Ep.50: Drawing Disney fanart and finding your own style with Dylan Bonner

Iva Mikles
Ep.50: Drawing Disney fanart and finding your own style with Dylan Bonner

Dylan Bonner is an amazing illustrator and freelance artist from Michigan, United States. He graduated from Ringling College of Art in Florida. He is most known for his lovely mermaids, Disney fanart, and comics. His use of shapes and colors is awesome and his illustrations are full of life and joy. They make me smile every time I look at them! He contributed to the project Rescue Sirens by Jessica and Chris Sanders and his work was also featured in BuzzFeed when he drew one gentleman’s girlfriend into Disney princesses 🙂

Get in touch with Dylan

Key Takeaways

“If you are feeling stressed about your artwork or if it’s not coming together, just take a deep breath. It will happen when it is meant to happen. You got your own pace so do what feels natural to you.”

  • For Dylan, the college was a portfolio prep work
  • Dylan struggled a little bit to find his own style because in college every piece looked like it was done by a different artist. He took inspiration from the book Lovely and from Lorelay Bove pieces and he tried to see what he likes about it and what he wants to take and apply for his own stuff.
  • Best advice to find your own style is to find a blend between your art and art you like, study the fundamentals, study other artists and blend it all together
  • Dylan takes his social media following as a support base. When he went freelance, he had 10k fans.  He recommends doing fan art to build up a fanbase
  • As a freelancer, Dylan always saves up for the ‘dry’ weeks. This helps him to manage the budget better.

Resources mentioned

Special thanks to Dylan for joining me today. See you next time!

All artworks by Dylan Bonner, used with permission

Click Here For The Episode Transcript

Iva

Hi, I am Iva (rhymes with “viva”). I am a full-time self-taught artist behind Art Side of Life® and a Top Teacher on Skillshare. I have 15 years of experience in the creative field as a concept designer, illustrator, art director, and now freelance artist, content creator, and art instructor. My goal is to help you get your creative groove on with Procreate and make awesome art through practical classes, tutorials, Procreate brushes, and guides on art tools, supplies and resources. About me »

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Iva

Hey there!

I am Iva (rhymes with viva), and I'm the artist behind Art Side of Life. I'm all about helping you get your creative groove on with Procreate and make awesome art! So on my website, I share Procreate classes, tutorials, brushes, and guides on art tools, supplies, and resources such as these interviews. Ready to create and make amazing art? Then explore, join and have fun ♡

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