I'm going to write this down because it means something, but I don't know exactly what yet.
Besides my illustration work, I teach at an art college. It's a very, very good job. Which is par the course for me lately. My life is basically a string of very good jobs. This is lost on me some times, mainly because that's what we do as people. Take things for granted.
Anyway, my students asked me to bring some of my work in. We're half way through the semester, and I just now got to it. I admit, it makes me uncomfortable to talk about my own work in class, despite the fact that I got the job because of my work. So, I brought some art work and two books to class today. A student picks up one of my comics and says "Man, I saw this un the store! I picked this up and looked at it! I actually picked this up!"
It was so mundane, at least on the surface, that I didn't think about it much. I taught the class, we had a great time, then I left and thought about all the work I have waiting for me at home. I thought about deadlines, not getting to side projects I really want to get to, being tired, and so on. Boo hoo, bummer bummer, I gotta go draw pictures.
As I sat working tonight it hit me what this student was really saying. He was saying, I think, that he held something real that I had made (rather, I helped make). This thing he was looking at was real, and he'd love for that to be real for him some day. Then I remembered that there was a time where I felt that very same way. I recall holding a comic and thinking there were real life people behind those pages. This was a job one could actually have!
And it hit me just how sweet a trick I landed. Bam, right there and everyone sees it.
Fuck me, man. What a world.
I ate garbage once. Did I ever tell you guys that? Well, I did. I won't bother you with the details, cause it doesn't matter, but my mother and I were bad off when I was growing up. So, on a few occasions I ate garbage, or stole food, and she did the same. Now I draw things and people give me money for it. It's real. It's really happening, right here, every day.
People walking into comic shops every where and pick something up I drew.
Fucking. Wow.
Thank you.
Your Pal,
Mike
PS - Forgive me if this all sounds sentimental. I am a little tired, and maybe tomorrow I'll think differently about all of this. Maybe I'll be tempted to delete this and replace it with a fart joke, my usual M.O.
Or maybe not.