Week In Review & The Week Ahead 27 April - 3 May

It’s been a busy and exciting week with 2 new portfolio pieces created and my digital painting tutorial being featured on PSDtuts.

Another step forward this week has been narrowing down the type of illustration work I’d like to do - Children’s books (still within the niche of wildlife illustration, but for children’s books). I really feel like I’m homing in on exactly the type of work I’d like to be doing professionally now, which gives me a clearer focus of how my portfolio should look.

Here’s a run down of how the week went:

1. Create 2 new portfolio pieces (mythical beasts - traditional or digital collage, not decided yet)

I managed to complete 2 new portfolio pieces and shock, horror - I’m actually quite pleased with how they turned out.

Mostly done using traditional cut and paste collage and then finished off in Photoshop for a few additional elements and colour correction. I actually started the pieces using digital collage, but soon realised that my choices of the bits of paper that I use are a lot more creative using the hands-on approach.

I really must remember to follow my instincts with things like this, rather than fighting against them due to the computer being the easier/less messy way of working.

Anyway, here are the two new ‘Mythical Beast’ portfolio pieces: ‘The Dragon‘ and ‘The Phoenix‘

2. Add finishing touches to the zero2illo blog design

I made a few of the tweaks including the addition our free ‘Build Your Own Blog in 60 Minutes‘ and ‘Build Your Own Website In 60 Minutes‘ guides to the resources page along with the addition of a services page linking to our graphic design & marketing business (the ‘day job’).

I still need to add a graphic in the sidebar linking to my portfolio and the PSDtuts tutorial - but that’s on the agenda for next week.

3. Write the zero2illo blog articles for the next 2 weeks

I had to let this one slide as my main priority had to be getting the portfolio pieces completed, but the article for tomorrow is underway and should be ready on time.

The week ahead

Another busy week of design & branding work ahead of me, along with the in-laws visiting from Italy on Thursday so it’s going to be a shorter week than usual.

Here’s what is on the agenda for next week:

1. 2 more ‘Mythical Beast’ portfolio pieces - I’m thinking ‘The Minotaur’ and hmmm, not sure about the other one yet (suggestions welcome!!!).
2. Tighten up my Objectives, Goals and Strategies based on honing in on the type of work I’d like to be doing professionally. This item does seem to appear on the ‘to do list’ every week, but it is really important to keep revisiting it as you make any important decisions about the direction of your work.
3. Add the portfolio and PSDtuts graphics to the blog sidebar.
4. Write this weeks articles on time!!!

Related posts:

1. Week In Review & The Week Ahead: 31st Aug - 6th Sep