the Octopus- Print Club Prep
I’d like to talk about rejection for a minute. After years of pushing and prodding the corners of learning about business in art, and how illustration can even become a career, I finally graduated from school this year with a degree. And still had yet to see a profitable business form.
Now you may be thinking, “That is wonderful! This is the start of something new! Great opportunities await! It takes a couple years! You will get there!” and while this may be true, the fact of the matter is I am learning that an art career can be highly versatile. Meaning, without having specific goals in mind or places you want to reach, you will not be handed these things on a platter. On one hand this is extremely freeing and open-ended. On the other hand, it is extremely open-ended, and choices must be made, and you need a certain level of drive (that I’m learning I may not have. Or do I…)
I spent a lot of time after graduating emailing publishers and illustration agencies, and fully expected no responses. But to my surprise, a handful of them emailed back with rejections! This was surprising to me for a few reasons. One, something is better than nothing! I felt relieved to know that they had seen my email and portfolio and that they had taken the time to tell me I wasn’t a good fit for them at this time. Two, I felt like a character at the beginning of another long journey, and felt the weight of the million emails I will have to send before being accepted.
The realization that this work will be non-stop and hard is intimidating to me. But here I am, three months in to this fun new project, and enjoying the heck out of it. Doing something is better than doing nothing, and completing something is better than it being perfect.
So anyway, all that to introduce this month’s print. Somehow, once again, I have learned that International Cephalopod Awareness Days were in October. The octopus was featured on October 8. Unintentionally, a connection was made between these remarkably bright creatures (wink wink) and the month of OCTober. There’s a bit of fun for you.
It’s always rewarding to see the octopus in action at the aquarium. The first time I was there, he was almost impossible to see. Luckily, I had the chance to visit the same aquarium a week later. Behold! He was highly active and gave quite a show. There were many less people this time, so I hung around and collected many pictures of this wonderful creature in action. One of his muddled gray eyes showed me that he has been through some things, and I heard he is getting old. Hopefully he has enjoyed his time in this aquarium, and enjoyed showing off for people like me when the halls were more empty.
Picking an octopus, technically speaking, turned out to be extremely hard as far as carving goes. There are so many suckers, and making round shapes has turned out to be a challenge. But I also felt a lot freer in this design, with heavy influence from the reference photo. It really was a wonderful day at the aquarium. I hope you get the chance to encounter one of these magnificent animals when the circumstances are right.
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