Trying to stay awake in church today... Kids are by far the funnest to draw, but they are so darn wiggly! (Plus, most of my views are of back of heads. Cute, but not as interesting as faces).I've been thinking about my goals as an artist/illustrator. If I could chose anything to be working on, what would it be? An interesting thing to contemplate since I haven't had much in the way of personal art time for going on 3 years now. I've had some thought provoking correspondence with Eric Orchard about this since some of our interests and approaches are similar. He came to the conclusion (I hope you don't mind me quoting you here Eric): "I've been writing in my sketchbook about it all evening. I find, for myself, it really comes down to my sense of identity. And I think of myself as a genre artist, not a strictly picture book artist. I reached this conclusion because all of my work has the fantastic in it, that's what I'm always drawn to.More so than picture books, though I love doing picture books ..."
At first glance, I thought - yeah! me too! But on closer introspection, I realize that I really do also love doing 'real' children, in 'real' settings. Or animals. And turn me loose on a botanical, herb-based project, and I'm all over that! I love the mythic, the fairy tale, the magical and fantastical, but also the beauty of the mundane, finding the warmth and appeal in the everyday... I'm fascinated by the field of more mature fantasy illustration, but many of my interests plunk me right down firmly in the realm of picture books and the children's genre...So, I am still conflicted. I've been trying to make lists or descriptions of what draws me the most - and they are long and complex (focus has always been an issue for me. What to do when you like nearly everything???).
How do any of you narrow your focus? How do you determine what is truly primary, your 'identity' as Eric calls it?
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