Synopsis

At the age of 30 years old, having just finished a one year program for drug addiction, I made the decision to turn my life around and fully pursue my childhood dream of living my life as a professional artist. Although I was already creating and selling art, I didn't know how to draw the human figure. I knew that if I wanted to have a career as an artist it was essential that I added that skill and understanding to my toolkit.



I AM HUMAN is the sketchbook of an addict that went from destitute to professional artist by learning how to draw the human figure.

This book will connect with aspiring artists, addicts, professional artists, art teachers, art therapists. The market that this book will resonate with is:

- Aspiring and independent artists ages 16-45: (This is a $35B industry with an annual growth rate of 1.8% between 2011-2016. Employment numbers are 864,318)

- Addicts in recovery: Well over 23 million adults in the US.

- Art therapists: 3.78 million

- Art teachers:



This book serves the need of inspiring two segmentst of the population that are constantly in a space of struggle. Addicts and artists are consistently facing challenges that seem insurmountable. Both agents are constantly in search of role models that have walked the path to a successful outcome.

For addicts to become sober is a monumental task but the road to stay that way and to become successful in your life is a lifelong struggle. This segment needs to see, above all, proof that it’s possible. There’s nothing more inspiring than knowing someone that’s walked the path in front of you. It’s important to show that success is possible.



For artists, it’s the same situation. It’s very rare that you see an artist that’s able to break through the starving artist paradigm. It pains me to see the struggle that the artistic community goes through to find pathways to success. Drawing the human figure is by far one of the most difficult challenges that an artist will face in their pursuit to become a professional. Most will never acquire this skill.



It’s important for artists to see proof that the path which lies ahead is achievable. It’s also important to have insights from other artists that have walked the road ahead of you, especially when it comes to drawing the human form. This book offers a glimpse into the path that most aspiring artists seek.



The message of this book is unique because it’s a double barrel shot of overcoming limitations, struggle, and fear to achieve the illusive goal of self-realization and love. Facing down recovery and becoming a professional artist at the age of 30 is not the best place to start, but I’m proof that it’s possible.



To someone that’s younger than 30 that’s encouraging. To those later in life it’s still a testament of what can be done at any age. People need this message of success--It’s a vital part of how we rise each day and tackle this thing called life.



This message is extremely important today. More and more people are struggling to find their way and getting lost in a distracted world. I should have never been able to overcome my limitations but I did and I did it in two very difficult spaces.

The other unique thing about my book is the fact that the reader will essentially own the best drawings from all of my sketchbooks.

Owning an artist’s sketchbook is very rare. This is the raw, behind the scenes material that the general public never really gets to see. This is where the magic of creativity is formed. This is the source of all inspiration for the visual artist.



I created this book to celebrate the journey of success in realizing a dream and the visual path in chronological order that I took to get there. The story and the images are a testimony, and a record, of how a dream is built: slowly, consistently, and persistently. It also documents the self-talk that you’ll find throughout the pages that was instrumental in encouraging and teaching myself along the way. In the end I created this book to show other people that dreams are possible.



Readers can use this book in a number of ways: Artists can use it as a source of inspiration, learning, and encouragement. Teachers can use this means to highlight lessons to their art students. Addicts can keep this as a reminder that their road to a realized life is possible. I see this book as inspiring, educational, and entertaining.

Outline

Section 1: Fishing for Figures

In this section I’m presenting a visual journey of my quest to learn how to draw the human figure. I’ve mined the 40+ sketchbooks that I have created within a 12 year period from 2002 - 2014 and pulled the drawings that I felt were the stepping stones in my understanding of drawing the human form.

Section 2: Moving Mannikins

This section marks an important step in the evolution of me being able to draw the human figure. At this point I had been drawing from the live model for a long time. It’s currently the beginning of 2012 and I’ve decided to study anatomy for artists. I was looking to take my understanding of the human form to the next level. I chose an online anatomy class by Scott Eaton which was an incredible learning experience, but the thing that influenced me the most at this point was a recommendation from Scott. He suggested that, in order to draw the figure effectively, it’s important to be able to construct it from your imagination. He referenced a book by Andrew Loomis called “Figure Drawing for all it’s Worth”. In this book I found a chapter called “Moving Mannikins” and it’s a fairly simple exercise. Construct a slightly advanced stick-figure-like mannikin and learn how to pose it in as many ways as you can from your imagination.

Section 3: Creating Characters

This section marks a place in my development where I’m looking to further my ability to draw the human figure. I’ve decided to take an online course called The Fundamentals of Character design offered through CGMA (Computer Graphics Masters Academy). Although I had the tendency to make characters out of my drawings up to this point, I had never actually studied the craft of character design. Some of the characters that appear on the last eight pages of the section before this were drawn while I was taking this class as well. The pages that follow comprise, in chronological order, one entire sketchbook dedicated to this course.

Audience

Primary Target Market:

- Aspiring and mid-career artists: This book is relevant to them because they always need inspiration, reference, and insights into the creative process of other artists. They are either starting out as artists or on their way to becoming professionals. They always keep reference books around them and love looking at other artists’ sketchbooks. They would keep this book close by because it’s informative, inspiring, and a great design reference for them. This book will be an indispensable tool to the developing artist.

- Aspiring and independent artists ages 16-45: (This is a $35B industry with an annual growth rate of 1.8% between 2011-2016. Employment numbers are 864,318)

Secondary Target Market:

- Addicts in recovery: Well over 23 million adults in the US.

- Art therapists: 3.78 million

Promotion

Strategic Marketing :

Mailing list: 375 - Facebook 2,600 - Instagram 1,010 - Linkedin 499

- Social media posts - Instagram, Facebook, Twitter

- Live streaming - I host a live streaming show on Facebook

- Blog posts and influencers. I plan to publish teaser blog posts and reach out to top bloggers for interview opportunities.

- Webinars - I will be holding webinar previews to answer questions and give a sneak peek into the book. I'll also be doing live drawing demos.

Competition

- The sketchbook project (https://www.sketchbookproject.com) is the only place that I can find that has done anything similar to this. Their incredible success was a key factor in determining the market desire for accessing an artist’s actual sketchbook.

- Nico Marlet has a sketchbook on the market but it's a shell of a book and utterly disappointing. You can find it here - https://www.amazon.com/Sketchb...

Although Nico is one of the leading character designers working today, his sketchbook is limited and essentially boring. It's not his best work by far. Whereas, my book is a fully -unedited look at what my real sketchbook is all about--with all of my best work placed into this volume. It will surely be a treasured part of anyone’s collection.

- James Gurney just released "The Living Sketchbook App"--This is a very interesting project where he's using the ebook or app format to offer insights into the locations where he sketched the images in the book. http://gurneyjourney.blogspot....



I could potentially do the same type of thing as Gurney with insights into drawing the human figure and teaching moments throughout the ebook. There could also be words of encouragement and added story between the pages. That would make the ebook a viable project on it's own above and beyond the physical book. This would incentivize people to own both...