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It’s been nearly 4 months since I embarked on this journey from full time Graphic Designer to full time Illustrator, so I thought it would be a good time to take stock of where I am and share with you the lessons I’ve learned so far:
1: Even the most well thought out plans will change and evolve over time
One of the most important things I’ve learned since deciding to really go for my goal of becoming a full time illustrator is that even the most well thought out plans can change.
As you progress along your journey from zero 2 illo you may discover that the type of work you’d like to do or genre you thought you’d like to work in actually isn’t right for you.
I love fantasy & sci-fi art (most of my favourite artists work in this arena), so I naturally thought that this is what I wanted to be working on, but to my surprise the direction that my portfolio was going in and the work I enjoyed producing the most was very different to what I had originally envisioned.
The lesson here is to not be afraid of changing your plans if what you’re doing doesn’t feel right - even if you change your path, as long as you are moving towards something - you are moving in the right direction.
Busy, busy, busy with design work again this past week - scrambling to fit everything in before my baby girl makes an appearance (still 2 weeks until the due date, but you never know!).
As for illustration work, I’ve now set up my website for the ‘passive income project’ that I mentioned last week and even completed the first collage illustration too (which I’m actually pretty pleased with) - anyone following me on twitter will have seen the work in progress ‘twitpic’ that I put up this week.
I’ll be twitpic-ing the final illustration tomorrow and then it’s straight on to illo number 2 in the series of 12. The plan is to get 4 completed illustrations ready prior to launching the new website next month.
Once launched, I’ll be writing a post for the blog titled ‘Earning Passive Income From Your Illustrations’ which will explain my approach, plans for the project and lots of tips on how you too can earn passive income from your work.
This past week I also confirmed another interview for the blog with an amazing traditional and digital illustrator working in the field of comics. I’m really excited about this one as he is one of my favourite artists, but he is busy with an ongoing monthly comic at the moment so it may be a week or two until I’m able to reveal who the interview is with.
The Week Ahead
- I’m planning a new blog post for later this week all about the lessons learned so far since starting out on this journey to become a full-time illustrator (didn’t get chance to write last weeks post on ‘pricing’ so have postponed it for a month or so until I gather some more resources and experience to share with you)
- Plan and complete the 2nd & 3rd illustration for the new series - watch this space for a sneak peak as I may just post some ‘work in progress’ pics on the blog throughout the week!
Despite my plans - if all goes quiet for a week or so on the blog, you’ll know that the big day has arrived and I’ll be buried under a pile of nappies 
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted one of these catch-up reviews, partly due to a heavy workload (on the design front) but also as I’ve been planning a way to earn passive income from my illustrations that I’m not quite ready to announce yet (setting up a new website specifically for this and of course, I also have to create the illustrations too!)
Watch out for a post on ‘Earning Passive Income From Your Illustrations’ in the coming weeks - and I’m not talking about stock library illustration here!
I hope you enjoyed the interview with awesome illustrator ‘Cory Godbey’ last week. I’m also working on an interview with an award winning children’s book illustrator and trying to land an interview with a well known comic book interior and cover artist too - so lot’s of good stuff to look forward to.
The week ahead
- My main aim this week (as long as my daughter doesn’t make an appearance - still got a few weeks until she is due, but you never know!!) is to plan & sketch out the series of 12 illustrations for my new passive income project.
- Write this weeks post on ‘What To Charge For Your Illustrations?’
Another week full of design and website client work has flown by leaving little time for my planned self indulgent week of sketching and experimentation.
With the limited time I had this week, I really had to make it count and so focused on outreach and other more practical aspects of launching my illustration career instead (which is what I should have been planning to do all along really anyway!).
Wow, where did the week go? This past week has been a great week for the day job, but not so great for illustration - that’s the way it goes sometimes and the bill paying work (which I’m very grateful to have) needs to take priority.
I did manage to fit in some work on the final ‘Mythical Beast’ illustration (will be adding the final touches to ‘The Medusa’ tomorrow) of the set and will be posting all of them together on the blog tomorrow as my entry for this weeks Illustration Friday topic ‘Parade’.
The Week Ahead
I read a great post on The Illustration Academy blog this week call ‘The Sketchbook Will Help Get You There’ about the importance of sketchbooks in helping illustrators to develop their own personal vision.
Developing my own personal style/vision is something I have struggled with for a long time and still do. The problem is that I enjoy working in a number of different styles and mediums, but don’t think I’ve found my own voice to bring these different methods of working together into a recognisable visual style of my own and take my work to the next level.
Take for instance James Jean or Dave McKean, these masters of their craft work in a number of styles and mediums, but you can still clearly tell that a piece of work has come from their hand.
This week, I’m going to (design & web work permitting) follow the advice from The Illustration Academy blog post and put a lot of work into my sketchbooks, have some fun and see what happens.
I’d love to hear from any other aspiring or established illustrators out there who also struggle with this constant battle of personal style or vision - please leave a comment and share your stories with everyone.
