5 Lessons From 5 Years of Illustrating
Nine books later, here are some things I picked up
Each week, I tell myself I will just be chill and make a CHILL newsletter post. Each week I end up getting too sucked into it. This week’s post takes the cake with 77 panels and over 12 hours of drawing and writing. Oops!
I hope you enjoyed this very long post about these lessons I had to learn the hard way. I hope this helps you in some way so that you don’t make the same mistakes I did.
A small (but big) reminder that…
MY DEBUT AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR PICTURE BOOK COMES OUT IN LITERALLY A WEEK!!!
I have been scrambling to get many things done for this launch! We will be hosting an in person launch at Books are Magic in Brooklyn, NY on October 1st. Come by if you’re able! I would love to meet everyone.
And of course, I cannot end a newsletter post without plugging preorders for my book again! I know you’ve seen this 1000 times already but I have to show my big bad publisher that I’m worth BETTING ON (were you listening earlier?) and one way to show that is with PREORDERS! So once again, below are some ways you can preorder my book and receive free goodies.
Also a small reminder, if you preorder my book through any bookstore and forward your receipt to liantomato@gmail.com, you’ll get a FREE YEAR ACCESS to PAID POSTS!! So for $20 you can get my book, a bunch of free goodies and also a yearly subscription that usually goes for $50!
All these preorder goodies will end in a week when the book comes out so get your preorders in now!
Thanks for your support as always. Here’s to another 5 years of illustrating!
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.
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.