First Meeting

Well, our first meeting was last night, and I’m glad to report that it was a success.

While I expected there to be many hobbyist/student/casual illustrators in attendance, the group was basically professional all of the way. (Which is great!) I was able to skip over an entire page of my notes about why business is important, art VS commercial art, and all of that sort of thing. This group already knew all of that, and were ready to move on to other passionate topics.
I guess that I shouldn’t have been surprised, as the illustrators that are the most passionate were most likely to be the most professional (and show up). (No digs intended for our illustrator friends that were unable to attend last night.) I thought we might have to start with the basics, but that didn’t need to happen.

Some members have been making a living as an illustrator for a few years, and others with 10, 12, and 25+ years of experience! Fabulous. I think that there is much to learn from everyone.

The tone was casual and conversational, and definitely passionate. Basically, the exact sort of thing that I was hoping for. Everyone was really nice too… no attitudes, no cocky newcomers (besides me), and no sharks.

The group did have to deal with me reading off of my notes about what I wanted from the group, which hopefully won’t have to happen much more at future meetups. We’re off and running now!

Primarily, we talked about all kinds of things that we’d like from the group: I’ve made some notes on the TINY ARMY Google group, and you’re invited to post some of your own notes as well.

I wish that I’d sent an attendance sheet around, as I’m so very terrible with names in high pressure (and low pressure) social settings. Next time, we’ll do that.

Overall, I’m pleased as punch, and so glad that Sean was able to share his devotion to the arm wrestling lifestyle. (I only pick on Sean, because he’s such a fun guy.)

A HUGE THANKS to everyone for coming and participating so well, and thanks to the Art Institute for kindly hosting us!

I gotta run!

- Daniel