Happy 2017! I want to welcome you dear readers back by letting you know about my freshly published Skillshare class: Digitizing Hand Drawn Sketches with Character!

I’ve been a member of Skillshare for over three years (before they had a subscription and you paid for each class!) and have always felt like it was my design buddy. A whole community of people like me who love learning new skills and furthering their creative lives, sharing their knowledge and offering feedback. I knew one day I’d want to make a set of sewing classes, but had it filed in the “Later – Post Move” folder in my brain. Well, a fellow Skillshare student was following my 100-days of drawing challenge and inquired about how I digitize my sketches. Idea born; I knew I was going to make this into my first class and fit it in before we move across the country. So with boxes and packing materials everywhere, I outlined, designed & illustrated, scripted and recorded my class.

The class covers a technique for taking hand-drawn, black ink sketches and turning them into editable illustrations in Photoshop. To help learn the method put forward, students will create an illustration inspired by the meaning behind their name. The class will walk through researching your project, sketching for best results, editing sketches, selecting them using Quick Mask Mode, and coloring and texturizing.

Dylan: Hero of the Sea

Working on this class brought back great memories of developing curriculum when I taught at Specs Howard School of Media arts. It was a lot of hours, but I was thrilled as I hit the ‘publish’ button. And as if the excitement and fulfillment of successfully accomplishing a goal wasn’t enough, I just found out that my class has been selected as 1 of 6 to receive a spot on the Skillshare homepage in the “Featured” section! This is a HUGE deal…I believe Skillshare has 2M+ students!

On a personal note, I came into this year on rocky footing. I had just gotten laid off from my design position (with a team I truly loved working with), the move from MI to AZ was ever-looming, and the hustle and bustle of the holidays had really drained me. I decided that I was finally going to live the beliefs that I support my loved ones with: that you have everything you need inside of you, and that you can do anything you set your mind to. So I looked for jobs and wrote cover letters, continued working on my illustrations, sorted through our kitchen stuff, and brought this class to fruition. Less than a month later and we’re in great shape for our move (next week!), I’ve accepted a position with an amazing group of hardworking, creative people, and my Skillshare class, not only live, has been selected as a “Featured” video on their platform. So now being on the other side of what at first felt like my world turning upside down, I can move forward with new confidence, curiosity, and the gusto to get things done.

I’m excited for the new era of ByDylanM, which fuses together my love of art & design, sewing, and all things that come from the heart. It feels only right to kick things off by promoting my class; my first big project of 2017. Three people will get the enroll in my class for free by clicking this link. Additionally, if you use this link, you can enjoy 3 months of Skillshare for only $0.99 (you read that right). And if you find that my class isn’t quite what you’re looking for, I encourage you to look at the myriad classes Skillshare offers. There’s something there for every creative heart.

Love, warmth, and baddass-ery in 2017!