How to Become a Professional Illustrator using DAZ Studio
Making the jump from being a hobbyist to a professional artist can be daunting and can feel overwhelming.
The rewards are apparent with gaining a new income stream from doing something you love, but there is a new labyrinth to navigate when serving customers with your art!
To work as an artist, having a strong mindset is a necessity. Making art for clients is like jumping into the great unknown, where nothing is guaranteed, there are no right answers, and not everything is predictable. It’s like being dropped into a foreign country with no resources and a rudimentary understanding of the language. Essentially, that’s what happens every time you sit down to make art for a client – it’s a new adventure each time!
Above it all is the tension that exists between being an artist (freedom and creativity) and working for a customer (constraints, deadlines, being client centred). How do you deal with that kind of strain when going professional?
What if you could have an experienced mentor that could guide you through that labyrinth, with solid real world experience of working with illustration projects for customers every day?
We’ve teamed up with Sam Kennedy, a professional illustrator who has been working for 25 years, serving at least three different types of industry; video/board games, publishing and slot machines. Sam has learned how to strengthen his mindset, hone his skills, market his talents, work with agencies, find clients and most importantly communicate well with customers throughout a project.
If you have considered to take on the challenge of being a professional illustrator using DAZ Studio, then this coaching group can provide a bridge to help you cross over to that professional world.
We are going to show you how to be a professional illustrator using DAZ Studio and Photoshop so that you can…
1. Have a confident mindset for creating, selling as well as serving your clients
2. Go deep in learning about key industry sectors that hire illustrators
3. Be systematic and client-centred for managing professional projects : from design to completion.
4. Learn strategic artistic techniques (both in DAZ and in postwork) that signal professional level artwork
5. Gain vital insights about communication with clients, marketing and pricing
This is for you if…
1. You’ve always wanted to utilise DAZ Studio to monetize your art
2. You’ve hit a limit when trying to sell your own DAZ Artwork and don’t know where to turn next
3. You’re curious about how and where to sell your artwork, but haven’t found any real in-depth answers on these questions.
This is for you if you want to accomplish:
1. Knowing yourself, your skillsets (and desired skillsets) and your prospective clients on a deeper level
2. How to attract new clients from established industries that need artists like you
3. How to approach the design of magnetic storytelling artwork for clients
4. Learning the Colouring, Lighting types and Styles that certain industries and clients need and want
5. Learn Sam’s top Postwork tips (Photoshop) for polishing professional renders
6. Gaining key skills for social media presence and applying for jobs
7. Learning how to price your art
8. How to adapt as an artist and keep your momentum going
We are going to show you how to be a professional illustrator using DAZ Studio even if you…
1. Have not sold any artwork so far
2. Feel overwhelmed with the sense of competition
3. Feel lost in knowing how to work with clients
What makes this live course unique?
• Sam Kennedy has 25 years of experience in successfully selling art across four industries using DAZ Studio as a primary creative tool
• It’s a live class where you can get support and feedback all the way through the course.
• You’ll be learning with like-minded artists
What you’ll need for this course
- Intermediate experience or use of DAZ Studio
- At least basic familiarity with Photoshop
Freehand art: Sam will be mentioning a few freehand skills during the course (overpainting) – so if you have a tablet, that will be an advantage but not absolutely necessary.
When will the Course be Run?
We’ll run the course from Saturday 14th January 2023. Each live meeting will be run on Saturdays at 21:00 GMT (London) / 13:00 PST (Los Angeles) / 15:00 EST (New York)
Want to Sample a Free Session?
Join us for an introductory session on Saturday the 14th of January
Proven Experience
Sam Kennedy – Coach and Trainer
Sam R Kennedy has been working in the video game industry since graduating from Brigham Young University in 1998. In that time, he has been both an animator and concept artist for some of the best video games in recent years, including Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy titles, Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six.
He’s spent the past 15 years as a freelance illustrator creating artwork for covers, interiors, cards, and magazine ads for PC Gamer, Xbox Magazine, Disney’s Kingdom Keepers Series, Nation Geographic, Baen Books, Dust Devil Studios, IGN, Gamespot, Game Developer Magazine, and Imagine FX, just to name a few.
Sam currently works for Gimmie Games, Inc. as a Senior Artist and somehow also found time to write and illustrate his recently published book for Random House Books , “How To Become a Video Game Artist: The Insiders Guide to Landing a Job in the Gaming World” which is available on Amazon.com and at Barnes & Noble book stores.
Paul Bussey – Course Host and Facilitator
I have been inspiring, promoting, educating and connecting digital artists since 2010. We’ve published over 150 issues of our magazines 3D Art Direct, Digital Art Live and VISNews, with in-depth interviews of fantastic artists that inspire others with their work. I’ve hosted and organised hundreds of live events to connect and educate digital artists, with many events having a focus on 3D figure scene based software such as DAZ Studio or Poser.
Course Curriculum : Your Transformation
Week 1 : The mindset – the foundation to success
A: About you : Where are you now in life and in your career? What are your goals?
B: About Sam
1. Significant recent artwork from Sam’s portfolio and what Sam is working on right now for income
2. Sam’s career history : Noteworthy artwork that advanced his career.
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- The employers
- The side gigs.
- The teaching, writing and non-art creative work
C: Vital Skills, Habits and Attitudes : Sam’s ingredients for sustaining 25 years of work
1. Flexible styles and technical skills
2. Attitude
3. Continued learning
4. Life aesthetics–values that added to my commercial success
D: The framework for each class
Assignment 1:
–Questionnaire: Know Yourself
–Bring your favourite or best art piece next week
Week 2 : The Skillset– part 1
A: Traditional skills
1. Ideation and Telling a story
2. Design : Shapes, Value, Color and Line
3. Lighting
4. Drawing and Sketching
B: References and Planning
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- The best way to use references with your client
- How Sam uses DAZ Studio for mock up references
- Best approaches planning artwork for the Slot, Video Game and Book Cover industries
1. 3D
2. Photos : Your photos, stock images, freebies, Google resource, other search engine resources.
3. Hand rendering
4. AI
Assignment 2:
–Complete 3 blue sky image sketches reflecting a story.
Week 3 : The Skillset– part 2
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- Which stylisations can work best for which industries
- How job budgets affect the techniques used
A: Render Stylization : Realistic
1. 3D
2. Photo
3. Hand rendered
4.AI
B: Render Stylization : Stylized
1. Drawing
2. Painting Lasso and fill–airbrush plus Hand stroke
3. Stylized 3D models
Assignment 3:
–Complete 3 focused image sketches reflecting a story.
Week 4 : The Technique– part 1
Technical skills for crafting Daz 3D–Characters
1. Shopping and budgeting for projects
2. Shaping : right proportion and exaggerating characters
3. Dressing
4. Posing
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- Checking if the pose works in Photoshop
- Planning to exaggerate later in Photoshop
5. Lighting
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- Keeping it simple
- Choices for lighting in DAZ Studio vs Postwork lighting
- Why 3D lighting can slow you down
6. Rendering : including rendering tips and tricks for DAZ Studio
7. Compositing
Assignment 4: –Begin to render
Week 5 : The Technique– part 2
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- Time savers in selecting and using environments
- Setting up camera shots
A : Daz 3D — Environments
1. Shopping
2. Pre-set cameras
3. Placing your own camera
4. Lighting
5. Rendering
6. Adjusting in PS
7. AI alterations
B: Photoshop polishing
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- Adding in photographic elements
- Overpainting tips
Assignment 5: –Finish Compositing
Week 6 : Using AI Generator MidJourney with DAZ Studio
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- Fusion of using DAZ Studio with Midjourney
- The best way to use DAZ Studio’s strengths with Midjourney’s weaknesses
1. Midjourney–what it is and how to use it
2. Reviewing other’s work to see what can be done
3. Writing prompts
4. Working towards a story
5. Compositing AI generated art
6. Using DAZ Studio to fill in the holes
Assignment 6:
Complete another illustration (selecting from the blue sky sketches) using MidJourney
Week 7 : The Search–Getting paid!
A: Industries / venues that hire artists and buy artwork
1. Games
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- Video games : consul, mobile (see also Sam’s book)
- Board games
- Card games
- The Big Secret–SLOTS – what you need to know
2. Publishing
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- Books–traditional
- Books–indy
- Facebook market?
3. Entertainment
4. Companies
5. Direct to Buyer shops such as Etsy
6. Conventions
B: Communication
1. Social Media presence
2. Applying for jobs
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- What employers don’t care about
- Addressing the clients needs in your cover letter
- Curating your portfolio
- Skills of presentation
- Preparing for interview questions and phone interviews
3. In person contacts
Assignment 7:
Identify potential clients, come up with a plan how and when to contact them
Week 8 : Pricing and Rejuvenating
A: Pricing your work
1. Vital questions for yourself and the client
2. Pricing influenced by the mix of “Cool”, “Fast”, “Cheap”.
3. Evaluating if the job is worth it
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- Opportunity cost
- Exposure
- Amount of money
- Quantity
- Relationships
B: Continuing education
1. Preparing for the next opportunity
2. Managing your time
3. Personal pieces vs. professional pieces
4. Adding value to yourself and to the company that you work for
C: AI art and its coming effect on the industry
D: Many different opportunities for art education
1. Online classes
2. Social media reviews
3. Professional reviews
Assignment 8:
What are you going to do after this class to keep your momentum going? Set goals to move forward
VIP Exclusive : Week 9 : Concepting in Midjourney for Professional Illustration
- Case studies from Sam on how he’s used MJ with clients
- Midjourney can be used to concept characters, environments, vehicles, and weapons
- Creating multiple images and then selecting the best bits to create the perfect picture.
- Explore and follow my process for creating “Tank tops and Tanks”
VIP Exclusive: Week 10 : Using Photos in your images
- Shopping for and purchasing stock images
- Proofing them before buying
- Photoshop’s latest techniques for making selections
- Re-lighting the photo
- Compositing
- Explore and follow my process for creating composites
Here’s How it Works
Live Training
Each week we’ll have a live webinar meeting (up to 1.5 hours) composed of training , coaching and follow up.
The meeting will be recorded, which will be searchable and include captions (standard and VIP membership only). So if you miss a meeting, or want to go over something again then you’re covered. Basic membership level will include an MP4 recording for each meeting that will not be searchable or captioned.
The topics of these training sessions will be tweaked on the needs of the group. We will share solutions, strategies and techniques to help you get results where you need them.
This is where everyone will share wins, goals, and challenges to get support, accountability, and feedback from the group and guidance from us.
You’ll have opportunities to get a focus just on you and have us as as a group look over your goals and challenges to help help you leap forward in your creativity.
Private online forum to interact with the group between lessons
Any time you need some input or encouragement, you can turn to the private forum to connect with other group members, which will be inside the Digital Art Live STUDIO
This extends the benefits of the coaching group beyond the live webinar lessons. (for standard and VIP membership levels only)
VIP Add-On
If you would like additional resources, there’s a VIP add-on option that gives you the following in addition to everything above:-
- *Two additional classes on more advanced techniques that Sam has developed (see above)
- Sam’s book : “How to Become a Video Game Artist: The Insider’s Guide to Landing a Job in the Gaming World” (Kindle edition)
- Bonus pre-recorded course on being a professional illustrator (also created by Sam)