It seems that we sometimes forget the happiness that drew us to want to become illustrators. For us illustration is fun. And each of us in our own way, has found ways to have have a good time while we exercise our craft. Take the holidays for instance. Who among us has not looked forward to producing an illustration for a holiday special occasion. And to think, we actually got paid to do it. It's a chance to execute one of those 50 great ideas we have thought of over the years. Ah yes, but which one. After all, the client is only going to want one great idea even though we could easily dazzle them with several dozen. So how to decide. It seems that making the right choice of which illustration concept to present can take more time than it will take to actually produce the image. And it has to be the right choice. There are so many things to consider. And it will be a major illustration, even if it only ends up as wrapping paper. The image will last forever, and we may become well known from it. After all, holiday illustrations tend to be seen by everyone, everywhere, and they will always be remembered. Even a thousand years from now. A successful holiday image may make or break our reputation. We all remember the He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special fiasco with the illustrated kazoos and feathered hats. And that's only one of thousands of examples of imagery gone wrong. Also, to make matters worse, we all know that a holiday illustration is the Super Bowl for illustrators, our Stanley Cup, our World Series. If that isn't stress, I don't know what is. What a predicament. Why did we get ourselves into this situation in the first place. At first, everything seemed fine, but it is not fine, no, it's anything but fine. It's not fine by a long shot. It's an unmitigated disaster of epic proportions, and we haven't even started the job yet. In fact, we are still waiting to get a holiday commission. And to top it all, it's the one job we want more than anything, more than any other we could possibly hope for.
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| Santa Claus Saint Nicholas Father Christmas © 2012 Don Arday. |
Enjoy the Season! Best Wishes and Happy holidays!
