The Importance of Community as a Freelancer

   

     This week's art that I'm featuring is a storybook illustration. The assignment was to tell a story using animals acting out human behavior.

     Also this week I updated my DeviantArt for the first time since 2015. If you haven't seen this site, it's got loads of art to look at. For artists it provides a great community platform.

     Last but not least, I changed my mission statement. It now reflects my desire to do a variety of types of projects. This started during the Illustrators of the Future workshop. That event re-ignited my passion for being an illustrator. It made me want to encapsulate the most important values for an illustrator. The new mission statement is on the Mission and Values page of this blog and the About page of my website.

     Yesterday I attended an informative seminar about Craft Food & Beverage makers in Oakland. It was interesting to hear about the challenges these types of businesses face. In fact, they are similar to what artists deal with. The presenters included Erin La Ninfa from Industry Coffee, Mariela Cedeno from Mandela Marketplace and Brian Stechschulte from Drake's Brewing Co. among others.

     This week was also a very fun session of Freelancer's Union SPARK in San Francisco. Fun, because I really enjoyed talking to some of the attendees afterwards. I'm only sad it's my last meeting with them since I'm moving back to New Jersey. Anyway, if you are a Bay Area freelancer, or a freelancer anywhere, check out SPARK and see where your nearest meetup is.

     Getting out to events like these in recent weeks has been very invigorating. Lately I feel that as much as making art, being out in the community gives me energy to keep doing this. It provides a reminder that there are other people out there trying to do the same thing I am. That is, making a living as an independent, creative person.

     Thanks for checking in!