Sharing knowledge & support

The artwork pictured to the left, is one of my favorite pieces from Joan Beiriger. It is copyrighted Joan Beiriger obviously.

I found Joan's website online when I was first investigating the license art business. She has a nice site consisting of her own gallery, links to her agent's gallery and a blog. Her blog is filled with helpful suggestions about the various subjects artists encounter while creating and selling in the license art business. Usually she'll take the time to upload images for demonstrations, and lists of helpful links.

The thing about Joan is, she devotes time to sharing her knowledge freely to help folks learn the business. She told me she was helped at the beginning of her career, and feels she should 'pay it forward' (not her exact words). She hopes everyone would do the same. I agree. Since I was a child, I've always tried to freely help others have an easier time of things than I did (this started with math coaching in grammar school). Anyway, back to the subject of Joan. I reached out to Joan and she responded with helpful suggestions about particular things in my license portfolio. Her suggestions were great, and I hope I'll be able to remember & follow them as I continue to create art for products.

I do feel like I am imposing to ask for assistance from perfect strangers, so I don't usually ask. I thought I'd give Joan a try since she seemed to like to share her knowledge already. What a kind person to take such time with me. I don't know if we'll ever meet since she is on the west coast and I on the east (and she uses an agent so may not attend trade shows) but you never know.

Perhaps the English language could use more terms for the feelings of 'Thank You'. The best I can come up with is 'Thanks Awfully!'