Alexa’s Illustration Student Manifesto

 

Illustration is a major I feel passionate about and am proud to

be a part of. As a child, I loved watching cartoons and coming up

with my own characters to be in them. For me, a career as an

illustrator is perfect as it doesn’t feel like work.

The power of the major itself is that it is so broad. In terms of

jobs, there are so many different types of jobs and opportunities

open to illustrators, including book illustrator, character designer,

fine artist, greeting card designer, concept designer, and more.

Within this industry, there is a job to match everyone’s interests.

With any field, there are also important rules that should be

followed:

 

1. As students, we should be prepared to learn. If we feel a

lecture on anatomy is review, we should pay even closer attention as this instructor may have better method to than the last.

 

2. Critiques are a familiar and uncomfortable topic for most art

students. It can be hard to listen to your instructor verbally tear

apart your digital painting you spent countless hours, or an all

nighter, on. We must remember not to take critiques personally as they are meant to help us improve.

 

3. Just as easily, we tend to get overly competitive and feel

discouraged when comparing our artwork to our peers. Instead, we

should be taking notes on what we like about their artwork and using it as inspiration for our own!

 

4. We should use this time in school to experiment with our

work, find out our favorite mediums, and push ourselves. It’s

important to experiment with different styles now so that later when

you have to stick to one for your job, it is one that you can feel confident in.