Pocahontas redesign : Warlord Pohwattan
Reading time : 6-10 min
Hello Steemians !
I share with you today a powerful tool to help you grow your art or find a job. This post will lay the fundations for a serie of post regarding the lessons I have learned thanks to this one advice and I hope this will be helpful to you.
So, what is this advice ?
"Always go to Events"
Anthony Jones, Robotpencil Mentorship
That’s it !
Why is it the best thing he ever told to his students ?
Well, there are multiple reasons for that and I will try to cover a few of them (can’t say it all ;)). The main reason behind it is to help you grow.
Meeting with like minded people in a friendly and secured environment like an event is a great way to learn and to educate yourself on a personal level. You don’t have to hangout 24h/7, people can understand that you need time for you to get back to your energy level, but going out of one’s comfort zone is the best way to expand it. And because Art is the expression of oneself, it expands what you can say through your medium.
To be honest, I am quite the introvert and shy type (like many artists I guess), but going to those types of event, and always challenging this state of mind made me reconsider the possibilities.
(This is more off-topic, but as Emerson said : “You are what you think all day long”, so even if I know I am shy and introvert, I accept it but I won’t let it drive my will to connect with great people - because I know I want to meet with this great artist so let’s put the effort to do it. -it takes a long time and I am still training, but always worth the effort, sorry for the off topic)
As a second point, all the people you will meet, discuss and hangout with, will help you learn something new about your art. Or give you feedbacks you never thought about. You will also have the chance to meet with some of your inspirating artists ! Some can become your friends and will be able to build some long-lasting relationships. As @Deveerei said in his last post : @deveerei/why-engaging-the-community-is-the-way-to-go
Engagement is the key !
At THU for example, I met with incredible artists. Some working for Blizzard, Disney, Rockstar to cite a few. And I didn’t know anything about their work ! Actually this helps a lot to relieve stress and anxiety and learn how kind they are_(I tend to be abnormally anxious before engaging with a super great artist, so if you don’t know them it’s better, you get that big stress shot after the conversation - and crying of joy and frustration as well-). Plus I’ll be more natural and less tempted to do some stupid moves I think.)_
These people gave me the little push needed to get my dream job. I am so grateful for them and for my mentor who pushed us to go there whatever it takes.
Because for some of these events, it takes a whole lot of money and time. But if you are committed to find a job in a field (whatever it is in my opinion), you must invest in yourself and connect with people face to face.
You might get a deeper connection, a friend even, but at least the people there will remember you.
Moreover, the lessons learned over there will multiply your motivation, upgrade your art and improve yourself so much faster than on your own.
For events I can give you some here (mostly pop culture, game/movie art related though)
GDC, Game Developper conference : Cologne, Germany is a great way to connect with companies and have a family feeling as it is much smaller than its counterpart in San Francisco. Which gets more artists, more portfolio reviews and is much more crowded.
http://www.gdconf.com/THU Trojan Horse was a Unicorn : The best one in my opinion. I loved it I got one of the best time ever there so I can’t be objective (sorry). Some high level artists are there like Kim Jung Gi, Christian Alzmann, Ian McCaig, Karla Ortiz, Brenda Chapman…. But not only you have the Knights (awesome artists doing talks) but some of them are also just wandering there and you can just bump into them like that and engage a conversation. It’s crazy !
https://trojan-unicorn.com/main-eventIFCC : I never went yet but definitely on my to do list as it seems to be a really great place to meet with other artists ! (About this one, go check @beekart blog he has some reaaaally neat paintings)
And finally, a few other ones on my list as well : Promised Land festival, Industry Workshop, It’s Art Masterclasses, E3 and I am sure there are other ones I still don’t know.
To summarize quickly : Go to an event in your field, step out your comfort zone, learn and enjoy, you won't regret it !
Thank you very much for your time reading this, I hope I could help ! One last thing, during the few events I went, I took a few notes and learned a few things and I will make this serie about sharing these notes with you once a week I think =).
Have a great day everyone ! Feel free to give me feedbacks _(here or on Discord @alcy) about how I can improve my writing or if you liked this post or not =)
Cheers !
Ressource : http://www.robotpencil.net/