From time to time I make my way over to Dresden Codak to look at the beautiful artwork that goes into that particular comic. I am reading the comic from the beginning so it’s taking me some time to catch up to its current storyline (mainly because I keep getting sidetracked admiring the artwork and the skill that goes into it). But today was, I think, the first time I had stumbled into Aaron Diaz’s art blog full of wonderful artistic treasures. The following excerpt is from one of Aaron’s posts entitled, Draftsmanship: Increasing Your Visual Vocabulary.

Few would argue that there’s no benefit in increasing your verbal vocabulary.  Having a larger set of words from which to choose not only allows you to articulate your thoughts more clearly to an audience, it presents a more sophisticated mental framework for the genesis of your own ideas.  There’s a greater pool of resources at your disposal.  Even if you don’t directly use all the words you’re able, having them there, capable of flowing naturally, multiplies your capacity for expression.

The same is true for drawing skills, especially when it comes to cartooning.

To read the rest of the blog post ( and I highly recommend that you do) go on over to Dresden Codak and click on the art blog at the top of the page or just click here to go straight to the blog post.

Welcome to a new chapter for me and Robot Friday. This week I began drawing and posting comic strips again after a summer long, and successful, journey into my sketchbook. What happened in the sketchbook was a lot of fun and a lot of learning. I expanded my skills as a cartoonist and a graphic designer but the most importantly I expanded my self confidence ten fold. I feel that I can draw more things and draw better now which leads me to being a faster artist and more productive (which I love).

For the foreseeable future the comic strip will post M-W-F and on the days in between (except for weekends, I take those off) I will post a new blog post. Some of the posts will be original articles by myself or guest authors. Some (probably most) will be excerpts from blogs that I find around the internet of interest or direct correlation to what is going on in comics or graphic design today.

So thanks as always for supporting me, the comic and the website. Follow me on Twitter or visit the links to the right for more cool stuff and keep reading the blog, there is a lot to see here

As an illustrator and graphic designer I am always picking other artist’s brains or reading any blog, magazine or book to keep my edge sharp as technology and styles change. Today’s blog link is an excellent article written by Matt Ward of Echo Enduring Media that sums up everything that it takes to keep an edge and be successful in not only graphic design and illustration but in life in general.

I love being a part of the design community, and am incredibly grateful for all the wonderful things I’ve learned. But, the cold, hard and entirely unavoidable truth is that, if you want to become a better designer, there is only one way that you are really going to get there, and it can all be summed up in one simple word:

To find out what that word is head over to the Echo Enduring blog and sharpen that edge.

Over the weekend I set up a Facebook Fan Page for everyone to get to know each other and start building a nice little community. It’s linked to the right (click on Gary’s head) so head on over and LIKE away. I plan on posting exclusive artwork and fan photos on the Fan Page as well as other cool stuff as time goes on. So, sign up and spread the word to your other friends as well

Freelancing is a hard gig. I’m sure any kind of freelancing is a tough nut to crack while trying to earn a living at it, but I know for a fact that being a professional freelance graphic designer really can suck at times. But the freedom you can have being (sort of) your own boss and doing the work you want to do can be very rewarding and override the bad times. But making that plunge from college student or full-time in house graphic designer can be daunting and almost impossible if you don’t arm yourself with a little bit of knowledge first.

In the article 40 Tips For Brand-New Freelance Designers, Nicole Foster serves up some fantastic tips that you really need to know when thinking about or making that jump into the freelancing waters of graphic design. Follow the link after the excerpt below to read the entire article.

The switch to becoming a freelance designer is difficult because you have to learn how to handle yourself and your client. When I started out, I was completely clueless and I would often accept too many projects or bad clients. As I dealt with more clients and learned from other freelancers, I began to grow as a person and started to realize my mistakes.

To read the entire article head over to Graphic Design Blender.