Being sick really sucks, and it seems to happen to me a lot. Most of the people at my studio seem to have some form of a cold or another so it is probably inevitable that I got it too, but STILL.

The good news of the day is I found a little blog post about success as an artist and what sort of things you should do to reach for it. The first thing on the list is something I said in an earlier journal post a while ago (which is 'draw every day', it's pretty much the mantra of a professional artist cuz you don't make money if you don't draw 7 days a week).

Blog Post: http://philintheblanks.com/blog/?p=546

There are a few other points I think people should really think about, like not limiting your influences and being nice to people. If you're an anthro artist, don't limit the work that inspires you to just anthro art... there is a whole body of work in the world you are blinding yourself to that could help. Even if the content is different, there are things ALL artwork has in common. Colour, composition, tone, atmosphere, whatever... Try to keep an eye open for different things. I watch a lot of nude photographers on DA, for example, not because I ever aspire to be a photographer but because they often pay a lot more attention to lighting, pose, composition, etc. than I might (and they can help with anatomy too).

Second one seems obvious, but not everyone really follows it. Don't be a jerk to the 'little people.' Those 'little people' are the reason for your success, and will continue to be. The best means of promotion is word of mouth... always. If you're mean to the people who spread the word about your art, you are essentially as ridiculous as the people who are needlessly rude to waiters. These people are handling your FOOD. If you're not nice to them, they might decide not to hold in that sneeze, or much much worse (think Fight Club). Don't bite the hand that feeds, essentially. It's hard on the internet because miscommunication happens a lot without body language and other social conventions to help you understand one another, but try to be nice.

Also, don't trash talk other artist's work as a means of promoting your own. You murder very important networking skills by trash-talking other people in the same industry as you. I only just started an internship in animation - it's a SMALL industry. Everyone knows everyone's name. It's a little terrifying that the first production I've ever been assigned to was created by a teacher who taught me in college not one year ago. Don't shoot yourself in the foot by stamping on another person's name - you never know if you're talking to a friend of theirs or not and you just come off as really negatron.

Just thought it was an interesting read, give it a look it has a lot of other things to say and I don't want to just parrot all of it here hehe. I've probably broken the rules myself a few times but it's nice to have this reminder.