Hi, everyone! And welcome to the inaugural post of the Substack Writers’ Residency. I’m honored to be the first writer in residence, and I’m frankly a little surprised to be in the company of the people who will be taking up the mantle in the following months. I want to quickly say “thanks” to everyone at Substack for inviting me in the first place, and for patiently walking me through this process. Thanks also to the amazing team at
Hey Adrian (apologies if that's too informal, never done something like this before),
I'm sure you've heard this a hundred times but I'm someone who just became a young adult and hopes to have a future career in making independent comic books. I understand that a large portion of success comes from high work effort and pure luck and I'm fine with that, the question I have at the moment is more on the personal level:
I'm currently an art school student and the school I'm going to has a club dedicated to cartoonists. Tonight they are hosting a meeting where you're supposed to show up and present your work to the club in order to get feedback. Here's the catch though: we are told that we are not allowed to say anything negative about anyone's work. This has made me not want to show up because to me a rule like that eliminates the purpose of criticism to begin with. Now I couldn't even show up to this meeting if I wanted to so I'm more using this as a way to segue into the issue that I have: I struggle to get feedback on my work that I actually find to have meaning.
Given the fact that I want to be an indie cartoonist to begin with means I obviously am fine with not being the most popular guy in the world. What matters to me is really connecting to others through my art, whether it be 1,000 people or 12 people. However, I really struggle with finding people who seem to actually take the time to fully take in my work and give me their honest thoughts. Thankfully I have a handful of good friends who take the time to talk to me in a real way, but the vast majority of feedback I get is either too brief to mean anything or completely disingenuous (at least from my perspective). Because of this I can't help but feel really alone. I have no idea if what I make is any good because I don't trust myself enough and I have nobody to give me an external opinion that I value. It's pretty heartwrenching.
I suppose my question after all of this rambling is how do you get around a problem like this? I understand that I cannot rely on others to verify that my work is good for that's completely unfair. But at the same time, I'm so stressed out and anxious that I feel like if I don't have some kind of external support that I'm doomed to fail and give up. It's not a good feeling and I'm sure I'm not the only artist who has felt like this. I can only assume that this is a problem more had by younger artists so I reckon you may be able to give some insight with a very impressive career already on your belt. Would really appreciate any words you could give about this ordeal.
Anyways that's about it. Apologies for the massive wall of text, I really don't know what we were supposed to write haha. I'll just end by saying that both you and your art have quickly become a huge inspiration for me and I cannot wait to see what you create in the future.
You put words on things that I leave without words. I hope that over the course of this month, I'll be better able to add the words too. I look forward to learning and being inspired by your fantastic work!
Your work has changed a great deal over the years (not just from when you started but much later too). Is this largely just the byproduct of doing more and more work or do you consciously take steps to improve/grow through the work or in between work? If so, how?
To me, it seems like there was huge development in the look of your work in around 2010 or thereabouts. I’m most curious about that. If you agree that there was a change then, what would you say was the reason for it?
Having followed your work for nearly thirty years (Sorry, that means we're both old now), I am excited to see you dig in with a modern version of your letters pages. Thanks for doing this!
While I was moving recently, I opened a box to find, in plastic sleeves, the first few Optic Nerve issues as well as Ink Geek, and panels I must have cut out of Tower Records' Pulse! magazine when I was in art school. Thank you for being part of my life for such a long time. It's been a pleasure to see you soar. (And I think you published one of my letters in an early zine!)
Yesterday I received your "New York Drawings" book and since then I have been delighting in your illustrations whenever I have a moment. And there is a question that I have been thinking about these two days related to one of the aspects that I like the most about your work: color. What is your way of coloring illustrations and comics? (those that are in color, of course) Do you use digital color, gouache ...? If you use digital color ... when did you start doing it? Thank you so much for your great art, which I guess goes without saying, I'm a huge fan
Hi Adrian, thank you for the opportunity to post questions. What surprised you the most about the responses you received from readers about 'Shortcomings'?
Hi Adrian, I love your writing style and thanks for taking up the role - I look forward to reading more. I've just started my own Sunday "A Bit Gamey' blog where I chronicle my attempt to build fun and useful mobile apps. It's a journey. Phil... https://abitgamey.substack.com
Hey Adrian (apologies if that's too informal, never done something like this before),
I'm sure you've heard this a hundred times but I'm someone who just became a young adult and hopes to have a future career in making independent comic books. I understand that a large portion of success comes from high work effort and pure luck and I'm fine with that, the question I have at the moment is more on the personal level:
I'm currently an art school student and the school I'm going to has a club dedicated to cartoonists. Tonight they are hosting a meeting where you're supposed to show up and present your work to the club in order to get feedback. Here's the catch though: we are told that we are not allowed to say anything negative about anyone's work. This has made me not want to show up because to me a rule like that eliminates the purpose of criticism to begin with. Now I couldn't even show up to this meeting if I wanted to so I'm more using this as a way to segue into the issue that I have: I struggle to get feedback on my work that I actually find to have meaning.
Given the fact that I want to be an indie cartoonist to begin with means I obviously am fine with not being the most popular guy in the world. What matters to me is really connecting to others through my art, whether it be 1,000 people or 12 people. However, I really struggle with finding people who seem to actually take the time to fully take in my work and give me their honest thoughts. Thankfully I have a handful of good friends who take the time to talk to me in a real way, but the vast majority of feedback I get is either too brief to mean anything or completely disingenuous (at least from my perspective). Because of this I can't help but feel really alone. I have no idea if what I make is any good because I don't trust myself enough and I have nobody to give me an external opinion that I value. It's pretty heartwrenching.
I suppose my question after all of this rambling is how do you get around a problem like this? I understand that I cannot rely on others to verify that my work is good for that's completely unfair. But at the same time, I'm so stressed out and anxious that I feel like if I don't have some kind of external support that I'm doomed to fail and give up. It's not a good feeling and I'm sure I'm not the only artist who has felt like this. I can only assume that this is a problem more had by younger artists so I reckon you may be able to give some insight with a very impressive career already on your belt. Would really appreciate any words you could give about this ordeal.
Anyways that's about it. Apologies for the massive wall of text, I really don't know what we were supposed to write haha. I'll just end by saying that both you and your art have quickly become a huge inspiration for me and I cannot wait to see what you create in the future.
Thanks,
-Teo
You put words on things that I leave without words. I hope that over the course of this month, I'll be better able to add the words too. I look forward to learning and being inspired by your fantastic work!
Your work has changed a great deal over the years (not just from when you started but much later too). Is this largely just the byproduct of doing more and more work or do you consciously take steps to improve/grow through the work or in between work? If so, how?
To me, it seems like there was huge development in the look of your work in around 2010 or thereabouts. I’m most curious about that. If you agree that there was a change then, what would you say was the reason for it?
Having followed your work for nearly thirty years (Sorry, that means we're both old now), I am excited to see you dig in with a modern version of your letters pages. Thanks for doing this!
Thank you for taking this on! I look forward to learning new things.
Congratulations! I look forward to your insights!
Congrats Adrian T.
Big fan of Optic Nerve. Congrats on the residency.
While I was moving recently, I opened a box to find, in plastic sleeves, the first few Optic Nerve issues as well as Ink Geek, and panels I must have cut out of Tower Records' Pulse! magazine when I was in art school. Thank you for being part of my life for such a long time. It's been a pleasure to see you soar. (And I think you published one of my letters in an early zine!)
it is awesome that you are doing this. looking forward to reading…
Hi, Adrian
Yesterday I received your "New York Drawings" book and since then I have been delighting in your illustrations whenever I have a moment. And there is a question that I have been thinking about these two days related to one of the aspects that I like the most about your work: color. What is your way of coloring illustrations and comics? (those that are in color, of course) Do you use digital color, gouache ...? If you use digital color ... when did you start doing it? Thank you so much for your great art, which I guess goes without saying, I'm a huge fan
Welcome
Hi Adrian, thank you for the opportunity to post questions. What surprised you the most about the responses you received from readers about 'Shortcomings'?
Hi Adrian, I love your writing style and thanks for taking up the role - I look forward to reading more. I've just started my own Sunday "A Bit Gamey' blog where I chronicle my attempt to build fun and useful mobile apps. It's a journey. Phil... https://abitgamey.substack.com
Hey, Adrian. Very early fan of yours. I'm looking forward to reading and watching more.
❤️ ❤️ Ok