On November 23rd, I attended the Virtual Saturday Stories Featuring Illustrator Chuck Groenink from the Society of Illustrators. Groenink introduced himself and explained how he has been dedicated to becoming an Illustrator for Children’s Books by demonstrating his Illustration Portfolio of Children’s Book Covers since 2008. What’s one recommendation for building a Network Connection Remotely, especially for the Professional Illustrator Chuck Groenink, From the Society of Illustrators himself? Attending Free 2-3 hour Webinars is one way many Interns can move forward in Networking and future Careers Before and after Graduation.

Chuck Groenink shared the screen of his portfolio works and left his portfolio website to search further for his works and Blog Entries about the Future Projects he’s working on. While reading an emotional story with a Happy Ending picture book he illustrated for his Client, Chris Pine, the American actor and Writer of “When Digz the Dog Met Zurl the Squirrel.” I was intrigued by the art style of his illustrations, which used Traditional and Digital Pencil Strokes and shading textures, whether to blend in or add shadows and the Environmental Design for the background. Groenink used his dog Hazel, a Pitbull and Rottweiler Mix, and squirrels outside as references to capture the anatomy of the dogs and squirrels with geometric 2D shapes. He took them in a sketchbook with graphic pencils or graphite charcoal. After sketching traditional media, He transfers his Sketches into a scanner for Higher Quality into Photoshop.

In Conclusion, Attending any Graphic Design/Illustration Webinar is an excellent alternative to attending a remote Conference. It helps you feel inspired, whether by a Professional Illustrator or a Graphic Designer and motivates you to keep on illustrating to improve your work.