Happy New Year!
I hope you all had a lovely entrance to the new year! In November, I’ve started my first newsletter via Mailchimp. This time, I decide to give Substack a try because I thought the platform might be a better fit for my need at the moment. The timing was just right for the switch, too. New Year is perfect for a fresh start!
To those who are new, welcome! I started Lynnie Express with the goal of recording my journey and building my own community of friends who care and support my work. This is the place, where occasionally, I’ll be sharing updates, tips, process, or anything related to my illustration career.
Here is today’s route:
📍 Starting a personal project
📍 Goals for the New Year
Starting a Personal Project
I’ve recently updated my Behance with a personal project that I started in 2022. It was a series of illustrations for a children's memory card game. Each card/illustration will feature different characters in different professions.
Why did I start this project?
In January 2022, I signed up for an art business class at my local college, and there was a special project that required me to draw something every day for 30 days, given that I had the freedom to choose what to draw. The project simply started out as a class assignment, and later on, it became a practical addition to my portfolio.
Things I find helpful when starting:
Start with a Purpose:
Knowing what you want to achieve will help you set the focus for the project.
In my case, I’ve always wanted to improve my character design skill, so I thought this assignment would be a great opportunity to do so. At the same time, I also wanted to show how my illustrations can be used in the real world. With the two goals in mind, I thought of card games for kids. I then went on Behance and Pinterest to search for different card game projects, and finally decided to go with memory cards, simple and sweet.
Start with a Mood Board:
A mood board can help you set up the style and aesthetic of the project.
For this project, I gathered images of card games and character illustrations from Pinterest and Behance. As you can see below, these images gave us a delightful and whimsical theme, which was exactly what I wanted.
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Start with a Plan of Actions
What I can say is: Give yourself a schedule and stick with it! Everything is so much easier when you plan ahead.
In my case, I made a list of professions and put them in a jar. During the weekend before the project started, I randomly chose one profession to draw for each day and put them in my planner. That way, I could have a better idea of what coming (and maybe even make some sketches ahead, too).
My Plan of Actions:
Pick a profession for each day the week
Put it on my planner
Make a drawing of the character in that profession
Post on Instagram
Goals for the New Year
A book deal
Book cover projects
Learning more about perspectives
More environment in my portfolio
2022 is a year of learning and improving. I switched jobs, took design classes, and learned a bunch at work. For 2023, I hope there will be more opportunities for me to apply what I have learned into different projects. I’m feeling more than ready to dive into the business. Let’s cross fingers for an exciting year ahead!
Have a wonderful new year!
Linh