Exciting news! Tomorrow (this morning really) I am giving my first-ever lecture on children's books. I will be speaking about a brief history of children's illustration, picture book creation, and my own work, to 2 children's literature classes at Temple University in Philadelphia. Of course I am extremely excited as this really makes me feel validated as an illustrator, however I do grapple (as I'm sure many artists do, no matter how experienced) with feelings of horrible under-qualification. I keep thinking if only I had just one more book published, just one more award, even one more sketch to show of an upcoming book, that I will feel more like I deserve this. I can only hope I have enough to talk about given my extremely brief time in the field thus far!
But the truth is, I don't think I would be invited if I didn't deserve it in some way! I have to look at my achievements: I am a well-appreciated freelancer with loyal clients, and although the assignments are sporadic I get steady praise. And to top it off, I have a picture book on the verge of being available on Amazon, and I do happen to be extremely proud of it. As I was told in a conversation at a gallery opening the other night, lots of people can have the ideas or even make a few drawings, but it's really tough to make it as far as I just have, all the way to the press (and the internets!) So I keep reminding myself.
Enough tooting my own horn though. I still have to prove I can sell this thing to really make it happen. That will definitely be the biggest hurdle yet. But til then.....
I'm giving a lecture at a university! Yay!
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3 comments:
Hey Stevie, I wanted to say thanks for talking in my class today. You have some really awesome pieces of art. I envy people who can draw. I'm a musician who is kind of stifled creatively at the moment and one thing I wanted to ask you is if you ever get stifled creatively? If so, what do you do to help you get out of your funk? Reason why I ask is because you seem so busy with your different projects, (as am I, I just don't know which way to go) if you ever just get over-whelmed with ideas for all of your projects. Thanks again for talking in class today. It was really interesting to see the process of a childrens book. I am a fan of your art and will definitely tell my friends! haha
Marianne.
Hey Marianne!
Thanks for looking me up, and I'm really glad you enjoyed my talk! I have definitely gone through moments of artist's block, especially with projects I'm not really excited about but still have a deadline for. Some things that really help me are listening to music (I know that sounds cliche but so many of my doodles during songs I like turn into something more) and looking at other artists' work. Another thing I do, which I'm not sure how well this will apply to a musician, but if I have a certain project I will make a list of brainstorming words and do a word association. It helps a LOT to create new concepts and draw creative associations between things that you wouldn't always think of. Hope that helps, and keep in touch!
Hi Stevie, that really helped a lot. Thanks for letting me pick your brain on the topic of creativity. It helped talking to someone who is a creative mind. Can't wait til you book hits shelves. I'll be keeping an eye out for it. :-)
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