I'm feeling pretty good about 2014. I feel more grounded in my work. While I'm not earning any more than I did last year (one of my goals), I'm happy to have survived conquered my first year of being a full-time illustrator.
My 2014 run-down
I went full-time
I gave up my part-time job in January 2014. It was the worst possible time. January-March is always my slowest period and 2014 was no different. I started the year with no work and a dwindling bank account. Not great, but it's part of being freelance I guess.
It gave me some time to sort out my processes and I worked on some wonderful collaborations.
First my collaboration with Photographer Lorna Milburn and Make Up Artist Sam Norman, where I created the illustrations and head piece for a fashion shoot.
Later, I worked on another photo shoot with the amazing still life photographer, Johanna Parkin
Of course later in the year work started to pick up and by the end of the year, I was back to normal.
Here's some of my favourites:
My first book (illustrated) was launched:
These cute b&w illustrations for Keri Scarves:
This step-by-step of male grooming for Vän Magazine
Food illustrations for Tesco's Online Magazine.
I started an illustrators' meetup in Berlin
I've been travelling backwards and forwards to Berlin for the last year or so, but never enough time to really make friends or get to know anyone. In the summer I officially started a German branch of Yo Illo out there. It's been a great way to get to know people and understand how different the illustration industry is out there.
I did a lot of live drawing events.
This was a huge success for me this year. I was asked to do some live-drawing work for H&M, so I invested in getting some great photographs from the event, which I knew that I could use for promotion. It worked! I worked for H&M, Links of London, Folli Follie, The Grand National and Microsoft to create some great personalised illustrations.
I threw an illustrators' party in London
I had an awesome time at the Yo Illo party. It was a huge amount of work though; it nearly killed me in the process. I could write a whole blog post on that alone.
It's actually pretty difficult to squeeze a whole year into a blog post. I've realised that I need to go back and write separate posts for some of this stuff.
Oh well, January is always pretty quiet anyway :)
x, Willa
My 2014 run-down
I went full-time
I gave up my part-time job in January 2014. It was the worst possible time. January-March is always my slowest period and 2014 was no different. I started the year with no work and a dwindling bank account. Not great, but it's part of being freelance I guess.
It gave me some time to sort out my processes and I worked on some wonderful collaborations.
First my collaboration with Photographer Lorna Milburn and Make Up Artist Sam Norman, where I created the illustrations and head piece for a fashion shoot.
Later, I worked on another photo shoot with the amazing still life photographer, Johanna Parkin
Of course later in the year work started to pick up and by the end of the year, I was back to normal.
Here's some of my favourites:
My first book (illustrated) was launched:
These cute b&w illustrations for Keri Scarves:
These bold fashion illustrations for American Express:
This step-by-step of male grooming for Vän Magazine
Food illustrations for Tesco's Online Magazine.
I started an illustrators' meetup in Berlin
I've been travelling backwards and forwards to Berlin for the last year or so, but never enough time to really make friends or get to know anyone. In the summer I officially started a German branch of Yo Illo out there. It's been a great way to get to know people and understand how different the illustration industry is out there.
I did a lot of live drawing events.
This was a huge success for me this year. I was asked to do some live-drawing work for H&M, so I invested in getting some great photographs from the event, which I knew that I could use for promotion. It worked! I worked for H&M, Links of London, Folli Follie, The Grand National and Microsoft to create some great personalised illustrations.
I threw an illustrators' party in London
I had an awesome time at the Yo Illo party. It was a huge amount of work though; it nearly killed me in the process. I could write a whole blog post on that alone.
It's actually pretty difficult to squeeze a whole year into a blog post. I've realised that I need to go back and write separate posts for some of this stuff.
Oh well, January is always pretty quiet anyway :)
x, Willa