Pursuing Personal Projects
I’m a little bit country…I’m a little bit rock and roll.
That’s just metaphorical in a sense, since I’m mostly R&B, some neo-soul & gospel. 🤷🏾♀️ But, I use it because I feel like personal projects are very practical for me…a little necessity…a little play.
Choosing personal projects may depend on the stage of your artistic/design career. But I think most artists use them to develop their portfolios for the kinds of clients they want or to show the kind of work they want to do. Some also use it to develop, practice, or master skills.
Case in point, I had no real plans for that alphabet in the last post when I first made it. I was just killing time between assignments for the online course I’m taking. But, I thought it looked nice, and since a friend of mine thought I could use some work on my walls, I decided to let it inspire me. So, I took it a step further to digitize it in Procreate.
But, then, I thought, if I was going to print it…why not vector it too for a better resolution at multiple sizes? Y’all know how much I love that process….But, then, I thought, if I also made it into a cut file, I could cut some of the letters in vinyl or make a coloring sheet with my Cricut.
So, I spent the majority of yesterday evening vectoring on my iPad…which I think is a little different than vectoring on the desktop. I’ve been working mostly in my own space since my things came upstairs. But, I knew if I had waited until I could be at my desk this time, I wouldn’t get it done. Besides, knowing how to deftly steal a minute or two here and there is a prerequisite for a mother that makes and I’ve got years of experience in that department.
I share some of the process of vectoring in hyper speed below. Because, believe me, you do not want to see the actual speed. 😳
To be fair, I’m getting much better at understanding the quirks of illustrator for what I need it to do right now-and personal projects like this really help. The process can be tedious, and you can wind up taking some of the “hand” out of the sketch (a matter of personal preference)…But you can’t beat it for providing a very versatile file…You also can’t learn it well without getting your hands dirty from time to time.
I figured while I was at it, I’d make my friend a postcard to thank her for the inspiration!
This is available in my shop as a free SVG download too if you’re interested in having one (includes PNG, DXF, PDF files as well).
How do you choose your personal projects?
