This past April, my 10-year anniversary as a freelance technical illustrator came and went. To mark the occasion, I started a draft post, struggled with what to say, then closed it and forgot about it for another 10 months.
With work winding down for the holidays and the year coming to an end, it feels like a good time to collect my thoughts on the past decade and set some new goals for the years ahead.
The Last Ten Years
Graduated with honours from the Technical & Scientific Illustration BA program at Sheridan College. The knowledge and experience of my instructors, together with the talent, determination and camaraderie of my peers gave me a solid foundation for my illustration practice.
Started freelancing, actually two years before graduating college. A summer job at a locally-owned print shop exposed me to the business and production side of things, and introduced me to my first few clients. Initially I picked up graphic design work, but illustration was my passion, so I continued to build up my portfolio and clientele.
Published work. My first time having work published felt very rewarding and validated all of the time, money and effort I had put in to pursuing illustration as a career. I had 20 project illustrations in that issue of Canadian Woodworking magazine, and I continued to work with them for 7 years.
Illustrated a cover. About a year after having my first work published, I illustrated my first magazine cover. This felt like another big milestone for me. It’s an amazing feeling having your work on newsstands. Since then, I’ve illustrated about a dozen magazine and book covers.
Illustrated a book. Another first, book projects are long when you’re used to spending 2-3 weeks on a project, then waiting another 2-3 to see it in print. But unlike magazines which sit on newsstands for a month at most, books have a much longer shelf life. I’ve since illustrated 4 or 5 more books.
Moved from Oakville to Toronto, to Vancouver, back to Oakville, and back to Toronto. My wife works in animation, and we moved around Canada a bit to follow productions. Fortunately, I can work with anyone from anywhere, so this wasn’t a problem.
Founded Technical Illustrators.org I like to think of my fellow technical illustrators not as competition, but as comrades or colleagues. I started the site to unite the community, highlight our work, and discuss software, hardware, technique, business and more.
Incorporated my business. It’s a bureaucratic process and a subtle distinction for a one-man operation, but my business is its own legal entity.
Guest Speaker. I’ve been invited back to Sheridan College in 2014, 2015 and 2017 to speak to third- and fourth-year students in the Illustration program about my work and the business of illustration. This has given me the opportunity to reflect on my career and connect with newcomers to the field.
Collaborated with great people building amazing things all over the world. I’ve worked with clients in Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, Australia, Germany and Korea, from one-man startups to Fortune 500 giants.
The Years Ahead
Metrics I want to quantify more aspects of my life and work, putting into practice the engineering adage, “What gets measured gets improved.”
Recognition I haven’t pursued illustration awards or competitions in the past. Quick notes from clients saying “Looks great, good work!” have been all the recognition I need. But it would be nice to earn formal recognition of my work from a panel of my peers. But you can’t win if you don’t enter.
Experimentation I want to continue to explore the possibilities presented by new software and hardware, for still images, animation and interactivity. Also to explore new illustration styles.
Community I want to engage and collaborate with my colleagues in the illustration and design community. I want to share my work, tools, techniques and resources, and to receive and provide critical feedback and inspiration.
A new Mac Pro My workstation is a 2009 Mac Pro tower (upgraded with memory, a graphics card and solid-state drives, of course). It’s a beast and a joy to work on. Apple has promised pro users a redesigned upgradeable desktop workstation with displays to match, and I’m eager to see what they come up with.
Looking back on the past decade, I feel very fortunate for the opportunities I’ve had. I’m grateful for the people in my life who have supported, guided, challenged and put their trust in me.
Thanks.