Three years ago I restarted my illustration journey. I’d taken a break due to life and other things.
It’s been a lot of fun and I’ve learnt so much over that time. Sometimes it’s good to look back and see just how far we’ve come.
Tonight I scrolled back to the first idea I had for illustrated tutorials. Recycling a single-use coffee cup. It’s ironic, because I’m still an offender of using these. Come on mate, be better 🤣✨
I’m still enjoying it and have a plan to revamp it all into more of a story format. Things to come.
Some of the lessons I’ve had along the way:
✨ Just start – you’re not going anywhere until you start. Just get moving and see what happens. You learn by doing.
✨Your style takes time – you’ll figure it out. As you create and try new things, you’ll figure out what works and what doesn’t.
✨Be clear on your purpose – if you don’t know why you’re creating, play around until you have some idea. When you find your purpose, you’re gonna speed right up because your direction is clear.
✨It’s not all gonna be great. You’re not gonna love everything you make. That’s life. But something made is better than not at all. You learn things by trying and creating what you’re not happy with.
✨Be brave. Publish some of those things you’re not happy with. People sometimes connect with the most unexpected things. Those surprises are also lessons.
✨Try the scary things.
Experiment, sometimes in those tough moments, you find the direction you’ve been searching for.
✨Remake your stuff. One thing that’s so cool about the social platforms is, you can just recut your work. Remake it. If you’re not happy, or have a new idea, remake it and unpublished the old work.
✨Screw the like count. Sometimes just creating for you reveals some magic.
For now, I’m enjoying what I’m doing and I get lots of great feedback so let’s keep going. Stories though, are my next exciting step forward. Can’t wait.
