This first scan is of some sketches I did on my very first day of work in 2013. I had no idea what I was doing.
As a designer, we are taught to display our best work only--to market the best side of yourself. But a mentor and employer of mine encouraged me to pursue personal artwork with vigor, or risk burning out my creative drive professionally. The legendary dancer and choreographer Martha Graham gave this advice:
It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. … No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.
I experience that Great Discontent daily. Here are some of the pieces I've been working on in the past six months:
This is a piece I intend to print; the gradient is a learning-subject-in-progress.
An illustration I used for a wallpaper. If you like it you can download it here: Download
I'm working on finding my own illustration style, and I enjoy sketching out my intended subject before digitizing it. The following is a WIP.
