Where are you from and what projects are you busy with?

[smceccarelli]

@Brad It depends in which direction you want to go...I mean, Maya alone takes about 2-3 years to master, and normally people who work in Maya are not focussing on drawing and design that much - they focus on modelling and/or rigging-animating designs from others (each of this items is a separate specialisation, by the way, if you want to do it at industry-level). You may want to check out Gnomon - a pretty renowned online school for VFX https://www.gnomon.edu
I learned ZBrush, which is a pretty intuitive modelling software, and I use it sometimes for illustration work. Again, if I wanted to do professional modelling, I would have to focus a lot more on that and stop drawing and painting that much
The SVS courses are really good overall, and there are really good courses on design principles here. I use Digital Tutors a lot - they have courses for Maya, ZBrush as well as Photoshop and a lot of other software - more on technical skills than design skills though. Schoolism.com has a varied offering too, that you may want to check out - but I feel it is a bit disjointed overall, and some of the courses are not that useful (but some, again, are awesome, like the ones run by Sam Nielson).
Hope it helps!

[QuietYell]

@smceccarelli yeah! I totally echo the ones by Sam Nielson! Great stuff!

[evilrobot]

And I'll be the third one to say Sam Nielson's classes are amazing. He really explains how light works and why it effects colors the way it does. But also I'll say I didn't get a lot out of many of the other classes on there. The money I spent for the full year subscription was worth what I got out of Sam's classes though. I'll also echo that Zbrush is pretty easy to learn. I took this gumroad tutorial and the next one after and was able to learn the program really well and make this image in around two weeks but it may have been a waste of money for me because I'm really more into illustrating..

[Eric Castleman]

Welcome, Brad!!!

My name is Eric, and I live in Southern California. I am currently a stay at home Dad, and am working towards getting into Children's literature as an illustrator. It has been my dream for a long time, and I finally decided to completely focus on getting as good as I can. I am currently working on September's 3rd Thursday, as well as working on a comic strip for a pest control company (I know, weird).

[Brad]

@Eric-Castleman Awesome! Thanks for posting and the welcome!

[Brad]

@smceccarelli This is such helpful information, thank you! I have been wondering about whether Maya would be beneficial if I wanted to focus on doing more drawing and design based work and this has really addressed that concern. Will definitely look into Schoolism, looks like some great material there!

[Brad]

@evilrobot This looks so good! Thanks for the help, will definitely check out Sam Nielson's stuff!

[Camomilla]

Welcome, Brad My name is Cathrine, and I'm from (and currently living in) Norway. I work full time as a graphic designer, and see myself doing this at least for the foreseeable future. But I love art, and I have this urge to draw and create (I believe Will Terry called it "the creative itch"). Now that my children are older and more independent, I feel I'm in a good place to explore this side of me more. And it's really enjoyable (and very frustrating at times). Hopefully I will reach a skill-level where I can do the occasional freelance assignment, as well as creating personal work

[lmrush]

Hi Brad my name is Lisa. I was a Neonatal Intensive Care Nurse, but I am a stay at home mom now to my 16 and 2 year old, I have been focusing on my portfolio for children's book illustration, I came across SVS and felt like I had won the lottery! I recently switched to childrensillustrators.com to advertise and was hired by an author to do a self publish book on createspace so I am working on that now. Welcome!

[Brad]

@lmrush Hi Lisa thanks for sharing! Sounds exciting!

[Brad]

@Camomilla Hi Cathrine thanks for sharing!

[drawingmelee]

Hi everyone! My name is Jennifer, and I live in Belgium. I work full time as a (web)developer. At the moment I'm following a two year evening class to become a graphic designer and in my spare time I love to draw (traditional and photoshop). I also love to make figures with clay and I dabble a bit in ZBrush. I'm always trying to learn something new, so I follow lots of courses online.

[Brad]

@drawingmelee Hi Jennifer sounds great! What other online courses are you following?

[drawingmelee]

@Brad Schoolism: how to draw gesture and CGMA: anatomy of clothing. I'm also registered for the 3D course artistic anatomy on mold3Dacademy in the autumn.

[ZackracK]

Hi @Brad,

I'm from Pennsylvania and work full time as a Multimedia Specialist at Penn State University (designing graphics and software interactions for online trainings). Most of my time away from work is dedicated to a 1-yr old and now 3 week old...but when I do find some free time late at night, I am trying to improve my drawing skills here through SVS, as well as building lamps and other décor items that I sell at a local café (and on my website). Check them out- always interested in comments/ suggestions!

[Camomilla]

@ZackracK Love your lamps! And the fact that you find inspiration in used items others would consider junk

[ZackracK]

@Camomilla Thanks!

[Doha]

Hello, everyone!
My name is Doha Koma, I live in Brampton, ON, CA.
I used to be an interior architect but a few years ago I decided to follow a career in art.
For the last two years, I was working as a freelance fashion illustrator using watercolors & gouache.
Last month I decided to start working digitally, that was when I discovered concept art and character design, and I instantly fell in love with this new domain.
Ever since then, I abandoned all my old fashion projects, I registered with SVS and I started practicing character design and digital painting.
My new goal now is to create a consistent professional portfolio as a concept artist and character designer.

[DanetteDraws]

@Doha Hello fellow Ontarian! I actually now live in BC (for over 7 years now) but I'm originally from Waterloo. I'm wondering if you went to school for fashion design? How'd you get freelance work in fashion illustration (who were your clients if you don't mind me asking)? Do you have a portfolio online? I'd love to take a peek!

I went to Seneca college (in the greater Toronto ON area) for fashion design, a 3-year program. All I could find out of school was technical jobs (which I wasn't into - I was just into the illustration/actual design part of it!) so I never worked in the industry. 5 years ago I went back to school for graphic design instead, and have been working full-time in it since. There's parts of graphic design that I enjoy (and certainly I'll be utilizing my knowledge and skills in it for a lifetime - if nothing else but to brand myself) but working full-time in it I'm finding to be a bit soul-sucking. I've taken online children's book illustration courses for about 5 years now as well (London Art College, SVS Learn, Children's Book Academy).

I feel like I've had way too many "careers" now for someone who's "only" 33 haha But I'm really passionate about kidlit and I feel like that's finally where I'll land - once I start getting contracts that is

Right now I'm writing a middle grade graphic novel. I'll be doing a few sample illustration pages from it as well which I'll shop around when ready. @Chip-Valecek Ahhhh! You must be entering the exact contest I was so excited about...UNTIL I learned that only Americans are invited to participate. I'm pretty choked about that actually. Graphix is one of my favourite imprints too - I have so many of their graphic novels.

Hi @Brad! Thanks for starting this thread Always fun to hear about everyone.

[Doha]

@DanetteDraws
Hi Danette! It's nice to hear from a fellow Canadian!
wow! that is impressive! I just saw your website, I love your work.

Actually, I didn't study arts in University but it was a passion of mine all my life.
I studied interior design (3 yrs), then I got a master's in interior architecture (2 yrs). I worked in the industry for 6 years, but like you said I felt I was spending most of my time on sites and doing technical plans than working on the designs.
when I moved to Canada 5 years ago (I'm originally from Lebanon), I felt it was the best time to pursue a career in art.
My fashion illustrations were always custom orders for privet collectors, I didn't work with agencies. I had my personal work too that I sold online, you can see some of it here if you like. (komaart.net)
Best of luck with your competitions!
It was nice hearing from you!