What are you 2019 illustration goals?
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Hi everyone,
Not sure if someone has already started a thread on this but I thought we could all share what our goals for this year are in terms of illustration and art
Might give others some ideas or we could all make suggestions for each other if we're not sure, it's always nice to have something to work towards so you really feel an achievement at the end of the year.
My 2019 goals are to:
Produce a new portfolio piece every month! They will all be a full scene that each tell a story as my portfolio has always had more character designs in it rather than full illustrated scenes
12 finished pieces may not seem like a lot to some, but I work full time so it's a struggle to find time these days!
Finally get my website finished and live! I've been fiddling around with it for ages and haven't got it going because I don't have much work on it, but I supposed I should just do it so it's there at least!
Apply to some new agencies by the end of the year with a better portfolio! I have a couple in mind who I'd love to be part of, but I know my work is nowhere near good enough to apply yet - I need a huge variation added to my portfolio!Look forward to hearing everyone else's
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Good idea!
My 2019 goals are to finish my comic, start on my webcomic Me and Mr.
Draw every day, this is a hard ask for me, I get distracted extremely easily. -
That is a good goal. I would add that since you are already doing full images, that you should enter contests, and get critiques on your portfolio as the year goes on.
My goals for this year are:
- to finish and submit my book dummy to an agent.
- submit to art reps
- begin a youtube channel
- write a short story (600 words) each month
- Do a social media project.
- upgrade my website.
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Oooh you've both got lots more goals than me haha maybe i should add a couple more
@reddprime I always try and set a goal to draw everyday but I can never stick to it, hopefully this year I will!
Wow @Eric-Castleman they're great goals! Good luck with submitting your book and to art reps! Oh yes I'll definitely be getting critiques as I go, it's brilliant getting feedback on this forum! -
It's great this thread has started. Perhaps some communal accountability can happen and keep some of us (ME!) on our toes to deliver.
My main goal this year is to create a high quality portfolio of sequential pages. I'm currently using the Daredevil season 1 hallway fight for my first attempt, practicing layouts and delivering the same story as the show did but using the medium of comics to do it a bit differently.
The Creators for Creators grant has submissions due March 18 so I may try to do that again. I submitted last year.
Ultimately, I would like by the end of the year to have someone pay me for some form of art work, be it an assignment, commission, or anything whatever.
I also want to take/retake at least one SVS course a month, I'd like to complete 2 but time seems to be slipping from me.
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Good goals! I love how they all tie in together quite nicely.
For me...
Not waste my time in 2019. This is more of an overall life kind of goal, but totally affects illustration for me. For most of my 20 years, I have been heldback from art by others and my own self. Been going to college since 16 for a career path I did not want, and had various low points. Now I am in a better position, and have reoriented myself to allow myself to try art.
In my life, I am the only person who is going to encourage me. I have to be the one to push myself to do art, to just do me, and realize that progress isn't linear. That everyone has their own way of getting to their artistic goals. That a majority of art people I look up to have been doing their thing for years if not decades. I mean, I might suck but no one is going to stop me from posting, so why not just throw art into the void of the internet?
Make full illustrations. Full color, full backgrounds. Once a month! It was only the late bit of last year that I started to do all of that, mostly because Id get discouraged when things did not go right. I think I am more of an illustrator than a character designer, so I think its right that I do the whole deal than just make characters on a white background.
Incorporate my art goals in graphic design. I go to college for Graphic Design because that it the closest program to illustration that is in my city. I am the kind of person who needs someone to teach me programs like Photoshop in person, as well as have some social interaction with people. While Graphic Design is not ultimately my goal, I think its a good perspective to know how to communicate ideas clearly in a variety of visual ways. I know that if I think a little deeper, I'll find a way to broaden my visual art skills.
Do more studies. I just recently subscribed to SVS, as it seems like the perfect resource to learn how to illustrate better. I will try to login three times a week, which seems easy enough now, definitely a bit challenging when school gets going. I feel that I don't lack ideas, I can make ideas out of even the most mundane things, I just lack technical skill and art fundamentals.
Focus. I have a lot of story ideas but they don't have a depth to them. it could be paradoxical, do I not have full ideas because I jump from topic to topic, or do I jump from topic to topic because I don't have full ideas?
Dont make infodumps. Make stories. As you can tell, I can say a lot. I just want to get my ideas out there but making long posts about scattered concepts makes no sense to read. No one is going to get invested in a slew of worldbuilding building that have no emotional/visual value to them.
Experiment. With different mediums and styles. I don't have a business presence, so theres no reason to stick to one way of doing things. I have prismacolor pencils, gouache, watercolor, charcoal, pencils, which some I tend to use less than others. Im also trying to get myself into using the digital art tablets and programs that school offers for free. As well, experiment with different ways of storytelling, such as with animatics or 4+piece illustrations that don't need words to tell a story.
Start my comic story. I have a sci-fi children's story idea that I want to see through. Compared to my other works, it will have simplified, round styles for my own drawing ease. It will be in ink and watercolor. I am planning to make one page a week, probably going to end up doing one page every two in honesty.
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Ooftah, this is tough. I'm a relatively new beginner in the world of illustration, and I've been taking some self-guided tutorials and classes lately. Every time, it seems the biggest thing I learn is that I need to go back and work on my fundamentals.
At this point, I feel like there are so many aspects I need to develop it's hard to see what's going well at all. Perhaps that's the teacher in me--I know enough to know I really don't know anything at all and I will never know everything I need. The noise of everything crying for attention and development is a crazy symphonic cacophony of priorities that can't be appeased all at the same time. I need to know more about the history of Illustration, understand the various fields of work opportunities, work on developing a portfolio of some nature, learn how to do commissions, curate my website a lot more, do mock-ups, take more classes, develop and work on projects, read books, subscribe to organizations, enter contests, and... and... and... I can't hear anything because I'm hearing too much. It's crystal clear what I need to do: everything!!! And picking out one or two things out to resolve to do feels almost like an impossibility...
And underneath it all is the simple fact that I just need to draw more. Nothing matters if that doesn't happen.
Because through that, I'm hoping I'll gain the confidence and clarity I need to tackle one noise-making priority at a time. I wonder if drawing more will help me be able to say, "Yes, I know I need to work on those things, but at this moment I am working on this and that's all I can do right now so please go toot your horn somewhere else."
So maybe that's my resolution: Draw More.
I think I'm happy with that.
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I've got four main goals:
Have a solid illustration portfolio by the end of the year
Get my web comic up and running with my wife
Get inks done for the physical comic book we're working on
Complete all four levels of the basic SVS curriculumThey're all pretty attainable, so hopefully I can knock it out
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I'm going to be illustrating my first children book in 2019! But the schedule is rushed, and I'm overall so busy... My biggest goal is to do the best I can to deliver the best artwork I can for this book, no matter how busy I am. I'm afraid to be so swamped that I'll just "call it in", but I want to make artwork that surpasses my best work.
I also want to release 2 new collections of prints for my Etsy shop by the end of the year, and I'd love to start offering portrait commissions as well!
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My goals this year are all connected to that funny love feeling i got yesterday while in a children's bookshop surrounded by picturebooks upon picturebooks and that voice in my head telling me all the time "i want to do this. this is what i want to do". So:
Working on my craft. Establishing a practice of doing observational drawing every day and doing studies - get better at drawing kids, people and animals. Draw draw draw
Updating my portfolio and building online presence and having a kickass websiteCreating video content
creating a passive income flow/source
Sending my portfolio to agents and agencies
Work freelance and make enough money to sustain a decent living where i contribute to rent, food and utilities but can also afford clothes and going out and leisure time as well as courses
Save money and get better with financial habits. Also save money towards doing an MA perhaps
Making art and personal projects into lucrative business
Illustrating and publishing a picturebook
Basically making dreams come true and not finding excuses
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@hannahmccaffery my goals are similar to yours!
Produce a new portfolio piece every month I want to make full scenes like you, so my warmups lately have been drawing plants/rocks/trees so when I make environments later I have inspiration to pull from. Also the Draw 50 Things challenge makes you mindful of how you can add objects to a space to make it feel more real.
Apply to agencies this year I've been doing a lot of learning, time to make some proper pieces for a strong portfolio.
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What a great thread.
I signed myself up for an illustration conference on March 2nd of 2019.
In doing so, I committed myself to:Picking a voice or style for my portfolio. (Finally!!) I've been doing lots of exploring between digital, watercolor, ink, sculpting, cut paper and a mix of everything in between.
Create 12-18 pieces for my portfolio that match that style and voice. - This is a bit ambitious since that means I will need to complete 2 pieces a week for the next two months. (But so far I've outlined a schedule and I'm on track.)
Redesign my website to focus on that voice or brand. - My current website is a mess. It's not easy to navigate and it shows off to many of my "other projects."
Participate in a portfolio showcase at the conference.
Participate in a website critique at the conference.
Rewatch and study the SVS videos again. (Paying special attention to areas that I struggle with, ie - color balance, and lighting)
Keep putting my artistic self out there. - Last year I made it a goal to enter every SVS prompt, and I did! I also applied for a TV show, a community grant, asked other local artist to join a sketch group, and posted more of my art to social media.
Visit the SVS studio in person. - I live in Utah and have wanted to visit the SVS studio, but have been too scared to ask Will & Jake.
Enjoy the art journey!!- too often I get frustrated at my shortcomings and don't take a minute to realize that learning is part of the fun. Sharing with others and watching them grow is amazing. I love the forum for this reason. I love that we are all cheering each other on. (This all sounds like rainbows and butterflies, yikes a bit too sappy) But in truth I really am excited when I see things happen for SVSers.
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@jaepereira @rinovarka @Coreyartus @Aaron-Pierce @NessIllustration @irina @carriecopa @artwithashley
Awesome goals everyone! Please update everyone with your progress as it would be amazing if we all actually completed our goals by the end of the year
Or at least some of them anyway! -
Pretty simple goals, this year.
Compile mailing list and spam postcards.
Reach out to many illustration agents.
Be utterly and totally shameless with my self promotion.
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My main goal is to make about 10 portfolio pieces and set up a website.Also start using backgrounds in my art. Backgrounds are a real weak point so I am thinking of joining the new Background course starting on SvS.
Try and really get to grips with perspective and composition -
Update my website this one is already done! I had a few days off at new year and put it to good use. Just finished it last night.
draw more full/partial backgrounds This was a goal I set last year and I want to continue working at. I want to keep building all the good skills that come with finishing a full composition.
get my online shop up and running current status: tumbleweeds
have a table at an art fair aiming for something around Christmas time
join a mastermind group I've been looking for a while. I would love to find a small group of people to talk with about my goals and bounce ideas off of.
get paid for illustration Last year I decided I wanted to pivot from design to illustration. My design portfolio was strong but my illustration portfolio was non-existent. I worked hard last year and came up with a body of work that I feel good about. It would be great if this year I could use the portfolio I built to get some work! (Not quitting my day job yet though
)1 new portfolio piece a month to keep things fresh!
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My 2019 illustration goals are to LEARN! LEARN! LEARN!
In 2019 I do not want to leave any stone unturned. I want to improve my technical skills as an illustrator by exploring shape, colour, lighting, and linework in-depth, I want to experiment with various styles, techniques, and processes, and I want hone in on what drives me as an artist by pushing the composition, mood , and storytelling in my work.
Truthfully, I am really hoping that all of this learning and experimentation will turn out some strong portfolio pieces, but I am really trying not to make that the focus. In my past experience, when I focus too hard on turning out good work, things fall flat. When I let go and stop trying so hard to control every aspect of my work, that is when the magic happens.
For me, this year will likely be as much about psychology as it is about art.
