Hello My name is Derek. I live in Acapulco, Mexico, two streets from one of the most beautiful beaches in America. I live with my brother and father. I used to be an English teacher until I decided to start a business in the thing I love the most.

I've always been a fan of tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons. I've been playing this for over 16 years. The game has a great need for cartography illustrators and since I already had a website set up where I was sharing all kinds of fantasy maps, I decided to start selling them to players and dungeon masters. Fast forward to now and this is my full time job and I'm having an awesome time doing what I love.

In this picture I'm holding one of my maps, this one is printed on canvas. A client was actually so happy with it that he printed it on canvas and had it sent to me from the US. I must say it looks awesome.

What's the most important thing you can do?

The best you can do is get a job you love. Once you do that, you never ever work again. I know it is not easy, it wasn't for me when I began. In hindsight, I know I had some rough times. Being a freelance artist is not easy at all. I know some of you Steemians are also freelance creators and the struggle is real.

But a word of advice from me, keep doing what you love. Even during difficult times, it's not even that difficult to continue doing what you love, because you love it. Don't lower your head in sadness. Sooner or later, the sun. In my circle, the dungeons and dragons thing, there is a convention that's the most important one, the name is Gen Con.

I was nominated for best website for my page http://www.elventower.com/ where all my illustrations are featured. Three weeks ago I was awarded a silver medal.

This is my cat Sombra (shadow). She's disabled and blind. She's also kinda cranky and aggressive to other people, but she loves me.

This is an example of an illustration I made for dungeons and dragons stuff

Thanks ! This is not my first post, I actually have posted quite a bit. You can go to my blog @derekvonzarovich to see other creations I've posted here.

If you're interested in my work, take a look at my Patreon page

There is a pledge level that gives access to my photoshop source files, in case you wish to see my workflow and learn in the process.