I've been drawing since I was about 13, but I never really took it seriously - it was just a fun hobby. I loved anime, and I thought drawing from life was painfully boring, so while I loved making art, I never thought seriously about it being a prospective career. I knew it was possible, but I also knew that, at that point in my life, going to an art school would have made me utterly hate drawing.
When it came time to choose what I wanted to study at university, I chose my other big passion - music. My skill with art really slowed down during this time, as studying music is intensive as heck, and I had far less free time. But I still drew when I felt the call to, and I still improved slowly. I also got the chance to do some figure drawing as an optional class in my final year, and by that point I was mature enough to really enjoy it! (I remember the tutor being impressed with my charcoal work, then looking rather disappointed to learn I was a blow-in from the music program and not a first year art student. That was a pretty big confidence boost!)
After finishing my music degree and taking a year off, I went back to study a graduate diploma in education, and became a teacher. While teaching full-time, I still drew, but even less frequently. That was until Inktober 2018. I was feeling burnt out from teaching, and needed something to get my mind off it. So, I decided to try completing the whole Inktober challenge. It was the first Inktober I ever finished, and I was on such a high from that, I immediately jumped into Huevember... And halfway through that I realised "Holy shit, I absolutely love this."
It came at exactly the right time. I really wasn't enjoying being in the classroom anymore. So, I set myself a goal in 2019. I was going to focus on drawing as much as I could that year, especially things I found challenging, like environments. During the school holidays, I'd keep a 'full time' schedule as an illustrator. And if I still enjoyed it by halfway through the year, and I was noticeably improving, I'd resign from my role as a classroom music teacher, and just teach voice two days a week.
Well, I did enjoy it, and I was improving, and at the age of 29, I left classroom teaching behind me! I then spent the vast majority of 2020 trying to figure out what kind of artist I wanted to be. I'd originally wanted to illustrate children's books, but I quickly realised I didn't have the right style, and didn't want to change it. So, scratch that idea. Then, I figured animation or games might work, but I couldn't decide on one area of focus - I loved background painting, AND character design, AND illustration, AND storyboarding, and I didn't want to just do one at the expense of all the others. I knew I'd get bored.
Eventually, I stumbled upon a tweet joking about how, in order to draw comics, you have to be good at ALL OF THE THINGS. It didn't hit me immediately, but after a few days I was like "...OH." 
It ticked all the boxes. I love writing, I love illustrating moments within a story, I love designing characters, and my style - the one which I was distressed to discover wasn't the current fashion for children's books at all - was perfect for graphic novels. Plus, a lot of kidlit publishing houses are leaning hard into graphic novels right now, it's a huge growth market, and working with old-school publishers is reliable money as an illustrator.
So, all I had to do was learn how to draw ALL OF THE THINGS, and also how to master sequential illustration and comic page layout. To do that, I decided to make my own comic. Three months later, here we are!
I'm not sure at this stage where this path will lead me. At first, I was hellbent on illustrating comics for scholastic. Working as a colourist for the big comic publishers was also tantalising. Now, I'd much rather make a living from my own stories. I also vastly prefer making scrolling comics, that one was a big surprise. But publishing houses are reliable money, so freelancing with them is still a viable option. We'll see! At the moment, I'm still learning the industry.
I won't lie, I do stress sometimes that I've lost too much time, and that it's too late for such a big career change. But, it is what it is. I've accepted that I'll probably feel that way until a big opportunity falls into my lap, and then I won't feel that way anymore. Also, having a teaching degree is a massive financial safety net. That's never something to be taken for granted! Government teachers are paid decently here, and teaching voice two days a week covers the essentials, gives my wrist a chance to rest, and gives me a musical outlet as well. I'm a lot more secure than other artists who are just making ends meet via commissions while trying to work on passion projects at the same time, and for that, I'm very grateful. I'm glad I followed the path I did. It's been twisty and turny and wonderful.
