A 2nd Day of Christmas gift from Jon

[Jon123Jon]

Free gift! Sort of an oxymoron, but still. Updated my 2012 book, Drawing For Money, and it is free, no catches, no fine print, at Jon404.com. Realized two months ago that there were a LOT more ways for artists to make very good income than 13 years ago, not counting Donald and Melania's failed attempts to cash in on NFTs. So I've revised Drawing For Money. Still free at Jon404.com, reformatted in instant-load HTML instead of a PDF. If you know any struggling artists, let them know. They can do much, much better than Indeed.com's $20/hr average salary for 'Artist' in the USA. So now, truly retired at 79, I can take on the fate of starving artists as a mission. Tell anyone you know who likes art, likes to draw or paint, about my book. It will change their life. Guaranteed, with a shoutout for Xara in the Alternative Software chapter.
A note -- recently, I reached out here for help about my Designer Pro+ subscription. And received immediate excellent assistance from Matt at Xara. In a disconnected world, I wish all companies had customer help like this!
And Merry Christmas to all, from Jon Donahue in Tombstone, Arizona.

[gwpriester]

Sounds great and generous.

[Boy]

Free gift! Sort of an oxymoron, but still.

I'd say, it's a tautology rather than an oxymoron but since the gift is free, it's appreciated! ;-)

Haven't seen you here for a while. Wishing you a happy New Year!

[handrawn]

oxymoron is something that is contradictory, or else not logically possible, like 'sweetly sour' or ' partly unique', respectively

if anything free gift is complimentary, although not every gift is free and sometimes, what is free is hardly a gift...

I speed-read your HTML jon, ignoring links and many of the images which were blurred on my screen... seems you have been around

[Jon123Jon]

Aha! My free gift is a complimentary tautology, elegant! Thanks for your comments. The book inages look OK on an iPad and Microsoft laptop... will check them on a larger desktop next. New Year's is coming, and here in the States I'm hearing over and over from 20-somethings that they have no future, what with inflation, student loans, high car prices, etc. Those who are artists often have no idea where the money is, let alone how to get it. Which is why I wrote Drawing For Money. After 20+ years of using Xara products, I can absolutely tell any freelance artist to use inexpensive P&GD, full stop. Time is money, and Xara delivers. But in the corporate world, you have to know Adobe artwork software. And Microsoft programs... Word and PowerPoint. Way it is, clunky as they are. Anyway, over time here, keep the suggestions coming. Your advice is greatly appreciated!

[handrawn]

for the record: 32in monitor Dell U3223QE, resolution 3840 x 2160, windows scaling 200%

there are some things xara just won't do - for example brushwork with a wacom tablet that equates to inking with a sable brush

now you can create this effect in xara, but that is going to be a complete waste of time: minutes spent instead of seconds, sometimes a whole load of minutes to get it looking right; and if you have a lot of line art to do it mounts up quickly - ideally the artbrush in xara would do this but the freehand tool over compensates way too much when smoothing is active, even on low settings, and feels like a snooker cue held at the wrong end when smoothing set at 0 - so again you end up putting right what should have worked first time

I gave up doing line art in xara years ago, and use a manga drawing program for this: Clip Studio is a fully featured example, but I prefer PaintTool SAI - version 2, it draws line art, it adds comprehensive colouration, it does nothing else - not even a print function, you have to export and print externally; I am all for simplicity...

[Jon123Jon]

Hand -- yes, your monitor is at a much higher resolution than my iPad. Paradise in pixels! That accounts for the blurry book images... will see if I can fix their size in the HTML.
I think we are coming at Xara and art from different perspectives. You from fine art, me from graphic art? In my commercial world, art is pretty simple. No sable brushes. And Xara scores big because it seamlessly combines vector and raster. Ad, brochure, and annual report images are simple. Pix for websites. We are selling our clients' products, not our own graphics talent. Sure, there are features we would like Xara to have. But they are unimportant because everything you need to make good money is already there. And then the focus shifts to, well, how do I get the money? Which again is different for both the fine art and commercial worlds. If you have time, go back and read my chapters '5 in gold' and 'Fine art world'. Would love to hear your thoughts ... if you can take a break from painting an undiscovered Vermeer with that sable brush!

[handrawn]

I am closer to watterson than vermeer

I am not convinced that selling a product throiugh art is that different from teliing a story or making a joke/point - either way the art is a way of delivering something in an attention getting way, be it for financial gain or not

I am, up to a point, quaiified to comment on xara having used it on and off for 20 years; I am not really qualified to comment on your book it was never my world, but I wish you well

EDIT - guess I should make clear that is bill watterson, just in case anyone thinks otherwise; if I could use a brush like he did I would be a very happy man....

[Jon123Jon]

Watterson! Hand, here's a story for you --
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...on-book-review

And I like your note on art as a story, commercial or not. Even the white on white paintings by Kasimir Malevich, Russian Suprematist in Paris after WWI. Which he said symbolized icons of the Virgin of Kazan, found above the inside doorways of Russian homes. Story!

Also I appreciate your British reserve and modesty, claiming that you are not qualified to review my book. Of course you are, and if you were here in Tombstone you would feel perfectly free to say "Jon, it's a dog's breakfast" or "God, that's the most insightful book I've read since the Xara user manual." At 79, I'm worried that here in the States we have so many younger people charging up so much debt to learn so little actual skills. Near zero ROI on their huge bills for college tuition, housing, food, etc. University is a cruel racket, for artists anyway. I hope Drawing For Money helps a lot of graphic designers find good careers and stay financially solvent. And Happy 6th Day of Christmas!

[handrawn]

thanks for the link

I do not know about the US University/College situation, but over here the funding model is broken - my other half works in Uni, I get chapter and verse. but it is very political and this is not the place...

happy 2024