New years goals 2023

Jean Watson

Love some of these goals. Best of luck everyone. Mine reflect the newness of my journey after a long break. So here goes:

Work my way through SVS Learn's Foundations Curriculum - aim is to complete it.
Enter monthly illustration contests of some description (was going to be Critique Arena!)
work on/start thinking about my own children's picture book/s.
Start posting to my instagram account
Keep my focus on learning

ArtistErin

These are all awesome goals you guys... I'll add to the convo:

Finish portfolio
Continue working through the rest of SVS classes, enter more contests (SVS, SCWBI, 3x3) as well as finish my Nucly tutorials
Develop rapport and relationships with art directors/publishers
Keep learning Instagram- LinkedIn- Facebook

My style is slowly getting there. I have to keep my shiny object syndrome under control. Funny how that is a wily beast, the one that wants to do all the things and before I know it I have a hundred million projects and notes in my to-do folder!

Michael Angelo Go

My 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027.... 2098, 2099... Long-Term, New Year Goals:

Get a well-paying day job with a work-life balance
Eat healthier and get a beach body
Got to the gym and my three favorite martial arts schools frequently
Make sure I am cancer-free and gain control over my medical condition
Study the politics of the animation industry and maybe get a Master's Degree
Take online classes in architecture, animation, architecture and animation programs, anatomy, storytelling, and writing
Improve my architecture portfolio
Improve my illustration portfolio
Figure out if I really want to work with children's books, ya or comic books or all trades
Get my life sorted, because this is really a mess y'all.

Extra goal: Get rid of all my student loans.

kirsten-mcg

@MarcRobinson Awesome goals, Marc! I'm rooting for you!

kirsten-mcg

@AngelinaKizz This would be an awesome project! I'm sure you would learn so much from it. And you're right, search and finds are so much fun, but there's just not enough of them!

kirsten-mcg

@AngelinaKizz Thanks for starting us on sharing! I think it really helps with goals to put them out there for everyone to see. My goals for 2023 are:

Create a finished book dummy for a story that I've written (I'm enrolled in Children's Book Pro, and I'm also working with my agent on a manuscript, so I should definitely meet this one!)
Have work that is in the works to get published by the end of the year.

geekinm

I have been working on the fundamentals of drawing in 2022. In 2023 I am working on colouring and composition.

I also want to be less shy / worried about posting illustrations. I started early by joining the December studio post!

Jean Watson

@kirsten-mcg Is that the CB Pro in Feb 23? I did the most recent one. Brilliant course!!

kirsten-mcg

@Jean-Watson yes! I'm happy to hear that it was helpful for you! I'm super excited.

ArtMelC

@AngelinaKizz thank you for starting the conversation. Love all of your goals, especially making look-and-find book for your own kids

These are my 2023 goals:

Revamp my website to be more kidlit focused and easy to navigate
11 new kidlit portfolio pieces
Cut down on UX client work, focus more on illustration client work
There are probably more I haven't thought of

Kristen Lango

Thanks for starting this thread @AngelinaKizz - it has me thinking. Last year my goal was to understand color better, and I feel like I've come a long way with that.

This year I think I'll set my sights on:

Understanding/Mastering Sequential Art
Do More Plein Air Sketching/Painting & Paint More Landscapes

^This second one doesn't appear kidlit friendly but I've found that painting from life in a short amount of time forces me to observe the colors in front of me and helps my understanding of light and shadow.

Heather Boyd

I know it's the new year now but I have been rather busy but still want to add on my few current goals.

Complete a finished manuscript for a children's picture book -I wrote the first draft in the fall and now working through editing it with "Writing Picture Books by Ann Whitford Paul" and getting some friends to through it with me.
More commission work and broadening my subject matter.
Start in January a bi-monthly newsletter (the first one came out on Jan 8th, this past Sunday; next one is in the works for March 8th). I had a lot of friends interested in my work process; the how and why- I call it Going Deeper. Next one will have some other things, and probably shorten my Going Deeper section. If you are interested you can go to my website and at the bottom subscribe.

That's it for now. Still want to get some learning in and a few portfolio pieces but nothing concrete right now.

It's good to have goals and adjust as you need to.
Thanks everyone!

Happy New Year!!!

Blitz55

Prepare for Wedding Getting married this year
Try and put something together for Emerald City Comic Con at the beginning of March.
Finish my Lost Shrew illustrated project (Personal project)
Write a bit more
Take courses, really hunker down on a lot of fundamentals in both drawing/rendering and story telling.
Be better at spending more time on here and posting my work for thoughts/opinions/critiques

AngelinaKizz

@Kristen-Lango painting from life is a huge help! It's on my list too this year.