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Jen Gubicza's avatar

I took a bite out of this newsletter and it turns out it's filled with 100% gold! I love how you break down conversation options. I was taught (by who, I can’t remember) that when someone compliments you, saying simply “Thank you” is a surefire way to end a conversation. That advice has served me well. I love seeing the illustrated explanation. And, I wish all art students could be handed a copy of this comic when they enter art school.

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Ron McCutchan's avatar

Great post! (And now you have something to hand out--turn into slides--etc. for illustrator conferences!) The part about focusing on the art that has your heart in it really spoke to me. When I was the art director at CRICKET, I did a portfolio review day at an SCBWI event. Looking at one portfolio, I knew there were some successful , fun pieces coming up (I'd seen the person showing their portfolio to other artists in the lobby), so I was more critical of some of the pieces in the portfolio at the start, but I could tell the artist was getting defensive. I turned to a piece that showed a number of kids of different racial backgrounds, and I said, "this is a great piece if you are looking for educational work." They literally gritted their teeth and said, "I hate drawing like that," and I asked, "Then why is this still in your portfolio?" Speaking of lost opportunities--I felt bad about how the review had gone and I wrote this person an encouraging note (and even apologized) . . . they never responded or followed up! On the topic of putting in more--while this one is AMAZING, please don't feel that this needs to be a norm. Your "short and sweet" posts are equally as enjoyable. Please feel free to balance these deeper-dive, insightful posts with quick "and-so-this-happened/day in an illustrator's life" pieces--or posts about sketches and illustration/design solutions that don't require a lot of additional drawing.

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