I just got back earlier this week from the Illustration Master Class. To say it was the greatest experience of my life thus far sounds like hyperbole, but it isn’t. What Rebecca Leveille-Guay and the other instructors have created is a truly magical experience– a community thriving with support, with heart, with compassion and a deep love of stories, art, and the craft of making them. This was my first time attending IMC, but it absolutely will not be the last.
Being able to talk to and learn from people like Greg Manhess, Iain McCaig, Donato, and many others is not only an awesome art experience, but I was continually amazed with how human and earnest all of the people there were. At once, all these artists I had been admiring from afar became more real as people, but my respect for them grew as well, as they poured out their hearts to share their own stories with us.
To the new friends, to the people I already knew but now know better than before, to those who responded with compassion when I told them of what I longed to paint but feared to: Thank you, thank you. The currents of my life are shifting, in subtle but powerful ways, around this past week. I can’t wait to see you all again.