Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
The Christmas period offers a well needed break, a chance to reflect on the past year and get ready for the year ahead.
2019 is going to be the best year yet, and I’m really looking forward to getting my teeth into the New Year! I’ve been making goals and targets for myself for next year, which I’m sure you’re doing also!
Within this blog post you will discover some of my key highlights from 2018, what’s been happening in the world of Haydn Symons Illustration from the past year, and what you can expect for 2019 from myself and this blog for 2019.
I have a very positive outlook about 2019, and know it’s going to be a brilliant year!
I’m hoping this blog post will inspire you to reflect on your own 2018, reflect your own ups and downs, and give you inspiration and motivation to look forward to 2019, and make it your best year yet!
Of course, we can often say this to ourselves before any New Year kicks off, (and I have said it time and time again to myself in recent years), but I really feel 2019 will be the most brilliant yet, in terms of freelancing, business and also personally too!
So sit back and see my best projects from 2018, and what to expect in 2019!
Two 2018 Book Covers For Hampshire Based Author
One of my major projects from 2018 was my two book cover illustrations that I produced for local Hampshire based author Piers Husband.
Piers is a brilliant writer and has a brilliant imagination to come up with fascinating worlds, which was a pleasure to illustrate for.
Creating two book cover illustrations for his book ‘Leviathan’, and his other book cover ‘Thus Urizen Spoke: The Coin, the Raven and the Beat of the Drum’.
These two book cover illustrations were really fun to produce, and it helps working for such an excellent client like Piers as well!
I’m hoping to create (and also secure) more book cover illustrations and commissions in 2019, so watch out for this in the New Year!
Find out more about these two projects, showcasing my sketchbook development work, and much more!
Animal Farm Project – Appearing In A Bloomsbury Book in 2019!
One of the projects that I was really proud of in 2018 was my Animal Farm personal project that I produced with Mat Klicz.
I first connected with Mat in 2017, and used our common interest of Animal Farm by George Orwell to produce a series of currency designs inspired by the book.
Animal Farm is a real classic and is one of my favourite books of all time.
I produced the illustrations whilst Mat produced the currency design, and I’m really happy with how it all looks – showing what a 10, 20 and 50 money note might look like if the pig characters took charge.
What’s even more exciting for 2019 is that these currency designs will be featured in Alan Male’s new book in 2019, which will be published by Bloomsbury!
I’m really looking forward to seeing this Animal Farm project within Alan Male’s book all about the subject of illustration (one of my favourite subjects of course) and telling you guys all about it in the coming months!
Find out more about the project and an analysis on the illustrations here.
Traveling Sketchbooks And Wild Adventures!
For the majority of 2018 I was fortunate enough to travel around the world on a year long break with my younger brother, traveling around Asia and Oceania (including Thailand, New Zealand, Australia and Cambodia to name a few).
It was such an awesome experience which I will never forget, including a pretty terrifying sky dive at 15,000 feet (totally nerve-racking before jumping, but totally awesome during the free-fall).
I loved seeing new cultures, meeting new people and also recording my experience within my sketchbook everyday!
As a result, you can see what my travels were like and discover more of my travel drawings! It really does take me back every time I see them again, and feel so fortunate to record and sketch what I saw to look back at for years to come.
See my travel drawings from my sketchbook or my Australia & Asia sketchbook here!
What To Expect In 2019!
Like I was stating earlier, I’m really looking forward to getting my teeth into 2019, and feel it will be my best year yet (business and personal wise!).
Now that traveling is put to one side for now (even though traveling never really stops does it?), I can focus on building my illustration and freelancing services again – which I’m really looking forward to!
For 2019, and to keep me accountable for next year (which I use this blog post to refer back to in 2019), I have a few goals that I want to accomplish;
– Developing my commissions for both editorial and publishing
– Focus on connecting with Art Directors and reaching out to others in the creative space
– Create several personal projects to show within my portfolio
– Focus more on my online Shop, adding new items and selling more too!
– Creating a consistent blog to help you with illustration, freelance to creativity
– Practice, practice and practice some more! (Drawing, painting, illustrating, everything!)
– Enhanced focus and drive
All of these are just as important as each other, but one area that I want to improve is my focus. I want to ensure that when I’m working – I’m using this time for working (keeping distractions at bay, so I can get what I want completed).
I’m generally quite good at this, but I want to improve this side of myself.
I’m confident I can get all the above accomplished in 2019!
What Have You Got Planned For 2019?
I’d love to hear what you have in store for 2019! Comment me below your goals and aspirations for 2019, as I’m sure we can help each other be accountable for the words we are saying (and turning them into action of course!).
2018 has been a brilliant fun filled year, and I hope you have enjoyed this blog post on the highlights of 2018 and have become inspired to look forward to and plan for 2019.
I’m really looking forward to 2019!
If you would like to work with me in 2019, do pop on over to my Contact page. I would love to hear about your next creative project! I’m experienced in illustration, design and creativity, and can help your next project!
Many thanks for listening and visiting my news page today. You can follow what I’m up to on my Twitter, Facebook or Google + pages, I’ll really appreciate it if you do, and don’t be afraid to say hi to me! Many thanks again, and have a great day!
28th December 2018
