Hey there! Loads of happy stuff have been going on lately, perhaps frustrating, but happy indeed. Like every year, last MAY my family and I planned to go to Barcelona's (Bah, SPAIN'S) Comic Convention; Salò del Comic!!! (Comic Living room in Catalan). What'd be the difference between this one and the other conventions we've been going to the last years? Well, that I was searching for a job and PROBABLY found one...
And some Moebius treats… miniexpo tribute to the great fallen artist…
OH YES MY FACE IN AWE TO SEE SUCH ART
My sister also passionate to the arts and treasures shared in that place...
Leia has legs thinner than me it's just not fair.
Well, here's the beginning of my living inspiration. We had the amazing luck of finding Argentenean animation genius Oscar Grillo. He was there and his beautiful wife, having coffee with a few friends. It was real, pure fun. For first time in my life (well, if we do not count my dad and the internet, derp) I could talk to someone about Richard Williams and she would know what I was talking about. Because my dad was a bit hesitant to talk to someone like him, I left for them to share a few words and enjoy Oscar for himself. You have to love his personality, comedic sincerity all over the place!!!
"You play Bill Murray and I'll play the rest"
What happened next? Well, me and Papo showed off our portfolios. Mr. Grillo commented some of his drawings before on his blog but it just wasn't the same tasting the moment, there, now--- he said that my drawing were BRUTAL (a very particular Arg expression). I insisted that I've been lost lately, not knowing what to do, uninspired, how could I cure that, etc. He replied "LOOK. I told you that your drawings were BRUTAL. What else do you need?? Be careful with humility…"
I then chatted again with Patricia, I told her about my doubts, not knowing what to do for a living, etc. and that I was considering giving my portfolio to the publishers who came to the Salo (Marvel, DC, Dupuis, Dark Horse) I thought it was highly difficult for someone like them to accept my portfolio for an interview. Believe me, I've been VERY lost these months… now I read this and consider it retarded, but when you have your dad that your work is not enough (I completely agreed, it's the truth, I didn't just traumatized "Ohh god you're right it's crap" I knew my limitations)
She simply said "Ah, but you don't know! You may have an interview or may be not. You have NO idea of what can happen. These are very good."
And guess what, next day I gave in my portfolio to 4 publishers. It was terrible, haha Why? Because, firstly, the pages of my work were printed in a horrible definition, some even appeared lines on it. We then happened to be at the train station when I realized I forgot at home the labels including my name/surname, webpage and telephone number. So my sister and I were there, ripping little papers and writing all that stuff down. She even said "Calm down, calm down, I'll rip them for you" Can you believe that I was so anxious I was kind of destroying my whole notebook. You have to love my sister.
Anyway, so when we arrived to the dropboxes, I was kind of feeling feverish haha Here they were, everything printed out, gazillions of pages including loads of vignettes and I had like 8 pages without any comic refs, just what you always see in my blog.
Anyhow, even so, even if I felt so-so, my sister and I had real fun, we enjoyed loads of crazy expos and as always loved everything that was sold over there. It was like 6 and we decided to come back home, because I'd know if I'd been accepted for an interview up until the next day.
Can you believe that, when we were just waiting for the train to arrive, I received a call from the distributors? "Can you come like, right now? In 20 minutes? You've been chosen for the interview with Marvel and Dupuis" "yes, yes of course!"
The Dupuis editor was amazed by what was presented, "He said, this is very good stuff. Do you have more? And finished?" I told him I usually don't finish my work "What, did your parents taught you not to finsih your work, show me some good stuff. I can't promise you a job, but I def know people who are interested in this"
The same happened with Marvel. "I can't understand why people show me loads and loads of crap and you show me some excellent quality stuff in low quantities. Can I see more? And finished?"
Anyway, so here I am drawing like crazy to see if I can finish something.
What have I learned? I could tell you like Homer said in "Homer: Badman":
"Marge, my friend, I haven't learned a thing"
Cause there were loads of destiny moments playing through, like for example, encountering Grillo or the simple fact that the distributors had the will to call me specially: "Yes, we usually don't call anyone, but I was so surprised of how interested Cebulski was in you that I decided to make a call" Call me crazy, but I even gave them a CAKE for what they did. I know these guys, and they DON'T GIVE A FUCK for you. It's a business, and there are loads of people with the Comic Book Guy personality out there who are not going to chase you so you can get better. The woman was specially kind too, she even hugged me X)
On the other hand, I could you tell you three lessons that implied my decisions: one, when you have the chance to talk to someone like Grillo don't ever hesitate, like my dad did in the beginning.
2: Like Patricia said, "You don't know what can happen." You'll NEVER KNOW.
3: Something that has been intoxicating me quite a bit, to a point were it has limited me, making me slower on my work. Don't ever, EVER ask yourself: "Why am I not famous?"
This may sound stupid at first, but I'll tell you, now specially with the internet, it's very easy to ask yourself that question. I was every single day, saying to myself "WHY everybody who draws good has the time to post every day? Due to that they're constantly receiving comments. New perspectives, new points of view"
So I'll tell you, everybody has their own pace, and I don't care if there are 3 people reading this blog or 100. You love drawing, you love what you do. And that's the important stuff. Don't force yourself to post every single day something to keep your fans entertained. That's not the point, specially if you are like me, learning and learning and absorbing everything like a sponge.
This cpuld be a forth one, but that depends on everybody's life, hah. Your parents love you and love you and love you, but there are moments that they can advise wrong stuff, like my Papo did. I mean, we're already designed to create filters in our minds when we're learning from our family, but when you live with someone for a long time it's not wrong and it's not uncommon to loose perspective.
Go out, know new people, have fun.
I'll finish this with an Edward Scissorhands themed fountains feast-"Ice Dance" was sounding while this beauty came by. Guess in which shape is the water coming out ;)
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