Amateurillustrator.com was started in the summer of 2006 by two illustration students at the University of Lincoln (in the East Midlands of England.) During the first year of our degree we came up with the idea of building an online web portal for illustrators and students of illustration. We wanted it to be a place where anyone could come and upload their drawings and images for others to look at and critique, and would also include many other features such as:
- Interviews with Professional Illustrators
- Tutorials and Tips
- An "Illustration of the Week" Feature
- An "Illustration News" Section
- A personal gallery section where illustrators can create their own online portfolio
- A Forum for people to chat, exchange ideas and post their work and work in progress.
- A Public Gallery organized by medium so that someone wanting to look at or upload lots og images done, in say, pen&ink would be able to do so easily
- Contests now and again with small prizes
- We also hope to add more and more features as the site grows.
Most of all though we wanted the site to be totally 100% free of charge so that anyone from anywhere in the world and of any skill level can take part in creating a great place to go for illustrators.
We named it ‘amateur illustrator’ because the word amateur means to do something because you love doing it. The name also has no pretentions…We want illustrators who are total beginners as well as seasoned pros to visit and use our site.
We hope that Amateurillustrator.com will grow into a fantastic vibrant community of illustrators.
