I don't know what it is with sea creatures. It might be because I have fond memories of the ocean or because I've watched "Blue Planet" with the same enthusiasm and frequency as "Star Wars". Somehow, the residents of the ocean often end up in drawn form around here.
The Day of the Narwhal occurred sometime back in 2006. I was a college graduate who needed a little direction, experience, and well, a job. So there I was, 25 minutes late to the interview (got lost! Oops!), overwhelmed to see it was a "panel" interview consisting of parents, teachers, AND students, and pretty sure I ruined my chance to step into the world of education. To make a long story short, I managed to collect myself , not projectile vomit on the whiteboard, and win some points with my "party trick" of drawing. What did the kids want? A narwhal. Everyone rejoiced.
After the interview, one of the teachers on the board mentioned how the kids loved the narwhal. "We knew we wanted to hire you as soon as you drew that narwhal," one of the other teachers mentioned. Thankfully, my poor navigating skills were forgiven and thus I began my journey into teaching. I began illustrating study guides for students in our special education program. However, we quickly discovered ALL students could benefit from the visuals! Soon, teachers from different grades and subjects were requesting custom cartoon visuals to assist students. Teachers loved having something they could save for future use and students seemed to enjoy the quirky style.This experience lead me to create a variety of classroom visuals that I decided to later share and sell making them available to everyone. While many things have changed in my life, it delights me to know that my designs are being utilized in classrooms and resources worldwide. The feedback, usage, and response to these products have been overwhelmingly positive. I look forward to creating more visuals for teachers and possibly illustrating some personal projects down the road.
My business logo started as a narwhal, but I had trouble getting the educational element across in the visual. It was reborn as "The Yellow Octopus", holding a variety of school supplies in his/her arms, but they looked too primary when my focus skewed secondary. Finally, a fish who could double as a reading lamp swam through the depths of my subconscious and into the light. Thus, Illumismart was born!
(I also tend to geek out over bioluminescence.)
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