4 years have floooown by, and I’ve managed to keep my head above water without sacrificing my gaming habits, so here’s a few things I’ve learn after 4 years being a full-time artist.

Live event illustration is one of the most lucrative jobs out there for fashion illustrators, you can earn up to £350ph+ and with it being incredibly in demand as well, there’s no shortage of jobs.

However it isn’t entirely easy money, as they’re not suited for everyone!

I’ve drawn all my life, as most of us have, but for some reason the important time of choosing what you want to study at university came at a time I was on a break from drawing.

In photography there’s always this prejudice, you wouldn’t book a wedding photographer to shoot your fashion campaign

And I often wonder if this stigma is in the illustration industry too.

A question I get asked a lot by budding live event artists is have I ever had someone not like my drawing?

And the questions asked as if people think if that ever happened, the client makes you pack up your shit and kicks you out of the venue and you’re blacklisted from every job ever.

I always get asked ‘how did you get into illustration?’, ‘How did it became your job?’, 'what did you study', 'where did you study, 'what grade did you get'...

Everyone’s searching for a crystal clear blueprint that shows the exact route to becoming a full time freelance Illustrator.

But the truth is, there just isn’t one!

If I were to make a bingo card for sayings budding illustrators say ‘When my work gets good enough, I’ll start sharing my work/getting a website/pitching to clients’ would be featured all over that little sheet.

Don’t get me wrong, I 100% get the thinking, but scrap it! Burn it! Scribble over it!

There’s a huge stigma that if you have a job, part time or full time, then you’re not a proper artist.

If you’re not sleeping on a dirty mattress on the floor of a tiny studio and eating stale bread sitting around waiting for your big break, aka, if you’re not suffering, then you cannot call yourself an artist.