TODAY'S FEATURED POST

Convention Observations

Sarah Finnigan

We’re well into convention season, when many artists get out of their studios to show their work and meet art fans.  When conventions are working for you, the right couple of events can make it financially feasible to pursue the art you want to create, instead of art that you must hustle to complete. Many artists have dipped their toes into their first few conventions. Because success is found through experimentation, the biggest hurdle may…

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EVERYDAY ORIGINAL

Iron Dragon

YESTERDAY’S POST

Image

Research Images Like a Pro

Lauren Panepinto

June 12, 2025 - I just did a spurt of portfolio reviews (it's fresh graduates season!) and a topic seemed to come up more than a few times, and that usually means it's worth a Muddy Colors article. So here we go. I don't want to make this sound like a "the kids don't know X" or "back when I was in school we knew how to Y" kind of thing, but I think some old(er) school knowledge might help a growing problem. A growing problem of using search engines for image research. Since I've been reviewing portfolios and commissioning illustrators (for 20ish years now) I have occasionally had to have a conversation with artists about their image research. Sometimes amusingly referred to as "Google-Fu". The most glaring issue was most often reminding an artist — usually one fresh…

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