As 2023 comes upon us, I wanted to reflect on what I’ve learned, accomplished, and celebrated over the year and also what I’m looking forward to!
Personal Projects
The Making of The Great Muppet Mural
While almost everything about ToughPigs pièce de résistance happened in 2021 (including all the work that saw the project to fruition), the documentary premiered on January 29th of 2022 and it was a huge and wonderful experience. Recently I learned that this labor of love did not make it to the final selections it was entered into for a couple independent film festivals, but it still remains one of my own personal Crown Jewels of the year. I will be singing its praises and all those involved for decades to come.
This Blog!
I've been doing a relatively acceptable job maintaining this blog for over a year now, and there are a few posts I'm very proud of. I was also very fortunate to have so many wonderful people contribute as well, so if you haven't already, you should give some of these articles a read and support their contributors as well!
Do You Have to be Creative to be a Graphic Designer?
Seriously, I'‘m super proud of these posts!
Illustrative Stuff
I did not draw much this year at all (outside of commissioned work) but what I did do continued my understanding and development of my craft and the mediums I use to create them. I also did not keep up with my figure drawing classes to the extent I had wanted, but I’m already trying to arrange things for next year so that I don’t slack again.
Some of the illustrations I’m most proud of from 2022
Of everything I drew on my own time, my illustration of Luisa Madrigal in the style of Charles Dana Gibson was my favorite. I have plans for more redraw challenges as well as doing more artist games like I did with Will Carroll and Noah Ginex.
Freelance
For the first real time since my daughter was born, I started taking on serious freelance work again. I took on several more notable clients this time around the sun as well as connected with some old friends. The biggest one of course was getting the opportunity to work with Craig Shemin on his newest book, Sam and Friends: The Story Of Jim Henson’s Television Show.
Being back in demand was wonderful, but in many ways I feel that I jumped the gun and bit off more than I could chew, so…
Biggest Lesson Learned
I willingly and happily put almost all creative endeavors aside when my daughter was born with the understanding that someday when she was older, I’d resume drawing regularly (daily), taking on freelance again, and other passion projects. As she has grown more independent, 2022 seemed like the year to dip my toes back in the water for all of that. Unfortunately, I think I dove in the deep end and over–immersed myself. I’ve always been very good about my time management, but along with everything else, I’m a little rusty here too.
In general, when you work full time (regardless of what your actual job is), it’s difficult at worst to manage your time properly and seemingly unnecessary at best if you’re good and well paid. The latter is very ambitious, but it’s an easy excuse to turn things down if you just don’t feel like doing them. These are all things I will consider in the coming new year.
New Year’s Resolutions
Having learned that there will never be enough time to do everything, I am hoping to focus on expanding my tool set a little more in 2023. I would like to become proficient in Adobe After Effects, as well as the 3D modeling program, Blender. Part of this is a continued fascination with video production, but more than a few times in the recent past, I’ve realized the tools that I already know aren’t capable of creating some of the concepts I had hoped to present to clients. Learning new software will accommodate this tremendously.
So here’s looking to 2023 and everything that it has in store for all of us. Thank you so much to every wonderful, talented, and awesome person who has helped me on my journey, contributed to this blog, and taken a moment out of there day to give a blog post a read, an Instagram pic a double–tap, or a retweet on Twitter. See you all in 2023!