Pop Culture Characters when they were Children – “LITTLE”

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Wayne

Little, Pop Culture Characters when they were young

ad & link to the kickstarter page for Little, the book of pop culture characters

Shameless ad we know, but we want Will’s book to work

Little is a collection of little or young, pop culture characters, or re-imagined pop culture characters as children, like when they were Little – printed in a collectible art book

HOW CUTE!

Will Terry has been drawing these little pop culture characters for about eighteen months on and off. At first it was just for fun but then it grew into an obsession. After tabling at a hand full of “Cons” and selling hundreds of them – He realized he just had to put them in this book. You know, for the fans. How cute! they say. Folks love’m.

It’s fun to see if you can tell who they all are

Kickstarter is another way for artists to make money

If you are an artist, and I hope you are, and if you love doing art, and I hope you do, you should be constantly thinking of ways to make money doing what you love. ART. Kickstarter is one more opportunity out there. Will Terry is giving it another try. Another Try? Yes, he didn’t make it last time. So, being the die hard that he is, and the persistent artist that he is, he is doing it again. We will probably write about the success, or failure of this kickstarte in the future, but right now we are hoping to get a lot of support and momentum so that Will will have to spend countless evening mailing books, prints and posters to all his faithful fans that supported him in this endeavor.

Thank you and if you like the project, and I hope you do, please share it, pass it on, contribute support etc

– and check out more of what Will is up to, he teaches art at FolioAcadmy.com too of course.

The Artist in You

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Will Terry

An Artist is trying to manifest itself

young Will Terry, the Artist to be, and his elder sister

“It wasn’t that I took pleasure in removing their heads”

Every child is an artist, in one way or another. I don’t know if you can see it, look real close. Do you see that? That little boy has an artist trying to find it’s way out. My parents should have known when I took apart my brand new transistor radio. My sisters should have known when I removed their barbie doll heads – it wasn’t that I took pleasure in the removal of the heads. It was seeing how many different reactions I could create in their emotions. By the time my motor skills really developed I painted my masterpiece – Three barbie doll heads, owned by three different sisters all coming off at the same time. Magnifique!

Without boring you with all the details I had a pretty typical American exposure to art in junior high and high school. He was always pretty good but there were always those who were much better.

Getting into college was a challenge

I really didn’t fit in the one size is supposed to fit all public school system. I had quite a bit of trouble with reading comprehension, science and history always netted below average grades and forget about math…that left art and music…the only two bright spots on my report card.

On the other hand the little girl in the picture was destined for academic honors…if you look close you can see that she knows it too. (Love you Beth- look what she does!)

My art skills were keeping me in the game.

So on to college and more bad grades in english, (shouldn’t that be capitalized? How should I know, I’m an artist) history, science, and math – what’s new right? Art on the other hand was still keeping me in the game with my grades. Kind of like adding bases to acids. (I did remember that from science class)

Then…upon applying for the BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) at BYU I distinctly remember hearing the earth crack as I was barely allowed in on probation. PROBATION???!!! in art??? but I’m supposed to be good at art – at least that’s what everyone had been telling me. How could this be? If not art then what?

I finally had to come to terms with the fact that my past effort had taken me as far as I could coast. It was time to admit that I wasn’t the savant I thought I was. That I had to get to work – that I had to humble myself and start listening and learning from my teachers – mainly Richard Hull and Bob Barrett – also Rob Colvin. If not for them I wouldn’t be able to enjoy a successful illustration career. (Ironically I was later hired to teach part time at BYU by Richard Hull)

One of the reasons I wanted to release my “How To Illustrate Children’s Books” video series is to help others learn those very important principles that can be the difference between success and failure. I know how frustrating it is to wallow in depression when a piece doesn’t work out….when you spend a lot of time on an image and you wish you had never started it. I know what it’s like to try to talk yourself into liking your own work. And I know what it feels like when you show a new piece to someone and their facial expressions just can’t lie as good as their lips….and how when you work and re-work a piece and re-work it some more you want to smash it and scream. Been there. I’ll admit it I’ve shed real tears over my art and I don’t cry very often…although “Driving Miss Daisy” gets me every time.

I wanted to post this as encouragement to my fellow artists – and leave you with this: I’ve realized that all those frustrations, emotions, disappointments and tears have led to one happy camper. I love my job

How To Illustrate Children’s Books

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Wayne

It is easier to Illustrate Children’s Books when you know how.

This has been one of our best sellers and most watched video courses.

Doing artwork and illustrating in your spare time.

Will Terr worked on this video series while his kids played xbox and his wife caught up on her reading. It was a choice between relaxing doing dishes, cleaning bathrooms, and taking my turn cooking OR…Making a video series. It was a toss up – on one hand he’d get the satisfaction of cleaning and watching his kids mess it up again or creating something that he had been thinking about for quite some time.

We are all glad he let the kitchen go and created this wonderful art lesson.

Video is a much better medium for showing someone exactly what you mean

I’ve put quite a bit of work into my college picture book class but I always thought I could do more with it. In class the images that I show are static and often leave me feeling that I could have done better. Video is a much better medium for showing someone exactly what you mean in many cases. Don’t get me wrong – I demo in my classes but sometimes you just aren’t prepared or equipped to do exactly what you want. I’ve tried to include just about every aspect of the children’s book making process in this series to provide viewers with a basic knowledge of what they need to work on.

It has been nice to help others learn Narrative ILLUSTRATION

0001b It’s definitely not perfect but I’m proud of the work I put into it and hope that it brightens the lives of those who want to learn more about narrative illustration. Perhaps this isn’t your cup of tea but if you know anyone who might appreciate it send them a link.

picture of some character development Thanks and have a beautiful day.

Folio Boys go to So Cal

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Wayne

I am lucky to be Will’s best friend

This video isn’t that great but it is cool to see Will Speaking to Millions of peeps.

Since the California Teachers Association (CTA) loves Will’s artwork for children so much, he has been able to represent the CTA two times so far. So they paid for him and his wife, or if she was too busy or not feeling well or what ever, He was able to take some significant brother. That’s me, Will’s best friend, Wayne. So we loaded up the truck and we went to Beverly, LA that is, swimming pools, movie stars.

Well the next thing you know, Old Will‘s on stage up there, over the weekend he was a celebrity, he got to represent the California Teachers Association again with his Armadilly Chili Book. He had a blast and he even got to say a few words in front of the group. That’s him up there.

I couldn’t believe how they crammed more than a million people in the ballroom.

We SOLD OUT on Saturday afternoon – We couldn’t believe it! Over 500 books! They even made a plush out of Tex the tarantula, – you may still be able to buy it here. Author’s note, Not Terry the tarantula who was slow roasted to death in a jar, but Tex, a character in Armadilly Chili.

They took very good care of us – too good!

On Sunday we drove down to visit illustrator Steve Gray in Hermosa Beach. He’s a great guy and a decorated illustrator – he won the Grand Canyon Reader award last year for his Coyote book.

Steve uses one of those nifty Cintiq Tablets to render his illustrations. He used to do quite a bit of advertising illustration back in the day and his studio walls are decorated with many impressive and recognizable work.

Pick up a copy and enjoy his wacky drawing and wonderful color and Jennifer Ward’s great story.

You can’t go all the way to the beach without actually getting your feet wet right? I’m the short one on the right.

I guess we weren’t the only ones having a good weekend.

No this is not how we found Will’s wife’s car upon our return, they are still happily married. We saw this car outside of “The Mad Greek” Near Vegas, where we stopped for one last overdose of gluttony on our way home.

You can’t just fix a bad design with good color

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Wayne

If it don’t work in Black and White, it ain’t gonna work in color.

A good painting will also look good in Black and White. That is to say, if you can’t work out your value patterns in black and white, you won’t be able to just fix it with color. Have you ever heard of a grisaille, (that was a tough one to sound out, let alone spell) It’s a black and white under painting. I think the word gray, or grey, as I like to spell it, comes from the same root.

What is a Grisaille and how do you pronounce that?

Grisaille (/ɡ r ɨ ˈ z aɪ / or /ɡ r ɨ ˈ z eɪ l /; French: gris [ɡʁizaj] ‘grey’) (Giz-eye is how I pronounce it) is a term for painting executed entirely in monochrome or near-monochrome, usually in shades of grey. ~Wikipedia

Work out your lights and darks before you add color

So, where was I? Ho yeah, it is often wise, especially for beginners, to work out you lights and darks before you move to color. I like to give it the squint test. Squint at your work and see if it reads well. Do the wrong things disappear? Do the right things stand out?

The under painting can be in a sepia or other tone too, for a nice effect, it doesn’t have to be BLACK and White.

Light and Shadow

Where is your light source? Is it in the picture? If so, you shouldn’t have anything in the painting that is brighter than the light source.

Are the shadows, cast, core etc, in the right places? I am thinking that the cast shadow in this piece is not dark enough.

Do you have reflected light in the right places?

Just add Color, or Colour as my UK friends like to spell it.

If you are painting digitally, like in Photoshop or on the iPad, you will enjoy the ability to undo. If you are using water colors then you can just glaze transperant colors over you black and white under-painting. AKA Grisaille.

If you are using oil paints, you may want to try a water color, acrylic, or gwash, (i better look that up) Gouache. The oil paint goes right over the aqueous paints without disturbing them and it works really well. You should see how Robert Barrett uses gouache, for under-paintings to create a beautiful effect. He calls it a “Rub-out” technique.

Working with Color

I Used to Struggle as an Illustrator & I Still STRUGGLE with My Art

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Will Terry

If You only knew How Much I Used To Struggle!

In fact, I still STRUGGLE with my art.

To this day I still have a problem drawing in front of people. I have no problem painting in front of a group but I’m so unsure about my drawings I get really self conscious.

This fish for instance goes through a really rough loose stage that changes form many times before I start to see things I like. Often I don’t like where it’s going and have to start over from scratch – that would make a really fun demo wouldn’t it? (sarcasm intended)… and the fear of that happening is paralyzing – so I don’t often draw in front of my classes.

A lot of our artist friends that are realy good at what they do, don’t want to do a course for folioacademy because they are afraid of the camera, they don’t want the world to see them struggle.

Developing Your Art Skill Takes Time

I know I’ve talked about this before but I really want you to know two things:

1. This art thing that you want to get good at takes a long time – a lifetime really.

2. It’s really fun when you start to put all the pieces together and start creating images that gather an audience!

Assignment: Create a “Fish King Character”

King Fish line art I gave an assignment to create a “Fish King” character in my Imagination and Visual Literacy class at UVU and invited my students to send me images to post – some of them took me up on this invitation. I hope they realize that they draw better than I did when I was going to college. In fact, I was put on “probation” as a provisional student for being such a horrible artist. I was one of the few that didn’t get a studio space my junior year and I was on probation, I had to improve or I wouldn’t be in “the Program” my senior year. So I spent my Junior year being a lesser student. Yes that was stressful and depressing. And scary, to spend three years in University just to be told that “I can’t be an artist”.

Here are some preliminary sketches.

Oh yeah – it was my son Aaron’s idea to put fish hooks in his lips – credit where credit’s due!

Evolution of a Fish King.

King Fish line art c

Here’s What My Students are Drawing

King Fish line art d

I love the diversity you can see in their work. By nature artists want to be different. Artists want to show the world something they’ve never seen. Check out Dallin Orr’s and Todd wilson’s work.

I don’t mind admitting it, some of my students are a lot better artists than I was at their stage in the game.

Here are a few warm up sketches I did.

King Fish line art b

Can An Artist Survive Without a Rep?

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Wayne

Will Terry is an Illustrator without a Rep, Still.

Today is March 3, and I, Wayne Andreason, would just like to start by saying, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mark Andreason and Kory Kennington. I’m Mark’s favorite brother and Kory’s best friend. And happy birhtday anyone else out there who happens to have a March 3 birthday.

Artist, Will Terry has been repless since january 2010

Q&A:

Q- so Mr. Will Terry, you don’t have a rep, do you starve?

A- Well Mr. Wayne Andreason, No, I do not starve, in fact if I ever suffered from anorexia, I certainly one that battle. In case you haven’t noticed, I am a big guy.

Q- So how do you make money if you don’t have an agent finding you work?

A- I’m still a free agent and in a position to negotiate my own contracts with my clients. I used to have a rep and It was a good ride with Shannon Associates but due to creative differences we have now parted ways. It was great to work with that company and we did many wonderful projects together.

Q- How long have you been on your own?

Four years ago I declared my independence, severed the umbilical cord and moved on. I was on my own and chose to embrace the freedom it afforded me.

Funny how, in the beginning, I SO wanted a rep to get me work and keep me fed, and it didn’t come easy. I had to prove myself before they would even look at me. It was like, you can’t get an agent until you don’t need an agent. I was glad to be a part of the team and it was good for me too. Have Paints Will Terry

Q- What’s that supposed to mean?

A- You’re the one that came up with it. And it’s kind of stupid by the way. It’s supposed to be like my artist’s credo, (like a mercenaries creed) It’s supposed to sound like, Have guns will travel. Well any way, the thing is, If you, or any one you know, has a project that you think might be a good match for me please call or email me direct – 801-368-7568. And yes, my refrigerator is running.

Q- So have you been busy?

A- Yes, off and on. More off than it seems. When I am not working on something for a client, I try to keep myself busy with a self imposed project of some type. To better my skill or to create an app or work with on Folio Academy, or an e-book. I also teach adjunct at UVU.

Q- What about the (above) picture of the boy and the fire?

A- Thank you for asking, Since I am reminiscing, I wanted you to post this self imposed assignment, of the boy and the campfire. It is one I did while getting on my “free agent” feet and trying to get a handle on Photoshop.

Q- Do you like how it turned out.

A- You forgot your question mark.

Q- Whoops, I do that a lot, Do you like how it turned out?

A- Yes, I was busy at night working on this painting trying to gain more control with Photoshop and was happy with the results. I was experimenting with the texture but I think that most of the painting worked out. If you have my book The Frog with the Big Mouth you might recognize the little froggy in the lower right. I was always jealous of digital artists for the ability to rip themselves off – you know, copy and paste, now I get to do it! And I do do it, all the time. Tee hee.

Q-So the campfire boy was a “self imposed” assignment?

A- Yeah, This piece was a “just for fun” painting. I still draw and paint, “just for fun” but back then I had to in order to get ready to send out digital art examples to my clients. (note to reader: So if you’re a client or a would be client, I’d love to chat.) I love the ability it gives me to work on details and erase unwanted paint and the control over color and value are undeniable. My personal email is will at willterry dot com (it’s in code to confuse the bots).

Q- So that was Will Terry, has paints, Will terry?

A- Yes.

How to Make an App: Step 10: Make Another App

Posted on February 28, 2014 by Will Terry

Nice Reviews on Our Story App & a Sneak Peek at “Gary’s Worms”

We are so excited to talk about the reviews Gary’s Place is getting as well as talk about the sequel to Gary’s Place. Gary’s Got Worms.

Gary’s got worms?

Starting my next app, Gary’s got Worms. It’s not what you think, In this next App, Gary has worms, but not the itchy bum type, the night crawler type. Either way, worms can be a pain, in the end.

Gary’s Place gets a 4.5 and a 5 star rating!

We have the new updates now that we’ve fixed the ending of Gary’s place and we submitted it to Digital Story Time and The iMums. Two of the top review sites for children’s story apps. Digital Story Time gave us 4.5 stars and The iMums gave us 5 stars! YAY! I couldn’t believe it! I had to start looking at the competition on those sites and found that many of the other apps in the 4-5 star range are being produced by big publishers like Harper Collins and Disney. It felt really good to be able to start and finish this project with Rick Walton and my son Aaron and a little help from Tabitha Thompson’s wonderful voice acting – and to be able to compete!

WHY IS HE HELLBENT ON MAKING APPS? IS HE CRAZY?

Since we’re finally rolling I’ll share our sales stats from Google Play, Amazon, and iTunes, but not yet, stay tuned. I will in future posts. I don’t expect to sell thousands of these, and certainly not overnight. I don’t think digital publishing works that way for the

most part. I’ve got my eye on the long term goal of steadily building a brand. Some of my peers ask me why I seem to be so hellbent on making apps. Why work on a project like this without any guarantee of success? Why not spend

more time in traditional publishing markets? Or watch more TV? Why risk it? Do you hate traditional publishing? ARE YOU CRAZY?

I love these questions – keep em coming!

No I don’t hate traditional publishing – I illustrated 3 books last year and loved each one of them. I look forward to illustrating more in the future. I’m having the time of my life working in a medium that is expanding my knowledge and skill sets. I’m enjoying the collaborations I’m making with famous children’s book author Rick Walton, and my son Aaron – who, by the way, is very creative and is actually a major contributor on interactive, animation, and content ideas. I count myself extremely lucky to be able to afford the time to work on these. But probably the biggest reason is that in order to succeed in anything artistic there needs to be risk. I’ve learned to embrace it. This doesn’t mean that I don’t hear nasty things from the voices. There always there but I’ve learned how to cage them quicker and keep them locked away longer.Many are afraid of digital publishing. Some are wishing it away. Some are ignoring it. I would just like to point out that it took nearly 50 years for the automobile to become mainstream. The early contraptions were noisy, expensive, unreliable, and inefficient. People made fun of the early adopters. Many were hoping they would fail so everything would go back to normal. I can’t predict the future but I doubt we will move away from digitally delivered and enhanced storybooks for children. This means that I won’t have to worry about my creations going out of print.

Build a Quality Brand

My plan is to steadily and slowly build a quality brand. Each new app will advertise the previous story apps and each previous app will be updated to advertise the newest story app. I guess that might be step 11 or step 12 but who’s keeping track? They “say slow and steady wins the race” – unless it’s a sprint – we’ll see. I keep hearing about artists who make an app and never make another one because they didn’t sell enough to justify the effort. I also hear about those who make one app and it’s their “Driving Miss Daisy” and they are suddenly rich, and famous and they are millionaires, but that is fluke-ish and it’s probably those guys that make the rest of us want to give up when we don’t hit a home run with our first try. I think this is a mistake if they can afford to continue. Think about some of the most famous picture book brands out there – like the Olivia stories…or the Skippyjon Jones books. They weren’t created in a year or even two – it took a LONG time. It took RISK from their publishers. So Give a Hoot, Take a Risk, and another, and another, and slowly and steadily win the race, it’s not a sprint.

Story Apps Need (good) Ratings TOO

If you’ve bought a copy of Gary’s Place I’d love to hear what you think! Also if you wouldn’t mind giving us a rating in the app store – that will help – good or bad – Preferably good. My mom used to say, you must be able to think of something good to say about anyone, or any app.

If you haven’t bought a copy, feel free to buy it, we don’t mind.

thank you

If you want to go back and see all the steps, start with step one and link from there. How to make an app-step 1.

The Folio boys road trip to Las Vegas

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Wayne

Las Vegas trip

It’s never a good idea to send Will and me to Las Vegas. We went once before and it’s the reason I’m listed in the Guiness book of world records under human appendage modifications. LOL.

We walked around.

The California Teachers Association chose one of Will’s books – Armadilly Chili for their Read Across America book for 2010 and 2011. What an incredible honor! They brought him out there two or three more times that and the following year to speak and to sign his book at their conferences. It’s was so fun to hang out with their committee members in Vegas. And eat.

We learned that the famous Faberge egg company had just gone out of business a few weeks earlier (still don’t know if this is true but the dealer made sure we knew that there is now a supply and demand issue) It would have been a good idea for us to have been rich before this trip. Either way, we came home broke so…

I must not have wanted my picture taken. Or I was just in a stupor of thought, or lack of thought. Or maybe I was trying to “act natural”.

FREE WEBINAR! 10 Step Digital Painting

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Will Terry

FREE STEP BY STEP Digital Painting Webinar

March 1, 2014 7:PM MST (mt. standard time)

You know that feeling you got when you were 5 and you got to run downstairs on Christmas morning to open presents? Not to diss on past memories but WOW – I have that feeling again! I’m so excited to be able to create a lesson and share it with people all over the world! Our last webanar “How To Draw Everything” by Jake Parker gathered 879 people from countries on just about every continent – I even saw someone named “Penguin7493″ so… (Okay, maybe that wasn’t his, or her, real name… but then again, maybe it was)

How to, Step by step, Digital Painting Process FREE!

My ten step, how to paint, digital painting course webinar is absolutely free. And the video we make of the webinar is not free, but you can get a $10 discount if you act smart, I mean fast. Anyway, we have another webinar coming up on March 1st at 7:00PM MST and this time it’s my turn to share my digital painting process. I’ve broken it down into 10 steps. You know that old saying? The one that I’m about to butcher – “eating an elephant is hard unless you eat him one step or spoonful at a time…” or whatever but you get the point. If you learn to do something methodically it can not only make the task seem easier but also give you results you can replicate, and really, that’s what’s important right?

You can also purchase the video with added perks.

For those who decide to purchase the video recording of the webinar we’ve decided to throw in some extras this time (we’re learning). You’ll get 3 things: A PDF study guide with a verbal description of each of the 10 steps. A bonus video explaining in detail how to set up Photoshop to use the texture settings in the brush pallet and my FULL Photoshop painting with over 30 layers from sketch to finishing touches. This is a high res file over 300 mb – my working file so you can deconstruct the Dragon Rider and see what she’s really made of. Don’t be dissapointed if you don’t find any bones or entrails. Use it as your own working file to replicate my layers if you want to. This is a great way to actually see how someone paints in Photoshop.

I realize that many people will think I’m crazy for letting my artwork get out there to be used by anyone for any purpose. I think most artists get a little too attached to their work and subsequent self importance. In the end it was 25 hours having a blast doing exactly what I wanted. If someone makes T-shirts out of it in some other country good luck – send me a picture of all the cash – that’ll put a smile on my face! And send me a T-shirt while your at it. I take a size “pretty freaking big”.

Pre-Order the Video & save $10 – The Webinar is FREE

It is absolutely FREE to attend the webinar, but if you would like to pre-order the video, PDF, Bonus Video, and Dragon Rider Photoshop file, you’ll get a $10 discount using coupon code “10step10” – but this will expire the end of the day of March 1 – check out the details in our store.

So you need to get registered for this event in order to be sent your individual joining link from GoToWebanar – simply click here and follow the instructions! See you soon!