4 Comments

Hey Libby, congrats on everything you achieved this month, whether it's technical, creative or illustration progress! You're doing great, especially since you're tackling multiple subjects at once :)

A few insights if I may:

- it's great to experiment with different softwares/tech options. As you may have seen while doing your research there are a lot of different opinions, I guess it depends on who you're talking to and which software they started learning with. I'm an Adobe Illustrator guy as I've used it since 2002 and I don't have an iPad so I can't see myself using any other software, but I know many people have switched to Affinity and they love it! As I'm more comfortable with a mouse in my hand than a pencil, I couldn't switch to Procreate, but same goes here, I know some illustrators use it exclusively. I guess the best thing to do is actually what you did, try the different options and see which one you're more comfortable with and what suits you best in terms of setup. You don't have to do as other illustrators do, they key is to not feel frustrated/limited with the option you choose and you're happy with the rendering.

- All the courses/workshops/talks you've attended are great to help you develop your creativity and get insights from experienced illustrators on their thinking process. I'm still taking some of them but the hard part when you start getting commissions is to take the time to actually do the "homework", but it's always rewarding to do so, and getting out of your comfort zone can never be a bad thing

- Back to your map, I love your landmarks illustrations and the small details you've put into them (LOVE those graffiti on the upper left illustration). And you're right, illustrated maps are made of smaller illustrations and then it's mostly composition. I know some illustrators, for example, rarely grant exclusive rights to their clients, so that they can re-use some elements they've created for other projects (like a character, some vegetation, etc.). What's complex with your project, is that you're also doing the research and concept additionally to drawing the map. In most cases, the clients come to you with a list of points of interests, itineraries, key roads, etc. they want to show on the map. But then doing everything all at once as you do is giving you an overview of how an illustrated map is developed and it will help you ask the right questions to your clients when you'll get paid to create their maps (if this is something you'd like to do of course). So congrats again on taking on this "believable" brief and staying motivated with it!

Enjoy the journey and feel free to reach out if you have any questions. Cheers!

Expand full comment

Thanks Greg! Really great feedback and helpful for all of us who are starting out. I’m enjoying the journey even though this month has been particularly tricky ☺️

Expand full comment

You’re really rocking and rolling and it’s so inspiring! 👏😻

Expand full comment

Thank you Beth! I’m only just climbing out of my shell after blog posting overwhelm 😬

Expand full comment