During this project I learned that the NextGen community is so passionate about what they do, and that work spaces can be just as fun as they are productive. I think it’s easy to get bogged down in work, but it’s been really clear that beautiful stories are coming out of this environment, not just because talented people are working but because of the community that is there to support one another.
I wish I would have decided to come and participate in person. I think that as an illustrator it can be easy to stay in my corner, but I value collaboration at every level and I’m curious what the final illustration would have been if I wasn’t on Zoom. In addition to the shyness that comes with being online, as an intern, I think I was so focused on getting everything right that I didn’t leave room for myself to present new ideas or think outside of the box as much. Now that the project is wrapping up I have all of these ideas for spot illustrations or how the illustrations could have interacted with the story more, and I wish I would have given myself room to lean into that headspace during the week.
Something that I am going to start doing once this project is over is taking time to reflect and remember why I chose to go down this career path. Coming back into an editorial space after being gone for a while has reminded me that I am still passionate about editorial illustration and working to assist in storytelling. In addition, the other Illustrators were so helpful in answering questions and offering up ideas when I was feeling creatively or technically stuck, and because of that, I have so many more tools under my belt to keep creating. Selfishly, I may start going to them after this project when I need illustration assistance because they were so lovely and helpful.