Sunday, May 11, 2014

Pinch me!

So this time last year I was on the path to being a children's book illustrator.

I found out that's not the direction I should be going in right now. It might happen later but for the time being, I'm working on editorial type illustrations and just having fun with all of it.

I draw or create art every day but the amount of pressure has been lifted.

I went into the children's book world because every one told me that my work looked like it would be a good fit.

Well great.

However, that didn't necessarily mean I would be a good fit for the children's book world.

I create from the heart as all artists do but the work that I was doing was empty. It didn't have my passion or my love in it which meant the drawings came out lifeless and dull.

Lifeless and dull is not me.

I tried it. I didn't like it. It's okay.

After that I took a long look at how far my art skill had progressed since before graduation and after.

I've come a long way.

I'm an illustrator. I'm a designer. I'm an artist. All of this is true.

The question I always find myself asking is where do I belong? Do I belong anywhere? I stopped putting pressure on myself to create and just started having fun with it again.

What happened was amazing.

Me being the fearless person I am, I took a risk. I started looking for work that I could do to fuel my artistic hunger. I didn't know where this would take me and I didn't know what exactly I was looking for but I knew it was out there.

What I found was freedom.

I am now a graphic designer for a real estate company where I get to create marketing postcards. They wanted someone artistic, creative, and someone that thinks outside the box.

That's perfect!!

I can't tell you how refreshing it is to be able to have the artistic freedom to create ideas from scratch. I get to put my unique creative talents to work and they get fresh new ideas that no one has ever seen!!

Pinch me!