Hello Everyone...
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I just realized that I have not introduced myself yet! My name is Erin and I began SVS Learn a few weeks ago to help me on my path toward a new career as an Author and Illustrator.
I have been passionate about art and literature for as long as I can remember, and have dabbled in painting, illustration, animation, and many types of storytelling from poetry to non-fiction. I have worked for many years as a Graphic Designer and Web Developer, and as much as I have enjoyed it, I am at a point in my life where I want to pursue my true passions.
I am hoping to have a portfolio completed within the next year or so, as well as complete two children's books I have in the works. I set unrealistic deadlines to keep me on my toes
I am really looking forward to meeting all of you, and learning about your journeys!
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Hi Erin, welcome to the forums
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Hey Erin! I'm new here too, and we have very similar background and goals. I've been a graphic designer for quite a few years and it's definitely just not fulfilling anymore. It's been a great experience, and I don't think I'd be professionally ready to pursue illustration without that behind me, but I don't enjoy the corporate/marketing side of it, and it's not doing any favors for my portfolio.
I also want to take this year to really kick my illustration portfolio into gear, and I'm working on a children's book as a personal project to get the feel of illustrating someone else's story concepts and creating a layout dummy.
It's really cool that you write your own stories too! I always feel like I'm not creative enough to write, but maybe I can try to do some exercises to flex that some.
What are you hoping to improve with courses here?
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@cgordon Wow, we really do have a lot in common! I just couldn't do corporate anymore either. I do feel like it is a great base to start with, especially when it comes to marketing myself, but I feel like I have a long way to go to be where I want to be with Illustration.
With the courses here I am hoping to get better with composition and tap into my creativity - I feel like I have lost my creativity over my years in graphic design rather than gained it. I would like to improve on everything though.
It'a great to meet another writer as well, I hope you will share some of your work on the forum! The one thing I can say about writing is that it follows a similar approach to improving an illustration...refine, refine, refine. I rewrote one of my books three times (I am a better editor than writer at the moment), and now I am back at the outline stage. The good news is that my writing and idea improved immensely, and I finally have something I am really excited to finish. Just keep pushing your ideas!
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@inkandspatter Lol are you meee? Seriously the first course I did here was Will & Jake's Composition class. I feel like that's the number one thing I never really learned in school. I feel good about my technical skills, but it's putting it all together on a page to tell a story that I'm not confident.
My goal right now is to just pump out a ton of thumbnails, I think that will be a big help with refining that composition skill. I've been gathering other illustrators' art that I think has really nice composition and tracing over them at thumbnail size, separating foreground, middle ground, & background.
Well good luck with everything! The more research I do, the more graphic-designers-turned-illustrators I see, so that's a little confidence boost that it's not too late to make that change. Looking forward to seeing more of your work.
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@inkandspatter welcome to the forums. I am also a web designer/developer. Worked in the industry for 18 years now. It pays the bills and provides benefits for the family. I sometimes wish I could let it go and follow my dreams but that path has lead to a great paying job and job security. So I just continue to art at night for fun and a hobby.
