Success doesn't happen overnight

When people tell you that the first two years after graduation are going to be challenging, you simply smile and think to yourself: how bad can it be? But one year after graduation, I'm getting a better picture of what they were talking about. It seems hard to find that perfect niche.

So here it is, one week into my new job and I'm already looking for other ways to pursue what I really want to do with my life: and that's to make illustrations/art for a living. Unfortunately illustration work (as opposed to graphic design work) requires another job to finance expenses. I'm hoping that I can at least work on building my client base. The last thing I want is to be trapped in a minimum wage job and lose sight of the bigger picture. I want to ensure that I am moving forward toward my goal. I guess the one good thing about this job is that it has forced me to get serious about my true passion. I'm hoping that sitting down and talking over coffee with some professionals in the business will help give me some perspective, and hopefully some pointers, on how to climb the professional ladder.

On a side note, I'm happy to announce that my illustration was chosen for Winsor & Newton's new limited edition ink packaging! If you want to see more of my recent projects, be sure to like my facebook page: Vivian Gerber

Refuse to simply settle

I don't know if it's simply stubbornness or willpower, but I'd like to think that I was meant for more than just a mundane kind of life. Perhaps that's the artist in me talking. I'd love to travel the globe and follow inspiration wherever it leads me. Someone once told me that it was easier to find work within the commonwealth than it was to find work in the states. Although I have set my sights on local jobs for now, I still haven't given up on my dream of finding work in Australia or New Zealand sometime in the future.

Spreading knowledge about our profession...

I'm sitting here thinking if this post is actually worth my time – and yours too (yes I'm concerned with not wasting your time... what? You thought I was just trying to suck you into a time-wasting trap? Well... okay, maybe there's a little truth to that). Are blogs going out of style? As far as I know, I'm the only one that reads this one... which I suppose is therapeutic, and perhaps a way to track my rise to fame. Just wait and see, this will be published and sold as one of my memoirs. Yes, don't worry I can feel your eyes rolling in the back of your head... so I'll press on.

So this past week I was very excited to meet with an author about a prospective illustration job. I was thinking YES! Finally a big break. Maybe I was going to meet with publishers who had an extraordinary amount to spend on their illustration budget and they wanted ME! Okay, so maybe I should have realized that big publishers don't post ads on the Capilano IDEA-Xchange forum... but I was hopeful. There I was, face to face with a young, optimistic, first time children's author. Of course there's nothing wrong with that at all. I sort of saw a little bit of myself in her. Optimism. It's a powerful thing.

Here's where these sort of meetings could go one of two ways. It's amazing how people like to avoid talking about money. So in cases where the client's optimism leads to a belief that illustrators don't need to be paid for their concept sketches... there's a bit of a problem. That's when I get that feeling of my stomach falling into a deep pit. You know that feeling of falling? Well, I have to admit, THAT can throw off a meeting. Just try and enjoy an authentic chai tea latte with that feeling – I dare you!

I'm not saying that this meeting went that way, I'm just noticing a bit of a trend. I'm beginning to understand why my past instructors said that we would become ambassadors of our profession; and that's because apparently we (artists, illustrators, fill in the blank) are very mysterious creatures. Not a lot is known about us. Sure... there are stories, myths, and the like. I'm thinking an awareness campaign needs to be launched. Put up signs. Why not? There's signs about how to interact with bears, why not illustrators? :P Good idea?