Monday, February 25, 2008

Inspiration

Sooo.... got back from SCAD yesterday and what can I say other than it was an amazing school and a great opportunity to meet some really awesome people. I already knew Eric Canete but it was great to see him talk about something other than Ironman! (haha juuuuust kidding.) He did a thing on storytelling which about made everyone drool and fall out of their seats. He really talks so well but is modest, but I think his knowledge and love for the art made it natural for him to talk about it so easily.

Andrew Robinson was also there. I didn't know who he was at first, but I am sure glad I do now haha.. he works with the comics but also goes back to working with traditional painting sometimes. Seeing some of his techniques was like... oooooooooohhh.... He made me want to go home and paint. :/

Yuko Shimizu is the sweetest person ever. She's also a teacher at SVA and boy what lucky students haha! She lectured on small business of illustration and portfolios and all that. It was such an inciteful lecture that was just purely about illustration which I think helped with the almost pure business class I had to last semester. It's kind of mandatory to believe her because she's been so successful at it. And she worked in business for 10 years. :o

James Jean has great hair. I kept looking at his hair like wow, well I guess if you start working for Prada would be willing to do a haircut or something. Well I don't really know if he got a haircut at Prada... /shrug But anyways in the round table discussion thing the first night I was there where all the artists talked and introduced themselves, James said some really important things that made me think about my own situation. He is very very talented, but after hearing him and Yuko talk, he is so good because of really hard work.

Overall about style, one thing they stressed was to be yourself. In Yuko's slideshow she said that ultimately you cannot run from who you are, and if that reflects in your work then that is how it should be. Being a senior in college I am kind of freaking out about graduating... what am I going to do with my drawing ability, will I be able to present it in a way I'm happy with, will my style be liked by clients and especially by me? All those things. It sounds so cheesy, but you just have to be yourself. :P Maybe you'd see what I meant if you saw the lecture. Also... during Q&A Eric and James said they do one maybe 2 sketches for a client. Yuko quickly jumped in and said NOOOOO lol... I was so glad when she said that, because Sterling would kick me out if I tried that, then tried to justify it by saying James Jean said he does one sketch. o___o;;

After getting to know them they really are just normal people with awesome talents, personalities and a common intense passion for what they are doing. I hope to visit both James and Yuko in Cali and NY next time I'm around there! This trip was nothing less than exciting!






3 comments:

Unknown said...

Sounds awsome..looks like you had a blast.I really want to hear more about it. Did you know Yuko is comming over to VCU next semester for a few days?!
-Tin

Rick said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Rick said...

It was a pleasure to meet you at SCAD_Atlanta. Glad you had a chance to hang out with Yuko and James while you were here. You have a great teacher in Sterling and I know you will go far surrounding yourself with talented people such as he and Eric.

Congrats on the SI Student Competition! I love that piece, by the way.

Here is a bit about the Arts Forum I put on the ILLU blog..your photo is in it:
http://scad-atl-illu.blogspot.com/2008/02/thanks-yuko-and-james.html

Best,

Rick Lovell
SCAD-Atlanta Illustration