You Can’t Spell “Heart” Without “art”

I started my freelance career right after the peak of COVID-19, deciding after years working with kids in the Non-Profit sector that it was time to follow my heart and pursue art full time. This wasn’t an easy decision in any way, and even looking back now I can’t believe I did it. I sent in my pieced together portfolio to the Savannah College of Art and Design in the hopes of getting accepted into their MFA program for Illustration and sure enough they did. I couldn’t believe it. I knew when I decided to jump that it was going to be a big one, but I just didn’t expect such a quick and soft landing - or so I thought at the time.

I definitely underestimated how much I didn’t know, how much time, effort, energy, and sacrifice would go into completing the MFA program at SCAD. I thought it would take me two years - I’m now ending year four, with graduation being projected for December of 2025 once I submit my final thesis. I had no idea what market I wanted to go into, what style I wanted to illustrate in, what mediums I wanted to work with, and that whole “art style” thing is still a quandary. Once I started putting some pieces together, bit by bit, things did fall into place one piece at a time. There are still some serious challenges. Our family grew by one in August of 2024 so time is much more limited - I’m learning to be very creative with my workflow process.

Now that I’m nearing the end of my formal educational journey in illustration and facing full-time freelancing head on, I often reflect back on that initial jump into this world and how many unexpected twists and turns have cascaded into my life. I’ve learned so much - I have a passionate feeling of gratitude and joy when thinking about the professors that have taught me and the peers I’ve met along the way. I truly can’t wait to finish the program so that I can feel the full force of what they have taught me and all the things I will be learning throughout life as a freelance illustrator.

But mostly, I can’t wait to tell stories and to draw. It really just boils down to that at the end of the day.

Here’s a little video I made that talks a bit about me as an artist and what I like to do.

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time!