@Lee-White said in PODCAST FEEDBACK NEEDED:

One of the questions that I find more interesting than the one you are asking (which is "Should an illustrator have the skill to depict something from another culture and/or race?) is to look at what is currently available on the market and are we really being "overly PC" as you are suggesting?

For example, If I walked into a children's book section of a library, and was blindfolded and asked to randomly pull books from the shelf, how many of those books would contain an african-american character? I would bet that if truly asked to do this, you would pull down hundreds of books before you happen to select one with an african-american character. Or, maybe you wouldn't even be able to randomly select one with an african american child as the lead.

So a better question than the one you are asking is "If a professional illustrator can draw any race or culture out there, why are 99% of the books on the shelf only showing Caucasian kids? Why is there not more diversity to choose from? What should non white kids look at that shows them a version of themselves? These are much more interesting questions in my opinion.

That's a very interesting question. If 99% of the books in your area are of white people, what are the demographics of your area? Is it the books don't reflect the demographics or that the books that sell and are stocked don't reflect the demographics? Bookstores will stock what sells and makes them money. But you posed an interesting question and I will stop at the book store in my town and go through a random stack and report what I find.

@Lee-White

Lee I get what you are saying but again I say this is being made overly complex for political correctness sake.

If you or I or any of the amazingly talented people here were awarded an assignment from a publisher that involved a foreign culture, specific traditional dress, symbology, etc., of course they should perform some research and have an understanding of the topic they are illustrating. That should be expected for any work an artist is creating.

If you have procreate you can open psd files.

Also, you can go to the website PSDviewer.org to convert the files.

@NessIllustration

Respectfully, I do not go through my day worrying about "offending" someone. If you are speaking about art as whole, there are times create work will be offensive as one of the roles of art is to push the limits and create discussion and make the viewer or participant think/react/examine. In that regard, I can see a discussion but only within that limited scope.

@Lee-White

Respectfully, I don't see my answer as being simplistic but rather your question being overly complex.

If you are looking for an illustration for a story about a white lower income Ukranian boy (or any other specific demographic) many hear are saying you have to be a white lower income Ukranian boy. A middle class white American of Ukranian descent certainly couldn't know what it means, etc.

This is simply political correctness run amuck. Good art is good art and that is all that should matter. Anything else is an insult to the artist.

I would have no interest at all in a podcast about this.

Illustration is about talent and whether you can create what the client wants. It's not about your color, your gender, your nationality and making any of those an issue lessens the talent and creativity of an artist and is an insult to the artist.

I don't give a whit about who does an illustration or about "appropriation" as either the illustration works or it doesn't.

I am surprised nobody has brought up the most important benefit of registering a copyright.

The largest benefit with the copyright (registered) has to do with litigation and damages.

With a registered copyright you can sue infringers and seek statutory damages and attorney fees. Without a registered copyright you can only go for actual damage and profits which you have to prove.

Registering a copyright also allows you to record your copyright with US customs which helps infringing items to be imported into the USA.

Registering a copyright also gives you a valid and clear ownership record.

It is all a matter of habit. In 2011 I realized I had not been drawing much at all for a variety of reasons. I decided to do 100 days of drawing and that got me into a daily habit. It moved to 365 days, then 500, 1000, 1500 and I got up 1,990+ consecutive days of drawing. Then life got in the way and I have fallen out of the habit and desire and have not picked up a pencil since.

@Aleksey Full time tuition was about $1,800/semester in 81 and $2,300/semester in 83. At that time they had no dorms or housing.

@jimsz

It was expensive for it's time but now the costs associated with a college education are ridiculous. The fact that SVA s a peivaye college makes it even mr expensive.

I'll post a tuition question to a group I belong to as I don't remember the tuition costs back then.