I'm wondering whether I should continue taking anyone through these lessons.I'll tell you why.
I've given a lot of free and good advice to young artists in my life, yet not many of them choose to take advantage of me.
The few that did, got really good -FAST.
I know a lot of people buy the Preston Blair book, flip through the pages and then lay it to rest and never bother to learn the valuable lessons inside.
There is only one reason I would bother to offer all this advice-in the hopes that some very talented young artists will actually do what I tell them, learn their fundamentals and then someday work for me and save me the trouble of having to train them from scratch.
I've hired many artists who have graduated from animation schools who don't know a damn thing about how to make a good strong solid or appealing drawing - after they have paid a fortune to the schools. I consider these schools to be criminal institutions. They are stealing from you, and they are stealing from me and they are stealing from culture.
I have spent so much money retraining cartoonists-just to teach them the very basics of good drawing. Nick and Katie and Fred and other Spumco alumni-back me up on this!
All these basics are laid out for you in The Preston Blair Book for 8 measly dollars. 8 fuckin' bucks for Christ's sake!
I'd even be willing to help guide you through the lessons, if I thought some serious young cartoonists would actually do the work.
So you're gonna have to convince me that enough of you want to be able to draw this well:
These lessons are aimed mostly at folks between 10 and 24 years of age. Why? After 24 if you haven't already become really good, you will stagnate and your powers of learning and your rebellious youthful attitude will have died. I know this from 20 years of experience working with young artists. If you don't develop your brain, skills and analytic eye while you are young you will be creatively crippled for life. Or at least it will be much harder the older and more set in your ways you become.
If you want me to continue these lessons, convince my ass.
Then you will have to do the work involved and draw all the lessons I give you. And read what the lessons say. Do the drawings in the steps that Preston and I tell you. If a lot of young cartoonists do this, in a few years there could be a rebirth of great cartoons. I would sure as Hell love that. So would the audience.
Your best friend,
John