Having slagged off motivational Pinterest aphorisms in my last post, hey, what better than to feature one in this post?
But at least it’s from a children’s book illustrator – some might say the children’s book illustrator, Dr Seuss.
And it’s very nicely done, isn’t it? It’s by Emily Ruth on Etsy and I know nothing more about it than that it popped up on my Pinterest stream, a rather gorgeous presentation of a quote that is much bandied about over there:
You are you, this is truer than true. There is no-one alive who is youer than you.
And – let’s get to the point here – this was my main learning from (as the tutor likes to style it at the beginning of each class):
*swoosh* *swoosh* *swoosh* (cinematic voice ahoy:) “Children’s Book Illustration…. week TWO“.
See now, last week, we were talking about style a bit. This week, I happened to mention that I never know if it is good for me to see so much excellent illustration.
Again I referred to Pinterest. I follow some fine illustrators on there, not to mention some fine connoisseurs of illustration, and the net result is that every morning when I bring up my browser, if I wish to, I can gorge myself on a smörgåsbord of amazing work. That other people have done.
And if you’re not feeling that resolute, it’s all too easy to think one of three things:
First (if you’re me):
I’ll never be that good.
And second:
Ooh, maybe I need to be looser/use more ink/channel my inner child more/**insert other trends here ad infinitum**
Then lastly: (I haven’t got there quite yet, but I can see the beguiling path of logic that leads there):
Well why bother, when there’s already so much good stuff out there?
The tutor gave me an excellent new spin on this, and one which I will be endeavouring to live by. “Admire the work. Be glad that it exists. Because now, you don’t have to do that.”
You know what, the course might be worth the money for that little insight alone.
Myfanwy Tristram 