This month, I hit one of my dream goals, it was a goal I first wrote down years ago when I first started freelancing, and that goal was ‘to be in ImagineFX magazine’. I used to buy ImagineFX magazine on a weekly basis at college and it’s definitely been such a big part of building my skills and knowledge in the creative industry. This month, I got to walk into that same WHSmiths, pick up that same magazine and see my work on a double page spread.

There have been so many times when I’ve wanted to throw in the towel when it comes to being a freelance illustrator, it’s so easy to just focus so much on the present, forgetting about the past and how far I’ve come and not thinking about the future and how much more I have the opportunity to be a part of. Freelancing isn’t for the faint hearted, it’s hard, it’s exhausting, it can be really lonely, but overall it’s so rewarding in every way. The challenge is staying motivated and determined even when there are rough periods and times when maybe mentally, we aren’t as kind to ourselves.

I have personally been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately because not only have I met one of my dream goals which has instantly made me think ‘how can I take my work to the next level?’, but I’ve also been given a dream project to work on. I’m working on an upcoming 2D driven narrative game (@unmaskedgame on social media), which I’ll be doing all of the art for, and the whole style and theme of it is perfect for me. At first, I was so excited because I was going to be working on the perfect project for me, and something that could really push my work closer to where I wanted it to be, then after a few days, a real fear set in, because I realised that I could also fail at this and not give people what they want.

Then my girlfriend called me one morning (without me at all mentioning or asking for this conversation) and she went on to tell me how much I’ve always inspired her, even before we met and how much her friends talk about my work and gave examples, along with giving me a massive pep talk. One thing she did say though that really got me was ‘you just never give up, you have your bad periods and times when things don’t go so well, but no matter what, you just get it done and keep going’. That really hit home for me and made me realise that the things that I’m fearing and worrying about now, are things that I would have absolutely dreamed to be working on even just a year ago, never mind when I first started.

It’s very very easy to lose perspective these days, and there’s nothing wrong with feeling a bit down or having self doubt, but always remember why you started in the first place. A lot of the time when you’re feeling down or full of fear, it’s purely to do with mindset and how you’re looking at the situation, if you change your mindset, everything can be very different and you can figure out everything that you need to, and generally when we are scared, it's because better things are coming and we know we're going through a big change and growing as a person to get there.

Overall this blog post is just a little reminder to keep on going, it might seem like slow progress at the moment, but chances are if you look at the big picture, you’ve come a hell of a long way and got to a place that past you would be proud of. Decide for yourself now to stop making yourself suffer and just go out there and live your life by being who you want to be.

So if you’re struggling at the moment, just remember, never quit.

Never Quit