Video + Update: society6 product review and do I want to be an illustrator?

Hi there,

A new video is up over on the channel and I just wanted to share a little update with you.

1) Gouache Online Painting Class

"Gouache for Illustrators" is scheduled to launch end of October

Self-Paced Online Course + Community Facebook Group + Personal Feedback

This compact class will give you the creative confidence to create a cute animal portrait with Gouache while giving you great tips and tricks to overcome common challenges, buying the right materials and pushing through those rocks you discover when learning something new.

2) University starts soon

When you have to make choices that can change your path

I'm a mature student doing a career change in my late 20ies. My degree is graphic design - which was a dream come true to be able to go and study it. However ... over the last year and the whole summer all I was working on personally and passionate about was Illustration. We can choose an illustration pathway but I initially signed up for communication to have more options.

The whole thing of liking both really threw me into a tight spot. After speaking to my personal tutor on Monday I will have the chance to attend both pathway lectures for 4 weeks to help me make a - very late - choice. This is going to make the first month much more intense than it would need to be - but I can't feel peaceful about my choice without having given Illustration a chance.

"The reason I'm doing uni - again - was that I did in fact not choose a creative career when I was younger"

Living without regret

I don't know how you chose your creative career. The reason I'm doing uni - again - was that I did in fact not choose a creative career when I was younger. I was scared - scared of many things, not having money, not being good enough etc.

Now, more than 10 years later I decided that, for me, living with uncertainty is far better than living with regret. I still don't like uncertainty, I still have fears - they creep up in the worst moments when I need to make decisions, always calling me for the 'safe' option. Reality is, that nothing is really 'safe' in the creative industries. Things change at a rapid pace. More and more people are able to learn and practice creative skills and certain jobs become obsolete.

Essential skill sets

What I have learned so far is that creating a job for yourself is one of the basic skill sets that you need nowadays, much more than being able to use the most recent version of Adobe CC. This includes essential skills like running a business, being self motivated, doing your paper work or marketing yourself. You could be a creative genius but if you never show the world what you've got to give - frankly speaking, it will be hard for you to be successful. On the other hand if you always give your skills away for too little - you can be very busy but very poor.

Is Illustration a 'safe' choice?

Probably not. Would I love to develop my skills in this area? Yes. Would I easily get a job? Probably not. Do I have the skill set to make myself a job and run a business? I think so. Is illustration needed nowadays? Definitely! Would I love working in this field - yes I think I would.

I feel I'm learning all these skills and I want to believe that I am capable of running my own business because of my experience, my business and social sciences background and my personality. I am and was always very driven and self motivated. I don't need someone to pull me out of bed because I love to be active and I love creating.

"I really didn't enjoy business school. I guess it was mostly because it had no relation to reality at that time - whereas now - this is my key to joy, financial independence and having a family while working"

Since I started Romica Jones Design in October 2015 I also began to love business - and people who know me will be surprised because I really didn't enjoy business school. I guess it was mostly because it had no relation to reality at that time - whereas now - this is my key to joy, financial independence and having a family while working.

These are my reasons at the moment and they might change but I feel I should dare to try. In the end I'm still graduating with a graphic design degree. I will still work and improve all my skills that I need as a designer or illustrator.

So yeah, this decision scares me, because I feel it will have quite a big impact on my future - but again - I don't want to make a decision out of fear.

If you are or have been in a similar situation, I'd love to hear from you,

Have a wonderful day,

Romica

Loved this post?

Sign up to get updates about posts, online classes and products

See you :)

Podcast for creative business owners: Make It Happen & my story of Flops and Success so far

Hello Creative Adventurers,

if you are a young creative business owner or you are creative and are thinking about starting your own business this podcast is for you.

I stumpled upon it through my blogging friend's twitter account. Her name is Sofie and she makes beautiful art and blogs about her journey of starting her own creative business - definitely have a look at her blog Sofie Arts ;D. If you don't know where to start looking for inspiration Sofie's twitter has a lot to offer.

Podcast: Make it Happen Episode 7

The focus of this episode of Make It Happen is an interview with Kory Woodard and her story of how she started her own business during college and tips and tricks amongst which you'll find my recent game-changer personal branding.

https://soundcloud.com/makeithappenpodcast/007-the-freelance-life-balance-making-your-own-rules-along-the-way/s-aZuAq

Points I found interesting and valuable

• Work-Life Balance - make clear business hours for yourself (don't answer e-mails late at night because you feel like you have to).
• Don't obey "rules of success" e.g. How many times you should post in social media, if it doesn't suit your business.
• Be honest - you can show your vulnerable side e.g. in your newsletter and also talk about things that didn't go according to plan.

What resonates with me

I think from all the points that they talked about, I found the topic of "vulnerability" the most interesting. Especially when Kory talks about her online-course that completely flopped.

People don't talk about their failures, just about their success and if something doesn't work that we try, we might feel like we are the only ones out there. I am glad, that she touched this topic and that she was brave enough to share it, even if it was just in the safer world of her newsletter followers.

Another good point she mentioned that related to this flop was that she analysed why it didn't work and she learned that her marketing wasn't good enough and also the timing of the launch was during the holiday season where people have other things in mind than attending online-classes. I found it great that she could see the flop as an opportunity to learn.

My own story so far

When I think about my short time as a business owner, I could definitely also talk about small success and failures that have already happened along my way.

My flops

For example I started licensing my products and opened my first shop society6.com/romisketches. Since then nothing has happened. I guess I had too high expectations and also I didn't promote it enough. Basically I haven't put the work and effort in that are necessary to reach people and let them know that it is out there. Furthermore I don't really have a cohesive style and just a few products. So far I haven't sold anything.

My success

However, one of my success stories is my young skillshare teaching career. I still want to write a whole post about this experience so far but just a heads up: I got paid a few days ago and I was pleasantly surprised. From doing what I love I earned as much as 2 weeks of my previous part-time job! Without leaving my home and while enjoying the process of planning, filming, editing and writing.

I earned enough to justify buying a new camera to make more classes (my old one really reached its limits while filming the other class, but more about this in the upcoming post about my skillshare teaching experience). I do highly recommend it to people and btw, they offer $ 100 for new teachers in the November challenge!

Final thoughts

I really enjoyed listening to the Make it Happen Podcast and it's a great use of time while commuting to university (which takes me about 1+ hour). If you have other podcasts for creative business owners that you would recommend or if you want to share your thoughts on this episode, please let me know in the comments below.

Have a wonderful day,

Romica :)

----------------

Enjoyed this Post?

Follow me on Instagram or Twitter or subscribe to my blog below to get updates on my journey including graphic design inspiration and tips and tricks for starting a creative business that I've learned along the way.

Keeping your Sketchbook and Blog presentable

Hi Creative Adventurers,

Fred Deakin's twitter about my article led quite a few people to my blog and when I realised how outdated my sketchbook page is and that my CV only goes until 2013 ... I felt a bit awkward.

• How serious am I about my online representation?
• What opportunities did I miss because I wasn't showing my progress and my work?

Maybe I wasn't as serious as I wanted to be and for the second question I don't know and there are no answers but it definitely made me reflect.

Why updating your blog / portfolio / CV is important

You never know WHEN and WHO is going to find your blog. What if it was a potential business partner or even employer that for some reason found his or her way to your site? If your portfolio hasn't received much attention, what else can their base their judgement on (maybe this isn't the right word, but I hope you get what I mean). Even if your work is amazing, what can it do for you if it's not visible?

Be good to your creative self

It is unfair to yourselfto let laziness destroy or lower your chances of showing you in an authentic way. You develop, improve, ... I bet you, there has been much going on, but are you showing this?

If yes, great and congratulations. You seem to know the importance of your online presentation and I am really glad you do. I wasn't as prepared as you are.

For me, this opportunity of exposure to mostly creative people came quite as a surprise. I knew I wanted to update some of my important pages eventually but it never happened until now. I realised this is partly also because I recently started to use a different platform (romicaspiegl.tumblr.com) due to uni requirements to keep my work up to date. However, I haven't made the effort to connect my blog with tumblr which definitely has to change.

Sketchbook Update

To make up for this: Here is a short update on what I have been up to recently in my free time. I'm taking a Skillshare class with Matt Vergotis about brushpen logo design and these are my practice sheets. I used gouache instead of a brushpen. I love this class and I need to take more time to practice.

Conclusion

This might sound like a short rant but especially in this digital age, and as a designer or creative business owner, your online presence is important. So I decided to either link my sketchbook to my tumblr or to commit to regular updates.

So yeah, this was short but sweet and I hope it could help some of you. How are you taking care of your online presence? Share your thoughts and comments below.

Have a wonderful day,

Romica :)