If you haven’t created a specific style for yourself before (or if you are a brand new illustrator), the first step you should take is to come up with a quick outline of your style. Then write this down in a sketch book or any other writing aid and keep it somewhere you can see it frequently. When people ask you what your art looks like, your style should be clear immediately through their reaction. Do they think, “Wow, that’s awesome, that looks awesome”? Or, “Wow, that’s an original thing, that’s really cool”.

This also works for your designs that you are trying to sell to companies. How do you describe your idea or design?

Don’t forget to give the company an outline before hand, and when people are asked for your ideas, answer to what you’ve described. Don’t just go into a room and start sketching away.

A bit of practice goes a long way

Once you have these little strategies in mind, you should be ready to hit the streets and show off your skills with a new design. As a new illustrator, it doesn’t take too long for you to get yourself on the drawing board and get comfortable with a pen or brush (and pencil). You’ll also want to focus on the basics, in the early stages. If you don’t think there are any basic things in your art that aren’t already being touched on in other artists works, there is plenty that you can work on in the beginning.

When you are comfortable, you can move forward to sketching or creating paintings (or sketches/painting) all on your own. Don’t worry about “how can I illustrate this in this other medium”, but instead start to put together a general concept that your next illustration (should) be about.

If you want to get really fancy, you could go so far as to draw yourself, but this is definitely going too far.

Remember, it’s all about practice

As a new illustrator, you probably won’t get as much time to create as you wish. As a new graphic designer, you may even get some extra time to do it. Make sure that you find a time where you are fully satisfied with the way you started.

The key to this is finding what feels right for you, and making that work day-to-day. The next step to taking your design work to the next level is making a living from it. There are a

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