2010 and Moving Foward
Yikes... I haven't written anything here in months! I still come and read every day though. Taking a break from the internet can do a world of good sometimes!
But the end of 2010 is approaching and I always like to do a review of what happened and set new goals for the year to come. I must admit though, today I am doing it to really push myself to move forward. If there is one thing I need to learn from 2010, it was that I tend to rely on others to give me that extra push, but now I can only rely on myself and I need to become a little more independent.
What happened in 2010:
- For the first time since I am a freelancer, I managed to make a living off work that I exclusively did at home, with the exception of a few contracts (still all freelance) that required me to work in an office. This is a big deal for me. I've been freelancing full time November 2006, and before that, freelancing part time since May 2002. So that is 8 years of pushing this to make it come true, and right here right now, I can say that it happened.
If I said I wasn't the happiest artist in the world for this, and that I wasn't grateful, I would be lying. I am. I feel lucky also and proud of myself for it.
- Stamps! Well this is still ongoing, but thanks to this particular contract, I wouldn't be where I am right now. Since the beginning of the contract, I've done about 100 designs! Let's hope I can do 100 more for 2011!
- While career-wise everything went smoothly, my personal life was a bit harsher to deal with. I ended a 6.5 years relationship with someone I cared a lot about. While I will not go into details, I will say that without him in my life, I don't think I would be where I am right now. He supported me 200% with my career and I am very thankful to have had him during that very unstable period of my life.
- Paintings... this has also been a bit sketchy this year. I think I did my minimal goal of 1 per month, but with 2 moves, getting through it all emotionally and trying to find myself again has made it very difficult for me to draw or paint for myself. Oddly enough, when it came to work, it never was a problem, and so, I've always kept myself busy with work. But not with the personal projects this year.
- How many seconds of animation?
This is a surprise! A few months back, I was offered a job for clean-up animation on an indy animated short. It was to be done with colored pencils. I wasn't too scared, since I had done it before with markers and it turned out to be a lot of fun! But not long after getting the job, turned out that they needed animators more than clean-up artists and offered me to do animation instead! I was rusty, I didn't feel ready, but they insisted that everyone was rusty and that it was fine. And so.... in a few months, I turned in 1 minute work of animation! I still have 1 more minute to do. But, I must admit that what I loved about animation all came back to me and I started to do animation for myself again because of this. I also did quite a few animation related to a small RPG game I am doing with friends. I'm almost done with all that also. Only a few corrections to make!
- I got myself my first cell phone. ahah! I had to mention it! Because some friends laughed about the fact I had no cell for so long. But now that I moved, I had no choice but to get one. Turns out I am now addicted to texting. =P It's probably not a good thing!
- An introduction to music. This was unexpected, and still is. I'm not sure what to make of it either. Someone else got very close to me during 2010 and introduced me to music in a whole new way. Ever since, I have been slowly trying to get into it and understand the impact its got on me now. It's strange because I was always fond of silence and now, I'm trying to see what I like and don't like about music. Trying to discover new things. It's not natural to me, but it's been very enjoyable.
What I would like for 2011:
- Emotional independence. I want to feel like a strong woman that can take care of herself on her own. And for this, I need to be able to be a little less involved emotionally. Not that it's a bad thing, but too much of something IS. And I think I am too emotionally attached to people around me. I rely on them too much.
- At least 1 painting per month. Same goal, but deep down inside, I would like it to be more than 1!
- Finish one project. I have several on their way, but none finished. I would like to pick one and do it. (I have one comic, the Alice cards, a storyboard, and a very small RPG game)
- Finish my portfolio. Yeah... that's been waiting forever. I need to do it this time!
- Market myself a little more. If I can finish the portfolio, then I could market myself better.
- To organize my studio a little better. I work in a tiny tiny space, and I am pretty sure I could make it a little more efficient.
- I'm shooting for the stars here: I would really like to save enough to be able to afford a real studio shared with other artists. I have no clue how that could be possible, but I would like to do research and work toward that goal in 2011!
But the end of 2010 is approaching and I always like to do a review of what happened and set new goals for the year to come. I must admit though, today I am doing it to really push myself to move forward. If there is one thing I need to learn from 2010, it was that I tend to rely on others to give me that extra push, but now I can only rely on myself and I need to become a little more independent.
What happened in 2010:
- For the first time since I am a freelancer, I managed to make a living off work that I exclusively did at home, with the exception of a few contracts (still all freelance) that required me to work in an office. This is a big deal for me. I've been freelancing full time November 2006, and before that, freelancing part time since May 2002. So that is 8 years of pushing this to make it come true, and right here right now, I can say that it happened.
If I said I wasn't the happiest artist in the world for this, and that I wasn't grateful, I would be lying. I am. I feel lucky also and proud of myself for it.
- Stamps! Well this is still ongoing, but thanks to this particular contract, I wouldn't be where I am right now. Since the beginning of the contract, I've done about 100 designs! Let's hope I can do 100 more for 2011!
- While career-wise everything went smoothly, my personal life was a bit harsher to deal with. I ended a 6.5 years relationship with someone I cared a lot about. While I will not go into details, I will say that without him in my life, I don't think I would be where I am right now. He supported me 200% with my career and I am very thankful to have had him during that very unstable period of my life.
- Paintings... this has also been a bit sketchy this year. I think I did my minimal goal of 1 per month, but with 2 moves, getting through it all emotionally and trying to find myself again has made it very difficult for me to draw or paint for myself. Oddly enough, when it came to work, it never was a problem, and so, I've always kept myself busy with work. But not with the personal projects this year.
- How many seconds of animation?
This is a surprise! A few months back, I was offered a job for clean-up animation on an indy animated short. It was to be done with colored pencils. I wasn't too scared, since I had done it before with markers and it turned out to be a lot of fun! But not long after getting the job, turned out that they needed animators more than clean-up artists and offered me to do animation instead! I was rusty, I didn't feel ready, but they insisted that everyone was rusty and that it was fine. And so.... in a few months, I turned in 1 minute work of animation! I still have 1 more minute to do. But, I must admit that what I loved about animation all came back to me and I started to do animation for myself again because of this. I also did quite a few animation related to a small RPG game I am doing with friends. I'm almost done with all that also. Only a few corrections to make!
- I got myself my first cell phone. ahah! I had to mention it! Because some friends laughed about the fact I had no cell for so long. But now that I moved, I had no choice but to get one. Turns out I am now addicted to texting. =P It's probably not a good thing!
- An introduction to music. This was unexpected, and still is. I'm not sure what to make of it either. Someone else got very close to me during 2010 and introduced me to music in a whole new way. Ever since, I have been slowly trying to get into it and understand the impact its got on me now. It's strange because I was always fond of silence and now, I'm trying to see what I like and don't like about music. Trying to discover new things. It's not natural to me, but it's been very enjoyable.
What I would like for 2011:
- Emotional independence. I want to feel like a strong woman that can take care of herself on her own. And for this, I need to be able to be a little less involved emotionally. Not that it's a bad thing, but too much of something IS. And I think I am too emotionally attached to people around me. I rely on them too much.
- At least 1 painting per month. Same goal, but deep down inside, I would like it to be more than 1!
- Finish one project. I have several on their way, but none finished. I would like to pick one and do it. (I have one comic, the Alice cards, a storyboard, and a very small RPG game)
- Finish my portfolio. Yeah... that's been waiting forever. I need to do it this time!
- Market myself a little more. If I can finish the portfolio, then I could market myself better.
- To organize my studio a little better. I work in a tiny tiny space, and I am pretty sure I could make it a little more efficient.
- I'm shooting for the stars here: I would really like to save enough to be able to afford a real studio shared with other artists. I have no clue how that could be possible, but I would like to do research and work toward that goal in 2011!