Hi Cris, I just wanted to say welcome, hello, and I'm a teacher, too! I found svs a couple years back, and I can tell you that the courses, podcast, and kind folks in this forum have all helped me to improve my work, and also possibly more importantly, helped me to reconcile with the whole "artmaking success" internal struggle. Even though I am not "there" yet (a moving target of course), I am now trusting the process more to get me "there", if that makes any sense. This is because of the incremental improvements that I can look back and see. That feeling has even helped me to create more freely, which in turn helps to fight that imposter syndrome self-talk, which probably won't ever completely go away (even in the teaching world, haha). I absolutely see potential in your ideas and I agree with @Jay-Penn that your watercolor style and sense of design are strong. You can do it! 
New to SVS
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Hello everyone,
I'm Cris and just wanted to stop by, say hello and maybe get a few pointers, from all the pros, on where to go from this point. A little background, I have always wanted to pursue illustration, but was discourage by the usual ( that's not a "REAL" job). The cost of going to school was out of the question so I pursued graphic design thinking that would squish this illustration bug. (we can all see how that turned out) That being said I never found a graphic design gig and ended up teaching (wah!) English (Double WAH!) So, here I am trying to pursue my dream of being an illustrator after all this time. I posted a few samples of my work just to give you an idea of what I can do. (I still, very much, suffer from imposters syndrome) So any pointers on where I should go from here? I've already taken the how to draw everything course and some figure drawing courses as refreshers, but could really use some direction. I know nothing about the business side of illustration and I'm not sure I'm good enough to pursue work illustrating yet. Thanks in advance.!
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@Cris-C Hi Cris, I’m new around here too and here’s my two cents, for what they are worth…
I really like your watercolour pieces. There’s some bold brushwork and strong colour use in there. The umbrella is a good example of this.
I could definitely see you doing editorial illustration or even a comic strip in the future. Maybe even funny greeting cards!
I think your work would really benefit from some perspective study (note the difference between the woman’s table and chair) and just straight up tonnes of practice (like we all need, basically).
My final bit of advice would be to analyse the work you love and break it down to the basic shapes used to see how forms in space behave.
You have solid design skills, and once the drawing chops catch up a bit, you’ll do some great stuff!
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Hi Cris, I just wanted to say welcome, hello, and I'm a teacher, too! I found svs a couple years back, and I can tell you that the courses, podcast, and kind folks in this forum have all helped me to improve my work, and also possibly more importantly, helped me to reconcile with the whole "artmaking success" internal struggle. Even though I am not "there" yet (a moving target of course), I am now trusting the process more to get me "there", if that makes any sense. This is because of the incremental improvements that I can look back and see. That feeling has even helped me to create more freely, which in turn helps to fight that imposter syndrome self-talk, which probably won't ever completely go away (even in the teaching world, haha). I absolutely see potential in your ideas and I agree with @Jay-Penn that your watercolor style and sense of design are strong. You can do it!
studiojcd.com
she/her/hers
Insta/Twitter: @chengdesautels -
@Jay-Penn thanks so much for your input. I agree. Perspective is definitely something I am working on. I really hope to eventually be able to illustrate full time. Welcome and I hope to see more of your work.
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@jenn Thank you for the welcome. I will definitely be looking into all to the different aspects of SVS. I know teaching is not what I want to do the rest of my life. Thanks so much for the encouraging words sometimes you need to hear it even if you don't realize it.
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Welcome @Cris-C ! You’ve come to the right place! This community is a treasure trove of amazing talent and experiences. You’ll also find great posts for excellent reading materials, and of course - the classes are top notch! Looking forward to seeing more of your work.