I guess it goes without saying that it’s been a terrible terrible year. Amidst all this turmoil however, books shone through the darkness like a beacon of hope. For many including myself, they offered me comfort, respite and some form of distraction, at least for a little while. Many people quarantined in their homes for weeks and months held onto stories like drowning people holding onto the…
12 Pieces from 2015. In retrospect, I actually made quite a bit of work in 2015. I think it has been one of my best and most productive years in art, and I think the year I grew the most. This doesn’t include any work from the semester I graduated, just personal work and one killed job. Heres to 2016 and hopefully toping this!
Pretty belated, but I haven’t done one of these for 2020 so here it is!
Some personal notes:
1.) i barely did any art in january, february, march, and june– especially june, where i only had like 3 sketches
2.) i used photoshop until april, where i got clip studio paint. that’s why the brushes are different (i really like the graphic pencil). it’s the first time i really committed to a program other than photoshop and we’re talking like… over a decade of using photoshop here whew
3.) i got my cintiq tablet in august, so my artwork became much bigger then. it was def worth saving up for
4.) surprisingly there’s quite a bit of sdv art, i felt like i didn’t do as much in 2020
5.) i think i have more “complete” works in 2020 and used backgrounds more often– i’m hoping to increase this in 2021 also!
It’s that time of year again, 2018 is wrapping up and I’m here to write an insight into how my year went. Summary; a lot of ups and downs that have made me a better person.
Now to be honest, I only really accomplished half of these, one is in the works and another was frankly a joke;
- I got a new job! After working in food service for over a year and a half I got a job working as a Supervisor at a well known health and beauty retailer. Besides illustration I love makeup and skincare, so I was chuffed when I was offered the job. My hours are more regular and it’s contracted, a blessing.
- Now this year was my year for freelance; straight at the beginning of the year I got my work on the front cover of The Portland Mercury and Counterpoint Magazine. I later was commissioned through PPC to help illustrate a map by the American Alliance of Museums of the Downtown metropolitan area of Phoenix. I was commissioned to illustrate several page spreads for Standart Magazine. Around the summer I was commissioned by The Skinny, SCOOP Magazine, Brio magazine and surprisingly The Daily Telegraph! (not once, but twice!) and from September onwards I’ve become regularly commissioned by Shield GEO Services to illustrate articles for their online blog and newsletter.
- I’m still living at home with my parents, but fingers crossed by next Christmas I will have a place with my other half.
- I failed miserably at this last aim, I’ve been overworked and exhausted and never given myself time off to recover. It’s been a busy year both in freelance and my day job, and I’m glad of how far I’ve come in just a handful of months, but ya girl has had to take some well needed time off over the holidays to feel like a human again. Hopefully by 2019 I will feel a lot more refreshed!
(A few images of the commissioned pieces I’ve made for clients).
Professionally my year has been great, a lot of growth. But mentally I’ve dealt with a lot; in January I lost one of my dogs unexpectedly - we knew for a while her time was coming to an end but the decision to let her finally go was last minute. Luckily I’ve never had to deal with loss so close to home in the 23 years I’ve lived. It hurt a lot as expected. In July it was the opposite and I lost another, and it hurt like a bitch knowing for a full damn week when her time was coming to an end.
On a more lighter note, because we lost two it meant our last dog was alone, and she hadn’t been on her own since the day we took her in. A few days after we got another doggo, Ben - or Ben Kenobi as I call him as we figured out he was born on the 4th May. He’s a handful, currently 8 months old and is bigger than our 5 year old. But he’s helped, a lot.
(From top left, Lassie, Ben, Patch and Bess, my kids).
On a more positive note, I made a big discovery this year and that was the Apple Pencil. In August I gave in and bought myself an upgraded Ipad (not a pro, just the latest 2018 edition) and the pencil. I was weary at first, didn’t know what to think when other creatives were raving about it. But now I can’t be without it. I use it now for all of my rough work because it allows me to be wherever I want to be. I could be sat on the sofa after being at work all day, chilling with a cuppa and sketching out ideas for a client. Best thing I’ve ever bought.
A Top nine post for my Instagram, and 7/9 of these were all done on the ipad! Crazy!
Goals for 2019;
- Keep grabbing those freelance gigs, work hard and keep experimenting!
- Have my own place where I can separate my job from the bedroom.
oh tumblr, you always get special treatment, you got two other background colours cause i couldn’t decide which one i liked most
i present to you,,
my most liked post of 2021✨
thank you thank you thank you for the support this year. i’ve never felt it as much as these 12 months. it’s been a big year for my growth, not only artistically but also personally, and luckily they’ve both been hand in hand. from mark seeing my post, to reaching 100 followers, to having a drawing of mine reach 800 notes???? that’s crazy. unthinkable even now. i can’t thank you enough. let’s hope 2022 is this great as well
