by …continued from previous page.
Chris: The best portfolios I’ve seen, let’s say I see at any given CTN, I see ten great portfolios. With everypassing year, the percentage of those great portfolios have come from a school I’ve never heard of or that I’ve hardly heard of.
Pascal: Exactly, yeah. And I feel like the schools I’ve mentioned, the bigger schools will tend to bring the same type of portfolios right now which is not a bad thing, you need people to be able to do the production stuff but if you want to be something else, if you want to be the best as far as you can be, it’s not about that. It’s about what you can put into your portfolio that is personal to you. That’s really going to be different, the difference actually is (inaudible), because all those portfolios tend to look alike as far as I was trying to say earlier about the competition thing. When you have a very unique portfolio, it really helps your chance of standing out. In a good way and a bad way, I guess it will depend on who’s looking at it but most schools will help you with that. Yeah, most schools have teachers that will not be able to give you the feedback you need and the other thing too is, some students will be better in a certain type of environment and some will be better in a different type of environment. Like all students did good in the school I went to because they needed a more structured approach. I would do pretty poorly in the very structured approach because I’m not good at that particular type of thing either. And if you’re the type of person that is going to work really hard on your own, or if you’re the type of person who needs to be helped every step of the way and there’s nothing wrong with needing help every step of the way. There are people who actually need that and thrive and work extremely well that way and there are people who are just the opposite and just need to be let loose. And that’s the beauty of art, it’s like…there are as many types of artists as there are people out there.
Chris: Well any parting words you’d like to wrap up with?
Pascal: There are a few things actually, one thing I think is like I think we’re in a (inaudible) spot for artists right now. Sometimes in the morning, I’ll have a conversation with people in Iran and I’ll have a conversation with people in India and I’ll have a conversation with people in like Russia all in the same day and all this work from all those different countries, and they’re all very different. There’s so many different ways you can go and your way is just as valid as any other way. The one thing it does too is, and unless you’re like self conscious but, being an artist you’re going to be self conscious your whole life, you’re going to learn to deal with it. I still think I can’t draw, I just to like tuck that voice away and keep going at it and try to cheat myself into like, this is a work, but I always feel like that. So if you guys feel like that, that you can’t draw, that you’re not as good as anybody else, don’t worry, you’re just like the rest of us. Take it with a grain of salt, go out for a walk, just live your life. That’s another thing I was going to say, don’t stay in front of the computer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Go out, explore, fall in love, have your heart broken, go meet people, go to Brazil or South America or take a trip to the moon if you can. All those experiences are going to be fruit or fall, they’re going to help you create work, they’re going to be your energy, your supplies for the work you’re going to put in, not just the visual impact of going to Brazil and seeing the colors but the smells, the feeling, the emotions you’re going to have going there, the hardships you’re going to encounter on this trip. It’s like the Himalayas, you will perceive life in a different way and it will actually help your art and you as a person grow which is definitely sometimes going to help you in every single aspect of your art and your life. Have experiences, live your life, you’re an artist. You’re here to help other people live through you basically, you’re creating pieces of art, illustrations, sequential art, animations, culture – whatever. You’re here because you want to create emotional things, but also you’re helping other people look at those images and travel, escape, dream, hope. So if you don’t have any of that in you, you’re going to have a really hard time selling that. So go out and live your life!
Chris: What did you learn in this interview that inspired you the most? And how are you going to use this inspiration to guide your own art and creative career. Go to ChrisOatley.com/Pascal-Campion-p2 and join the conversation in the comments. Again that’s ChrisOatley.com/Pascal-Campion-p2 as in part 2. I would love to hear your response to this episode and I know the other listeners will too.
Today’s breakthrough story comes from Jose Luis Segura. Jose is one of my painting drama students, he’s a very wise man and he’s become a good friend. He gives great critiques too so he’s okay with me telling you that. But write him, maybe he’ll give you some of his amazing feedback. Jose writes, “The one thing that was an obstacle that cost me the most headache was myself. I kept chasing around endlessly different opportunities without ever really investing myself fully. It took me a few years before I was able to understand who I was and what I wanted. These days I have a clearer picture of what I want and what I want to do. There wasn’t any particular Artcast that helped me, but the series as a whole. In time, the message in my path made them apparent to me. Chris’ artcasts gave me hope and they put certain things in a particular kind of light that forced me to reevaluate what was truly important to me. Everything has slowly sunk in, some more than others. Every day I force myself to push farther in my artistic career and my technical goals. I’ve seen myself grow a lot recently. It actually surprised me. One day I was looking at some of my older work from a couple of years ago and I realized just how much I’ve improved. I know I did the work but I’m glad I had Chris’ guidance and perspective to help me stay on track.”
Well Jose, thank you. Whew, that’s very encouraging. That’s why I do this, that’s why I’m here. You can see Jose’s work at LucidShanty.com, that’s an awesome domain name. And you can watch Jose on Deviant Art at 2Lucid.DeviantArt.com. That’s the number 2Lucid.DeviantArt.com.
If this podcast, our blog, our interactions at a convention, or one of the Oatley Academy courses has helped you achieve an artistic or professional breakthrough, you can share your own breakthrough story through our easy upload form at ChrisOatley.com/breakthrough.
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The Magic Box will empower and equip you to paint life-life human and animal characters, to control color, light, and atmosphere, to achieve a professional level of polish and dimension in your work to avoid overworked paintings and the flat coloring book look forever. To increase your speed and efficiency with versatile techniques that will work in any painting. And of course, to break through the overwhelm of working in photoshop. Plus, you’ll have access to a huge community of passionate focused artists with whom you can connect and collaborate. So if you want a clear step by step method designed specifically for concept artists and illustrators, head to ChrisOatley.com/MagicBox and enroll today. It’s completely risk-free and you get instant access to the first set of lessons as soon as you enroll. Here are just a few testimonials from current Magic Box students. @JohnAcuna says, “@ChrisOatley, those lighting tutorials helped me make a major breakthrough today. 2 days of work done in as many hours. Thanks!” @Frederick_S says, “First time I’ve looked at a painting I’ve done and not wanted to scrap it asap! Thanks @ChrisOatley!” @ThousandFoldArt says, “@ChrisOatley, that last lesson changed my life dude! #MagicBox” And @DrakeStudio says, “The Magic Box courses from @ChrisOatley have made me question my entire digital art workflow. The learning! It hurts! Hurts so good!” I love you guys. Yeah, so head to ChrisOatley.com/MagicBox to learn more, to enroll, and we would love to see you join the Oatley Academy.
