This AMA is now closed, thanks so much for attending everyone, I hope you found it a positive experience! Sorry I couldn't answer everyone (I TRIED!), you guys are awesome. Much love - Jazza

My short bio: I've been creating cartoons for the internet since I was 12 years old, when I graduated high school at 17 I just kept making cartoons and games in flash and paid my way through sponsorship and advertisement revenue. My early flash games were some of the first to be monetized and saw the scene boom then die when the iOS app store took hold of the market.

I started my YouTube channel Draw With Jazza in the hopes that it might grow into a way to help pay my bills, since the flash game scene was falling fast and it was, at the time, the only way I knew how to pay my bills. I used it as a way to teach my self-taught digital art techniques, and the channel grew into a 600k+ sub community with monthly art competitions, meet-ups around the world, and loads of artistic entertainment and educational content.

I'm currently finishing up my first How-to-Draw book for print-publishing in the USA (and international distribution), my channel is officially sponsored by Adobe, and I work with some of the (IMHO) best art brands in the world for my art competitions and content. I'm also finishing a 10 minute animated short which was funded by Screen Australia and Google entitled "The Tale Teller" (to be released in mid July this year).

I'm also a dad to a now 13 month old boy (dubbed 'mini-Jazza' to the internet), married happily, and working on even bigger exciting projects I can't yet talk about!

My channel: https://www.youtube.com/drawwithjazza

My Vlog: https://www.youtube.com/dailyjazza

My 'Draw my Life' (to share a little more about myself): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFWw2sXDc7M

My Website: http://jazzastudios.com/

My Proof: https://youtu.be/CMfq0x4KAGk

Comments: 600 • Responses: 77  • Date: 

SorgonBubb18 karma

How do I stop looking at my art and thinking it's awful? I can't help thinking everything I draw turns out crap and it sucks when it's nowhere near the original vision I had in mind. It's hard to keep motivation because of it.

jazzastudios21 karma

Don't hold yourself accountable to being as good as other artists or what you think you 'should' be, just expect to enjoy the process of being creative! This may be difficult at first if you've become used to self-judgement, but try turning art into your game rather than your test. As for making your drawing look like your 'vision' honestly, I NEVER have a finished picture in my head when I start drawing. I always feel my way through it. That way the finished result is always a surprise and sometimes, a very pleasant one. Rather then having a 'vision' (and the self-pressure that comes with it), try giving yourself a direction and a hope that you'll enjoy going in that direction, eager to see what comes out in the end!

Spamakin11 karma

What is your favorite thing to draw? (People, mecha, cars, buildings, clothes, etc etc)

jazzastudios7 karma

People - I love making cartoon and comic style characters, preferably inventing my own.

Baltony10 karma

What's the most difficult thing to draw? PS: I love you

jazzastudios7 karma

For me, environments. Not because I CAN'T, but because I find them boring. This is bad I know, because they can be incredible, but drawing them doesn't captivate me at all and I find I'm not very inventive or ambitious with them.

TheEmperorZurg10 karma

What software do you recommend to use for someone who wants to one day make cartoons like Rick & Morty, and for someone who wants to animate 3D movies like any Pixar movie? (The someone is me lol)

jazzastudios9 karma

Funny thing is, that 'one day' may involve completely different software to what I'd recommend. Rather than software, I'd recommend becoming the best artist you can be, and learn 3-5 pieces of software casually as you do. This will enable you to adapt to new programs and feel your way through common tool approaches, while being a very capable digital artist. That being said, the places to start for 2D would be either Adobe Animate CC (for a more independant approach), Toon Boom (for a more 'studio' flow, meaning, learning each individual part can take a while but specialization in any one part is more comprehensive), and for 3D you can play with blender or sketch-up, but if you're serious, play with maya.

Code_Fire9 karma

Jazza! Im 16 years old (soon to be 17) and I want to pursue a career in concept design or making a webcomic, I like art in general, mostly the creative part, but I have some problems:

-Im from Argentina, and while it's cheaper to live here than in say US, it's also harder to live from art.

-Started learning art 3 months ago.

-Im probably gonna be forced to go to university to study system engineering once I finish highschool (this year)

So my questions are, how should I go about it? How can I start to grow an audience, maybe take free requests, and start developing my skills so I can hopefully some day make a living out of it?

Thanks in advance.

jazzastudios5 karma

Great questions! First off, thanks for your support. To your first question, fortunately art is now international. You don't have to make pictures and sell them to people on your street, you can take commissions internationally, monetize through advertising and get paid in different currencies which convert better into your own (IE i get paid in USD which converts to AUD and gives me 30% extra in general), and reach a global audience. I understand there are disadvantages to different careers in different parts of the world, but art is one that can take many forms and you can tackle it in many ways, see what is working, and focus a little harder there until you hit a sweet spot. For your second question, congrats on starting your journey! As my YouTube friend Will Terrell sais, it takes a lawyer or doctor 10 years to become a professional, you need to allow the same for becoming an artist. I started when I was 12, and paid my mortgage by the time I was 22, so it was true for me. If you're 16, that's great! You're in nice and early, but you could expect that it may be only when you're 26 or so that you can pay your bills with just your art. In the mean time, if you want to pay your bills with another career path, that's cool too, but if you REALLY wan't to be an artist for a LIVING, never stop 'studying' and working. It WILL take a long time, as it's a difficult path to carve, but it's definitely doable and in my experience, well worth the work :)

X-kid3027 karma

Did you ever feel like you were "stuck"? Like you were never going to get better and how did you overcome it?

jazzastudios8 karma

Absolutely! I feel like that 80% of the time, I'm used to it, but I'm also used to working against it. I guess what I mean is, as artists we tend to constantly look at and admire the work of those above/around us, and it makes us feel perpetually untalented in comparison. I use this as motivation to keep climbing even though it doesn't feel like I'm moving, because I know if I just keep doing that, I'll be able to look back in a year or two and see clear improvement. Progress is just so slow and steady, you need to remove expectations of being able to see rapid changes in skills, and commit to the long haul.

officialbliptv6 karma

what could you recommend a struggling guy learning to improve his drawing/animating using a intous small? after more than a year i still struggle with the eye hand coordination drawing on a tablet (re-doing a single line a lot of times, 5 to 10 minutes easily), is it just a case of " just keep on practising"? any tips? and taking this chance to say your videos are really awesome and informative, shared it with co-creator friends, and they love it as well!

jazzastudios8 karma

For the most part is (as annoying as it is to hear) a case of 'just keep practising', also keep in mind re-doing lines is a very normal part of digital art. I sometimes draw a line 10-20 times before the right one sticks. That being said, the 'pad' tablet experience IS less organic than a cintiq, but not incapable of professional results, so don't give up! Try and relax a bit and make as MUCH content as possible rather than slowing down in the search for the perfect line. Your lines will improve by and large all at once as you become more and more comfortable with your workflow.

Happyguy975 karma

Biggest mistakes you did in early stage of your YouTube channel ?

jazzastudios5 karma

I can't think of many TBH... Probably starting BAFA (https://www.youtube.com/user/ByArtistsForArtists), it wasn't the right time and I built peoples expectations of what I would do for them, without anticipating the cost it would have on my time and finances.

kgbm4 karma

Any advice on how to stop being precious with my sketchbooks and let myself be "messy"?

Also, I just wanted to say that I found your channel a little over a year ago and you inspired me to get back into art and I'll be starting a two year game arts course in September covering everuthing from character design to world building, 2D animation and 3D modeling, and so much new stuff - I'm so excited for it and I probably wouldn't be where I am now without your content :D

jazzastudios4 karma

That's amazing to hear! Good luck with your course and thank you for watching my content! As for your question draw a couple of intentionally 'messy' pages right in the middle. That'll let you feel like you can save your better work at the start of the book for when you're more confident, while loosening you up and unlocking you hand ;)

Sprik4 karma

Do you feel you will every reach a point that you are satisfied with your art, and settle where you are?

jazzastudios7 karma

Nope. That's the curse of being an artist, other people's are is just TOO AWESOME to not want to emulate and strive towards. Also, complacency is boring.

jazzastudios5 karma

This is gold, lol

KamiKazilik4 karma

Now, in your draw my life video you claim you were once fat and smelly, and now your vlog shows you actively working out.. So my question is, what're you gonna do about the smell?

jazzastudios6 karma

Bathe in the blood of my enemies. You do not want to be my enemy.

nicktherat3 karma

what is your favorite alcohol and have you ever smoked wacky tabacky?! Yeah, the important things...

jazzastudios13 karma

Hmmm.. I used to LOVE scotch, but ever since a night out drinking with 'Aunty Donna' (an awesome YouTube comedy group I highly recommend checking out) which ended up with Broden and I spewing in the bushes, it doesn't quite taste the same hahaha! At the moment I LOVE me some red wine, Cab Sav, but I'm sure scotch will grow on me again. At least I hope it does, because I have a strange obsession with decanters and tumblers. As for the second question - I have had 6 whole marijuanas

ShotByPotato3 karma

What is your advice on a drawing tablet for a college student with a tight budget?

For about 200 dollars the intuos M and the intuos pro S seem like the best options available.

PS: Side question, would you do a vid about pros and cons of alternatives to photoshop?

Edit: To expand the question a bit. I could get the larger intuos M which is probably better suited for a bigger screen. However I liked the pen of the intuos pro better (tried it with a friend's intuos pro m) but that one has a smaller active area and the medium version is a hundred euros more expensive. And I guess it could also be restricting when using a 27" monitor as I do now. Would love to hear your advice on this :)

jazzastudios6 karma

For a college student, honestly, I'd go for a second hand or cheap display tablet, or a second hand or cheap GREAT intuos. Brand new is fun, but really you want as much substance for your dollar as possible. You can find older display tablets on ebay second hand for between $100-$600, and though they may not be the prettiest things in the world or have the best specs, I think it still gets you the best bang for your buck.

margustoo3 karma

Do you watch any anime or read any manga? If so maybe you can recommend something?

jazzastudios3 karma

Not really, but I grew up in love with Dragon Ball Z, and I also loved Deathnote

SpuddedHighDoodle3 karma

Given the success of your channel, and how it truly seems that youve made an incredible impact on all of our lives: What's next? What does good ole Jazza have for long term career plans?

jazzastudios3 karma

Very kind of you to say and a little too flattering haha, thank you. For the future, I'm not 100%, I do know I want to make an animated TV show one day, I'd love to write some more how to draw books and maybe even just a wordey-word sort of book about the nature of digital media and being an artist in todays world. I a bit over ambitious so I'm hoping big things, but who knows!

mcheisenburglar2 karma

Any specific artists on YouTube you want to do collaborations with?

jazzastudios4 karma

I've never collaborated with Proko, I love his clean and very pretty art style.

Thorment_2 karma

Hey Jazza, I'm a huge fan, my question is other than TV or movie what other avenue in animation do you think is a viable career?

jazzastudios2 karma

Honestly, independent animation is the MOST viable, even more than TV and film! Distribution is no longer an issue, though with TV and film it is. The only prerequisite for you to reach people today, is that you MAKE something. Make something great and share it, then wash, rinse and repeat :)

chieflong2 karma

Jazza! I watch you every day while I eat breakfast and always get ideas for my art later in the day from doing so. What practice did you do as far as learning to draw different poses for the body from memory? I know it takes a lot of time in general but do you have some resources other than your own that you used? I love your content thank you for doing this!

jazzastudios3 karma

Thank you so much for watching my stuff! I'm flattered and grateful :) For learning to draw poses, especially when I was starting off, how-to-draw books were my bread and butter. Comic books helped too since they always have incredibly dynamic poses and angles, and give you great ideas and points of reference.

GimmeCat2 karma

I've been seriously studying to improve my art over the past 2 years, and often when I'm searching Youtube for helpful videos, yours pop up. Just want to say thanks for what you do. The way you explain things and the presentation is always extremely clear and easy to follow, and really enjoyable to watch. :)

This question relates to something I noticed when I stopped just 'doing' art, and started seriously studying fundamentals. Did you ever find yourself in a position where you no longer could just sit and fully finish/render a piece of work? I seem to have lost the ability to do this. I feel like, there's suddenly so much to learn, so much I still need to do and improve, that I can't go back to actually producing art yet. I don't feel ready anymore. In a way, by opening my eyes to just how little I knew, I feel more amateur and unprepared now than before I started studying!

How would you recommend I break out of this feeling? I'm not satisfied with my art anymore, because my knowledge and theory is too far ahead of my practice.

jazzastudios2 karma

Interesting question, and thank you for your kind words! I'm lucky I think in that doing the video content makes me 'need' to finish every piece I start, since I run on a precarious economy of time and need to produce the content. That means I've had to learn to just relax, and let my 'less impressive' pieces be as much a part of my content as my favourite ones. It forces me to finish and over time that helps me improve too. As far as imparting advice goes and how it's applied to my workflow, learning to detach from expectations is something that's been pivotal, it allows me to start art without hesitating or having anxiety that would probably make the art worse anyway. Try and zone out while you draw, listen to audio books and draw the adventures you listen to, when you study something specific, rather than putting pressure on yourself to learn to draw perfect 'eyes' for example, listen to your favourite music while looking at references and drawing a zillion eyes without putting pressure on yourself. I promise it'll be far more enjoyable and you'll learn faster too!

Stardatara2 karma

When did you first realize you wanted to do art for a living, and what was your second choice if that didn't work out?

jazzastudios3 karma

When I was 11, it was like my 'awakening'. Mostly due to not having any friends in school, so I'd spend my time drawing and in the library, but that was also when I realized how much I loved it, and how I could create ANYTHING I WANTED! It was so exciting! Inventing worlds and stories, creating ambitions and projects, it was an addiction that took hold pretty quickly.

superiain2 karma

I've been a follower since just before you reached 100k subs, and saw your first Twitch stream, it's amazing watching a Youtuber grow over the years!

A few questions,

Is there anything that you wish you knew about sooner when you first pursued your career in animation?

In your opinion, whats the best and worst things about working in the animation industry?

Whats the toughest challenge you've had to face as a freelance animator?

When Jazza Studios was launched, how did you receive funding for your first project? and how did you land your first client?

jazzastudios4 karma

OK I'mma tackle these one by one haha. Also thanks for sticking around!

Is there anything that you wish you knew about sooner when you first pursued your career in animation? I wish I knew to value myself early on. I charged too little for client work when I got it, and I let myself get walked over by a few people I collaborated with. I needed a little more self-respect I think.

In your opinion, whats the best and worst things about working in the animation industry? Best, the fact that the possibilities are literally endless and your imagination and work ethic are the only real limits. Worst, the expectation that because you do what you love, you should do it for free. I get emails every week from people inviting (or commanding) me to work on their 'TV cartoon series'. Two weeks ago one dude asked me to start working on 10 episoides of animation 22 minutes long each. I told him studios need budgets of $2 million plus to do that. He said he had $3,000.

Whats the toughest challenge you've had to face as a freelance animator? balancing my own projects with ones that paid the bills. I'm in the fortunate position now to be able to work on the projects I want to because of the audience I've gained, but early on I had a desperate want to make the stuff I wanted to, but needed to keep my bills paid, so often i had to put my wants aside and work on client jobs that had nothing to do with my career goals, such as drawing covers to self-published romance novels, art for apps that would inevitably never be released, and art for child's play-mats in formats I was unfamiliar with - but they paid me more than my own stuff, so I always did them.

When Jazza Studios was launched, how did you receive funding for your first project? and how did you land your first client? "Jazza Studios" launched when I was 14 haha. It was just a domain name I picked for myself to feel cool, but it wasn't a business until I was 17. At that stage, I had learned to ask websites for sponsorship for my animations and games.

TheNstar2 karma

How do you make animations more bouncy?

jazzastudios3 karma

Study the principles of animation and try and practice them as much as possible, particularly squash and stretch.

BlueFluffyDude2 karma

As a fan of yours I'm so interested in the way you go through character design and I've been wondering, would you ever want to write and illustrate a graphic novel/comic book with your original characters?

jazzastudios3 karma

A very small yes and a very BIG NO. lol. I love making my own content and stories, but working on graphic novels is something I know I'd get bored of way too quickly. That may sound rich coming from an animator since both are incredibly time consuming and monotonous, but I think animation changes 'mechanically' all the time, the way characters need to be rigged, scenes need to move and transitions happen, this keeps it more fresh for me and allows me to get immersed in the individual scenes rather than being dragged down by the grind of doing the same thing over and over.

jazzastudios2 karma

I'd love to in theory but I think in practice it'd be too-big-of a project to tackle in a medium I have little to no experience in

WatermelonSalad2 karma

What is advice you would give to someone who loves animating, and wants to do it a lot more, but also has more ambitious goals in other fields?

jazzastudios6 karma

Find your goldilocks, a sweet spot where you are most fulfilled and happy. If leaning too heavily in one direction makes you unhappy, is it worth doing? All things in balance :)

Sanoan2 karma

First of, big fan! Been a fan of your work since the early-mid 2000s on Newgrounds. When I saw you going to start a tutorial youtube channel, I sub to you right away. You help me become a better artist ever since and been improving on my digital art skills everyday because of you and your tutorials! Anyways for a question, is there ever a project you always wanted to do but couldn't because of reasons? Like something from the early days that you want to do but couldn't because of lack of abilities or something like that.

jazzastudios3 karma

I always love meeting someone who is from the Newgrounds days haha, thanks for sticking around! Lack of 'abilities' has never stopped me since, though I'm no master, I prefer to do something sub-par after trying rather than not try at all. Projects I "can't do" usually come down to scope and money. BAFA (https://www.youtube.com/user/ByArtistsForArtists) was a project I really wanted to see through to making a full fledged community, but I was too time poor and didn't have the resources to make what I really wanted to make out of it - a global artist community with conventions, and a website in which people would be rewarded for giving and receiving in-depth critiques and feedback. my series 'Larry of Karryon' stopped being developed because I couldn't pay my bills with him any more.

LoquendoLauta2 karma

What was your first animation?

jazzastudios2 karma

My first animation was made in Microsoft power point for an assignment in high school when I was 12, and it was an ambitious stick figure mortal combat fight with music and sound effects. I think I failed the assignment because I got so obsessed with making the animation as impressive as possible.

INeedHammerHelp2 karma

Why is proportions and perspective so difficult to draw?

jazzastudios3 karma

Because your brain has to learn to read/interpret and convey two dimensional space as if it were three dimensional, something which can be very jarring at first and takes a long time to become comfortable with.

buzzcuttt2 karma

Are you satisfied with the current skill level you're at when it comes to animation? Do you ever look at guys like Glen keane and strive to be as good as them or are you past that point?

jazzastudios3 karma

I try really hard with my animation, but I do feel it lacks something. I love doing it, but there's a natural and intensely 'physical' nature about Disney animation I wish I could capture and try to emulate myself, but my style is also naturally blocky and more floaty, so it's hard to work towards. I'll never stop trying though :)

Goodbye_Galaxy2 karma

I'm working on a graphic novel, almost finished the writing stage, and slightly dreading the lengthy drawing stage to come. Two questions related to this:

What size/resolution should I be working in (aiming for a standard-ish portrait orientation).

I'm currently using Photoshop CS4. Is there any reason to upgrade?

jazzastudios3 karma

Q1: 300 DPI for the page size you intend to print at would be my guess. Q2: CS5.5+ supports some really great custom brush stuff, so there's that, also content-aware fill has made some of my jobs much easier too.

Goo luck with your project!

Moocup2 karma

What will you do if/when you reach 1 million subs? another drunk with jazza or something different?

jazzastudios2 karma

I'm gonna host an arty party even in Melbourne and stream the event if possible. It could be big or small, but I'll make it happen.

Skitterkins2 karma

Can you please come to ADELAIDE?

jazzastudios2 karma

ONE DAY!

DoTheDood2 karma

What is your favorite piece of art/animation that you did in your early days as an artist, like before crash of the Flash Market and what is your current overall favorite piece of art/animation period?

jazzastudios7 karma

Of my own pre-2012, would be the Composer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ddzYpSMMKw). I made it during my parents divorce and it was my first really heartfelt and vulnerable piece, which I am still proud of to this day, it's kind of like a piece of me. Speaking of 'to this day', my favourite work of art is titled just that (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltun92DfnPY) - I don't think I've ever made it through without crying. That sounds cheesey but even just thinking about it now wells me up, really powerful stuff. Shane Koyczan hits me in the feels deeper than any artist I've known.

Jenifarr3 karma

I think I may have gotten something in my eyes. I can't even watch the second one right now. Damnit Jazza! <3

jazzastudios4 karma

I WARNED YOU!!

S4MURAi2 karma

Hello Jazza. I have to thank you because you are the reason partly that I got back in drawing again after (wait for it) 6 whole years. Went to a comic-con in my city recently and was so inspired by all the professional artists over there thinking how much I loved drawing all my life and then I just stopped (work etc).

I'm 29 and I was thinking that I lost it and why even try and start again. "Too old for that now". And then I stumbled in one of your videos, and you were saying that it's not too late to start again. So I did. Bought me an intuos, got your brushes pack too (really helpful, thanks) a bunch of books and I'm practicing every day for the past 2 weeks.

What do you think it's best for someone who stopped drawing for years to practice first?
Humans/Anatomy? Faces? Landscapes? Objects? Or just whatever I want? Which is what I'm doing currently every day. But I wonder if starting by learning a specific subject first and then move on to something else is better.

jazzastudios3 karma

That's awesome to hear! And thank you so much for getting my brushes, I'm really glad to hear you enjoy them! If you stopped for a long while, I think it's best to focus on your confidence rather than technique, at least to start off with. Many people find the pressure they put on themselves too much to cope with, really the best thing I think is to rediscover your child-like passion for the discovery and adventure of art. After that, just practice the stuff you love but want to improve, and move from there :)

detox-to-retox1 karma

What is your preferred medium to create illustrations with and is there a new medium you wish to try out?

jazzastudios3 karma

I prefer digital over all, and I'd LOVE to try VR painting!!

Damienfamed751 karma

Do you like potatoes?

jazzastudios3 karma

Indeed I do. Particularly when cut and fried juuuuust right.

SLAK0TH1 karma

Hey Jazza, first of all, I love your work, man. Your videos really inspired me to get back at drawing again (and being creative in general) The question I have for you is: are there any ambitions you have for the future besides youtube?

jazzastudios3 karma

Thank you! Yeah definitely, an animated TV show, maybe an award winning animated short, presenting television maybe, making a best selling print-published book perhaps, I also love the pie-in-the-sky idea of an Arty Party "World Tour" lol.

Kevin0C1 karma

What's an interesting thing that not many people might know about you?

jazzastudios3 karma

I'm addicted to sushi. Like, I would happily have it for every meal if I could get away with it. Maybe that's not interesting enough... I am INCREDIBLY self-concious... Now I'm self-concious about not being interesting enough...

LightRender1 karma

Hey Jazza. I am very inspired by graphic design but I lack the artistic skills needed for it. What would be some good advice as I head into college? Ideally for graphic design. You are a dedicated and inspirational artist/youtuber and I thank you for it.

jazzastudios2 karma

Skill is learned, so as long as your'e able to apply yourself long term, you'll be fine :) Just never stop working or moving! And thank you :)

themoregames1 karma

Do you think you could have achieved your wild Youtube success without this gorgeous smile?

jazzastudios2 karma

This is the kind of question that makes me want to be really self-deprecating haha. I'm definitely successful in that I make a living from what I do, but I'm the opposite of smug about it, in fact at whatever stage I'm at, I'm looking at at least 2-3 people above me and thinking about how to get there and what I'm doing wrong that I'm not there yet. It scales weirdly too, for example starting my Vlog channel only two weeks ago, has me really emotional and ambitious about reaching 5k subs or getting enough community interaction. I think what got me to where I am is that mentality, of never feeling like I'm at the top of my game and desperately wanting to be. I have fun while I do it of course, but yeah...

I realize I'm not addressing your actual question regarding "this gorgeous smile"... I never think of my face being a part of my content as having any reall effect aside form making me feel more connected to my audience, but my wife tells me "this gorgeous smile" is a big part of it, and I always dismiss and disagree lol. I grew up with body dis-morphia and thought of myself as ugly most of my life so in regards to my YouTube success, I naturally think of the substance of my content above everything else. I realize I'm still babbling about everything but your question... Sorry! um... short answer, I have no idea how to answer it. lol.

throwaway888801111331 karma

Hi Jazza i have a question.

I know you have more important things to do obviously, and probably don't have too much time. I just thought i would ask anyway, is it possible that you do commissions?

(I was specifically thinking about possibly getting Motoko Kusanagi, from Ghost In The Shell drawn)

jazzastudios2 karma

My heart breaks a little bit when I get asked this these days, I used to love doing commissions, unfortunately it's just not humanly possible any more! I get far too many requests and I'm struggling to keep up with my own workload as it is, sorry to disappoint :(

winkil1 karma

Are you planning on doing more gaming focused artwork?

I would love to see an Overwatch piece.

jazzastudios3 karma

Aw man I'd love to! Hopefully! Most likely in Let's Draw sessions if enough people want to see them though, since digital paintings are really time consuming and lately I have ZERO time, I'm running on negative time and am paying interest and trying to catch up in fact lol.

Aggrah1 karma

If you could go back in time and give your past self advice on learning to draw, what would you tell them?

Also, would you say that there is a moment when you can draw stuff that you can consider good enough to where you just want to keep going? One of the major blockers for myself is looking at the pages I just spent an hour working on and thinking it's all garbage.

jazzastudios3 karma

I'd walk him through drawing women. Not that I'm an expert, but it crippled me when I was learning, I think religious guilt didn't help since knowing how to draw women meant familiarity with the 'form', and nudity/pornography were VERY looked down upon, so I held myself back from learning in a big way there.

I'd say I'm at a stage where I'm satisfied with like, 75% of what I draw, which is pretty nice, but even so I still feel I could be so much better and keep trying to improve. Try not to judge yourself too much! Try and have fun with your art :D

Kevin0C1 karma

Would you recommend art college for any aspiring artists or do you feel like it is a waste of time?

jazzastudios3 karma

That depends on how the given individual best learns. I am a kinaesthetic learning, I learn by doing and applying myself, and often I feel formal education is too slow or frustrating for me. I learn much more from just doing stuff. Everyone learns differently, and there is no correct method, but I definitely don't write off formal education, I think if I were more patient I'd benefit a great deal from university or a course, it's just not something I can get through without too much frustration. If formal education is how you best learn, then definitely do what you can to find the best education available. If self-learning IS how you best learn, then do that, but don't be slack! It's still a lot of work!

evofrex1 karma

How do you go about gaining new clients? Also what advice would you give in starting freelance work, cheers and congrats for 600k subs!

jazzastudios2 karma

Fortunately clients are much easier for me to find these days due to YouTube (thanks by the way!). Before that a lot of my work came back to me through other work I'd done and people who recommended me, so my advice would be to treat every job you take on as your most important. Be communicative, clear, respectful and positive, and they will always think of you first when someone else they know needs and artist.

I7an1 karma

How should I deal with/respond to people that say I am wasting my time studying an arts degree?

jazzastudios3 karma

Prove them wrong.

Batfleck_Begins1 karma

How do you overcome self doubt during an ambitious project?

jazzastudios2 karma

I focus on something small and make it as good as possible, rather than letting the weight of the scope settle on me.

teinimon1 karma

What advice would you give to someone who is currently working on their 2D game and has no experience with Illustrator, Photoshop, Animate CC? Where should that 'someone' start?

jazzastudios2 karma

Start small - very small! Don't leap in expecting to make a 'piece de resistance', just try and make something small, learn something in the process, and make it as good as you can. Then make something slightly bigger and better, but not too big! ;)

MaxIsGreat291 karma

What's it like to be the creator of the act of drawing?

jazzastudios3 karma

Incredible. I knew it'd catch on eventually ;)

ccAbstraction1 karma

How do I add more details to my drawings and renders? Everything I do seems excessively simple and boring.

jazzastudios3 karma

IMHO detail is overrated. Style and polish is the real stuff of substance. I recommend making really strong shapes and silhouettes and outlines before worrying about detail, then the detail can be just thrown in as lines and stuff to make it look more 'full', but isn't really necessary in great art.

stonem101 karma

Do you hope for Baby Jazza to follow in your artistic footsteps?

jazzastudios3 karma

Not in the slightest. I hope for mini-Jazza to be happy. If that's doing sport or music or playing chess, I want to empower him to make the most of himself and do what he loves. The only real benefit from my perspective if he follows an artistic path is that I'd have more to offer him and help him with.

draevee1 karma

I adore art and I'd love to get into animating.

Firstly, what keeps you motivated?

Secondly, do you use a drawing tablet & what one would you recommend?

Thirdly, do you have any advice for aspiring artists?

jazzastudios2 karma

What keeps me motivated? Goals and end results. My tablet? Wacom 27QHD. Advice? Never stop learning and working, always have fun with your art.

Skull-Demon1 karma

Who were your inspirations to make flash animations and what is your favorite animation to make? Thanks for the AMA from Canada!

jazzastudios2 karma

Joe Zombie was a stick figure series that inspired me way back in the day. Also xiao xiao. Johnny Utah from Newgrounds was also a big inspiration when I was learning. My fav animation to make was Larry episode 2.

Benedictous1 karma

What Video Capture Software do you use for videos and for Live Streams? Also, I challenge you to draw your dream house/a place you'd live in!

jazzastudios2 karma

I use Xsplit Broadcaster for both my streams and tutorials, as for your challenge, I always used to draw my dream workspace, I'd love to build one from scratch one day!

janie-girl1 karma

Jazza, When did you know (for sure) that you want to be a animator/artist ?

jazzastudios2 karma

When I was 16 and a year away from graduating, I won a national animation competition. That reinforced I could do what I was doing at a good level, enough to make a career out of it, so I went forward after high school with confidence.

JMoosh1 karma

What is your least favorite thing you have uploaded?

jazzastudios3 karma

A video I did for a sponsor where I manipulated images. The content of the video was fine, in fact I was proud of it, but I'm always cautious about working with sponsors and thought it was safe, but I was working through an agent and there was some very poor communication on their parts, with some late but heavy expectations of the branding of the content. In the end the video was way too over-branded, and the experience left a sour taste in my mouth. I won't remove it because the content was decent, but I hate that feeling of having been pressured to release something in a way I feel misrepresents what I cater to and I felt it was far too close to compromising my integrity.

zachattch1 karma

What is your favorite hobby?(not counting art since it your job to my knowledge)

jazzastudios3 karma

Tabletop Role Playing Games. My brother and I developed our own system called Cogent (http://cogentroleplay.com/) and we play as often as possible on Twitch/Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/user/itstabletoptime). I LOVE the theatrics and organic flow of group storytelling. My ideal birthday party would be a full day of drinking beer and playing Tabletop RPGs.

BumBagel1 karma

What is your favorite drawing you have done thus far?

jazzastudios2 karma

My 'Joker' let's draw: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqi-YL9GXSQ

I've done more technically impressive or ambitious artworks, but there's something I captured in that piece that I absolutely LOVE, and I'm a huge fan of the Joker and his character, so my mouth waters when I see awesome interpretations of him, I feel really proud of how my depiction was executed :D

margustoo1 karma

What is the kinkiest thing that you have drawn?

denomyd1 karma

Hey Josiah

Do you use After Effects or other compositing software to add effects to Adobe Animate/Flash files?

jazzastudios2 karma

Nah, I never learned After Effects, which is a bummer coz people do really cool stuff with it. Can you draw in it? I think the reason I never tried is because I prefer drawing and making my effects more kinaesthetically in Flash/Animate.

margustoo1 karma

Is there any change of seeing someday Ortus? Or is that game utterly dead?

jazzastudios3 karma

The game is not dead, just really really wounded. I have a meeting scheduled with my co-creator in a few weeks since I had a revelation for a really exciting way to get it across the finish line, and we've MADE SO MUCH and WORKED SO HARD, but due to the initial scope-overreach and some really sad internal circumstances (friendships were hurt to say the least), it faced some serious demons. That being said, I've never abandoned Ortus, but it has been subject to the ebbs and flows of our functional work lives, since we've worked on it without any form of payment for the last.... 5 years. - it's still in development, and we intend to finish it.

Dungeonkills1 karma

Are there any planned expansions to Arty Party Games after it's initial release?

jazzastudios2 karma

We sure hope so! It depends on how it sells since we've already invested a LOT of time and effort and hope to recoup a bit of our investment - but we already have hopes to expand with social, sharing/capturing and tweeting your challenges, sharing your custom random generation lists and voting on each others, adding more and more to the images and random generation stuff, more materials and marker brands, etc. All that stuff is on hold until we see if people actually like the initial release or not though.

Starlord01101 karma

Hi Jazza! Thank you for answering my question (if you answer it obviously) I'm new to your channel, and so far I've really enjoyed all the videos that I have watched but, of all your many videos, which one was the most fun to make?

Sub question: Have there been any times when you really couldn't be bothered to make a video but have made one anyway?

jazzastudios2 karma

Thanks for watching/supporting my content!

As for the most fun video to make, my cheap art supply challenge from last week was pretty fun (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX93M0OCgfM), made me feel like a kid again, I also loved interviewing my childhood idol Chris Hart (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1x13EhP7Dj8), but I felt a lot of nerves and pressure so it wasn't quite the most fun to make lol. I think my yearly 'recap' videos are actually the most fun, because it's not very hard work so I relax and have more fun, and I get to really enjoy SEEING what I did that year. Most of the year is such a grind and really stressful and hard to balance and get through, but making it to the end and summarizing it all and enjoying it is really satisfying and rewarding.

Sub answer: Absolutely. It happens maybe once every couple of months, I never miss uploading on schedule if I can help it, but yeah sometimes it's tough to summon the performing/creative energy to do so. Especially if it's been a generally shitty day (argument with someone, financial or emotional problems etc). Gotta put that smile on and keep the show going!

tatarul1 karma

Hello from Romania Jazza ! Love all your videos and everything you do ! My question for you is, was there any point in your life where you were thinking of doing something else if anything creative(drawing,singing,etc) wasn't an option? If so,what was it?

jazzastudios2 karma

I've only ever wanted to do something creative. At one point I wanted to do music, and at another point I wanted to be a director, but for the majority of the time it's been artist/animator. If I HAD to do something that wasn't any of these, it'd probably be teacher. I love helping people learn and discover their potential and self-worth. I was a singing teacher for a number of years and loved it for the same reason I love my current job.

Tawwor1 karma

How do you motivate yourself to work? More so for the things you don't enjoy or really do not want to do?

jazzastudios2 karma

I find something satisfying in the process that I want to do well, and I motivate myself in wanting to impress or please the person I'm doing the work for.

Godtaku1 karma

Is there anything you've really wanted to draw but never got to it because of time, difficulty, etc?

jazzastudios3 karma

At one stage I tried drawing every Dota 2 character up alphabetical order. I got up to 'B'. lol. I never did anything with that work come to think of it, so here, have it, lol: http://i.imgur.com/r0amFtK.jpg

chronicbite1 karma

Hi Jazza! how did you begin your artistic career? Did it originate just from newgrounds and youtube or did you have any "real life" ocuppation that paved the way to the job opportunities you have today? love from Portugal

jazzastudios2 karma

It all started with Newgrounds. Before that I submitted to StickSuicide.com (now gone), but it was Newgrounds that pushed me to really challenge and improve myself and lead to learning about sponsorship and ad monetization.

LopesC1 karma

What advice you have for someone who really appreciate draw and art, but don't know how to start to draw, and what to do for enter in this new world? I'm 23 years old, graduating in engineering and wanted at least to draw for hobby

jazzastudios3 karma

Allow yourself to 'play' with art like a child would. As adults we apply too much pressure to ourselves when attempting to learn something new, this is a result of leaning that doing things badly is wrong. Being creative and creating art is about embracing the failures along with the successes, and enjoying both equally, using them both to learn, and constantly moving and falling in love with the process. Let yourself use art as an adventure playground!

Blueperdraws2011 karma

Hey jazza, I LOVE your stuff so much and you've helped me more than you can comprehend. My question is what was your biggest inspiration and who/were there anyone to keep you going with drawing? and also do you have a favorite band/solo-artist? also, do you take certain people as clients or do you take anyone willing to pay a reasonable price for what they're asking for?

jazzastudios2 karma

Thanks for your kind words! My biggest inspiration in art was Christopher Hart and his How to Draw books. My favourite musicians are currently Passenger, Ed Sheeran and Blink 182 (helloooo 2001).

RavenKouhai1 karma

Did you ever go to an art school? When did you get into art, and realize you wanted to do it professionally?

jazzastudios3 karma

Just high school art class, no further education. When I really discovered my passion for art (age 11) I definitely knew I didn't want to stop.

Cantrona1 karma

How do you balance work projects (like your book and the app) with personal projects or indulging in hobbies like music?

jazzastudios2 karma

I don't get to indulge in hobbies as much to be honest. What I try and do, is find a way I can make my passion projects or hobbies into avenues of business. For example, the Arty Games app is something I would have made out of love, but made sure to approach it with a mindset of recuperating my time investment later along the line. Even with my animation project "The Tale Teller", I wanted to make an animation project for the fun of it, but knew it would be too time consuming to justify without a business avenue - so I'm releasing it with a 'resource pack', so those who loved the animation will be able to affordibly buy (for $30 or so), a pack full of the entire development process. Recordings of the animation and environment development, the original voice recording session, the animistic and some raw files from the animation, the music parts and raw assets, sheet music, as much as possible. There's always the risk that the time spent on the project will far outweigh what I'll earn back, but it at least allows me to approach it from a business/time investment perspective while still working on something from the heart that I love and want to share.

junoallstudio1 karma

Would you prefer working in a studio (i.e with Blizzard or Riot) rather than freelance?

jazzastudios3 karma

On my own, absolutely not. I'd take a 40k-a-year or less paycheck in doing the projects I want to do over a 300k a year salary at a big studio any day. There's something about being in charge of my own destiny that I wouldn't give up for almost anything - ALMOST meaning that since I became a husband and father that answer has changed. If I could no longer pay my bills with art and being self employed, I would happily take any job necessary to keep my wife and baby clothed, fed and happy, even at the sacrifice of my own fulfilment.

XplosiveZombie1 karma

Your personal top 3 films?

jazzastudios2 karma

1 - Treasure Planet 2 - The Dark Knight 3 - Mr. Holland's Opus