Advice I'd Give My 24-Year-Old Self

 

Jeanette and me, age 24

The part of my recent YouTube video that attracted the most interest was my answer to Andrew’s question about what advice I'd give myself when I was 24.

If I could give my 24-year-old self advice, I’d say: Maintain your independence of vision and work for yourself.

But honestly, I didn’t need that advice back then—I was already on a solid path. I had worked as a background painter for Ralph Bakshi’s renegade animation studio, published my first book, and was about to turn down a job offer from Disney.

I was getting married, moving east, and starting a freelance illustration career. I was still essentially broke, but I was learning a lot, and I would have said to my older self, "Yeah, yeah, I'm already doing what you're saying."

Age 20, with Paul Chadwick and Tom Kinkade, posing for reference

Age 36, working on Dinotopia: The World Beneath

What would have caught my attention at 24 was a glimpse into how dramatically the world would change for artists over the next 40 years because of digital technology. Read the rest at Substack.