Lately I felt inspired to start a blog about how to become an illustrator and an artist (aka answer to your calling and lead a more fulfilled life). I finally was able to take the right steps towards some goals that I set years ago and that felt worth of sharing. The reason for my procrastination was simple — I did not know where to start and how to get where I wanted. I remember googling “how to become an illustrator” and finding a lot of stories of succes. All of them suggested pretty simple steps: paint every day (ha!) and then promote yourself.
I tried many steps but they did not work out for variety of reasons, such as:
I was playing around with watercolors but couldn’t achieve the mastery I was aiming for. Painting with watercolors was hard! That didn’t allow me to finish my illustrations and kept me in the endless loop of trying to improve. No wonder I couldn’t finish any of my illustrations, not to mention offer them for sale.
I kept trying different colors but couldn’t figure out how to make them work together. Everything felt too disjointed. I did not realize that I need to rethink how I approach color.
I thought that I should be able to sit at the desk and start creating momentarily. I don’t know where this idea came from but it was not serving me at all. Whenever I had a minute, I would rush to my desk and stare at the blank page, trying to come up with the idea. One hour later I would still be either staring at the blank page of my sketchbook or unfinished and disappointing illustration.
I didn’t have much time and when I had an opportunity to paint, I always felt I need to rush and use that time and that would stress me out. So naturally I did not want to do that and chose to read instead or look at other artists’ work (and envy them silently).
One day I came across a portfolio website of an illustrator who was using gouache, and all of a sudden I’ve decided to give it a try. And that was a game changer for me! Gouache felt so much easier for me, I was surprised I did not arrive there sooner.
Below are some realizations that helped me to get my foot off the ground:
Start with what is easy to draw. Yes, pushing yourself is important but not when it feels overwhelming! Watercolors felt very difficult for me, and my interaction with the medium became more stressful than exciting. It was holding me back from achieving the goal I set for me - such as to create beautiful prints and set up my Etsy shop.
Not everyone has the same amount of time. Yes, we all heard that saying about 24 hours in a day… but realistically a mother with a full-time job has a different amount of time than a single person with a full-time job, or a married person with no job. Everyone’s circumstances are different. So I stopped beating myself up for not “making time” for my art. Realistically I had very very little time for my art, so I had to be very efficient with that little time.
You can streamline your creative process! The trick that I learned from my endless internet search is to think about the color scheme before you start your illustration. I always thought that I should be able to just pick any colors and make them work. Why? Because everything should come easy to a genius. Not sure. But one tip I read online was to use swatches. Creating swatches and then selecting the colors that work together is the great way to be efficient with the time you have. Although sometimes I have to rethink the color palette that I originally selected, but that’s an easy fix — gouache is a flexible medium that allows you to paint over!
Limited color palette. I created some illustrations with watercolors, but somehow they were all in the red and orange palette. And that could be fine if that was my intention. But I mostly went with my gut and it didn't work for me. So chose few colors, experiment and finally you will end up with the color palette that feels truly yours.
Think before you start drawing. Thinking about what you want to draw, researching the references, and selecting colors are important steps and should precede the process of painting. I did not rush, and the result was great.