Turning a Hobby into a Job

Doodling and sketching has recently become a therapeutic outlet amongst the rush of university life. My dad also has an outlet away from his high stress job, but instead of drawing he writes. Over the years he has dedicated much of his life to his work and although he has many stories, scripts and plays, he has never published anything. However, with my recent move to university he has found a number of children's stories he wrote when I was a child including one called Archie the Snowflake.

I remember the bedtime story well, so when my dad asked if I would illustrate the book of course I said yes. At first I was excited, looking up different styles and forms of illustration and brainstorming what the characters would look like. I did not anticipate that when I first put pencil to paper, I froze. It dawned on me that although I could draw, I had no idea what I was doing or where to start. I spent days browsing the websites and blogs of free lance to professional artists. Every single one had either been an art student or had taken months worth of children's illustration courses. Unfortunately I did not have the time or money to pay for any such lessons.

Now usually when it comes to drawing, I have always been very apprehensive. Being a perfectionist at heart I want every brush stroke to be immaculate and every sketch to be a masterpiece. This way of thinking has often caused me a lot of grief. From essays to exams I have found that I am scared to start in fear of not getting the highest mark. In terms of drawing I fear that I do not have the skills to transfer what I see in my mind, to the blank canvas in front of me.

In order to combat this perfectionistic fear, I went out and bought a plain sketch pad. Being a researcher at heart as well, I read over and over the story, looking at the previous computer drawn characters and trying to conceptualise what I wanted to draw. My first instinct was to sketch the eyes of the main character Archie. Trying not to think too hard I drew pair after pair, filling the page up with a range of styles and shapes. By the time I was done I found myself at ease with the pencil in my hand and the chaotic mess on the once pristine paper.

First character sketches

This I decided would be my method. Research and sketch, whilst trying not to think too much.