Outstanding Senior Award and the Senior BFA Show

This past Thursday was a very important day for me on the road to graduation. Not only was it the gallery opening for my Senior BFA Show (comparable to a senior thesis for other majors) but I was also honored by the Department of Art and Design as the Outstanding Senior in the Illustration emphasis. With this honor, I was asked to give a seven minute presentation on my work to the art students of SUU.

Though I can talk extensively about my artwork-- any artist who puts a decent amount of hours into a piece should be able to discuss it in depth-- I didn't want to waste all seven minutes just on myself. I wanted to give something back to the students that they could actually use, so I reserved the last half of my presentation for a list of the most useful pieces of advice I've ever been given.

In case you haven't the time or interest to watch the attached video, here's the advice:

• Leave your ego at the door.
  • Never tell yourself that you've got nothing to learn. Every assignment is useful, every critique is worth its weight in gold. Be receptive.
• Make friends, then feed off of them.
  • Being part of a creative community is a very powerful thing. Take advantage of it. Make friends, especially with people different from yourself. Learn from them and let them influence you. Ask questions. It will make you a better artist.
• Don't skimp on presentation.
  • If you can't set yourself apart with your talent, set yourself apart with your professionalism. There are a lot of talented people out there, and it's not enough. Be talented and professional.
• Start building a following as early as possible.
  • Don't hide under a rock, have an online presence. Make pages on social networks. Have a website. It takes time to build a following, so the sooner you can start, the better.
• Work hard.
  • You're never going to get better if you don't work toward it. Stop getting yourself down over your weaknesses and do what you need to do to turn them into your strengths.
• Do the tedious stuff you don't want to do.
  • That's how you get better. Do everything you can-- even assignments for classes you aren't in.
• Learn the tools and the techniques.
  • If there's something you don't know how to do, figure it out. The internet is an incredible resource with a lot of knowledge out there for free. Utilize it.
• Make art for yourself.
  • It's easy to burn out when all you ever do is work for class or a client. And sometimes you don't have time to do personal work. But if you do have the time and you find yourself avoiding it, that's a bad sign.
• Start building your portfolio right now.
  • It's not going to magically appear when you reach your senior year, and you're not going to have time to do all new work. Treat every assignment as a portfolio piece.