Graduation is coming up, have been feeling uneasy lately.
I know that I want to be a freelance illustrator but there are many times I am not sure if I am good enough.
I have always wondered how well-known illustrators get started in the beginning so I decided to try my luck and e-mailed one of my favorite illustrators,
Emiliano Ponzi. He wrote back to me and gave me some really thoughtful advises.
Ponzi wrote :
"keep in mind that there isn't a magic formula so do the best you can, send your work around and keep your finger crossed....if the feedback will be negative, work on other images send them around and keep.........over and over."
Frankly, it was quite comforting to learn that
Ponzi is a mortal and it wasn't magic behind his amazing effortless looking works. I guess the saying: " it takes a lot of works to look effortless" is true
after all.
Ponzi also shared this
LA times article with me. It is about writers' career but a lot of the concepts are application to illustrators' life. The article mentioned that the people who eventually succeed are not the most naturally-talented ones but the ones who endure and persist. I found this really thought provoking and somehow encouraging, because,
I
dont know if I get talent or not, but sure, I know I can work hard and endure.