How to Start a Career as an Illustrator According to Reuben Lara

Reuben Lara's site frames the move from hobbyist to professional illustrator as a deliberate transition rather than a talent contest: his guidance page, "A Path To A Career As An Illustrator," states plainly that "being a hobbyist and a professional artist are two very different things," and that navigating professional art can be "overwhelming and costly." The page offers observations from his own career rather than a fixed curriculum, so treat it as a starting framework and expect to adapt it to your situation.

What the site actually offers

reubenlara.com is the portfolio and teaching site of Reuben Lara, working in illustration, motion design, and animation. Beyond client work, it hosts three entry points relevant to a career start:

• A Path To A Career As An Illustrator — a written guide based on the author's career observations, aimed at people trying to "kickstart" a professional path.
• Random Character Prompt! — a drawing exercise that generates a character from four randomly selected prompts, positioned as a way to challenge yourself.
• Contact / consult — the site states that consults are free and invites you to describe your project.

Note what the site does not publish: no pricing for any service, no course fees, no schedule, and no stated prerequisites for the guide. If cost matters to you, that has to come from the consult conversation, not from the page.

The core distinction the guide draws

The one claim the site makes explicitly is the hobbyist-versus-professional split. Read that as a signal about where your effort should go:

The site does not spell out the mechanics behind each row. What it does say is that the professional world is both exciting and vast, and that the transition is the part people underestimate.

A practical way to use the site

1. Read the career guide first. Go to "A Path To A Career As An Illustrator" and read it as one working artist's observations, not as a universal rulebook. The page explicitly frames it that way.
2. Use the character prompt as a low-stakes practice loop. The exercise takes four randomly selected prompts as input and asks you to draw a character from them. The expected result is a finished character sketch under constraints you didn't choose — which is closer to briefed work than drawing whatever you feel like.
3. Book a consult if you have a concrete project or question. The site says consults are free and asks for first name, last name, email, and a comment or message. Because no pricing or scope is published, use the message field to state what you want to get out of the conversation.
4. Check the portfolio before the consult. The site's own description is "Illustration | Animation | Motion Design," so you can see which of those areas matches your goal and ask about that one specifically.

Common sticking points

• Expecting a step-by-step program. The guide is described as observations, not a syllabus. You will need to convert them into your own plan.
• Assuming the consult is a portfolio review. Nothing on the page says that. It says "tell me about your project" — so bring a project or a specific question.
• Treating cost as unknown-but-zero. The site calls professional art potentially costly but publishes no figures. Ask directly rather than assuming.
• Skipping the practice tool because it looks like a toy. The random-prompt exercise is the only hands-on resource on the page; it's the part you can start today without contacting anyone.

What to do next

If you want a single first action: open the career guide, read it end to end, then run one round of the random character prompt to test whether constrained drawing is something you want to do professionally. If it is, use the contact form to ask a specific question about your chosen area — illustration, animation, or motion design — since that's the only channel the site provides for personalized guidance.