Thursday, May 24, 2007

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

Pencil and Ink on Illustration Board - 1970's



Pencil and Ink on Illustration Board - 1970's



My 30 year class reunion is coming up. Yes, 30 years. But it got me to thinking about what I wanted to be when I grew up. A lot of you have heard the stories about how I started drawing geometric shapes on notebook paper and then graduated to drawing fashion and how CoCo Chanel was my idol and how I transferred those geometric shapes to canvas when I started painting and how I wanted to be a Fashion Designer and how I started designing note cards after a friend asked me to design a card for her baby shower and on and on. But very few of you have actually seen any of those Fashion Illustrations.

I would cut out pictures from magazines and newpapers and draw them. I also would use the bodies as templates to draw my own designs. These drawings are from photos I cut out.

I went to a small art and design school and got an Associates Degree in Fashion Design. But then I couldn't find a job as a Designer. I was offered pattern making and sewing positions and my attitude was like "Are you kidding me, I Can Draw why would I want to sew or make patterns."

Thinking back on it, although I said I wanted to be a Fashion Designer I think what I really wanted to be was an artist. I hated sewing, and making patterns and all the other things that are part of designing, but I loved to draw. So in fact I may be doing exactly what I set out to do when I grew up and just never even realized it. How about you, are you doing what you wanted to do when you grew up?

Have a great day everybody, thanks for stopping by. Sorry I don't have better pictures, I just scanned what I could.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I loved seeing those illustrations, thanks for sharing them with us!

My fantasy as a kid was to be a famous painter living on a farm with a barn that was my studio. And an agent would come and pick up my paintings and drop off checks so I'd never need to go into the city!

So I may not be famous, but I am able to say that I'm a professional painter working from my country home and Etsy is like my agent! Ah the magic of the internet - a part of the equation I never could have imagined growing up.

Jeanette said...

I wanted to be a nuclear physicist. I LOVED science. Now, after 15 years as an artist, I'm returning to school to get my biology degree and teacher certification.

Unknown said...

I wanted to be a famous artist and work on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. So far I am only an artist- but not famous- and I have never been to Italy and I am pretty sure they would never let me touch their ceiling anyway.