009: Year One
#beginner #persistance #process
‘The Archive’ chronicles my first year as a picturebook illustrator. But also my first year writing this substack. It’s filled with false starts. And new beginnings. It’s raw and gritty. It’s also filled with gems.
It started because people were asking me about how I got my start as a picturebook illustrator. So, in the beginning, I was writing to answer that. Then I was writing about so much that was new to me coming into the industry. Eventually, I transitioned to becoming a full-time illustrator.
I thought long and hard about what to write about because I was not in the beginning anymore. Eventually, this idea of the taste gap emerged from my subconscious. I’ve actually always been writing about the gap between our creative ambition (taste) and our current ability, I’ve just never thought of it in those terms until now. It’s a new perspective.
I’ve committed to writing at least 400 letters from this perspective. As for the 350 posts that make up Year One. That’s now behind the paywall. So becoming a paid subscriber to this thing gives you two things.
Weekly 🍷Tastings, where I work out my own weaknesses and creative gaps in front of you.
350 Posts from Year One, of being a picture book illustrator. (The Archives)
Close the Gap
These last 9 posts have a flow and a structure that I’m really happy with. They have an overarching concept, and it’s easy to tell people about (HINT HINT), but it did not have all this in the beginning, it was messy and meandering. But I could not have gotten here without taking that journey.
Start. Allow yourself to figure things out. And when you do, you can start anew, and even the journey could be turned into a product for True Fans.
ps: Start a Substack