I’m back!

Well it’s been a long while since my last post- the blog has been on a bit of a hiatus over the last few months.

What could possibly be more important than updating this solid gold journal of artistic genius I hear you ask? Well at the start of this year I realised I’d spent around a year/a year-and-a-half trying to find ways to make a living from making artwork.

I tried a lot of different things. I taught myself how to create this website and started learning about online marketing. I studied some of a Small Business course. I wrote and started teaching a Cartooning course. I said “yes” to every public art opportunity that came my way. I entered negotiations with clients for mural work. I tried setting up an online shop, I tried setting up a stall at the markets, I tried applying to illustration agencies, and so on.

Ultimately, although I made a little money here and there, I had to accept that I wasn’t able to carve out a living from my work just yet. I decided to enrol in the Certificate IV Training & Assessment course to teach at TAFE (college level teaching) and did so… just before the State Government announced major cutbacks to TAFE funding severely reducing my chances of finding work as an art teacher in the TAFE system.

My choices seemed pretty clear at that point- go back to full time work probably in a field unrelated to art, or find a way to further my art career, increase my job opportunities AND increase my creative output even more. I decided to enrol in a Design course. As it turned out, I was able to bypass the general Graphic Design part of the course (1 year) and enrol straight into the Illustration major.

Technically I will graduate with a Diploma of Graphic Design (Illustration) or an Advanced Diploma if I continue on for a 2nd year.

My intention is to make the best work I possibly can and push myself creatively as much as I can for as many projects as I can. As much as I can, I want to treat each assignment as a professional project with a professional level of quality. Or else, to treat each assignment as a way to try something I’ve never done and learn something new.

So, since I enrolled in the course I have essentially been making artwork of some form every single day. It’s starting to pile up. Of course some of it is just sketches and general observational drawing but most of it has been work towards finished (or at least submission quality) pieces. Some pieces I’m really happy with, others not so much. Among other things I won first place in the IKEA Sealight Exhibition for my category (Illustration) which I will post about soon.

Over the next few weeks I’m planning to update the blog regularly showing some of the new work- sketches, finished pieces and maybe some process pieces. I’m also hoping to review some of the new art books and graphic novels I’ve been reading as I build up my library for inspiration, for teaching and for my own learning.

It’s good to be back!