This is an AWESOME blog! I have always had this dream in my heart, and yet I've been mainly working as a glass mosaic artist and I love it ! But I had surgery to repair some connective tissue in my hip due to a running injury and I used this time of recovery in bed to really challenge my next years goals - and all the sudden all these dreams of being a children's book illustrator are flooding my soul/ I found your blog by chance , but nothing is accidental - I really appreciate your mentorship and will be soaking it all up as I walk closer to the goal! I have committed to sketching a piece a day for a year straight to help this growth along - I need some education regarding the newness of digital but I am willing to do the work and whatever it takes to be the best illustrator I can be! I had intended to do my first book in glass illustration and we will see !thanks Will!
I know you're closing this blog now - am just catching up on it. This is a great video. Well done. I felt it was important I comment despite you closing this blog. My comment is: I think it's easy to underestimate the ingredient: 'comfort'. You're correct IMHO, there's no women-on-women hate. It's like this: if you have two illustrators that are both really good - one you feel comfortable you can have conversations with and one you're not, then which will you pick? Yeah, obvious answer. Life's tough enough without adding to it. This is a huge generalisation (and I'm female, 50's, management): women find it more comfortable critiquing a guys output (and this applies to any industry). Women feel they have to work harder at not hurting feelings when other women are involved. So please coach your girl students in how to head this off and communicate that they're not going to get all hurt when their artwork is critiqued. How to talk less 'feel'. It's unfair that guys are assumed to be less emotionally involved in their work (because it's not true) - but you can choose to approach the unfairness with a sensible strategy or not. Afterall, you fellas don't have it all your own way, all of the time and the rise of the female illustrator has begun :-)
I really like what you had to say on the issue. I agree that it's a combination of a lot of factors. Thanks for sharing! ~ Dena
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your insight on this and your points about being self motivated are very true.
ReplyDeleteThis is an AWESOME blog! I have always had this dream in my heart, and yet I've been mainly working as a glass mosaic artist and I love it ! But I had surgery to repair some connective tissue in my hip due to a running injury and I used this time of recovery in bed to really challenge my next years goals - and all the sudden all these dreams of being a children's book illustrator are flooding my soul/ I found your blog by chance , but nothing is accidental - I really appreciate your mentorship and will be soaking it all up as I walk closer to the goal! I have committed to sketching a piece a day for a year straight to help this growth along - I need some education regarding the newness of digital but I am willing to do the work and whatever it takes to be the best illustrator I can be! I had intended to do my first book in glass illustration and we will see !thanks Will!
ReplyDeleteI know you're closing this blog now - am just catching up on it. This is a great video. Well done. I felt it was important I comment despite you closing this blog. My comment is: I think it's easy to underestimate the ingredient: 'comfort'. You're correct IMHO, there's no women-on-women hate. It's like this: if you have two illustrators that are both really good - one you feel comfortable you can have conversations with and one you're not, then which will you pick? Yeah, obvious answer. Life's tough enough without adding to it. This is a huge generalisation (and I'm female, 50's, management): women find it more comfortable critiquing a guys output (and this applies to any industry). Women feel they have to work harder at not hurting feelings when other women are involved. So please coach your girl students in how to head this off and communicate that they're not going to get all hurt when their artwork is critiqued. How to talk less 'feel'. It's unfair that guys are assumed to be less emotionally involved in their work (because it's not true) - but you can choose to approach the unfairness with a sensible strategy or not. Afterall, you fellas don't have it all your own way, all of the time and the rise of the female illustrator has begun :-)
ReplyDelete