Frequently Asked Questions...

Before emailing me to ask me a question, please make sure it's not mentioned here, or I'll simply ask that you read this page. Thanks.

• Q: May I use a picture or artwork from your web site for signature tags, web use, print, other personal use etc?
• A: I'm glad you like my work and want to use it. Please contact me if you'd like to use images profit related projects. If not, please do not email to ask permission- I have no problems with art being used. I don't mind if backgrounds are removed, things animated providing it's done in a professional looking manner that doesn't appear to degrade the quality of my original work. Can you please make sure the following text appears on any image you use: © Ben Krefta: www.organicmetal.co.uk
  - If my work is used, I would appreciate a quick note just letting me know who you are, where your web site is and where my adapted art images can be found.
  Once again, by all means let me know where my work has been / will be used. But you do not need to request permission providing my work is used for personal, non- profit use and credit is given.

• Q: May I use one of your line art pictures for CGing?
• A: Yes you can, be sure to give me credit for the line work if you later intend on publishing it on the web. If you'd like higher resolution scans of my art to colour, let me know.

• Q: Did you get permission for using any other images on this site?
• A: Practically all graphics on the site were created solely for Organic Metal and should not to be used on other web sites without permission (or see above). Some graphics, i.e. Avatars were adapted from other artist's work. Usually I'd always ask permission, but since much of it is from established series' and is available on thousands of other web sites, I'm sure no one will complain at me for using these images for non profit purposes.

• Q: I want to learn / draw manga. Any advice?
• A: It depends what your definition of Manga is. If you want to draw comics, check out existing stuff to see how the pros do it, then have a go yourself. If you want to learn a manga style of drawing, again, check out existing manga style art and try to imitate it. If you generally want to know about the manga art form, style and history, like with most things, internet search engines are a good place to find info. When learning anything, the more you practice the better you get. I don't wanna put off any aspiring manga artists, but it does take years of practice to get good and even longer to get great. You have to at least enjoy drawing to be able to stick at it long enough to see improvement, but once you start pumping out stuff that you're proud of, it makes it all worth it.

• Q: Can you please email me art tips or write me a tutorial?
• A: I'm afraid I can't email specific tips or write tutorials especially for you. I'm asked this A LOT and if I started helping everybody in this way, I'd end up having to give up my work and social life as it would take up practically all of my time. Just practice and experiment lots. It'll prove more useful in the long run.

• Q: Here is a picture I drew *attached*, can you please give me feedback / tips / solutions?
• A: See above. You're better off posting your work on a web forum and getting in critiqued by people who are there to help! Or you could try comic book conventions and show your portfolio to pros who are also there to give advice.

• Q: Send me pictures.
• A: It's surprising how many people ask stupid things like this. If you want pictures, try surfing the net or looking in magazines or something. As far as I know, I haven't mentioned anywhere that I send people pictures on request so it seems silly why people keep asking for them.

• Q: Why haven't you sent me pictures!!?
• A:

• Q: The music playing on the web site - where is it from?
• A: It was created by James Cobb - a friend of mine / my girlfriend's brother. Cheers James He's a very talented song writer and composer and has a web site at www.jamescobb.co.uk

• Q: Please email me.
• A: I never know what people expect me to say to this. What do you want me to do? Send you a blank email? If you want to discuss something specific or ask me a question, I'll reply to your email. If it seems you generally just want me to write to you for the sake of it, I probably won't bother.

• Q: I'd like to do a school project on you as an artist- is that ok?
• A: Yeah- that'd be cool! I'd imagine you'll be able to find enough info about my or my work on the site. If you want to know anything specific, let me know. I would really appreciate it if you could show my your project when it's done as it'd be of great interest to hear your thoughts or see art based on anything I've created. [Sadly at least 7 students to my knowlege have done a project on me or my work but not shown me the result! ]

• Q: What sites do you visit when you're online?
• A: These days I only go online to check my emails, look for stuff of eBay and a few other bits. My current online presence would revolve around art, anime, video game or comic Message Boards. I'll occasionally post on on boards such as such as: PolyKarbon & Eatpoo. And perhaps even mine! There are other boards I visit once in a blue moon on other topics such as Html, Java and CGI etc. I like checking out artwork at Deviantart or trying my hand at some oekaki . I also check eBay for bargains as often as I can!

• Q: How long have you been drawing?
• A: Since I was I baby scribbling on the walls at home with a crayon! As far as drawing cartoony/anime stuff goes, I've been doing it on and off in various shapes and forms since I was about 8, then started drawing a little more seriously when I got to 15. I don't draw continuously. I usually put my artwork on hold for anything from two weeks without picking up a pencil - two months! It's all a motivation and inspiration issue. If I always stayed motivated to want to draw and worked constantly, I'd be 10 times better than I am now. Read my profile for more info.

• Q: How much time do you spend drawing each week?
• A: It varies a lot. In my spare time I might only sit down and draw for a few hours each week. Sometimes my time's taken CGing using the computer. If I have a job on, I might have to work on it for like 5 hours each day or depending on the deadline. I'm not a big fan of drawing too much in one go, especially if I don't feel in the mood.

• Q: Do you have any training in art or web design?
• A: I have an an Advanced GNVQ in art and design and an A level in art, but I'm mostly self taught as far as anime art and web designing goes. I think any training you can get will help, but at the end of the day, a lot of self motivation and hard work is the key to success.

• Q: Are you the guy that did 'The Art Of Drawing Manga'?
• A: Yes. For those that don't know, it was a 4 month project to create a 144 page how to draw manga book. It turned out pretty good in the end and has become a success despite many behind the scenes problems. There's 3 main versions of the book- a European hard cover, a USA soft cover and an 80 page version which includes a drawing kit. There's also German translated versions called "Manga Zeichnen".

• Q: Whats the deal with the TAODM cover?
• A: I was presented with an image by the publisher of a girl holding a gun. I was asked to re-work this image for the cover, but without a gun appearing in the image, as the American market is sensitive towards guns on covers. The rest of the world isn't as concerned about the level of censorship, so I was then asked to edit the "open hand" image to include the gun- to look like the original image I was given. The fact the cover used for the book was a re-worked image of another artist's picture lead to a lot of unjust ill feeling towards me. I was accused of being an art thief , incapable of creating original art. However, I simply carried out a brief given to me and no rights laws have been broken. Initially I attempted to submit an original illustration for the book's cover but this was rejected, as the publisher was adamant on using an adapted version of the existing illustration Had it not been rejected, I would not have had any hastle over this issue.
  Q: But what about art inside TAODM which is copied (Goku's hand)?
  A: TAODM's hand tutorial was taken from an existing image of Goku. Originally Goku and five other existing anime drawings were to be used in a separate book on how to draw anime characters. My job was literally to copy these characters for the book and then create step-by-steps showing how they can be created. The book's publisher however was unable to get rights to re-produce half the full character images so the book never went on sale. It was the publisher's decision to use part of the Goku image created for the anime characters book in TAODM. It was only a small space filler so I let them run with it. As with the cover, I never thought some of the readers would have had a problem with this. But in hindsight, there should have been a note in the book to mention this- that's why I've mentioned it here. Gomen nasai.

• Q: Are you going to do any more books in the future?
• A: I was called on to do another book called "Step By Step Manga" aimed at kids and young teens. That's available to buy now. If I did another, I'd prefer to develop it myself from start to finish. For my previous titles, I was more of an artist for hire to draw for the publisher's books. Some of the desisions on themes and content used wasn't nessasarily down to me. So rather than work to briefs, if I could just come up with my own concept for a book idea and follow it though to creation, that might be pretty cool. Trouble is would the market want what I'd want to do? Currently I have no plans to work on another book in the near future.

• Q: What did you use to make your web site?
• A: For the pages themselves mainly a software package called Macromedia Dreamweaver MX. It creates the html for you, so you don't have to waste time writing it all out manually. It's similar to Microsoft Frontpage, but a lot more expensive. If you're serious about web designing I'd recommend it but it will set you back around $300 US. So you might want to try looking for a second hand copy. If you have Microsoft Windows 98+ you should be able to install Frontpage Express, which is a good program for beginners to get to grips with. My site as a whole isn't just Dreamweaver made. Some of the java script and html was hand written, so Dreamweaver won't be able to do everything you see on my site. The animation and navigation were created with Macromedia Flash MX. The image/graphics I have used (for example the girl on the left) were made by using a graphics/photo editing package called Adobe Photoshop. The PHP back-end parts of the site such as form processing and mailing list were written specifically for Organic Metal by Rik Nicol of Wooti Ltd. Cheers Rik

• Q: I have Dreamweaver, Flash and Photoshop, but I still can't make a good page, any tips?
• A: You can have the best and most expensive tools in the world, but they wont magically make you a good web page. The key is creativity and knowledge of 'what looks good' design-wise. Think of a theme, colour combination and ideas to base your site on. Look at lots of different sites, see how they do things and experiment. Use other's sites to help influence the design of your own, but do not directly copy them.

• Q: You don't know me, but... *insert meaningless one-liner here*
• A: I get this a lot and I don't have time to tell you what colour socks I usually wear or if I play online RPGs etc, so don't ask one-liners! And please don't expect me to critique your work if all you've said is "Here's my work, what do you think?" If your work has no relevance to me or Organic Metal, I won't spend my time checking it out and writing replies.

• Q: Will you be my best friend?
• A: Probably not I've already made more than enough web buddies and can't keep up with them, let alone anyone else!

• Q: Do you want to exchange links with me?
• A: I don't do formal link exchanges with banners and I wont pressure people I decide to link, to return the favour with a reciprocal link. Please don't ask, but by all means, e-mail me your site so I can check it out Also, if you have linked to Organic Metal, Let me know and I'll add your site to the "sites that have linked me" list in the links section.

• Q: I wish to submit some guest art to be displayed on Organic Metal, what are the guide lines?
• A: Organic Metal no longer exhibits other artist's work, If you do any fan art of one of my existing characters, let me know and I'll post it up.

• Q: Which web server hosts your web site?
• A: I'm with a company called Freeola - they are the cheapest I've found. I think it's £22 for 2 years for my co.uk domain with unlimited file space plus the advantage of having CGI support and FTP access, plus unlimited custom mail names. The disadvantage is not being able to upload or access you FTP account with your usual ISP - instead Freeola charge you to use theirs (though they don't mention that anywhere on their web site!) That's where they make their money

• Q: I'm currently working on my own project. I was wondering if you'd help out by doing some work for me? (This includes logo design, one-off illustrations etc.)
• A: Sure. Please visit the Commission Me page for more info.

• Q: How much do you charge for commissions and freelance work?
• A: My costs relect standard industry rates here in the UK. What those costs are vary a lot depending on what is required and how the artwork will be used. If you like my stuff and want to work with me on your project, the best thing to do is email me a detailed brief, and I'll email back a quote.

• Q: Ben, what's your Email Address?
• A: It's ben @ organicmetal . co . uk (without the spaces). Before emailing, please make sure questions haven't already been answered in this FAQ or elsewhere on Organic Metal. Thanks.

More FAQs to follow as soon as they're asked!