What? Why do you want to quit drawing fanart? You clearly love it.
Oh, it's a bit of a love/hate relationship, haha! Mostly love, though! I'm just struggling to strike a balance between my fanart and my more "original" work, as one may classify them. I do have a full-time job creating artwork for a local design company, but what I'm assigned to draw for them isn't really my style - I'm restricted to a certain aesthetic that I had to adapt to for the job.
Well, I'd like to eventually make a living off my own style(s) - be it through graphic novels, children's books, editorial illustrations, etc. I do take on some interesting commissions once in a while, but I think I should be developing my own stories and characters... I won't count my Merlin AUs, lol. When I get home from work, though, I'm usually pretty tired and just wanna de-stress... Fandom helps me do that, so I end up producing a lot of fanart in my free time.
Anyway, I've been neglecting to find the time and effort to develop personal projects for my professional portfolio. The website I have under my RL name is quite lacking... Seriously, it's full of old college stuff! I'm proud of my fanart, and it's really been helping me build and explore my skills, but I don't want to just have my obsessions on display when I start advertising myself a bit more seriously! I can just imagine showing my stuff to a client and they'll go, "You really like this big-eared dude, huh?" xD
Um, so I do feel a bit stuck... with no one to blame but myself. For the time being, though, it's an honestly good place to be stuck. I'm making enough money, and I DO enjoy making fanart and sharing it with my fantastic followers. I'm just thinking of the future, and how I might like to evolve my career... Adult stuff, bah! Perhaps I'll take a smaller step forward and see about selling my current stuff at conventions, eh?
Don't worry about me ever actually quitting... I think the unfulfilling end of Merlin has traumatized me to the point that I'll never stop! <3
