I recently took my site down in order to redesign it. I’m still drawing concept sketches for the next design, but wanted to take it down anyway. It gives me a reason to test simple designs out in order to keep me coding.
For the time being, since I don’t have a gallery on my site, I joined an art community called Cargo Collective. You can see my Cargo site here (it’s a work in progress). I was introduced to Cargo by Seth, who’s my pet designer. I’ve surfed Cargo many a time looking at some of the great artwork. I wanted a place to showcase new, exploratory work. If you visit my samples at Coroflot, you’ll find more “commercial”, and “safe” work.
I’ve been wanting to do work that isn’t necessarily “safe” or falls within the confines of corporate work. I’ve noticed the older I get, the less I care about conforming to the rest of the world (artistically speaking).
Don’t get me wrong, I love nice, clean, corporate design. It just gets stale after a bit. I like to keep myself fresh, and challenge myself as much as possible. Lately I’ve also been stepping out of my comfort zone in order to push myself, which I love doing.
After reading The Creative Habit, I have changed how I approach illustration, and creativity altogether.
My biggest mistake was chasing money. Chasing that “million dollar” dream. It’s horseshit! It takes away the enjoyment I got from the process. I was always thinking “is this piece going to make me lots of money?” or “I need to come up with an idea that’s going to make tons of money.” Talk about absolute crap.
If you have a passion, that you are absolutely in love with and you are lucky enough to do what you love for money, be careful you don’t get sucked down by the greenback or how you approach your work. Because you can easily go from enjoying what you do, to being a slave for it. If money is the main goal, you’ve lost your way. Do what you love, because you love it.
I’m done chasing money with illustration. I was losing my love for it. It was becoming a chore. The constant pressure to create “that perfect piece” that was going to call the attention of some rich corporation/person, and make me rich was unbearable. Unrealistic.
If I make money, great. If I don’t, who cares. As long as I get to enjoy my talent.
I have a day job that I enjoy, so I’m very lucky in that aspect. I wanted to have it all. Found out it’s just too much work. I have a family that I don’t want to miss out on. My daughter is only 2 once. And if I savor every moment, even though time flies by, I’ll be able to hold on to those precious times by way of memories.
Plus the fact that my daughter is a great source of inspiration. Which makes me enjoy the work she inspires even more. And eventually she’ll enjoy the work I do, which will be more than enough reason for me to continue doing what I do.
