In the early days, you see, I had made the mistake of assuming someone showing me a "portfolio" wanted an honest judgement of same. SO often not the case

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WHAT?!? You mean my portfolio wasn't awesome? I thought it was the best one you had seen in decades.

I don't recall every little thing you told me when I presented my art to you. I hope that your response was an honest one JB. That's what I was looking to get. 

What I do remember is being grateful to you for taking the time to look at my art and give me advice. When I met you it was my first convention I  attended trying to leave fandom behind.

 I was extremely nervous about showing any pro my art.  I expected to be laughed out of the building. You were one of the first people to look at my work. You were the first one to give me good advice.  I don't think you sugar coated things for me but you weren't discouraging either.  

••

Allowing that your portfolio might have been one of the good ones -- I have no way of remembering -- that would place it very much in the minority.

The sad thing about portfolio reviews is that there is a lot of self-delusion involved. People who border on having no talent at all will present their work with absolute confidence, expecting rave reviews.    But the very fact that they present such pitiful work tells me they have no idea it is pitiful, and are not there to hear the truth. For them, I have evolved comments like "Wow, your borders are really straight!" Maybe I will toss in some references to improving their anatomy and drapery, "softening the blow" by mentioning how long it took for me to even begin to grasp those elements.

Most frustrating of all, tho, ate those who present their portfolio with qualifications. "Its not really my best work." "I did this in a hurry so I would have something to show you." Then I could only close the portfolio/sketchbook and ask how they expected me to make any kind of judgement of something they themselves are not pleased with. If I point to A as a flaw, how do I know it is a legitimate flaw and not something springing out of their being "rushed"?

••

Allowing that your portfolio might have been one of the good ones -- I have no way of remembering -- that would place it very much in the minority.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well I can tell you this about my portfolio. It was not one of the good ones that was for sure. I had a long way to go. I thought I had some talent but I had no self-delusions. I didn't know if I had what it took to be a artist or not because I couldn't trust the opinion of people around me. I would get complimented about artwork that I didn't think was good. 

````````````````````````

The sad thing about portfolio reviews is that there is a lot of self-delusion involved. People who border on having no talent at all will present their work with absolute confidence, expecting rave reviews.    But the very fact that they present such pitiful work tells me they have no idea it is pitiful, and are not there to hear the truth. For them, I have evolved comments like "Wow, your borders are really straight!" Maybe I will toss in some references to improving their anatomy and drapery, "softening the blow" by mentioning how long it took for me to even begin to grasp those elements.

~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Well I don't recall any border or drapery comments. You did mention something about anatomy. I remember it so well because your response painted such a clear picture in my mind. You perfectly explained what and why I needed to work on it.

You told me to work on my body types. You said I needed to vary them. I didn't quite understand what you meant. So you told me to picture the Avengers standing around a table nude. The reader needed to be able to tell the difference between Thor and Captain America even without their clothes on.  Than I understood what you were talking about. 

I than straight forwardly asked you if I had what it took to be doing this.  I know I was putting you on that spot. I didn't want to do so but I needed an honest answer for myself. The answer you gave me was something along the lines of If I wanted to be doing it I needed to practice ,practice, practice. 

Thank you for that because even though it was a disappointed that it wasn't a resounding yes. It wasn't  no either. It did make me more committed to working on my art.