I don't remember exactly when I first said it properly. But I remember how the conversation went.

"What do you do?"
"I'm an illustrator."
"Ooh, picture books?"
"No, er, I do all sorts of things, like, er, maps and, er, drawing wildlife."
"Oh. Will I have seen your stuff anywhere?"
"Probably not... I've only just started out." [Embarrassed trailing off.]

The thing is, I said some version of that last line for nearly four years.