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.

Live Event Illustration is currently the strongest opportunity for Fashion Illustrators, it’s one of the most in demand and lucrative jobs out there and demand doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

So here’s a few reasons why live events are only gonna get stronger, and why every Fashion Illustrator should be jumping on the bandwagon!

People always ask me for tips on how to improve their work, I mean… obviously, it’s part of my job atm! But I always reply with the same thing first, which it isn’t smart, it isn’t revolutionary, but life drawing is the no.1 thing!

Fashion illustration is like 90% figurative, so once you’ve got the proportions, anatomy, understanding of the body, then you’re soaring!