How you turned into a pro?

[Gigadals]

Hi guys,

i would love to know how you guys turned pro. do you all have degrees in art?
or is everybody just like me, starting from scratch, learning baby steps at a time.

well, the reason i want to know is, i would love to follow your footsteps. follow the path you used. and hopefully get me to where you guys are.


thanks!

Giga

[Pocoroba]

Actually many hats, but after finishing art school, I earned my living as a graphic designer and art director with a strong background in illustration. Having the illustration capabilities (I was drawing a copy of Da Vinci's self portrait with Dad's guidance by the age of 8) has helped me tremendously in photo retouching. I do a fair amount of photo-composition work where the elements come from different sources with different lighting, etc., so "illustrating" a believable realism into the images is a necessity.

For people who believe they 'can't draw' - I'll recommend a book by Dr. Betty Edwards, titled: "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain". It teaches one how to "see" to the point that they can "render" and this is key to quality retouching.