Illustration -- Tommi

Now, I know that we usually keep our personal life to ourselves and restrict this blog to what happens within, but I feel that this post is sort of about both since it's some of my thoughts on our future.

At the local college we attend, our art professor has kind of taken us under his wing and has been personally mentoring us in art and, sometimes, in life. He knows about all of us; in fact, he was the first man Yomi ever told about us, which is highly impressive since we all have issues with men. Not only does he know, but he's helped make the art studio a safe place for all of us.

Our prof also works as a freelance illustrator/artist and he is very, very good at what he does (if it didn't betray our location, I'd use his name and link to his art... oh well). Because of his profession, I've been asking about what he does and how to go about things and generally learning all I can about what being an illustrator is in actuality. What I've come to realize is that, yes, we want to be a concept artist, however, illustration might be more what Yomi was thinking originally and didn't know it. I know that it flows well with our career goals and it sounds like a lot of fun. I'm not so sure about the freelance part, but I hope that, one day, we're successful enough to be able to do it. In a way, I've already begun our (freelance?) art career by deciding to sell our stuff online during the summer, and I'm excited to see how that turns out.

I've begun to notice that because of my active interest in illustration, my prof has been pushing me more intentionally to where I need to go. For example, Morrigan asked him what I things I could do now to help me head toward where I want to go. His answer was to start collecting art, to figure out what I liked, what I didn't like, why I did or didn't like it. Then imitate it. Learn how to do it. Incorporate new ideas into my work. And so I started that last night; I basically decided that, while I'm on Facebook and G+, I'll browse the internet for some super sweet pictures. (If you're following our G+ page, I'll probably be posting links and/or the pictures I find.) There has been an immediate result within me. I already want to paint more. And not just paint, but little sketches. For the first time ever I actually want to sketch... For just me. Not because I have a project to do. Not because I was told to do it. But because I want to see what I can do. I've never felt that kind of motivation before. It astounds me. My prof said it's as though you feed your creativity by looking at great art so you can turn around and produce great art. So far it's been working and I'm really liking the change it's had in me already. I can only hope that it sticks, but I think I am optimistic about it this time.

-- Tommi

PS to 20 Cents -- Can you please tell your brother that, because of him, we avoid using the phrase "it's like..." as though it is the plague. I think he'll appreciate that.