Shout out for those who bless us on the forums...

[chrisaakins]

Sometimes we get in our own little worlds and are so focused on our own work that we don’t really take the time to help others. But I want to publicly praise a few peeps who consistently give very good advice and are always helping others.

@NessIllustration you are so helpful, especially at giving professional advice. You are so generous with your help despite your thriving business. I love how you give back. Thank you!

@TessaW you always give the most thoughtful and insightful advice and critiques. You have a great eye and I am so appreciative when I get a critique from you. I have seen you be such a help to others when they are stuck. Thank you!

@Nyrryl-Cadiz You are such an encourager to others. You are always commenting on others’ work, giving bits of praise. I feel like you are our resident cheerleader. Thank you!

@burvantill and @Coreyartus I can always count on a like from you, no matter how bad my artwork is. That shows me that you take the time to look at everyone’s pics and give them a little encouragement. Also, Lisa puts out the sos monthly studio and that’s a great positive vibe. Corey gives such thoughtful responses that he should consider being an art professor if he isn’t one already.

I know there are others and I could go on and on, but I just wanted to take the time to give a shout out where one is due. I hope you keep it up! You are what make me keep coming back to the forums.

If you have words of praise for others feel free to post them here. Also, if you haven’t taken the time to give back, please consider their example and give back to others. Don’t just be a silent stalker! be a loud encourager!

[NessIllustration]

@chrisaakins Awww, Chris that's so sweet! I feel the same about everyone here

[burvantill]

I could not agree more about @NessIllustration @TessaW @Nyrryl-Cadiz & @Coreyartus !

Thank you for including me in a group of people that help so much on the forum. I don’t think I deserve it. I am not eloquent and sometimes I may be too direct, but anything I post in the forum is done with love for my art friends. I am TRULY thankful that I found SVS through watching Will’s YT. Having a group of people you can talk to about art that GET IT is a true blessing. I only wish we lived closer together so we could all hang out.
I met @kaitlinmakes here and found out we live only a hour away from each other. We meet on a regular basis for art days. If I never get anything else from SVS I will always be thankful for that.

Thankyou @chrisaakins.
PS I always check my it’s now for an apostrophe thanks to you.

[NessIllustration]

@burvantill Don't sell yourself short, you bring a lot to these forums! You're one of the people that makes this such a fun place to hang out.

[JoshuaDages]

I second @chrisaakins on this. Thank you everyone!

I think everyone on his list has given me a pointer or two in the few short months I've been posting. As an illustrator who is trying to learn the business later in his career - and who has no formal art school education - the advice and help on these forums is priceless.

I hope that my little tidbit help on others' work will grow into the expertise that I get from you all, so that I can help others as much as you've helped me!

Thank you!
Josh

[TessaW]

That's sweet, thank you! I really appreciate all the regular peeps here on the forum. I learn a lot from you guys. Also let's give a shoutout to @Chip-Valecek who does a lot for us.

[Julia]

@burvantill said in

I met @kaitlinmakes here and found out we live only a hour away from each other. We meet on a regular basis for art days.

Okay... I know this post is about being loud to thank the kind-hearted people on the forum (and I am joining this celebration ) but I cannot shhh a bad feeling...

I am envious!! I too want a art buddy for art days! so here is my calling : does anyone live in Paris and want to give it a try?! I am only an amateur and a begginner and have no desire to be a professional artist (mainly because the starving artist isn't a myth in Paris) but I am fun to hang out with!* Please? Anyone?

*hopefully!

Edit : Paris, France

[Coreyartus]

Thanks, @chrisaakins. I actually am a college professor... hehe... I teach theatrical costume design at the University of San Diego. I've been there for 20 years after working at the Old Globe and La Jolla Playhouse.

I appreciate the call out, but I have to agree with @burvantill --I think this community has given me much much more than I'm giving it. It is not an exaggeration when I say this forum and these classes have really changed my perception of the world of illustration and how I personally fit into it. The people here have been so forthcoming with their wisdom and personal experience on so many levels that I really can't compare this community to any other I can find.

In an odd way, it's almost like a college campus--we're all taking classes and sharing our homework and comparing notes and experiences and we just happen to be doing it all online instead of face-to-face in a student lounge. And there are some upperclassmen who've already taken the classes who can offer advice, and even working pros who stick around and grace us with guidance and counsel from their own practical perspectives and still get advice from their peers. People come and go, and they contribute how they can, if they can. I imagine us all in a corner of some student union somewhere, with our easels and notebooks and sketchbooks splayed out around us, engaging in juicy in-depth conversation with comfy couches and grubby charcoal-stained fingers and paint-splattered smocks, sharing our work and woes and triumphs and listening intently to all our peers surrounding us.

It's not lost on me that this forum is uniquely exceptional, and I'd very much like to help maintain the very high quality of participation. I'm being totally selfish here. I honestly can't get what I find here anywhere else.

[jsnzart]

@Coreyartus Sounds like fun!

[Jeremy Ross]

Wholeheartedly agree with @chrisaakins, and take this opportunity to also thank this amazing and supportive community. I have learned so much and grateful to call SVS my home for art.

[burvantill]

@Julia oh! If I only lived in Paris! Lol
Good luck!

[burvantill]

@NessIllustration Wow. Thanx for that.

[LauraA]

I wholeheartedly concur with this post and wish I were more helpful! But I will say that this forum has been a consistent place of support for me (and certainly for many others as well) for several years now, and that's really lovely! Thank you all! And thank you, Chris, for starting this thread!

@burvantill I also found SVS via Will's YouTube. It was a fairly random find since in those days I was just Googling illustration left and right, but once I had listened to about three of his videos, I was like, "This guy is really, really helpful and I want to hear anything he has to say!" I think I have learned just about everything I know, especially about business, via SVS.

@Julia In the current COVID world, we can't travel much, and I hate that, but I would love to take a short flight to Paris one day. It's not out of the question!

[jsnzart]

I'm loving it too.
Thanks for accepting me.

The last major community I was in was conceptart dot org.
Anybody remember that?

I don't wanna spread negative stuff(in my own thick but thinning head, too).
So, I'll leave it at that.

Thanks everyone.
Much love.

[danielerossi]

Count me in with agreeing, too. I learn so much from the above mentioned people and I’d also add that these forums are so positive and helpful and kind. I haven’t run into any negativity at all. A rarity in any forum.

[Neha Rawat]

Woot Woot! Thanks @chrisaakins for this wonderful post acknowledging and celebrating the continuous support everyone has provided here!

I think we all agree SVS and this forum has impacted our lives in a positive way. I too struggled a lot in my career as a freelance illustrator with no direction or feedback in what I was doing. I also didn't really participate in the forums till a few months after I'd subscribed to SVS and when I finally started, it was like the final piece of the puzzle. I finally felt I belonged somewhere where I could learn and give back as well.

Thank you guys for being so wonderful and I really do hope we get to meet one day!

[Julia]

@LauraA there's a lot of advertising to travel to Italy on the French TV. Maybe I'll come and visit before you take a trip north! Winter on the Italian riviera is appealling...!

In the meantime hip hip hip! for the folks on SVS forum!

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@chrisaakins @burvantill thanks guys! i'm really happy to know that you enjoy my words of encouragement. it really warms my heart. i must admit, most of the time, I really don't know what to say so all I could offer is a compliment. I'm still very new to the business. I feel I lack a lot of life experience being too young and work experience having jumped straight in illustration after college. There's still a lot I have to learn. However, I'm very happy I found SVS tho. I learned a lot from this forum. You guys and everyone in this forum has helped me mature both in art and also as an adult. This forum has done so much for me so I'll never get bored helping our fellow members out