Are you itching to learn how to make the art you want to make?
If you’re pursuing a creative career, putting together a portfolio which best represents your work can sometimes be tricky. Should you add the personal projects where you felt like you were truly expressing yourself as an artist…or should you include the pieces you think potential clients want to see?
It’s a lesson that professional artist and illustrator, David Palumbo, learned early on in his career. At the time, the trend in fantasy illustration was for highly-rendered detailed pieces, but there was just one problem…because that’s not the style David felt most comfortable working in.
And, after a prospective client gave David’s painting of a dragon negative feedback, he had an important realization which would influence his entire career.
He decided to use his personal projects to explore the style of painting he enjoyed most…and he’s never looked back.
So, if you’re stuck in that awkward dilemma between making the art you really enjoy…or forcing yourself to produce something you think will be commercially successful, you’ll find lots of useful insights in this week’s interview to help you move forwards.
It’s a fascinating journey into the creative process, and a reminder that artists invariably produce their best work when they’re truly enjoying making it.
How to Make the Art You Want to Make – How David Palumbo Found his own Style
“If you’re painting the things that you are interested in, you’re probably going to have a better result than if you’re trying to satisfy what you think somebody else is expecting to see.” ~ David Palumbo.
Highlights From This Interview:
- How to develop your own unique style through personal projects
- How to get back into making art after a hiatus
- Why using your spare time to prepare for the next project is so important
- Why working as a freelance artist isn’t for everyone
- Why networking with other artists is crucial to building a career as an artist
- Why you should never lose track of what really motivates you as an artist
- How not to let the market or clients dictate the kind of art you really want to make
We hope this week’s interview with David Palumbo gives you lots of valuable insights into how to develop your own style as an artist and learn how to make the art you want to make.
Have you figured out what really inspires you to make art yet? Let us know in the comments section below – we’d love to hear from you!
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The Pencil Kings podcast is sponsored by Freshbooks – small business accounting software for artists and creatives.
Cheers,
Mitch
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I am still at the beginning stages of drawing, but I practice my drawing every day . I want to focus more on doing portraits, and people. I also have considered trying to illustrate children’s books.
Thank you very much for such an inspirational talk! I am exactly at the faze where you feel as a zombie on the job right now, and feeling that I am not doing what I actually want to do. I guess you helped me to begin this leap of faith into new workflow and to start acting towards the stuff I want to do.
Thank you!