Hey there everyone, it’s been more or less 5 months since I’ve been actually active here on DeviantArt. Holy wow have things changed in that time.
I really wanted to explain why its been so long since I’ve done anything on DeviantArt or Instagram, it's quite a tale so if you're short on time I recommend heading to the TLDR section down below.To get the story straight I’ll have to backtrack a little bit…
Back to the end of 2018~
It was December of 2018 and I had just finished my bachelors degree in Computer Animation. I was eager to start working and had managed to land a job through an internship program my school provided. It was basically a freelancing agency, where they would get graphic design jobs from various clients and then pay their workers bi-weekly. During my time at the internship I had enjoyed the atmosphere and workflow we had going in the office so much. I learned how important communication between a team is. Being able to create content and share ideas on the spot was amazing. Even if the work was frustrating, at least we could have a good laugh at the end of the day knowing there was a job well done. They had hopes to moving to a more reachable and large location, which sounded promising. It was a really pretty pictured they painted and at the time I thought it would be a great place to work full-time. Anyways, I completed the hours for my internship and they offered me a job at the office. Sadly, I couldn’t take the offer because it would require me to use my first paycheck on parking fees and gas alone.
Not to mention the hour commute there and back through heavy traffic. In Miami.
It just didn’t make sense to me financially Especially if I wanted to start saving money to pay back my student loans. But I was desperate to start making money in order to help out at home. I thought I could work from home for the time being, at least until they moved and then I could return to the office. I started in mid-late December and did this for almost a month. And then I quit.
My reasons for “quitting” (cause I don’t know what else to call it, it was a weird situation) was basically a lack of communication.
At first I would get jobs assigned every other day or so, spend my time completing them, and then waited for payment at a bi-weekly schedule. But as the days went by, communication became less and less, even when I asked if there were any work to be done, I would wait for hours on end before I got a response. Then there was radio silence for about a week and a half or so. Eventually, I had enough and had to face the fact that freelancing this way wasn’t going to work out for me.
I had hopes for that job, I really did. But things turned out differently…
NEVERTHELESS, I’m so glad that they did
Through this experience I realized that I needed a more stable job, and to actually be able to get out of the house and get work done. Without any distractions or worries about where my next paycheck was coming from. I started applying for jobs looking for graphic designers, and filled up my physical portfolio with as much work as I could.
In my frantic-ness of looking for a job, I was struggling with whether or not to ask others for help. It was something I wanted to do on my own, but realistically every place I looked at either wanted 3+ years of experience and it wouldn’t be a bad way to get a foot in the door. Eventually, I told my mom to tell anyone she could that I was looking for employment as a graphic designer as well as other family members who gave me a lot of good advice!
Fast forward to a Friday in February 2019, my mom tells me to start preparing a portfolio, I’ve got an interview on Monday! It was at a beauty manufacturing company that needed a graphic designer. I was so nervous on the interview, but once I started talking about the programs I used and the work I’ve done, it was smooth sailing. I started working that very week! And I’ve been working there ever since. The end.
But in all seriousness I was a nervous wreck while looking for a job. Which brings me back to why I stopped posting for such a long time. After “quitting” the first job I got, I wanted to jump back into DeviantArt so I decided to start working on a commission sheet. I started posting my latest works and made a schedule from myself. When I posted “Mage In Training” I was actually in the process of fleshing out where I wanted my art to go. I wanted to focus my skills towards creating more fantasy related drawings that tell a story and get back in the swing of drawing tra-digitally.
But I haven’t stopped wanting to post and share my art, so throughout these months I’ve been working on office setup that way when I get home from work, I can get back to drawing what I love
I’ll be working on things throughout the week and so far have planned to post new content on the weekends here and on other social media. It may take me awhile to get the swing of things again, but I’m sticking to a plan! Thank you for reading or skimming, I appreciate it either way and I hope you’ll stay tuned for more of my work!