3 takeaways from illustration coaching and free co-working sign up 🔗
Fuzzy to less fuzzy
Hi, I’m Libby. I’m trying to find my feet in the world of illustration. I’ve done a load of research and I’m sharing it here, along with my progess on how my illustration journey’s going. I’m so glad you could join me on this bumpy ride!
Hello!
This week I had my first ever ‘illustration coaching’ call.
I’d been considering coaching and had my eye on a few coaches before choosing Tom Froese.
I’m part of Tom’s Patreon so felt comfortable choosing him for this session.
I was looking for someone who understands the industry and could help me navigate a bit of overwhelm that I’ve been feeling over the last few weeks.
I also appreciate Tom’s illustration style and his ability to create playful conceptual illustrations which he guides us through in his Patreon sessions.
Tom also hosts a great podcast and interviews some heavyweights in the illustration industry.
Digital Drawing Co-working - Tuesday 12th November.
Tom touched on how engaging in community is key when starting out and that’s why I’ve enjoyed
and I’s coworking sessions so much.It’s a very small handful of people (usually different each time.)
We take 30 min to work on our own projects quietly, then continue with another chattier 30 min, talking about what we’re struggling to figure out when it comes to digital illustration or just what we’re up to at the moment.
If that sounds like something you’re interested in, sign up for our free session here.
So a little bit about why I felt I needed coaching….
The think overwhelm I was feeling was from trying so many things and starting to feel a bit lost in it all.
I was feeling like I wasn’t sure what I was doing anymore.
I wasn’t sure which path to take with all the options in front of me.
I needed someone to shine a light on the things I felt I could see but were out of focus.
So we had a 1hr coaching call.
Tom sends questions over in advance which helped shaped the discussion.
My 3 Takeaways
Human-to-human conversation heals the soul.
My tech wasn’t working so I needed to take the call on my phone. My battery was dying at one point. I was a bit dishevelled and I could have presented myself a little more professionally.
Tom had read my website bio and I somehow feel I never live up to it in person.
These afterthoughts aside, it was a great conversation and much-needed.
It’s like my brain has had the on / off switch pressed and things have reset and have become a lot clearer.
Talking to someone about your work/practice/goals is extremely helpful to work through challenges.
I think we all need it on a regular basis and we can easily get lost in an alternate digital reality sometimes.
So I’d encourage everyone to talk… to real people about your journey.
Go a bit deeper, on one or two things.
With the courses I’ve been taking, I’ve had the amazing opportunity to try different aspects of the illustration industry.
I’ve now tried a bit of editorial, packaging design, branding, children’s book illustration, educational, stickers, maps, lettering, poster design, comics, licensing… not to mention sketching challenges, life drawing, urban sketching, the list goes on.
I’m exhausted reading this list as I’m sure you are.
I think this is where the overwhelm started.
Coupled with big things happening in real life outside illustration, the wheels of the bus had started to loosen.
So chatting with Tom, I realised I need to choose 1 or 2 things to focus on.
The 2 things I’m choosing are as follows:
Non-fiction children’s book. I’m halfway through a course on this and getting awesome 1:1 feedback from Owen Davey and I would like to make it my main focus while the feedback is fresh.
Greetings card design. I’ve set myself a brief already so I’m going to push forward with this and aim for 1 card design per day for 5 days as a kick-start next week. I’ll be sharing my work on IG if you want to follow along.
No more working on MYM bootcamp briefs. I’ve just finished a big one and the others can wait.
No illustrating for Instagram. I don’t do this much but the platform sucks me in sometimes.
2 focus areas.
Let’s see how I get on with them for the rest of 2024 (that’s 7 weeks btw.)
Enjoy creating. My portfolio can wait.
I talked a little about sometimes feeling like I lose my creativity when presented with a brief. I think this is down to current comfort level and experience.
I think working to briefs is key to building your portfolio but it’s important I leave time to develop my style.
Not in pursuit of a style but naturally, to develop more as an illustrator.
Illustrating in a comfortable safe space for a while, without the pressure of the pieces being portfolio perfect.
So with my 2 focus areas set, the aim is to work on them without feeling the need to feed my portfolio.
The work is for me to explore.
Period.
Have you had illustration coaching? Can you recommend other coaches? Let me know by reply or in the comments!
On that note, I better get back to my focuses…
Sending you all my thoughts in these difficult times around the world.
Lots of reflections on lots of issues this week.
Stay safe, stay warm and thank you for reading!
(Maybe see you on Tuesday)
Libby
Also, I have had calls with a variety of people (illustrators, agents, art directors) and they have all provided some useful tidbits, BUT... they have also almost always called me to pivot away from my existing focus or plans, whether that's making me go down a different route with my portfolio, or running off to take a course in a whole adjacent area. Sometimes from their advice and sometimes because I'm running away from their advice!
So, I would say, don't jump too quickly to getting someone else to coach you. Stick with Tom's advise for a fixed amount of time, before seeking any more out.
I can definitely relate! I have been doing this for years - I get good enough at something to start getting cloent work and then almost immediately pivot to a new focus. It's like I have an illustration bucket list and *need* to tick them *all* off.
I am trying very very hard to focus on a particular niche (lifestyle illustration, particularly sub-focusing rooms and food, with a side order of hand lettering). I feel the side order can work because it's frequently useful alongside the illustration pieces.
I am trying to satisfy my desire for variety within this niche, by digging deeper and trying to talk myself out of going off on tangents. But it's hard! I am also allowing myself to explore more than one market within this, which hopefully will help provide balance and variety. (I will judge potential client work case by case, but am hoping that most client work will at least tangentially fit within this focus.)
I think I need to commit until the end of next year and not let FOMO or whatever take me away from it.
But I am still getting jittery about whether I have picked 'the wrong' niche and whether I should be focusing on something different over the next year instead.
Good luck with your niching down!!