January: A time for self-reflections and new beginnings.
It's January! We made it. Phew, another year done. Yet there it is already right around the corner: the promise of new year full of possibilities.
I'm not a fan of the holiday season per se. So I'm pretty glad that's over and done with. (Don't come for me haha.) Yet January always feels like a clean slate for me. I find it hard to allow myself the time to stand still and reflect. So once a year I feel like the universe give me the space to do so. Time to sit back and take stock of past year and see what went well and what didn't—celebrating victories and acknowledging the lessons learned.
As I reflect on the year gone by, 2023 brought forth some significant wins. First and foremost, was landing my first job in an animation studio here in Belgium. While it might not be a monumental achievement for some, for others like me, who pursued art as a career without any formal training, it marked a great step in the right direction.
Some of the wonderful artists that joined me @ Prente
Additionally, I also organized my own illustration market '"Prente" in 2023 together with the people of Jeugdclub 't Verzet for the first time ever. IThe experience was nothing short of overwhelming, with an outpouring of love and support from both attendees and fellow artists. Prente will be returning in 2024 on the 17th of August at Knokke-Heist. Keep your eye open for the open call soon!
My table @ Thought Bubble 2023
To round of the year I got to participate in Thought Bubble 2023 in Harrogate in the UK. I remember applying thinking I would never get in. So it came as quite a shock learning that I did. Thought Bubble was amazing even though I got horribly ill on the trip there. Nonetheless I'll sure be applying for the next edition in 2024 as well. Fingers crossed I get to be so lucky again.
But…
Much like everyone else, 2023 wasn't all smooth sailing. Unfortunately, things took a bit of a nosedive after Thought Bubble. To unravel the story, let's rewind to early 2023, where I had the fantastic opportunity to participate in Beatrice Blue's Children's Book Course for 8 weeks. In that time we worked on writing and illustrating our own Children’s Books gearing up to pitch to publishers and agents once the course wrapped up.
At the time however, I was in full swing with the animation job and I severely overworked myself to keep up with both. After both ended I burned out a bit on the book project and it wasn’t until after Thought Bubble I managed to pick it back up since organising “Prente” consumed most of my creative energy.
I finally had the headspace to connect with my characters and work on my own book. It’s amazing what a bit of breathing room can do for a person, because it all sort of just fell out of me: who the characters where, what they looked like and what their motivations where, after months of stewing it was all ripe for the plucking! In the end I finished my pitch deck in 3 weeks. It was overwhelming but exciting and in the end I was proud of it!
Character Design sketches from my pitch: Ophelia
Now I can hear you guys thinking: “This sounds great, what’s sad about all of this?”
Well after all that it all came down to sending out emails to see if my story got picked up. And then the silence hit me…Eventually I only got two rejections emails back and the others never replied. Now there is still time for replies but in reality I’ll have to assume that it’s probably a no for now. Not for forever, just not yet and not now. I will keep working on the pitch and pick it back up when the wound is less fresh since I still feel very passionate about it.
Character Design sketches from my pitch: Gertie
The disappointment hit me very hard because when it’s a book that is totally your own, it all feels so personal. I know it’s not and there are so many factors at play why it didn’t get picked up but it left me reeling because I had set my hopes on it a little bit too much. And so the plans I had for the beginning of 2024 vanished into thin air. I had to pivot really quickly and make other plans and look for other streams of income. New plans are in the making, one of them being this blog and newsletter. The new streams of income are still a big question mark. Oops! But ah, feast or famine is the reality of all freelancers haha!
And so I have to start my 2024 with a little bit of pain, a little bit of insecurity and heap and heaps of hope and excitement for the new year!
Fingers crossed.
Camille
