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eagle beach

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I finished this custom illustration before the holidays. A sweet husband asked me to create art of his wife with their two dogs walking in Alaska. We had met last year when I was there for the Alaska Robotics Mini Con. I absolutely loved drawing her, their dogs and the beauty of snow capped mountains.

It’d been awhile since I completed my last commission partly due to schedule and partly because I held off on them. I stopped because I felt that I needed to personally know the person to create. There’s an intimacy in drawing a custom piece. I study the person’s photos, learn about them through a friend or partner.  And a few years ago, I wasn’t comfortable with the level of pressure that I placed upon myself when completing that task.

Now, I’m aware that my growth as an artist allows me to create these pieces with ease. Creating custom art is joyful and exciting. I learn about people, their love for each other and get a rare glimpse into their lives. It feels like I’m learning to love them through each email, photo and line I draw. Every sketch, painting, comic or illustration teaches me. Sometimes it’s technical – about anatomy or value. Sometimes it’s a challenge to draw an animal or environment I’ve never drawn before. In the case of commissions, it teaches me again and again that love is everywhere. In a photo, a story or in a drawing.

I hope you have a lovely week.

alaskan adventure

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I am off to Alaska on Friday for a mini-con and camping with cartoonists! I’m nervously excited. If you’re in Juneau, please come by!

the flow

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An artist career is one that cannot be charted or replicated – it has its own flow. As I sat down to draw today I remembered deciding years ago to reduce my daily drawings to weekly. I was nervous that it would impact my income and that I would lose the audience I had worked so hard to build. Stopping was necessary though – I needed to complete Pashmina.

I went from producing a finished illustration 4-5 times a week to once a week. I posted older images to keep connecting with people, but as Pashmina took my focus I reduced those posts as well. Now I find myself unconcerned with this irregularity. My career has flowed into new territory.

No longer do I attempt to create daily illustrations – often times I sacrificed the quality of the image for quantity. Pashmina is done and I’ve begun thumbnailing my second book, Jukebox. It demands my focus as well. I may not be creating illustrations every day, but I am creating daily. The opportunity to create longer narratives – to make books – is one I’ve dreamt of since I was little. Both disciplines are worthwhile – but for now, my heart is in comics. I will be traveling throughout the year to promote Pashmina – in April I’ll be at the Cleveland Museum of Art and in Juneau for the Alaska Mini Con. The opportunities to create illustrations in addition to my other projects and travel will be minimal.

But somedays, like today, I miss my daily drawings. So I stop. I draw. And I continue to follow the flow.