As if it needs to be said one more time, 2020 has been a rough one. For me, it’s also been a year of growth, specifically related to finding my creative and artistic side again. And I’m happy to say that’s been a smashing success.

In addition to starting my journey in watercolor and gouache and learning the technical aspects of working with those mediums, I also started a formal (online) certificate program in illustration and print design. I’m hoping at some point to get a second graduate degree in illustration (because I seriously love formal learning environments), I but for now, a low pressure, easy-to-maintain (but well paced) certificate program is the way to go.

This semester I took drawing and Photoshop courses. While the drawing course was extremely technical and almost felt like a drafting class at times and I enjoyed it, I don’t feel like many of the pieces are portfolio worthy, or even worth sharing at all because they are kind of bland, technical pieces. But the Photoshop course allowed me to dust off some really rusty PS skills, refresh my creativity, and design some cool things.

The course gave us specific concepts to work within along with creative briefs so it wasn’t quite as open-ended as when I was working on my graduate degree, but it also helped me focus on improving digital art skills.

I included three of my favorite pieces from the semester.

1. Charleston Travel Poster - After a bunch of revisions, I’m mostly happy with this with the exception of the shell on the beach. I’d like to get a picture of the Folly Beach Boat and put it there instead.

2. The Little Prince book cover - I’m most pleased with this one overall. I used a combination of analog (watercolor, gouache, acrylic, and Stickles glitter glue) for the background and digital art to create the rest.

3. Multiplicity “Creeping Dinosaur, Skipping Unicorn” - My son was also my muse and the “prince” in the image. He was my muse for my multiplicity project as well. In a future revision, I’d like to take this on into Procreate and add some cool, kid-like doodles to it (and I’d remove the rain effect for that to make it brighter/happier).

Without question, design and art is where I need to be (and I’m so, so, so happy to be in this program and to have a job in the product and visual design field). Between this class and some of the things my team and I worked on at work this past year, I’m feeling like the creative beast has finally been reawakened and I feel like I’m bursting with ideas. Maybe I’ll also get this blog back in gear at some point, too.