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

[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