Valerie Woelk

illustrator, writer, and graphic designer

Have you ever wondered what goes into a career as an artist or illustrator “behind-the-scenes”? On this Blog, I share info about my art and what is happening in my spare time. Why? Simply because, my spare time is almost as full of creative antics as my time spent in the studio. Artist’s can’t help but be creative 24/7, it is just a constant condition in our lives. An inescapable illness if you please.

I had a difficult time getting started in this career full time. There are no books on how to do an artist life style in the libraries.  Furthermore, my dad simply stated that, “You can’t make a living doing art.” So, I spent many years pursuing normal work and hating it. You know, sitting in a cubicle is about the worst atmosphere I can imagine to spend years of my life.

What would be the title of one of those self help books about choosing the career of an “Artist” be?

Artist’s Imagine It All… even when they don’t want to.

Do You Dream In Color? Are your clothes stained with paint?

Are You An Artist? How do you know?

Can’t Stop the Endless Flow of Ideas? You may be an artist.

The most talented artists I have had the pleasure to spend time with were the ones who shared easily and happily with no strings attached. Many times I have found that when requesting help from the artist community, it is not always freely or readily available, mainly because there is a lot of fear of competition and low confidence in my fellow artists. But honestly, there is plenty of work out there for all of us.

Each artist has their own specific special style for their own brand of very individual art. I have never seen a class full of students paint the same scene and produce two images that were even remotely the same. Have you? Artists see things so differently. We have a well of spiritual imagination at our core. There is no need to fear that others will take what we have. It is truly a wasted effort to guard our own secret processes and worry about competition or theft of our creations. Most people would run away at a sprint, from where we happily receive a constant flow of ideas without pattern or rule.

Artists must have invented the term, “thinking out of the box”. Heck, we not only think out of the box, we rarely even get onto a table to look into the box. Our minds are completely free spirits that only check into “other” normal realms when absolutely necessary. Daydreaming is a normal pastime for us. Our creative imaginations work overtime quite frequently and because of this, it is natural for us to provide a wealth of creativity to our communities. Without our creative juices the locomotive or even electricity would never have been invented.

I am an artist & I make a living “making art”.

Sharing my tricks of the trade is something that I truly enjoy doing.

This BLOG is setup to allow a way for me to share step-by-step images as I explain the “how-to’s” of being an artist as I work through the creation process.

What steps go into making art?

Hopefully being able to see the steps I take to produce a project will help and inspire you into doing or completing your own.