Finally focusing on art the way I’ve always wanted to

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  • #357697
    Alison Murray WhittingtonAlison Murray Whittington
    Participant
    No points.

    Hello, everyone!

    Once a journalist and TV producer, I have been a map artist for more than a decade, making and selling ink-and-watercolor maps of real and imaginary places both, but after several big life changes, with more to come, I decided it was time to pursue my longtime interest in visual storytelling and illustration more intently, buckle down, and really study to get where I want to be. I realized pretty quickly that my foundational drawing skills were severely limited, in spite of years of selling my art and after taking art instruction repeatedly over the years, but I now homeschool our kids full time, so outside classes are a very tough fit with our family schedule, and grad school is a near-impossible dream. So I decided to build my own study program from many different resources. After finding a lot to YouTube tutorials that were kind of helpful but not in-depth, I started browsing online for “real” art instruction to help me bring my basic skills up to speed, and signed up for a NMA membership several months ago after watching several NMA videos on YouTube.

    I started with the “Constructive Figure Drawing” course, with Steve Huston, and am about a third of the way into that, but diverted to start the “Head Drawing for Beginners” course, and am currently on Portrait Drawing for Beginners, Part 3, with Chris Legaspi.

    It’s all been so very helpful, and I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to study at my own pace at home. I’m really looking forward to exploring as many of the different courses on this site as I can, and I look forward to talking with other students here on NMA. If you’re on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook  you can find me at all of those places under HanddrawnMFA (and/or paintandink, my main username).

    #357704
    Alison Murray WhittingtonAlison Murray Whittington
    Participant
    No points.

    Also, I’m not sure how it pulled up my profile picture; that IS one of my old maps, but I am quite sure I didn’t load it onto this site, and I can’t figure out how to change it. A mystery.

    #357921
    Joshua JacoboJoshua Jacobo
    Keymaster
    No badges. No points.

    Welcome to the community! Map making has always been interesting to me. I’d love to study it more in the future. It’s great to hear that you had the courage to get back to the fundamentals. Often professionals find it too hard a pill to swallow but most artists today, professional or otherwise can strengthen their core skills. I look forward to seeing what work you post here!

Viewing 3 posts - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

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