Tales of illustrators

Now I'm an illustrator without formal art training. However, I've taught Photoshop and Illustrator in my distant past (plus dozens of other software programs across multiple platforms), so I'm ok with jumping into this new role.  I stumbled upon some Youtube videos by Aaron Blaise, a former Disney artist. He worked on Beauty and the Beast and (I think) Aladin. He's got some credibility!

Aaron's website is https://creatureartteacher.com, and you can subscribe to a host of different art lessons or
 buy his custom Photoshop brushes. He also has a YouTube account, The Art of Aaron Blaise, 
where I found some of his free video posts. They are really terrific, and I've done some binge 
watching. 

I've also subscribed to Adobe's Creative Cloud suite of products. There is a great price for 
students and teachers. Unfortunately, I've had a real glitch with their payment process, and 
they have been unable to understand and then unable to fix the error thus far. Since there is 
only the option to pay the monthly fees in order to use the product. I'm stuck. It's a very 
frustrating situation.  They've even got multiple subscription payments coming from my Paypal 
and my bank accounts, which I am unhappy about. They say they'll fix that error, but all 
payments ar stuck "in process." 



I'm stuck in process.


I bought a Wacom Intuos drawing pad, and I'm enjoying getting to "know" it better.  It came 
with some simple software, so I can get the feel of drawing on a tablet still while Adobe is 
struggling to provide me with the software. I took Aaron's advice and did a rough, rough sketch 
on paper of the pages for my books so that when I get on my computer, I'll have a plan in place.  
I've already discovered some problems with the initial sketches that need sorting through. It's 
almost like finding plot holes that you have to think through. 

I'm anticipating that once I really get deep in, I'll find my own process and the art will flow 
more naturally.  For now, I'm practicing drawing the characters, since they MUST look the 
same as the first book.  I can say this much - I'm a writer by nature and by heart. I can do the 
illustrations to finish this series, but it's not going to be a career change for me.