Progress

Wanted to give an update as to my progress. While I do not yet have any completed illustrations, I have made some good progress on the sketches. Below are three sketches that are fairly complete and near what the final illustration will look like, thought the "Moses" one still needs a bit of work. I would have liked to have had more done by now, but life always manages to throw some curve balls. My goal is to have it all finished by mid-March so I have time to adjust anything before I send it off for the Don Freeman Grant.

As for my other goals I listed last post, you can see that the blog still looks the same and I have not drawn every day. Still working on the confidence, but it is getting better the more I work on my illustrations. One bad habit I have is I am easily distracted, especially when it comes time to work on my illustrations. I tend to do more research than necessary, or look at others' studio spaces, or desks I would like to have (my current space does not make for the best drawing environment), etc, etc. I need a little elf next to me that throws a pencil at me when I have been online a bit too long! Anyway, I digress...

Keep checking back in the coming weeks for my next progress update.

Goals 2015

Happy New Year to you!

With every new year comes ever popular project of making resolutions—things we would like to accomplish, changes we would like to see in ourselves, changes we would like to make in our community... the list is endless. Perhaps it is the "refreshing of time" as it were that motivates us to refresh ourselves and our outlook.

This year, I am vowing not to make resolutions, but to set goals—concrete goals—that I write down on paper to accomplish by year's end. What's the difference you ask? Attitude and priority. To me resolutions are something we vocalize to ourselves and perhaps others as things we see that we would like to change about ourselves or our environment. But to my knowledge, most people do not write them down. We file them in the ever-crowded recesses of our brains with the idea that once we get started—get the gym membership, get the art supplies and paper—everything will move along by itself. The problems is that without an idea of where we want to be by year's end, or 6 months, or 5 weeks, many of us falter due to the lack of tangible results. We are, now, in this connected day and age, wired for instant gratification. And let's not forget that we are creatures of habit. It takes anywhere from a few weeks or more for a habit to form. When we don't see results in that first week, it is very easy to want to give up. And if you have not written anything down, how do you measure?

So for 2015, I have set some goals of where I want to be on December 31, 2015. Some are personal, so I'll spare you that, but as far as my illustration aspirations, the following are the goals I am working toward starting today:

• Apply for the Don Freeman Grant through the SCWBI. The requirements are 10 finished illustrations, which gives me one week each to get to 10, a do-able goal if I plan it right
• Have a contract by the end of 2015, if not sooner, to illustrate at least one book.
• Set up a portfolio website in the next 6 months (by June 1)
• Update the look of my blog in the next 2 weeks
• Draw something everyday

So there you have it. I would appreciate any encouragement and prayers as I embark on these next steps to working as a childrens illustrator. If you are a similar quest, leave me a comment so I can follow you as well.

Al the best to you this new year!