Had the privilege of attending my first Creative Networks event at Leeds College of Art. Frazer Irving – a wonderful illustrator talked about his career – from which I took the following:
- the seeds of your (your clients) future are often sown early – go back to the early years to see if the basis for an enterprise were sown then
- just because it sells does not mean it is good – heroin is not better than tofu – even if it does shift more units – selling stuff is not the be all and all – truth and beauty matter too
- provoke, invoke, evoke – apparently John Lennon said that – not a bad JD for an enterprise coach either
- 5 years of crappy jobs and being on the dole – being on the dole were the ‘happy days’
- ‘ideas burning on the inside’
- managers/editors can leave you with tears streaming down your face and your soul ripped out and thrown on the floor
- the bad times provide the fuel and drive to allow the good
- an incessant streak of optimism helps – on being rejected by judges in a portrait competition Frazer chose to believe it was because he wasn’t important – ‘although it might have been because, then, I wasn’t very good’
- it takes a lot of time, training, passion and life experience to really master your subject
- great technology combined with great passion and skills produce remarkable, beautiful and important results
- sometimes you need someone to say ‘chin up – you will be alright’
- sometimes when your art is ripped off it gets you great new gigs – life-changing breaks…
- be a slave to the muse – let the story dictate the style – if the story is trivial don’t expect to get great results
- it is really about finding out who you are and what you can become – enterprise is about the emergence of identity – the process of becoming…
- treat me as a ‘pencil monkey’ and you will get mediocrity
- in the comic world a lot of bad product is there because of poor management – comics and every other industry on the planet – management is perfectly designed to get the results it gets
- if it is bad it is (nearly always) because the managers/editors have put the wrong people on the job
- if you have recruited the wrong people then forcing them to compromise WILL lead to mediocrity
- recruit great talent carefully and then trust it to deliver on its own terms – not yours
- when your hobby becomes your job – you get another hobby
- musicians jam and sometimes the results are great – what is the jamming equivalent for you?
- be careful about your reputation – one person saying you might not hit a deadline in a public forum can be a killer
- sometimes it is best not to claim the credit for all your ideas
- it really is full of ups and downs – but you come out of the downs with even more resources – psychological and technical if not financial
This was a great networking event – convivial atmosphere – great facilities – good food – great speakers and good management.
If only all networking opportunities were this good!