Well, a lot of people ask how I became an artist and I figure others are also curious but not as willing to ask so I've to decided to answer the question anyway. I think generally you are either born with artistic talent/intuition/whatever or your not, but not all of us hop out of the womb with drawing implements in hand :) Here's the condensed version:
Looking back I realize that my elementary and middle school teachers tried to steer me towards art, but alas I was already a ballet dancer and had it in my head that I would be a choreographer.
I moved away to study dance after high school and discovered that I didn't like being told I needed to lose weight when I was barely in triple digits anyway, so I moved back home and commenced spending the next few years trying to figure out what the heck I wanted to do instead of dancing.
I worked some pointless jobs and went back to school to get a degree in History because I'm totally a nerd at heart. At some point my best friend Michelle noticed that I liked to doodle penguins and flowers in the margins of my notebooks and journals. Thinking that I had some undiscovered talent, she bought a book on drawing cartoons, a sketchbook and some pencils. I resisted at first but soon found great joy in drawing.
I drew constantly from that point on (which was about five years ago). I always had a sketchbook or a notebook or some blank paper and after I drew all the characters in the book Michelle gave me, I started practicing on other things, namely Amy Brown fairies because I had always loved them.
Soon I got a new job and there a new friend noticed some of my sketches. He was a comic book artist so he started bringing me all sorts of how-to books on anatomy and perspective. He also asked me to work on inking some of his comics. This was about the time I got really frustrated by my lack of skill and decided to quit drawing, but sure enough everytime I would think of quitting my new friend would say something encouraging or bring me a book to improve some new aspect of my work. This new friend's encouragement created a little glimmer of hope in my head that I found something that I could love doing for the rest of my life.
I quit the new job two years later to really focus on my last year of school and to continue my own study of art. I ordered books and books and read tutorials all over the internet until I learned how to paint and much later to use Photoshop and Illustrator. And at some point I decided to start selling my artwork which turned out to be an exercise in perseverance because it didn't go so well.
But I didn't stop, I just kept drawing and painting and learning things (I still do). The new friend who had given me so much encouragement three years before now became my truly wonderful boyfriend who still encourages and supports me every day. With his loving help, I managed to build my little business to the point where I could quit my job and finally be truly happy.
I can honestly say that without my best friend Michelle and my awesome boyfriend Seth, I wouldn't be doing what I am doing today. I think the moral of the story is if you work hard enough, you can achieve anything and of course a little help from your friends is always a good thing :) And that's how I went from pretty much drawing stick people to a flourishing little art career in the space of five years!
