Ray_Frenden's Threadless Blog

Ten second self portrait!

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:05:09 -0500

Draw a the quickest self portrait you can! Add it to the group!

The exact time isn't important, but a short time limit constrains you to selecting only the most obvious and essential features on yer mug!

Get to it!

Cameesa throws designers under the bus.

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:02:39 -0500

From my blog.

I don't know about you, but I'm having a hard enough time making a living from illustration in the current economy. The ever growing list of crowdsourcing, spec-generating sites like 99Designs has added another to its tally, Cameesa. This is a particularly hard pill to swallow. Cameesa's crowd-funding philosophy was almost an ubuntu-esque, anti-spec treatise. Enter "Operations." "Operations" on Cameesa let entities create requests for designs. From their own copy:

How it works? ... Artists submit their Ragnarok Tee designs. ... Members financially support an unlimited number of their favorite designs with $10+shipping. ... Artists & Supporters are rewarded with ongoing dividends and t-shirts (once a designs hits $500). Read the full details OR Start supporting.

Screenshots from the current system:

Most designers are not picked and spend many hours working for the entity's "theme" for free. They end up with designs for a specific entity that are not applicable for resale in most cases. This is much different than creating personal works that can be used elsewhere should the designs not be chosen for print. How likely is it that a Ragnarok games based design will be usable for another purpose? I have similar issues with Design By Humans' "themed" contests that often require work to be created on spec for large clients. Incubus and KISS, really? Good luck selling the Gene Simmons design elsewhere! I'm sure you won't be sued into oblivion; perhaps that's the final fuck you to the designers leasing their souls one entry at a time?

I tweeted a succinct, if vulgar summary of my feelings on Cameesa's "Operations" program and received a reply from Andrew Cronk, who created a thread on Cameesa to address possible concerns. Let Cameesa know how you feel there.

Designers lose, entities win. Spec-alike, for sure. Crowd-funded? More like crowd-sourced!

All the designs in here are future subs.

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:40:18 -0500

My work has been getting tighter, slicker, cleaner and I felt as though it were distilling into a bit of a "house style." I really admire the flexibility of the old school, iron-man, Jack-of-all-trade illustrators. The sorts of guys Leif Peng rescues from the depths of near obscurity, making us all feel less capable in comparison.

My own sources of inspiration are probably obvious based on my work. I'm a huge fan of Bernie Wrightson, Wally Wood, Milton Caniff, Johnny Craig, Frazetta, Alfredo Alcala, John Romita - I could go on and on.

I've been learning so much from them all. Between Bridgman's collected books on anatomy and mass, Harold Speed's great The Practice and Science of Drawing, and the constant specter of those aforementioned illustrator's flexibility, I'm allowing myself to take more chances. Painterly work. Mass drawing. Lletting style be the result of fulfilling a need rather than a means to an end - a true designer's philosophy towards illustration, is something I strive for.

With that in mind, I've been trying to branch out:

Finally selling prints!

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:40:10 -0500

Any purchases immediately make you GOLD STAR MOTHERFUCKERS in my book.

LINKY STINKY.

Thanks to INPRNT for holding my hand, whispering sweet nothings into my ear, and generally being patient, helpful dudes.

Advice on answering interview questions?

Wed, 27 May 2009 17:36:34 -0500

I hate interviews. I always feel like trying to be funny looks forced. I end up just giving as honest an answer as I'm comfortable with and hoping for the best.

How bad is this? I sent it to the interviewer earlier today.

Name/Age:
My name is Ray Frenden. Raymond, technically, but almost no one calls me that. Most of the time, people truncate it even further to just �Frenden.�

Website:
My portfolio and blog resides at http://frenden.com; I�m just about to redo it. I feel like the current design, though fun, pigeon holes me a bit. Zombies and monsters are great, but I think I�ve taken that about as far as I can and I definitely have more diverse interests. Especially where my personal work is concerned.

Background/Education:
I�m self taught. I went straight from high school into the workforce. I�d drawn a bit in elementary and high school, but nothing serious outside of a poorly funded, though well intentioned, high school art class that was positioned to teach you how to make a ceramic pot more than how to draw.

Essentially, I had a six year, or longer, hiatus between drawing in high school and starting up again. It took an additional three years of self teaching and learning from my peers before I started to illustrate full time. My early work is really abysmal, but I find that heartening, not depressing. It feels good to know I�ve made a lot of progress. And, being self taught, there�s a certain inherent insecurity that comes with the lack of proper tutelage. I�ll take all the good feelings about my work I can get.

Why/How Did you get into design?:
After a few dead end sales jobs, a profession I wouldn�t wish on my worst enemy unless he was a soulless automaton capable of skewering babies with sabers, I happened into a print shop. I wore a lot of hats, but mainly that of print designer, project manager, and art director. A few years into the print shop gig, I got my hands on a Wacom tablet.

That pairing proved to be a fateful one; I started noodling on the thing more than I used it to arrange copy and touch up photos, that�s for sure. It was love at first click.

Before I�d stumbled upon Drawn.ca, it hadn�t occurred to me that one could earn a living as an illustrator. There, I met a fellow named Paul O�Sullivan (an illustrator who goes by Dro online), and he introduced me to a private art collective named Robot Face, which is since largely defunct. I learned a lot from the guys and gals that comprised the collective. Over the next three years, I practiced as often as possible. Over the last two, illustration has become a full time gig for me. My success has been largely dependent on surrounding myself with good people.

Favorite Project(s) that you have done:
Most of my favorite work isn�t commercial. I have a few personal works that I�m most proud of, but my opinions on my work change as often as the weather. I seldom feel satisfied, so the honest answer to your question is that there is no answer. Everything is in a constant state of flux. But, I guess that means I�m succeeding in my effort to continually improve and expand my body of knowledge even if the impetus for said improvement is a smidgen of insecurity mixed with a lot of ignorance.

Influences/Inspirations:
Old comic books are my largest influence, stylistically speaking. Milton Caniff, Alfredo Alcala, Johnny Craig, Frank Frazetta; the list is long. To focus on one of them in more detail, if you aren�t familiar with the expressive brushwork of Caniff, please check him out. He doesn�t treat his lines as precious things.

I read somewhere that Stephen King says you have to be willing to kill your darlings. For me, my biggest �darling� is my instinct for really clean line. It�s a fine style, but it�s limiting. There�s something raw and real about an inky brush hitting a page and being okay with eventual screw ups or less than perfect strokes. There�s a humanity there that is lost in much, though not all, of the digital work people do.

How would you describe your Style:
In flux. I�m teetering between line-centric work and painterly, mass-centric pieces. I think that you have to have grasp on both. Definitely more illustrative than design driven, but even that is changing.

Is this your full-time gig?
Currently, yes. It has been for two years. The economy and the state of the illustration industry is making that a bit difficult. With a preponderance of amateur designers and illustrators working for much less than industry standard, the death of print, and the rise of stock, even a successful illustrator has a hard slough ahead of themselves.

I was talking with Michael Kupperman (of Snake �n Bacon fame), and he feels that illustration, as a career path, has been obviated. I�ve been thinking about that a lot lately. Even if you are lucky enough to have a full schedule, add up all the possible billable hours in a day. There�s still not enough money at the end of the year.

I�m trying to diversify a bit - make inroads into the fine arts scene. Moving to traditional work ought to help with that. Digital still has a stigma attached to it in most circles. I mentioned that I started the second chapter of my vocation learning to draw digitally. I�ve returned to the traditional fold. This is coming from a pretty unabashed digital apologist.

Selling product, earning money while you sleep, that�s the only way to make a decent living. It forgoes the limitations of billable hours. Prints, tees, skate decks, vinyl toys, etc. I�d rather not fill the world with more commercial pap, but I have a family to feed like everyone else.

Maybe my savior will be the graphic novel I�m working on.

One Piece of Advice:
Don�t obsess over what other people are doing. Be true to what motivates and interests you. Better work is almost always a result. Be willing to fight for, and educate clients about, decisions that you feel are important to a job. At the end of the day, you�re the one that has to live with being associated with the final product. Don�t sell yourself short. Ask for a fair wage.

Favorite Medium:
My favorite medium, lately, is traditional brush and ink work.

Favorite Website:
This is a bit of a plug, but I run an illustration collective (more like they run me) that has many of the members of Robot Face in its roster as well as some of the most talented folks I have had the privilege of meeting. Our group blog is http://styl.us, but my favorite part, and the part that satisfies your question, is the private forum. It�s a constant source of inspiration. The guys and gals there go out of their way to critique each other and spur each other on. Flickr is a close second.

Favorite Band at the Moment:
My favorite band is probably Grandaddy. Or Neutral Milk hotel. Or the Decemberists. Or Arcade Fire. Or...

Favorite Clothing Line:
My favorite line that I�ve worked with is probably 410bc. I usually wear plain, solid-color tees. Pocket optional. So my answer to your actual question is pretty boring. It figures. I illustrate tees for a living, but I don�t wear them.

Kingstrike!

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:22:01 -0500

Kingstrike launched today. Kingstrike seems a godsend for clients and designers alike.

They list art for sale. There are plenty of sites which do that, but the site is structured in a unique way.

Clients see prices. Transparency allows for ease of buying the art.

Purchased shirts are immediately downloadable by clients. The designer uploads the high res file when submitting the design. This allows a client to be confident that a purchase made is an easily, instantly printable piece of art.

I really think such a site could be grand for the community. I've been toying with designing more in advance of being requested for art; Kingstrike looks like a great way to test those waters.

Do you think something like this could win?

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:52:33 -0500

Heading to Chicago to see Alexis Anne's work @ Threadless tonight...

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:52:24 -0600

Her work is amazing. I highly recommend you see it in person!

This'll be my first time down in a long spell, too, and I am certainly happy to/looking forward to meeting any of y'all that make it.

So, like... um, yeah!

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:38:07 -0600

I just made my first painting (for a band tee) and I'm pretty happy with the results. Whereas the typical line based design takes me a single business day to complete, this took closer to three. It was my first time doing painterly, full-color work and I learned a lot; I hope I get faster!

Details.

Initial sketch.

Work in progress.

I never mentioned as much, but...

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:19:23 -0600

This is one of my favorite designs.