By 2012, sharing my work online had already changed my life.
I was earning enough from remote illustration work to live anywhere with an internet connection. So I chose Tokyo.
This freedom didn’t happen overnight.
It started five years earlier, when I began posting my illustrations online. Raw, unpolished work at first. But I shared consistently. I eventually found my style.
I had no formal training in illustration.
A community of those who liked my work developed.
Those years of making pictures gradually opened doors even if no one seemed to notice. It seemed surreal that I could do that from the comfort of a laptop.
Client work started flowing in.
Then, while living in my tiny Tokyo apartment, the email from Google landed.
They’d been following my journey and reading my blogs. They saw the progression.
They didn’t care about formal qualifications.
They cared about my commitment to the craft.
And, thanks to regular sharing, I had been visible.
This isn’t a story about natural talent. It’s about understanding how sharing your work strategically, consistently, and…
