I always have to remind myself there is no normal timeline for people.
@jake-parker I'm listening right now to Catia talk about giving birth to her son and how hard it is to take care of a child in NYC, especially how much it costs. I moved with a small child and an art career, supposedly just for couple of years, stayed 14, and it totally ate my career. I have been beating myself up these past few years about why I am getting such a late start as an illustrator, and she just reminded me why. Not an excuse, just a re-realization that it made no economic sense. I still wish I had stuck with it more.
Becoming an illustrator may not cost as much as opening a pizza parlor (as Lee says), but if you have to hire out anyone to cover household work you would have done, it becomes really hard to justify how little you're making. Even now, I need a housekeeper because I can't keep up (and as of now, don't have one). I think that no matter what our situation, we have to really want to do this!
I love how Catia called Lee's bluff on throwing out his books!
And who is the great concept artist that you went to school with and talked about in the podcast?
And last but not least---a publishing company?!