I'm back with some more of my favorite things! All of these relate to my work to expand my creative business, and they might be helpful to you for that same reason.
This year my focus has been self-improvement in business and art, and Leonie Dawson has been a big part of that. I heard about her Shining Year workbooks at the end of last year and decided to give it a go. They're really affordable and do a wonderful job of helping you identify major goals and break them down into actionable steps. It's how I got myself together enough to quit the day job, and it's keeping me on track as I work to build my business. I'm looking forward to trying more of her business coaching programs, too.
2. Hello Brio
Hello Brio is a new-to-me blog that I found while looking for a few tutorials in Illustrator to help out with my Make Art That Sells course. Her blog is packed with tons of great design tips and tutorials that I found very inspiring and easy to follow. Making my own font has never seemed so doable before!
As I mentioned previously, I'm working to improve my digital illustration in Photoshop, as well. I didn't realize until recently how much of an impact having good digital brushes has on digital illustration (seems obvious, now, of course...), and Kyle's brushes are tops. So far my favorites are his gouache brushes and the Tilterrific pencil (so perfect for digital sketching!), but I'm looking forward to mastering these runny inkers to capture that fun early 80s illustration of my youth. The only downside is how much I want a Cintiq tablet, now...
4. The Land of Nod Room Gallery
The main reason I decided to sign up for Lilla Rogers' home décor class is to learn to design items for kids' rooms. The Land of Nod is a dream client, so I've been researching their aesthetic to put together a trend board to work from for my next collection. Luckily for me, they put together some serious eye candy in the form of a room gallery, where you can browse rooms decorated with their beautiful items. I know the products are intended for children, but I could easily seem my home filled with their work.
