I've been doing this designer thing since the late 90's, but when it comes to illustration, I still feel like a noob. When I had figure drawing thrown into the mix of my interior design curriculum (which later became graphic design curriculum), I froze up when I had to sit down and draw a figure. Still to this day, I kind of freeze up if someone is standing behind me watching me draw. Or design. Yes, I know, I should get over it, but ick, I haven't. Anyway, I didn't take art classes in high school, and I didn't take too much of drawing classes in college, either. When I had to draw a person, the head was usually magically missing.

Over the years, I yearned and yearned and yearned to draw characters or paint like other artists. I certainly never felt I could call myself an artist. OK, maybe a graphic artist, though I never liked that term. Graphic designer sounded much more fancy. I did identity design, packaging design, gift product design, and on and on. I often got to work with other illustrators artwork. I cut art out and played with it to make a snazzy product or pattern. But what I really yearned for was to do my own thing. I've always wanted to, but didn't know how or wondered if I could succeed because I hated being a beginner. It's hard to be a beginner.

Everyone starts as a beginner! You have to start somewhere. And what I've heard time and again is that you simply need to do the time to get better. I'm going to share my projects and progress as I grow as an illustrator and artist. I have and I will be taking online classes, plus creating my own assignments to improve this coming year.