Oi folks!

Long story short, I started my 'career' in giving public talks. As I live in a country, where illustration exists only in fragmented contexts (mostly children books, some in advertising, but almost nothing in editorial), I thought, I'd better shout out for those wanting to enter this industry and go global, but not knowing where to start. So I've started my "Beyond Inspiration" presentation with an introduction of what illustration actually is, who assigns it in what contexts, and then showed some of "behind the curtain" process points & tricks, revealed some of self-promo strategies and tried to say: be smart, be professional, respect your clients and just do it, find your own 'style' and techniques, don't wait for inspiration to come and do it for you.

The first talk (the first public talking event with me there the a stage actually talking, ever!) was organized in Vilnius by wonderful 5/5/Junior guys (those organizers and event volunteers are amazing!). I was one of 3 speakers that night and the whole thing is happening every 5 Fridays and the list of speakers includes different people working in some sort of visual communication, design, or sometimes other creative industry.

I didn't fit into a format of 20 minutes though. Far from it. So for the rest of my life, I will be thankful to organizers sitting there in the first row and not blinking at me, being very patient and polite, and letting me to believe that everything is ok (I have no sense of time what so ever), though the whole thing lasted for more than 40 minutes plus few more minutes for answering questions. Few hundred people in front of me and a lamp making me almost blind - this is what I call adrenaline.

The best thing is that I gained a lot from this opportunity myself (maybe even more than those who came to listen): though the goal was to share my know-how with everyone else (and I'm very happy to do that), on the other hand, I had a chance to rethink everything I do: how I do it and why I do it. I didn't rationalize my process verbally since my years at uni', and for the first time in my life, a word "mission" crossed my mind. I had to present all I know in some sort of structure, slide after slide, and the thing is, I feel that I've put my thoughts in order and summed up my first five (or so) years as a professional. I like to put my own thoughts in order, as boring as it sounds, but apparently I needed an occasion to actually do that.

Photo ©Giedrius Akelis

So after the talk in Vilnius, I was invited to talk in Kaunas, at a freelancer-hub Talent Garden. Amazing space, way smaller crowd, but: a lot of questions. Which was great. People asking questions after the event are the best people in the world and it makes my day spent on traveling there, giving a talk and traveling from there, so much more meaningful. I hope I managed to shout out my message to these guys, no matter if they were students, junior or senior designers. Everyone is so young in this industry over here in Lithuania - most of our art directors are only in their thirties at most and everyone are ready to conquer the world, so I hope I've put my input into them achieving their their goals in the near future.

Thanks to both organizers and everyone who found time to come, I love you guys.
P.S. I promise, there were full copyright credits next to illustrations used in the presentation (which was mostly educational, not my own self-promo), and I was assured by organizers, none of the slides will reach internet or will be given to people to share online.

before the event at Talent Garden (TAG Kaunas)

photo ©TAG Kaunas

P.S. I rarely travel to Kaunas, but while walking around it's old-town, I couldn't stop thinking: it's so La Grand Budapest style, more Eastern than Central Europe, but still - a lot of pink, a lot of interwar feeling all around the old town - architecture, typefaces, colors - which looks more like a movie scenography rather than an actual place. I always had a feeling that Kaunas peeked in the interwar, and that era never left the city. Take a look yourself: