Bad news / good news

Ya know, I'm terrible at using this site like everyone else. It's been a year since my last journal entry. lol

I've been a little bitter lately. So.. a couple weeks ago..I got laid off my job. I was working as a designer for a internet company. I was full time there for more than 4 years and I'm going to miss the people that I worked with on a daily basis. They became like family to me. At first I was sad that the company had to let some employees go. Not for performance reasons.. just the usual corporations trying to cut cost and make there earnings look better. But honestly... look at my stuff on this site. Do I look like a designer to you? All the stuff up here on this site is art I've done for myself.. not for an employer. The art on this site best represents who I am, more so than the design work I've done for the past 18 years. I took design work 18 years ago because I could not find illustration work. (no experience at the time) And as of a couple weeks ago I was still doing design work full time for those 18 years, with the occasional freelance illustration job. But that's now changing.

I have 6 months left at Animation Mentor. I just signed a book deal to illustrate about 30 spot illustrations for a book and I'm beating the streets and hitting up the local Ad agencies for illustration work. I've decided to go freelance for awhile since I have money coming in, but holy crap it's kinda scary. So the good news is being laid off has forced me to jump start the career I've always wanted. Unfortantely it doesn't automatically make me a better illustrator or animator, but that will come with experience and more time. On top of all that I turn 41 this week. 41! When did I get old?! How did that happen? Anyway....

So here is the plan. Finish Animation Mentor with style and get my demo reel ready. Do illustration freelance and when there is down time work on my "OddLock" book. Sounds simple enough. Since I really don't have a life right now, I can chew an all that stuff. Since I don't have the day job to screw with my artistic focus, I think it's going to be ok. Look for more uploads from me.

And last but not least... thank you. Thanks to those who have commented on my work and who have encouraged me to keep going. There are some amazing artist on this site. DA community wise, i'm not that social. I stay in my corner of the world and create and venture out ... um... not very often. I'll try to say hi and comment more often. The talent of people here just blows me away.

Thanks