1 year of bloggy goodness!

I would just like to make a post to acknowledge my blog's first birthday. I was hoping it would coincide with my 100th post but alas I have been a bit busy lately and am only up to #92!

Anyway, I just thought I would do a little retrospective a la end-of-season sit com. put on some suitably cheesy music to accompany. Phil Collins would work well.

I was looking over the last year of my blog and quite amazed by how my art style has changed. I started out totally digital, and trying to figure out how to draw my characters, something a bit like my first Illustration Friday contribution, Night:

I then attempted watercolours ::shudder:: I can hardly look at this next one (Small for I-F)

what is that? What is happening to her hair? and her mouth? my. what control you have with the medium.

so... I took some classes. One in watercolours (much needed), one in children's book creation which I blogged about (first post here) - and then I started to make a bit of progress. I think below was my first 'breakthrough' piece (Jungle for I-F)



then I started to do things I actually liked on more of a regular basis... like

Dance

Skyline

or Change

All for I-F of course. I-F came exactly at the right time for me. I needed to experiment a lot and 'find my style'. I needed some sort of motivation to create, because despite the fact that I love it when I do it, that in itself is not always enough to make me sit down and be dedicated. But one little word each week... just one word was enough for me, and it gave me the forum to experiment in and so I'm happy and grateful for that. And happy and grateful for the bloggy friends I've made as well. This whole virtual community that I feel quite connected to now and always know I can go to for inspiration (like at three thumbs up) or help (like my online critique group at the creative cup) and there's so much more to discover if only I didn't need any sleep!

But I'm very proud of my blog because I feel like it's helped me make great leaps this year. At the beginning of the year I was considering going back to school. Basically I didn't know what to do with myself. now I have cultivated a style (ever-evolving as it is) and already gotten work with it. It's been a very exciting year. so happy birthday blog!

I'd like to celebrate my adding a few more names to my blog roll.
please visit these lovely people:
Jules Knoblock - fun, quirky crazy illos
Jenn Morris - different styles including cool scratchboard-looking illos
Rottentuna - very funky and distinctive
Jared Chapman - fun and funky characters

I've also added Drawn! which I check all the time for good times and inspiration, Illustrators Australia which I've just joined (website update apparently coming soon) and also the Aussie Illustration forums which i check very often too (maintained by the ever-busy Jules!)

I hope to get back to doing some Illustration Fridays soon. Until then, happy surfing and illustrating! (not necessarily in that order) xx