Eli. A

Freelance

Various • Freiberufler

Jul 2019 - Present • 6 yrs 10 mos

For the past 7 years, I’ve been drawing people for a living—first as a side gig, and now as the thing I’m going all-in on full-time. I started back in 2019 doing quick portrait commissions for friends and coworkers after work. Drawing was how I relaxed… but I noticed something pretty fast: people didn’t just “like” the art—they *reacted* to it. They laughed, shared it, and kept coming back asking for more. That’s when I started treating it like a real business: keeping track of orders, setting clear deadlines, and building a process that makes it easy to deliver great results every time. **Then COVID hit, and everything shifted.** People couldn’t get together in person, so they started looking for fun, meaningful gifts they could send from a distance. That’s when my caricature orders really took off—**birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, “thinking of you” gifts**, and even family portraits made from separate photos. I ended up drawing *so many* caricatures during that time, and it pushed my speed, consistency, and likeness skills to a whole new level. Here’s the kind of work I do most often: * Digital caricatures for gifts (birthdays, anniversaries, retirements, etc.) * Couples and family portraits (perfect for prints and framing) * Pet caricatures (my favorite + fastest-growing category) * Creator/small business art (avatars, banners, profile pics)