My First Blog Post!
So the goal of my blog is to track and share progress, new techniques, new styles, projects, completing tutorials and classes. Finishing college is not the end of progression, it gives you the basic tools you need to start your journey to world domination... eh hum... reaching your career goals.
Now lets get authentic
I've been out of school for 5 years. I know what you're thinking and yeah that's a long time. I'm sure a lot of you would have given up by now, and I did. I gave up a year after graduation. I handed out over 100 resumes and only got 2 responses, one was a phone interview that went nowhere and the second was an email from EA that went straight to my spam folder. And yes I did kick myself in the ass for that one, my teacher even told us to always check your spam folder. Now here is where I hope I can help some aspiring artists from making the same mistake I did. 1 year and 100 resumes later, I gave up, now I can easily blame it on my life getting in the way, and that's what I did for the next 3 years. My childhood dog died, my then boyfriend and I had to move 5 times because of crappy rent prices and mold, he lost his job, we lost our car, our will to live etc. Woe is me yadda yadda yadda. I blamed my failures on life, my computer, my school, on the industry and especially my boyfriend, and all I got out of the blaming was anger, resentment and a loss of confidence. Here's the lesson that took me 3 years of pessimism and 2 years of counseling to learn, non of this stuff has anything to do with my art and reaching my goals.
2 years ago I re-inspired myself to reach my dreams of making pretty things and getting paid for it. This time I was 10x more dedicated and I wouldn't let life get in my way, because it really doesn't have to. My computer is still crap so I'm not expecting to get into character modelling anytime soon but I did decide to get into character designing. I didn't know much about Photoshop except where the tools were, and I wasn't going to let this get in the way either, so I started self teaching by watching tutorials and going to workshops. Now surprise surprise life was still doing the life thing and throwing shit at me from left right and center but this time I was able to keep it separate from my art. Some examples of what happened so you feel sorry for me :3 and think "wow shes strong"; My dad was diagnosed with cancer, my Opa was diagnosed with ALS, my uncle and a cousin passed away from heart attacks, my Iguana passed away, my ex wasn't working for the entire 2 years and I had 2 jobs. Life was tough, all of these events happened in less than 2 years and it did slow me down a little (a person needs time to mourn) but I was successful at keeping life and my goals separate because I was unstoppable motivated art-making machine, and still am.
Now my story isn't a success story yet, I am still on my way to that and once I reach it I'll have more goals to succeed at. One thing I forgot to focus on 5 years ago was the journey, I was so focused on my goal that I developed tunnel vision, I thought I had everything I needed to get a job and getting the job was the next step. I lacked confidence, I wasn't enjoying my art, every failure I couldn't take as an opportunity to improve instead I took it personally. Now I take no's as part of my journey to become a better artist. Life's not about being at your goal, after spending years training as an athlete you're only on that podium holding your medal for 5 minutes, maybe spending the next month signing autographs and being interviewed. Life isn't always about your success, its about the journey to get there and the people you share it with.