“Magmar has a flaming butt on his head with a silly duck bill mouth. Spines cover his back and his tail ends in a little fire. His arms are covered in scales and his fingers end in long claws. He stands on his big hind legs, which are encircled with black metal bands, as well as his neck. A fire pattern covers his belly.”
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All work © Laura Bifano 2012
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Inspired by a story told by Astronaut Dave Wolf about free-floating in space.
A bit silly maybe, but I found his story really touching.
This is now available as a 12x 16 inch print over at my store in case anyone is interested!
Student Questions!
Sometimes, for God knows what reason, I’ll get emails from students asking about my life as an artist/illustrator. Here’s a little Q&A I did up for a prospective ACAD student.
1.How has life treated you after you graduated? Are you currently making a living in art?
I graduated in 2008 with no job prospects and no business sense. It was tough at first. When I was in school I was naive enough to think that making a living as an illustrator would be as easy as sitting down in front of the computer and waiting for jobs to roll in. I graduated with about 15 dollars in my bank account, so I had to make ends meet working as a kids day camp counselor at a science center. After a while I had put enough of a portfolio together to get a job doing concept sketches for a company that made props and museum displays. From there I worked at a small studio doing storyboards and concept art for a kids show on APTN. Working full time at a studio was great security, but I wasn’t creatively fullfilled so I decided to start freelancing. Almost right out of the gate I was lucky enough to get a couple illustration jobs with Parks Canada and it’s been pretty steady ever since.
Over the past two years I’ve been alternating between contracting out to studios, putting together gallery shows, and freelancing. I find that there are payoffs and tradeoffs for all three: With studio work you’re often trading off your artistic freedom for security and a steady paycheck, With Gallery shows you’ve got full artistic freedom but aren’t necessarily guaranteed any kind of paycheck, and with freelance work you’re often uncertain of where and when your next job is going to come from.
There have definitely been some famine periods, but I live a pretty simple life so thankfully money has never been much an issue. Which is important when you’re trying to create! It’s really difficult to make a painting when you’re stressed the heck out over paying bills.
2.How have most of your former classmates faired in their careers?
Quite a few are doing well. I’d say that 70% of grads from my year are working in their field in some capacity. A lot of illustrators have gone on to have design careers, some are working in animation and video games, and a few are having a go at freelance. You’ll probably need a day job for the first few years after you graduate, just remember there’s no shame in that. One dude I know is still working at an art supply store nearly five years after graduation, but he’s still making kick-ass work in his free time. Better to work a job in a non-creative field and make rad work in your spare time than have all the creative juice sucked out of you in a studio working on someone else’s vision.
2.What did you like most about your ACAD experience? Likewise, what did you like the least about it?
I liked the no-holds barred approach to critiquing your work. In first and second year the instructors do their best to break your bad habits and take your pride out of the equation. There were a few instructors in who I really, really respected both for their technical abilities as illustrators and their wisdom as instructors.
That being said, I do wish that they had instructed us more in accounting, book keeping, and promoting!
4. Any piece of advice on how to succeed afterwards?
Just make the work that you want to make and put it on the internet. And get/make some kind of list of art directors you’d like to work for and promote to them. At minimum every four months. When you graduate, no matter what your portfolio looks like, just promote your work like hell. So many people fall into the trap of polishing student work for months on end and never wind up sending anything out. 99% of the work in your student porfolio will be garbage, so keep making work after you graduate and in six months you’ll have a new portfolio. Gallery shows are a great excuse to make new stuff, so take any chance you can get to participate in group or solo shows.
Best!
-Laura
xplodingpenguin asked you:
“…my girlfriend would love to see lapras. its basically a short squat plesiosaur with a spiky turtle shell on its back. has curly ears. thank you. love all the sketches, and cant wait to see more.”
Laura Bifano’s beautiful tribute to Joust is breathtaking!
Hey guys! This “Clash” piece is going to be in the “Old School Video Games” show (Level 2) at Gallery 1988 Venice. The show opens on Friday Oct 26th. Check it out if you’re in the LA area, there’s some amazing talent lined up. There’s some other previews of the show on their Blog.
(Source: gallery1988com)
sonoranmoose asked you:
“Pokemon Suggestion: Hitmonlee, a vaguely humanoid pokemon with no head. Its only facial features are two angry eyes in its chest. It has two arms with 3 fingered hands. Its legs are banded and the feet have 3 claws.”
Whoops! I totally dropped the ball on this one. Just skimmed the description and went from there.
damiansommer asked you:
“Hey Laura, I love your illustrations! Do you think you could draw a Vaporeon? It has a body sort of like a dog, except for it’s mermaid-like tail. Its also has a short face, big black eyes and a raised spine. It’s head has three fins on it, and around its collar is what I guess would best be described as a frill? Thanks!”
starberryswirls asked you:
“Meowth! It’s a cat-like Pokemon with a golden oval charm on it’s forehead, dark ears, a curled tail, large back feet, no nose, 3 thick cat-fish-like whiskers on either side of its face and a wide smiling mouth!”
Hey guys!
So next Tuesday 1xRun will be releasing a limited-edition run of my illustration “Morsel,”
This is a run of just 30 prints and will only be available online from Oct 23rd to the 30th.
The prints are 20 x 17 Inches printed with Archival Pigment on 330gsm Fine Art Paper, and each is hand-signed and embellished with gouache by me. You guys, these prints are of amazing quality and look beautiful in person.
Here’s a link: http://1xrun.com/runs/Morsel
If you scroll down there’s a little interview and a ton of process shots of the work-in progress.
Spread the word if you can!
