New to the forum, need advice on illustration focus

[luciacreatrix]

Hi guys! 

I found this forum via Mohammed Agbadi's YouTube channel. My goal is to become a professional illustrator, and I haven't really focused on any areas of study aside from portraits. My ideal job is illustrating books like the Dungeons and Dragons guidebooks, and illustrating posters for animation (ex. anime movies, Netflix animation shows, etc.)

Here's what my work currently looks like: www.instagram.com/luciacreatrix

Currently, I paint several hours a day and I take courses on Schoolism. I'm currently studying realistic color/lighting, and practicing dynamic angles and poses on my own. After this, I want to focus more on backgrounds/environments (in the context of character illustrations), and then move onto color and mood (the class that naturally follows the lighting class I am currently taking) and then focus on character design.

As you can see my plans are pretty general, I would greatly appreciate any specific advice you have (video series, art books to read, exercise types etc.).

Thanks in advance!

[Pubic Enemy]

Seems like you're focused enough to me. You already have an appealing style forming, and the fact that you're studying is evident. It also looks like you're doing a good amount of drawing from imagination in addition to doing studies, which is always a good idea.

I'm not sure if I even have any advice to give you. If you'd mainly like art book recommendations, I suggest reading the ones that everyone recommends (James Gurney, Loomis, anatomy books such as Peck's). I'm sure Schoolism's courses are great, but you may glean unique insights from books that you won't find in a course, and vice versa. Beyond that, follow your own intuition regarding what you need to study, which you seem to be doing well already. There isn't a 100% optimal way to study, or at least not a universally applicable one.