I know folks around here sometimes like to rag on Joel Spolsky (the popularity of the jumping the shark article comes immediately to mind), but when I was a junior in high school, I had a very similar experience to the one mentioned here.
The computer science culture in central Ohio is kind of less than amazing (especially for a varsity athlete type), and I didn't really have any idea of what the good computer science schools were. When I googled around for it, I came across the Perils of Java Schools (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/ThePerilsofJavaSchool...).
At that point, it struck me that Joel knew a lot more than I did, so I decided to send him an email asking what schools were best. Not only did he answer, but there was actually some correspondence that led to a good short list for me. After being accepted to Carnegie Mellon, MORE correspondence helped me avoid Information Systems (an easier track that the football coach at CMU was trying to get me to pursue). For lack of a better description, Joel Spolsky was the best college guidance counselor I had.
I think it's important to keep in mind that, when I asked him for help, I was a slightly above average public high school student in Hilliard, Ohio, so he was just being a really nice guy.
He's basically a cynical old bastard who hates just about everything about the way cartoons are produced today. (Arrogance in cartooning is measured in nanokricfalusis.) He's also right about most of it: if you've ever seen the garbage produced today like Fairly OddParents or Total Drama Island you'll know what I mean.
More likely than not, his outreach toward Amir Avni was more about intervention than fan-friendliness: he wanted to get to a young, promising cartoonist before the Evil Network Execs filled his head with bad ideas.
Regardless of his motivations, I appreciate it when someone famous responds to one of their fans with a thoughtful response. I like it when someone is famous and approachable. For instance, I've always appreciated that pg will almost always reply to my emails even if it is just a couple of sentences.
Couldn't agree more. I admire people who have succeeded in the goals they set themselves, but nowhere near as much as I admire people who do that and then work just as hard to help other people do the same.
At least he's not too cynical where he has lost all hope. He still cares (or did in 1998) enough about his craft to save it and return it to what he considers its glory days, which is admirable and very cool.
I can't begin to imagine how great that kid felt opening a package with a book, some artwork and a nice long letter from one of his heroes. Probably the best day of his life to that point! Not many people have the kind of power where taking an hour or so to do something for someone can have a lasting and profound effect on that someone. Kudos to John.
I have to credit John K. and his blog for giving me good ideas about drawing. My experiences seem to correlate with his opinion; the bulk of the learning is in making good use of measurement - measurement and references. If I don't do those things, I will get distorted construction, every time. (But I have also no doubt that practice eventually embeds the necessary information in your soul so that you can be "fast/sloppy" and still do OK.)
I'm wondering if we have any other illustration / animation types lurking here at HN and whether they have other suggestions about what to read, watch, etc., if we may want to get a little better at illustration. Any suggestions, guys?
#1 on my list would be getting yourself a sketchbook and drawing in it ALL THE TIME.
Draw everything you can. Figure out what, of all the things you'd like to be able to draw, you're worst at drawing, and draw lots and lots of those until you're not as bad at it as you were. Then move on to the new "worst thing".
Also, I would differ with the Ren & Stimpy guy in advising you not to trace stuff. Copying master art is good practice, but do it with your own eye rather than by tracing. You'll learn a lot more that way.
When drawing, look a lot more than you draw.. look really carefully and try to make each stroke as accurate as possible.
Experiment with lots of different media, tools, and materials.
Meet up with and hang out with other art students and artists. Doing so can provide a lot of inspiration and motivation.
Staying motivated and fighting past self-criticism are probably the hardest parts of being a serious artist. Which reminds me of this story, told by Lawrence Block:
A young man once cornered a world-famous violinist and begged to be allowed to play for him. If the master offered him encouragement, he would devote his life to music. But if his talent was not equal to his calling, he wanted to know ahead of time so he could avoid wasting his life. He played, and the great violinist shook his head. "You lack the fire," he said.
Decades later the two met again, and the would-be violinist, now a prosperous businessman, recalled their previous meeting. "You changed my entire life," he explained. "It was a bitter disappointment, giving up music, but I forced myself to accept your judgement. Thus, instead of becoming a fourth-rate musician, I've had a good life in the world of commerce. But tell me, how could you tell so readily that I lacked the fire?"
"Oh, I hardly listened when you played," the old master said. "That's what I tell everyone who plays for me -- that they lack the fire."
"But that's unforgivable!" the businessman cried. "How could you do that? You altered the entire course of my life. Perhaps I could have been another Kreisler, another Heifetz--"
The old man shook his head again. "You don't understand," he said. "If you had had the fire, you would have paid no attention to me."
Also, I would differ with the Ren & Stimpy guy in advising you not to trace stuff. Copying master art is good practice, but do it with your own eye rather than by tracing.
Unless it was mentioned twice, he said to draw your copy by eye on tracing paper, then if you compare it by laying over the original you should mark the differences (eg eyes too large, whatever) then redraw and check again.
The computer science culture in central Ohio is kind of less than amazing (especially for a varsity athlete type), and I didn't really have any idea of what the good computer science schools were. When I googled around for it, I came across the Perils of Java Schools (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/ThePerilsofJavaSchool...).
At that point, it struck me that Joel knew a lot more than I did, so I decided to send him an email asking what schools were best. Not only did he answer, but there was actually some correspondence that led to a good short list for me. After being accepted to Carnegie Mellon, MORE correspondence helped me avoid Information Systems (an easier track that the football coach at CMU was trying to get me to pursue). For lack of a better description, Joel Spolsky was the best college guidance counselor I had.
I think it's important to keep in mind that, when I asked him for help, I was a slightly above average public high school student in Hilliard, Ohio, so he was just being a really nice guy.