Sweet Pencil , a hopeful freelance/business started by myself, Amanda Appiarius, is now in the works.

The idea to do what I love and mold it into something that might earn money only just occurred to me this winter. Well, that’s a lie – I’ve thought about selling art before, but a real incentive to just get out there and actually do it floated to me at work one day like the pattern on a quail feather : colorful, complicated and intricately beautiful. The only thing is, I need to sort it out and pull all of my ideas together into a cohesive selling point as well as an idea that communicates what I have to offer.

There is no “recipe” for this. There are blogs and articles online for freelancers to read. There are sites like etsy and deviantart that provide a way to sell artwork online. There is word of mouth. There is the website, the business card, the connections, and plenty of other ingredients to facilitate a freelancer’s opportunities. The recipe though, that’s up to me. I’m in the process of deciding what I need, where I want to take this, and who I want to direct my “business” toward.

Right now I know that I love doing personalized illustrations. Portraits done realistically or in fun, funky, cartoon styles, animals illustrated with line work or shapes, expressions exaggerated and stylized – the bottom line is, I love drawing people and animals. I also enjoy creating more than what is there. My Mom asked me to draw her guardian angel for her and I came up with a rendering of a young woman with wings, a bicycle necklace, a bee laden crown, and a flowing gown that I thought suited her angel just right. Of course my Mom loved it, but that’s because she’s my Mom. That doesn’t change the fact that I relished in taking an idea, a person, or a flickering thought and drawing it into something fun to look at as a piece of art and a meaningful representation.

Whether I do animal or people portraits or whether I illustrate a quote or an idea- I always get a thrill out of investing detail and thought into a piece that someone will hopefully cherish because it reminds them of parts of their life, their families, their friends, or even their loyal four legged companions.

Hopefully I will have sweetpencil.com in the oven soon, ready to be served in the fall.