Introducing illustration.tools

I’m turning 29 today.

I can’t believe how fast time passes. Exactly three years ago, I was writing my first article on this blog.

Everything started as a decision of sharing knowledge but ended up being much more.

Being Helpful and Useful

Every week, I receive comments and emails from readers with lots of different questions. I try to be as helpful as I can, but sometimes the matters are way too complex to answer with a simple email or article.

I’ve experimented with new formats, like my newsletter or my toolkit, and ultimately decided to launch a questionnaire to create an online course.

The questionnaire had an incredible response. More than 700 people wrote extensive and detailed answers sharing the challenges they were facing as illustrators.

It took me a long time to process all the answers, and while I was going through that process, I started to realize that perhaps the online course I wanted to create would only address a fraction of the issues.

If I wanted to be truly helpful, I had to face the challenge from a different perspective.

Changing My Original Plans

Many people pointed out in the questionnaire that sometimes it’s difficult to find information about how to work as a professional illustrator.

But also to connect with other illustrators, find resources, and grow.

And I agree. When I started, I had a hard time figuring out how the profession worked aside from creating artwork.

I always found that other similar professions like graphic design are way more developed in those terms, having industries, media and way more resources around them.

Perhaps I could create a project to address those issues and make that information more accessible? A more abstract and flexible entity than an online course.

A project like that would definitely have the potential to be very helpful and solve many of those challenges.

On the other hand, the online course I intended to create already required a set of tools and functionalities around it: a community space, resources, and additional support for the students.

At that point, my focus shifted from creating a course to creating a platform for illustrators.

And that’s how illustration.tools was born.

Illustration.tools

During the last 15 months, I’ve been secretly working on illustration.tools.

A few months ago, Hanu joined me to polish the design, as he did when we redesigned the blog.

The process has been slow. I’ve had to learn a lot of new things, experiment and invest hundreds of hours, while I was working on creating illustrations and animations.

But today, I’m extremely excited to introduce you to the first public version of illustration.tools.

It features a directory of tools and resources for illustrators, a private community, and hosts the online course.

This is just the beginning, the foundations of the project. My goal is to develop more tools, add new features, and talk to the community to keep shaping and improving the platform.

Ultimately, I want to make the platform for illustrators that I always wished existed.

Strategy & Business for Illustrators – My Online Course

Now that illustration.tools is finally public, I no longer want to keep working secretly and waiting months until I release updates.

I want to move fast and openly. I want to fight perfectionism.

For that reason, the online course is also available as pre-order:
Strategy & Business for Illustrators

What does pre-order mean?

I’ve already taught this course several times offline in the last few months. The feedback has been great, so the course structure and contents are working.

I’m now in the process of adapting the course to the online format.

I’m writing down the contents, creating scripts, doing some recording tests, and figuring out the best way to deliver the content.

I have to produce more than 25 lessons. So, I expect it will take me a few months.

If you pre-order the online course, you will get immediate access to the lessons and access the process of building the online course.

I’ll be uploading new lessons every week and looking forward to the feedback to produce the best online course I can.

When I complete all the lessons, the course will officially launch.

As a reward, the pre-order is 33% off the release price, and it will give you full and lifetime access to the course.

Course Contents

Strategy & Business for Illustrators covers everything I’ve learned since I started, from a business and strategic perspective.

It’s divided into six modules and you will learn to:

• Find your voice.
• Define goals and a direction for your career.
• Create a step-by-step plan to achieve your professional goals.
• Select your work and build your portfolio.
• Generate income from your work.
• Set up a digital environment to manage your business.
• Promote your work.
• Optimize your tools and workflows.
• Become productive and organized.
• Among many other things!

You can read more about it here.

Want an Invite?

Today is my birthday, and I’m super excited to celebrate it launching illustration.tools after so many months working secretly.

So, I decided to give away free invites for a few days!

Here you can create an account for free.

The link will work until May 10th, 10pm Central European Time (CET).

An illustration.tools lifetime membership allows you to access the private community (the online course is not included). In the future, it will unlock more tools and goodies.

Conclusions

After so many months, I’m so happy to unveil illustration.tools and open the pre-order of Strategy & Business for Illustrators.

I can’t believe this day has finally arrived!

You can contribute by submitting tools and resources, becoming a member of illustration.tools, providing feedback and being part of the community.

Thanks to all of you that answered the questionnaire and were waiting so long for the online course!

Long life to illustration.tools!