I absolutely love your work! Your illustrations are amazing, the color, the shapes, just everything, love love love it! I'd love to work as an illustrator some day. What tools do you use to make your compositions? Do you have any tips for young people who want to grow up to be a sweeeet illustrator like you?
Asked by aaaawwyeeaah
Wow! Thanks! I usually start my pieces as thumbnails in pencil or pen that I scan and bring into Photoshop. From there I tweak the composition and re-draw digitally. I take that sketch, print it out, and use a light-box to do some stuff with brush and sumi ink on a separate piece(s) of paper. Then I scan the whole shebang again, piece it together, and color digitally. Occasionally I still use gouache for some things too (most of my much older pieces were done all in gouache and ink).
As far as tips on working professionally as a freelance illustrator:
Send out promo pieces (digitally and using mailers) regularly. Target places that do work you like or where you’d fit in best! Also everywhere else.
Take rejection in stride and always try to tighten up your problem areas.
Be aware of what’s going on with other artists and what they’re up to (stay current and be a good communicator).
Try to be a good designer as well! It can sometimes be more important than being the best at drawing (which I am not).
Always do work you’d hang on your own wall (seems like a no-brainer, but it’s easy to get caught up in drawing what and how you think you should and not really having fun).
And lastly, be lucky! All you have to do to be lucky is increase your odds by meeting lots of people and showing them lots of (hopefully) cool stuff!
