes you to put a lot more hours into it than it would be reasonable.
Aside from that, both personal projects and client work are similar in terms of the work process, technique domain and achieving goals.
Do you think it's important for an artist to find a well-defined and unique style, or it's better to be versatile? Is it possible to find an equilibrium between these two?
Both options can work, the real important thing is achieving your goals and enjoy of what you are drawing and the way you are drawing it. If your goal is to become a professional you can choose both ways. If you find yourself in the need for a unique style, you'll have to work hard to find that graphic language with which you tune in, feel comfortable and find a market niche (I'm thinking of authors like Paco Giménez or Ian Miller).
What may be not easy is having your unique style with a graphic personality that stands out from other artists, and then at the same time work on more anonymous, standard kind of pieces. It can be difficult, but not impossible!
What good (and bad) things do you feel the Internet and the new technologies have brought to the illustrator profession?
On a company and personal level you can contact with authors and companies from all over the world, and have the chance to make your company reach people far from your country.
As a work tool, you can document yourself in no time with information that would be really hard to find using traditional sources.
One problem can be the lack of hi-res pictures to get documented, preventing you to get into detail. Printed documentation (books, magazines, photography or carvings) is still essential on a lot of illustration workshops specialized on history or technical works.
And last, but not least: any advice for aspiring illustrators just starting up their careers?
My advise would be knowing, contacting and building relationships with other proffesionals on the illustration sector and others (publishing) via talks, festivals, interviews, associations, etc.
This contacts will provide you experience and knowledge, and can help you focus your ideas and solve problems. Let things flow and don't be too boresome or try to be funny: let others transmit you what they feel like, and don't discard anything they tell you: it may not be interesting today, but tomorrow that advise can be essential.
Thanks a lot David!
22 Dec 2014
We are steadily growing the number of our PRO customers, and we always try to talk to most of them! Some common questions and doubts have been arising from that conversations, so we decided to build a Help Center where you'll find answers on the most common questions about subscriptions, domains and portfolio websites.
This is just the first step to have the most complete help center we can build. Aside from adding new answers to problems, we are planning to include:
- Videos on the answers relating Drawfolio features.
- Search box to be sure you find answer to your problems as fast as possible
- CSS Recipes for advanced customization of your portfolio website.
What do you think? If you have suggestions or ideas for things to be included on the help center, please contact us at uservoice or write us at [email protected].
02 Dec 2014
Even more interviews, did you think we were going to stop? On this new instalment, we interview Marina Muñoz, an hiper-creative artist from Valencia who combines diverse disciplines like graphic design, photography and, of course, illustration!.
How did you get into the world of graphic design and illustration? Was it what you wanted to do in the first place?
Drawing was kind of a compulsion since I was a kid, as was sculpting. My mother would find me sculpting classes (thanks to Ximo Moroder, potter, to treat me like a proper person even if I was 3!). They also would tell me that I could study Fine Arts when I was a grown up, and I didn't doubt to do so when the time was right. I discovered graphic design by luck: I found out that it was an interesting profession to channel my creativity (I didn't feel like teaching and illustration did seem impossible to me at that time) and pursued a master course in Barcelona to get more experience on that area. I always enjoyed studying, and would like to pursue more studies in illustration, as I now know it is the foundation of my passion in visual creation.
You combine diverse types of work: photography, graphic and identity design, lettering and illustration, personal projects.. Do you think is important to diversify, o would you like to be able to focus on one of these activities?
This comes mainly for my love of learning new things and my own unfocused nature! Some people find my profile interesting while others will say I'm too creative and not "commercial" enough. I think this is better for freelancing rather than having a secured employment position at an agency, so I'm determined to focus on my main strength: creativity. I'm betting on developing my personal or "arty" (I've been also called this) side.
How do you find client and work? What role does the Internet and social media play in this process??
I mainly get clients by contacts and word of mouth, people who has seen my work through other people or friends who recommended me. I'm glad because this way I'm doing a lot of illustration work that I will be able to show soon.
Internet is a pending matter to me. Having a portfolio website is key, but getting clients through it takes time and work, and I want to focus on that right now. I learnt a lot from a serigraphy experiment I did on etsy with some friends (MariMariPi), and now I want to apply all that experience on social media for myself. I see it all like a long distance race.
How do you deal client work, projects and deadlines? What qualities does a client and project need to have for you to feel comfortable and motivated?
I try to set clear deadlines and terms from the very beginning, as projects usually tend to extend themselves over time (usually due to clients). I learnt this the hard way: not having this matters set up front can make the project a total mess.
I feel comfortable when there is good communication and I feel respected as a proffesional (and the client does not waste my time). If you add creative freedom, good fees and an interesting project, you got the perfect work!
And last, but not least: any advice for aspiring illustrators just starting up their careers?
Don't make the same mistakes that I did! Draw a lot, build a portfolio and promote it on the right platforms, social channels, agencies, etc. Start charging for those "cute drawings" that your friends like, try to auto-publish yourself. Don't get overwhelmed by fears and insecurities! There are thousands of great illustrators but you've got your unique voice: work it and improve it, if you show it to the world something awesome can happen!
Thanks a lot Marina!
