A young man who has graduated from homeschooling and taught himself painting digitally during his teen years, was commissioned to create the artwork for an advert for the Springbok rugby team which was aired on national television.
Yannick Nel shares her son’s homeschool success story:
“I am a mother of 3 children. Our eldest, Joshua, turns 20 on Friday [October 2015]. He started his home schooling journey in grade 2 and completed his GED in 2013. Although we started off with a loosely structured approach, we gradually realised that focusing on play and passion, rather than programs, was a happier place for us as a family.
One of Joshua’s passions is art, and he has been able to earn money as a freelance digital artist since 2013. Last year he was commissioned to do the artwork for a Springbok advert which is now being aired on SuperSport. I have provided a link to the advert below (you don’t need to be registered on Facebook to view the ad).
Joshua’s digital art exploration began when he started using a Wacom tablet we had lying around at home. The tablet is connected to a computer using a USB port and he “paints” on this tablet using a “pen”. Here is a link for the tablet
http://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-tablets/intuos
As far as software is concerned he uses Photoshop. Initially, he put all his artwork onto www.deviantart.com in order to create some kind of online portfolio without spending money (http://www.deviantart.com/browse/all/?section=&global=1&q=joshuanel).
He now has his own website (www.joshuanel.com). Joshua has never marketed his work, he just had it online and various people contacted him after seeing his stuff on deviant art. A guy in Cape Town who is an agent for artists discovered Joshua’s work online, contacted him and since then has been sourcing work for him.
He never followed a syllabus to learn how to paint, but rather used self-exploration, watched YouTube videos and paid for a couple of online tutorials on subject matter that interested him. It is his passion so he continually develops himself.
I hope this helps in some way. We don’t have a formula to pass on, but trust that you are encouraged by his story enough to carve out your own.
