Live Encore: Get Inspired by the World Around You | Amber Vittoria | Skillshare
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Live Encore: Get Inspired by the World Around You

teacher avatar Amber Vittoria, Artist and Illustrator

Watch this class and thousands more

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Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Lessons in This Class

    • 1.

      Introduction

      1:54

    • 2.

      Exercise One: Contour Drawing

      8:48

    • 3.

      Exercise Two: Plants and Rocks

      7:57

    • 4.

      Exercise Three: Final Drawing

      13:12

    • 5.

      Q&A

      7:13

    • 6.

      Final Thoughts

      0:16

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About This Class

Access inspiration and relaxation in this soothing, informative class!

Based in New York City, artist and illustrator Amber Vittoria is an inspiration expert. Her award-winning work for clients like Google, Facebook, Warby Parker, and Conde Nast all started in the same place: with a spark of inspiration that carried her through to a gorgeous final project. In this Skillshare Live session, recorded using Zoom and featuring participation from the Skillshare community, Amber will teach you how to tap into the inspiration that’s all around you, by demonstrating a few simple exercises that will show you how to look for it! 

The class begins with a quick warm-up to get your creative juices flowing. From there, Amber will talk you through an exercise that relies on finding objects in your home that inspire you. You’ll be amazed to realize how much creative and artistic potential you can find in things you already own! Once you’ve discovered how much around you can bring inspiration, you’ll get into the meat of the class: abstracting and creating a beautiful piece of art. With Amber’s help, you’ll be able to use the shapes and colors from the inspiring items you picked out to build something wonderful. Lastly, Amber will take a few questions from students before wrapping things up. You don’t need any special equipment to take this class, and trust us: it’s one you don’t want to miss.

Meet Your Teacher

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Amber Vittoria

Artist and Illustrator

Teacher

Take the class here!

Want to learn how to paint flowing, abstract forms like Amber Vittoria—and, more importantly, how to find creative inspiration all around you? In her upcoming class, Amber will walk you through her entire process from inspiration to final painting, including:

Unique places to find inspiration, and how to see the world in new ways to create abstract work Ways to incorporate experimentation as you plan out your piece, playing with different forms and colors along the way  The special acrylic painting techniques she uses to create her signature work

Best of all, her easy and fun process is accessible to artists of any level—and even inspiring if you prefer to work in a different medium! You’ll walk away with a finished ... See full profile

Level: All Levels

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Transcripts

1. Introduction: These exercises are super helpful to me, especially when I'm starting on a new project and I'm a little bit nervous about drawing on a blank page or struggling how to get started. They're also important to me, because they're exercises to allow me to get more comfortable with the idea of abstraction within my artwork. Hi, everyone. My name is Amber Vittoria, and my pronouns are she/her. Today, we are going to be learning about taking inspiration in your life and putting it into your artwork in an abstract way. My experience with abstraction has grown over the years. I would say that as a younger artist, my work is a little bit more representative like most artists, but with time and with increase in comfort levels, I've branched into abstractly depicting the human form in a way that feels right for my work and what I want my work to represent. For folks that are a bit more representative with their work, abstract exercises like these are really great as one pieces to exercise your mind before getting into a piece and allowing you to see things in a way that you may not have seen them before. For people that don't consider themselves visual artists, these exercises are really fun to be able to take time for yourself and make something, even if it is abstract, it's something that is really exciting and joyful. For today's class, you don't need much. You'll just need any type of piece of paper. I'll be using my sketchbook, any type of writing utensil, I'll be using a pen, and then things in your home that inspire you. I'll be using a plant, part of my rock collection, and then a stuffed animal that I've had since I was a child. This class is recorded live with participation from Skillshare students. Thank you all so much for joining me, I'm super excited. Let's get started. 2. Exercise One: Contour Drawing: I want to say hi to everybody. My name is Dylan. I am going to be your host today. I'm a writer and unfortunate Twitter user based in Cleveland, Ohio. We're doing this class today with Amber. Amber do you want to tell us a little bit about you and what you do? Hey, everyone. My name is Amber Victoria and I am an illustrator and I live and work in New York City. All right. So without further ado, let's get started. Yes. Before, we're going to do three exercises and the purpose of this class is to explore abstraction and using inspiration to be able to do so. Actually, this works out with the art behind me. When I started making work a lot of it was a little bit more realistic, for lack of better term in terms of representations of a human figure like this piece behind. Then with time, I would use inspiration of things in my life to push myself into more abstraction which felt more accurate to what I was trying to portray with the figures in these pieces. So I use inspiration around my home, especially in the last year. Before that is a little easier to find inspiration on life. So what we're going to do is one warm-up, one a little bit more in depth sketch and then one final piece that is an abstract piece from things in your home that inspire you. Our first warm up could be something in eye shot. Mine is usually behind my computer. But mine is this cute little toy. I have too many of these at my parents house that I'm not going to share how many, because it's a lot. I really love this one for a few things and I'm going to focus on those things in my drawing and I'm going to draw along with you all. So this one, I really love the color. Even though we're working in just one color, ink on paper, the color is something that always makes me happy. But beyond that today I'm going to be focusing on the abstracted shapes. I might take those shapes in really simple forms and make some abstract composition from it. I'm going to tilt my computer down and actually draw off facing you. That way you can see me as I'm drawing and talking. It's not going to be the most beautiful piece of artwork we've ever made. That's not the purpose of this class. This is really just to explore your inspirations and how they make you feel and start dipping your toe into the world of a bit more abstraction with your work. Sounds awesome. Yeah and the nice thing about it, here we go, let's see if I can fit. Yes. It's just like a little bear there. You're just hanging out. Yeah. The beautiful thing about this is that there's no wrong answer. So I'm going to start with the more cylindrical shapes of the eyes and the nose and then the face. I'm not drawing to be like representative of this inspiration. It's just taking those marks and slowly putting them on paper. If it's something that you're a bit hesitant to start on a new piece of paper, just make a mark first and then frees you up and loosens you up to no longer being too nervous about what the final piece will look like. We're going to do this for 5-10 minutes and then I'll go over what inspires me from this piece. Then we'll move on to our second piece. That sounds amazing. I got to say watching you do this is like Jimi Hendrix could play a guitar backwards and upside-down. We did it the last live class that I did almost a year ago now, which feels like a decade ago and like yesterday at the same time. That was the first time I did this. I'm like, "Yeah, that'll work.". That way I don't have to do a two-camera setup and my apartment is so small as is. So I'm glad that this is something that I'm able to do because that would be tough otherwise. I'm sorry, what? I said I'm just taking elements from the lower part of the bears to the legs and the bum and the arms and just abstractly compiling them. For whatever reason, I'm having those pieces connect. That's something that you start noticing that you're subconsciously doing if you're having everything on one part of the page or things are all spread out, lean into that. Absolutely. I do love that tip to just make a mark and get started. The whole perfect is the enemy of the good thing, really can block a lot of people I think. Myself included. Oh, yeah. Me too. Not that I'm any great artistic talents but certainly that can give me pause. So tell me a little bit about why you're choosing the shapes that you're choosing. Yeah. I'm being a little systematic about it. So I started with the head and the eyes, which are now here and here and then the nose and then the ears. Then I repeated the ears a few times just because there's a front and a back side to this 3D object. It's really fun to take something that's three-dimensional and make it two-dimensional. Just because that translation in itself leads to abstraction without us really having to work too hard for it. Then I'm just making my way down into the arms. For now I've avoided this torso area and this back area but I might actually add an inks. I really like how the color difference back there makes sense, especially for the back of the head. Then I might make it a little smaller but the torso part. I'll just do another 2-3 minutes and then I'll chat through what I like about this piece. Sounds great. I like that you and this bear are both rock in the tie-dye today. Yeah, I know. Oh, man. I guess ever since I was a kid, a little bit the tie-die. I mean, not that I see people out in the world this last year but when I do, I'll go for walks, people are like, "Where did you get your tie-dye?" I'm like, "Let's see." I think it's great to [inaudible] with tie-dye, it really is. I think something about tie-dye in general really speaks to people, which maybe is just a commentary on abstract art. I don't know but it does seem to make people happy. I feel it's more about the emotion and less about the actual representation of any form. Which is why I love it and actually ties into this class. Even though I didn't do that intentionally but I'll take credit for doing it intentionally. I was about to say leave in. Take that credit. Yes. Awesome. I'm feeling like I'm at a good stopping place. No rush to stop yours because I'm going to talk a little through this piece before we hop into the next portion. What I really love about this is like I said earlier, how I just had all of these different shapes start to connect. I also enjoy the fact that I made them all contour. I didn't fill them in. That's something that sometimes with time I'll sit on it and I'll analyze why I did that and take that and bring that into my next piece which is what I'll do for our final piece together. I think the reason why that these start offers contour is for me and it's always a great warm up. You're not thinking too much about filling it in either with color or texture. It leans into the seem lines that the bear has. So something that's a little bit subtle but something that I noticed and I'm gravitating towards for this piece. Then the last thing I do enjoy about it, as well as the fact that it's very top heavy. The larger pieces tend to sit up here and the smaller ones down here. I don't know if that's because I started down here with the smaller elements of the face and then realize that the elements get bigger as I go through the bear and only had space up here. But I think that it allows for this nice tension in the piece and building up from something small into something big, so that's what I'm getting from a warm up. As you are working through, take a look at your work and keep a mental note of what you gravitate towards. Then remember that for our last exercise together. 3. Exercise Two: Plants and Rocks: For our second exercise, these are going to be two things in your home that can be a bit bigger. They don't have to move, you don't have to have them right in front of you. It could be something that was in your home that you eventually parted ways with, and you want to make a memory of in your artwork. Orderly, no rules, whatever you feel works best for you, you should do. My two pieces are this plant that my brother and his partner propagated for me when I got married in August, so it's not that long. Yes, plant life. I also have a plant. Yeah. That one's so pretty. My favorite thing about it is this little Ohio sticker from voting. But my second favorite thing about it is that you do not have to water it very often. I love that. I should have done that with my voting sicker. Next time I'm voting, I'm going to copy you. I'll send you a picture. That sounds amazing and that's the great thing about it is you've got a lot more opportunities, just take one on there. Little pattern each year. But this one was really teeny tiny when they gave it to me in August and I have yet to kill it, so that's good. When it starts to bloom, they say it grows slowly, which I prefer because I have some plants that grow pretty quickly, and then I have to prune them and I always get scared doing that. This one I love, because of the emotional story behind it, but also just these really beautiful brown shapes in each of the leaves, then I don't know, we'll see if I can bring it close enough to the camera. Also, just that little dot where it meets the stem and then the little shapes going outwards, so that's really pretty. I think this drawing together is going to be a little bit more textural. Then I have a large rock collection, but I've only brought a few over. I'll tilt my camera down and show you them. Let's see if I can tilt it all the way down. Yes. Perfect. Some of these are found, some of them I think are purchased. I think this one I got when I worked full time and we needed to buy props for a set when I was a designer and our director and I bought this for myself while we were prop shopping. Maybe it's quartz, I believe it's quartz it was $5, so tbh I'm not too sure if that's real, but I really love this one because of the imperfection. I'm not too sure if it's picking up on the video camera, but there's just a slight darker line there that cuts across 2/3 of it. Yeah. Then also all the subtle lines within this shape as well. Again, very textural. I also like the color, I think the color is pretty, but even though I'm not going to be using the color for this. Then this one is a stone from my parents house, these are definitely purchased stones, but I've always loved the color since I was little, so I grabbed one from them. I also just love how smooth it is and how all of the texture falls onto the outside of it. Yeah, it's a lovely rock. Yeah, and then these three, I should have kept note of where they're all from, but these are all found. The lines in this one that cut across are something that inspires me. Then the pebble dotted texture in this one is inspiring, and then just like the pattern of stripes in this one is why I pulled it for our next sketch. Those are the things in my home that I grabbed, they can literally be anything. I'm excited to see if you guys don't mind sharing in the comments what your two items are as I'm drawing. I like knowing that. That makes me happy. Then also, I just saw that you and Nicole was in a bowling league where they'd win Beanie Babies. That's it, oh, that would have been my dream as a kid. Oh my God. I honestly had to resist going down the Beanie Baby road because we could do a whole hour just on that. I have so many- I know like, watch the clock Enver, don't go off on a tangent about your life, not me. Okay. I'm going to tilt the camera back down and then we're going to start drawing. The marks, this is last piece, so I will not draw on that, that way it's a bit easier to see. At this point I'm going to start with the plant. I'm going to start again, instead of doing the outside circles, I'm going to start with the inside lines. If you all want to start, take any element from the piece that you have in your home that inspires you. If you take one detail and put that detail on the page without much context, already you're leaping into that idea of traction. Your goal is not to make a representative piece. If it becomes a representative of the item, that's fine too, but I think starting in a way that's a bit more abstract is a great step to experimenting with abstraction in your work. Well, it sounds like people are drawing some very cool stuff. We've found somebody drawing Japanese pumpkins, somebody is drawing bottles, which I'm sure will be lovely. Oh, I got to say, I don't know if I'm saying this right, but this says, up to Mars space violet, which sounds amazing and taper candles. I think I'm really looking forward to seeing that held up at the end, if that's something that we get to look at. Sounds like a beautiful plant. Yes. I was going to say, what we'll do is we'll probably spend the next 1-2 minutes on this. We're going to keep it really fast and loose and then I would like people to share it, that's why. Awesome. Instead of me just rambling this whole time. Now, I'm going to pivot to the rocks. I'm going to start to add some abstracted dots that speak to the one that have that pebbled mark in it. Then I'm going to add some larger lines that speak to the two that have some stripes on them. I feel the pink quartz, it's imperfection in itself, leans into this whole idea anyway, which is why I grabbed it. Absolutely, I can see some of the structure from the rock that gave me Grand Canyon vibes in this is well. Yes. No, you can't take rocks from national parks, that's not from there. But I have been to the Grand Canyon and yes, that is very similar. I know I'm supposed to be posting this video, but it's so cool to watch you do this. Thanks. I'm going to add some circle shapes just because I do love them in the plants. It's nice to deconstruct the things that inspire you, and put them on a page in a way that are a bit different than how they appear in front of you. I'm going to stop there and go quickly over what inspires me about this one and I will taking into our final drawing together. It's being able to see the objects for what they are and then take them apart, and showing how they can live separately and build this really abstracted form. I think that's really interesting. These lines in particular, I definitely am going to take into that last drawing with me. Yeah, see see where it goes. 4. Exercise Three: Final Drawing: This one could be a little bit longer. We're going to spend about 10-15 minutes on it, and as we work through, we can do more than one. I'm a faster illustrator, so I'll probably crank through a few of them. But if you are someone who likes to take their time with their work, feel free to focus on just one piece. Again, there's really no wrong answer. Another great way is to divide your paper in half and work on two separate pieces at once, so I'm going to do that way. That's another fun challenge to bounce back and forth between two. If that's something that you want to add on to further push the idea of abstraction and allowing your mind to switch back and forth. Makes total sense. Of course, if you are somebody who likes to take a longer time with this or who'd like to revisit this, this class will go up and be available for you guys to watch again at a later date. Which I will do all the time whenever I'm in a creative rut, which happens more often than I want to admit. I think that the rut is the other side of creativity that you started. Can't have one without the other. Agreed, I like that. I'm going to save myself next time it happens. That's awesome. Just a natural balancing process. Yes. For these final pieces, in my case, and for your final piece, just take what subconsciously you gravitated towards the most. I feel like as you're drawing, you could probably analyze why and how you can bring that into your practice beyond this class. But it might be something that in a few days or in a few hours, that's when it might hit you as to why these elements resonated with you through your first two drawings and why you decided to bring them into your final piece. It's so cool to watch this evolve and see the things that you were doing on the other pages come to life again in a different way here. Yeah, it's fun to push. A lot of people ask me of my artwork that I share online. " [inaudible] don't you get bored I'm bored doing the same thing over and over again, and I was like, even though it is the same shapes and a similar process, it always just by human nature is going to be different each time, which I enjoy. That's what brings me the most joy of making artwork. Absolutely. You're bringing a different perspective, a different day's mood, a different attention of your hand to every piece. Exactly. Yes. I'm going to also say that to myself, oh, so eloquent. Well, I have very few physical art skills, but I like to write, and these are the things I say to myself when I'm like I'll never be able to pick up a pen again. Because it's just part of the creative process. It's part of the experience. Well, I like Mel's comment, this is amazing. I love these exercises. I usually find blank pages so stressful. I do too, and you would think after years of trying and failing on blank pages that you wouldn't, and every so often, I feel like I'll go get to a page and be like, oh no. But these exercises prepare you to go to a blank page and not be as intimidated by it. I think anything can be a little stressful, even if it's just like I have to cut something for dinner and I have no idea why. You do find yourself scrambling to fill in those blanks. That's been my life the last year. I'm like, I guess I have cereal again. Yeah. We have a lot of cereal, a lot of egg rice, which is when you make rice in a rice cooker and just [inaudible] an egg on it. Yeah, so good. Actually, I might do that tonight. Thank you. Anytime. Happy to spread the gospel of egg rice. Yes. I'm really trying to slow down my process here. Traditionally, I work faster, but sometimes I force myself to go against my natural instincts because I think it gives me the time and the space to actually think and enjoy as I'm making. I'm probably going to stick on this page even though there are two pieces until the end which is a challenge for myself. Feel free to add in your own challenges as you work in your own limitations. But again, no pressure to do so if it's not feeling right for you. I have a question for you, which is, what do you think is, obviously, I'm sure there's best practices here for everybody as individuals. But if you are going to say to somebody what's the one best thing you could do to improve your art or improve the amount of inspiration you feel on a day-to-day basis. Does that make sense? Yeah, I would say to improve your art, look at different artists and how they approach their work. I think Skillshare is a great place for that to be able to just discover the thought process of other artists, whether they're visual artists like me or having different art forms to see how other people think, I think can impact your work in ways that you may not realize. Then for inspiration, I think at least this past year for me going out for a walk and just taking cell photos of anything that I find inspiring and saving them for later has been really helpful. It might be something that I'm like, ''Oh, I like the shadow on that bush'' and I just take a picture of it. Then I don't think of it. Then months later I refer back to it and that ends up being my true color palette for my next drawing. Allowing yourself to be open till it collecting, I guess digitally or you could collect them in your mind. Things that inspire you without overanalyzing them too much has been a big help for me. Well, that is awesome and I am certainly going to remind myself of that the next time I look at my camera roll and realize how many photos I've taken of just totally random things. It's for inspiration and so it's justified. Exactly. [inaudible] saying 1000 pictures from the last month, this is on purpose. Sometimes you see something very lovely or just a dog and you have to capture it. Oh my goodness, dogs, especially the joy that they have on their faces, it just makes me so happy. Yes, they don't have any existential dread and I clearly [inaudible]. No, exactly. It seems like everybody in the chat is hard at work as well, which is very exciting in terms of the future artwork we're going to see here. Yes, I'm so excited to see it. We'll spend another five minutes on this. Really allow yourself to revisit and go back to areas that you've already touched with your pen and either fill them in more or play with them, really push these pieces to go outside your comfort zone. They're not meant to be masterpieces or portfolio pieces. If you're a professional artist, they're just meant to exercise your mind a little bit in ways that you haven't before. Absolutely. I love the divorce from the idea that you have to get it exactly right or represent something exactly as it is because that's the freedom of abstract art. Exactly. Yeah, and I feel like a lot of times we're often taught whether it's in art school or just socially, that the work that you make has to be realistic or representational, could grow a lot of pressure on artists that do things that are a bit more figurative and abstract. This exercise breaks that down, but you can make a strong composition out of something that doesn't directly represent anything. For sure. I know I have lots of anxiety. Somebody in the chat was mentioning that it's nice to see other people with the same anxieties that they have about this kind of thing. I know for me, I'm so worried anytime I try to do any representative artwork because I'm like this is not going to look like what I'm looking at. This is a nice way to break out of that. Exactly. That's okay because that's the one thing I wish that I learned when I was younger. If you're drawing something like if I were to have taken this toy and draw on it as I see it, even if it doesn't look exactly like that, that's how I see it, and that's equally valid, and knowing that takes a lot of time. I wish it's something that I learned when I was younger, it would have helped with a lot of anxiety around my work. But exercises like this, reinforce that way of thinking, which helps me. Absolutely. I think that we should spend a lot more time telling children to just do whatever they feel like. There's a way too much in the other direction. Agreed. Eva, thank you. I'm so glad that this is relaxing. That's the nice thing about most Skillshare classes that I watch. Sometimes I'll just watch them. I won't do them. I'm like, oh, this is so nice to just sit and learn. That's the best thing about watching other people work is like getting a little glimpse into their mind and how they operate and how that might help you operate in whatever field that you're in. I get the exact same thing with Skillshare classes and it reminds me of the late nights watching Bob Ross of my childhood, just absorbing. Yes, oh my goodness. Well, I'm sorry. I did not mean to interrupt you there. I just have a question from the chat whenever you are ready. Yeah, I'm good. Somebody who looks like Nicole would like to know. Did you attend art college? Just curious from how you mentioned learning lessons through drawing. Yes. I went to Boston University's College of Fine Arts and I studied graphic design there. Even though I am an Illustrator, my degree is a BFA in graphic design. I decided on BU and design as a major because BU as whole whole. I wanted to go to a university that had an art school versus strictly in art school. A, in case if I changed my mind, which I didn't think would happen, but just in case I wouldn't have to transfer, and B, to meet people that have passions outside of visual art. That was something that was really important to me. I chose graphic design because at the time the majors were painting, sculpture, and design, I think now they also have printmaking, which is pretty awesome. I felt like graphic design allowed me to experiment with all different types of media, so like drawing, painting, photography, collage, whatever, as long as it served the theme of the work that I was making. I felt that for 18 years old that was loose enough for me. Then I was like I can always figure out what type of artist I want to be afterwards without not putting myself into a narrow view at such a young age. Smart way to go about it. Nobody knows anything about who they are at 18. You've got to figure it out as you go. Exactly. Awesome. I feel like I'm coming to a natural stopping point. I'll walk through these pieces. Feel free to finish up as I talk. Honestly, it's okay if you're not finished either. Again, this class is more about just learning about yourself and pushing yourself to be a little bit uncomfortable, but in a way that is exciting. These two, I actually like them together as one piece and then have this dividing line as a part of the overall composition. Again, something that's not intentional, but that idea I might take with me into future pieces. Then allowing both of them to speak to each other in a way, playing with line inspired from the plan but then also shapes inspired from the toy that I have in some of my rocks, letting those all tell their own story. Within each of them, but also having a conversation is what I really love about this final piece. 5. Q&A: Yes. First question that I've got for you here is, Jenny wants to let you know that she's loving this class so much. Thank you so much for teaching us how to have less anxiety. Who did you learn this from or did you just come up with it yourself? I guess before I got [inaudible] a great example was when I was in college, one of my painting or drawing professors, Dana Frankfurt, we would be drawing from light because we were freshmen, so it was a light drawing class. As we're drawing with charcoal, and she would let us know beforehand. She was like, hey guys, this is what I'm doing. Just so it wasn't a surprise. She would turn our artwork, upside down and have us continue drawing. Sometimes with charcoal, you can rub it. She would just rub a portion off. That allowed us to not be precious with what we were making and forced us to be a little bit more experimental and be okay with the fact that it's not going to be perfect. That's where that thought process came from for me. Then beyond that, I just started building my own exercises that allowed me to get into that mindset on my own. Awesome. That makes total sense. I do have another question here. Let me see where did it go? There we go. Kendall would like to know, do you ever include abstract along with realistic representation or do you think the two should remain totally separate? That's a great question. I think mine right now is a hybrid of the two especially, I know these are small, but they are figures with faces, hands, and feet, it is just tiny in the background. Mine is like a weird hybrid of the two. I would say, do it, combine them both. I personally, I haven't other than that in recent history, but I would say that would be a really interesting way to make something that's a bit more surreal and explore both sides. Charlene would like to know, do you have any tips in deciding a career? I'm currently in high school and freaking out about what to do in the future. Yeah, I feel you. High school, I feel like was pretty stressful when I look back on it. I would say, it depends on a few things. If you decide that school is for you or is not for you. Obviously, if you're trying to become a doctor, probably have to go through school to be able to do that, but be an artist that I think that's a little bit easier for you to make a personal decision on. I'd say like, once you have that decision made, then going into your major, your career doesn't have to be indicative of your major. When I first graduated, I worked full-time as a graphic designer and art director to pay off student loans and to be able to pay rent. Then I freelance as an illustrator on the side. Just took what I learned in school and fine art and applied it to illustration, and then eventually got to a place where I could freelance full-time. I think that as long as you're kind to yourself and listen to your instincts, you'll be okay and don't feel the pressure that what you do after you graduate college has to be what you did in school. Yeah. I think that's a great answer and I'd also just like to add something I say to everyone who ever tells me that they're in high school, which is the rest of life is not like high school. Will come to an end. Honestly, that's great. I'm going to credit you when I say that to other people because that is great. I have somebody else here wondering for someone who is new to art and is fascinated by so many types of art medians. Do you have any advice on where to start first or maybe if it would be better to incorporate different mediums together into a single piece? The way I did it, was probably the latter. In high school, I did a lot of photography. We had a darkroom in our high school, which used to be an old bathroom, it was great for photography like film photography. Then I would collage it and then draw on top of it. I would just play with everything together. But if that doesn't feel right to you, I would say definitely experiment with different types of mediums and see which one feels like the most accurate and how it represents what you're trying to say within your artwork. You don't have to be like, I'm going to spend three months to being a photographer and then three months being an illustrator like with each piece, if you have an idea and you think it's best fit for one and not another, experiment with it all. It's okay at the end if you decide that you want to do all of these things. You don't have to be just one, you don't have to be just an Illustrator, just a photographer. You could be 10 different things. I would say definitely, again, be kind to yourself and experiment with each idea that you have and what medium feels best for it. I have somebody else who wants to know if, oh looks like this is from Jenny. Do you have any books related to art-making or otherwise that you would recommend to us or something else that inspires you? Yeah, I have all my articles it's at my parent's house because space. At the top of my head. Yeah. Honestly though and I tell them like I'll take my books and like, I could take some of the beanie babies and they are like no it's fine. But some books off the top of my head, a lot of books inspire about national parks. That's something that inspires me color palette-wise. Kerry James Marshall is a favorite painter of mine. My brother got me one of his books for Christmas a few years ago. It's really beautiful. I tend to buy art books of artists that I enjoy. Back when I was in college. I forget the name of it. It was a Kickstarter project, there was like a big book that was the design manual of the New York City subway system. I think now they make smaller versions that anyone can buy. Being able to page through that and see how a designer things and how to build a system that functions for millions of people. That's something that's also inspiring to me. I just buy books on a whim. I have another book about printing techniques, which seems a little antique now, but it's really cool because some are like, you could put your hand on the paper and the design would change. Any type of book that I would just find inspiring, even if it's not related to art, I usually buy it. I mean, any excuse to pick up another book, am I right? Yes. But I have a question now, which is I hear that you have another Skillshare class coming up in the future. I wanted to hear a little bit about that. Yes, we're filming it soon and it's going to be a bit more robust version of what we've done today. To pegging inspiration, and it's going to involve color. Being able to play with paint and other different types of medium that are in color and taking different types of inspiration and building them out into full colorful pieces. Again, learning about taking the things that are around you and then putting that into your artwork. I'm really excited to film it. It's going to be fun. 6. Final Thoughts: Congratulations, we have reached the end of our time together. Thank you so much for taking the time to dive into your inspirations in your day-to-day life, and how to put them into your artwork in a more abstractive way. Thanks so much. See you all you all next time.