From Engineer to Artist - Introduceyourself 2.0

Hello Steemers!

I have been around the boards for a little over 2 months now.
It has been quite an incredible experience overall, the support and positivity I receive from all of you on my work is refreshing. I have mentioned it many times before, but I don’t find that on any other social media platforms. I think that is what makes Steemit more unique than all the other ones…
Instead of just giving a thumbs up, people here actually make an effort and tell you they like it, or what they like about it.

So to all of you.. Please keep doing that, it makes such a difference to be engaged with you all. :D

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2 Months ago I started on Steem with an introduction post, like all of us I guess. It didn’t really got picked up and was seen like 25 times.
Mostly due to the fact that I didn’t really know what was expected in such a post and where to put it.
But since then I’ve started to take a better look at the platform, how things are done and what is expected from a post.
So let me retry.. since I had some requests/questions in comment sections etc.
I’ll gladly explain who I am and how come I ended up drawing and painting.
I’ll call this the introduction post 2.0 !

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So where to start!
I started drawing when I was 22/23 years old. (I’m 31 now)
I went to school to get a degree in IT as a network specialist and in 2008 I was working at Cisco Systems in Amsterdam. Things were going pretty good! The job was quite exciting, I got to travel a lot and the pay was for 21/22 year old very very good!

Then in 2008 the financial crisis was at its best and everything came to a standstill. Projects were cancelled and where I normally had stuff to do during the day changed to sitting behind a desk playing videogames and watch south park.. Nothing was happening anymore!

I realize that for some people.. that sounds like a dream job! For me not so much.. I’m much rather doing something than just sitting somewhere doing nothing. I like to work!

One day I was playing World of Warcraft at work and when a loading screen popped up I stared at it for a bit longer than normal (the game crashed). Even though I had seen this screen a million times, for the first time I really wondered who the people are that made these. I closed the game and started to google search hoping I would find some info on this.

I found a small forum that was about digital art. (pixelbrush.com) I think the forum doesn’t exist anymore but back then it had a small and lively community. On the forum I found a sketchbook thread (what I’ve been trying to create on the Steemit boards too! #sketchbook ) and 1 of the sketchbook said ‘blabla’s name: I want to work at Blizzard!’.
The sketchbook showed the process of someone starting out with stick figure drawings.. but then due to practice, studies and more practice.. ends up with amazingly cool drawings and designs.. To the very end where he posted ‘Hey everyone! I got hired by Blizzard! Thank you all for the support!’

That blew my mind!

I then too started drawing like a crazy person.. I wanted to become someone who draws for games.
So I bought a sketchbook, started watching youtube videos, reading forums and bought a bunch of books!
I too opened up a sketchbook thread on a forum (pixelbrush & conceptart.org .. both died off completely I think :( ) and started posting daily. Since I didn’t had anything to do on my dayjob, I just draw and study.. 8 hours a day during work and another 4 at home.. For the first year I combined the two.

But after a year I could already see how much I had progressed. I found out that I could easily do this for hours and hours without getting bored or frustrated or whatever.. I really loved drawing.. Something I didn’t really know until I was 23!

So after a year of going at it I decided it was time to quit my job and fully focus on drawing and painting. I wanted to become a concept artist! I saved up quite some money and was still living at home so I could live of my savings for quite a while.
I tried to get into an artschool but I was rejected for not being ‘creative’ enough.

Which was fine with me really.. I was having a great time working for myself and figured I didn’t really need to go to artschool. Having worked in IT before I had a clear understanding of what I didn’t want to do as a job.. So the motivation and discipline I had to make it as an artist was always there!

I had no problem kicking myself out of bed every morning at 8 to start working.

In 2011 I registered myself as a freelancer and tried to get some work. My savings were almost drained and I had to get some money in! :)

My first job was to design a company mascot, I got the job because someone I knew referred me when he overheard the marketing department talking about it.
I went in with a portfolio wrapped under my arm (full of crap!) and was scared as hell.. It was the first time I had to go and talk to people about something I didn’t really go to school for.. I had no idea what was normal, how to behave and what to ask in compen$ation!
I learned so much from that job that the next one already went a lot smoother!
For example:

• Always make a very clear agreement on the work that needs to be done.
• Make clear what it is going to cost
• Be absolute certain on when the deadline is.
• Agree on the amount of revisions they can have before you start charging extra! ;)

In the first year of my freelance career I made a whopping $1500,00 ! .. I know..
One of the weird things in my freelance career is that I never actually looked for work. I always had work coming to me. In 2012 I was creating some fan-arts for my World of Warcraft characters and all of a sudden I landed a job doing World of Warcraft trading cards!?..

Stuff like that always happened and I know I have been super lucky that things worked out the way they did.

If I look at my current live I can be nothing but grateful about everything that happened..
I learned a lot during these years and I am super happy that I made that switch from IT to ART..
It hasn’t always been easy and for me to get here took a lot of hard work and mental strength ;)
But like it is with everything.. if it is worth having it doesn’t come easy?!

To skip to present day.. I am currently working on a variety of project.

Archmage Rises – Which is a game I’m making with a couple of people set to release next year!
Rise of Champions – An online MMORPG (browser game) that has been running for 4 years.
Pathfinder – Do character designs every now and then.
HEX TCG – Do some card art for them
Gladi8tor – Doing creative direction for the platform and the events they organize.

And whatever comes in the mailbox!

Hope this was a better introduction post than my first one!
Better late than never! ;)

Cheers!
-Rogier