Chris Butcher makes young girls cry. Sorry, but he admits it himself:
So against my will this girl flashes her sketchbook at me.
“I only need to learn to draw hands,” she says, handing me the book. “They’re hard. I’m really great otherwise.”
I’ve posted about fangirl entitlement before. Mostly it comes up in relation to yaoi, and the fans therof. Straight girls and women deciding to boldy stake a claim on homosexual sex, logic or cultural appropriation be damned. But I invite all of my non-manga readers to really spend a day visiting anime and manga fandom: It’s fucking monstrous. You’ll find many of the most reprehensible children imaginable, running wild across forae that encourage their stupidity and encouraging a sort of fake-drama-based high school clique system that rules every facet of their lives. I hate to say this, but the Newsarama commenters, as attrocious as they are, don’t hold a candle to some of the bullshit I’ve seen.
To say that this girl had an air of entitlement about her work would be something of an understatement…
“My parents really want me to go to Sheridan. I always thought I’d study history, but I really want to go!”
Sheridan College is a local school that has one of the top five computer animation programs in the world. They also have a highly-regarded illustration program. It’s a pretty top-notch school.
“I’m really sorry,” I said. “But I don’t think you’re ready for Sheridan right now. If you work really, really hard for the next 7 months, you could get in to their Art Fundimentals course, on the road to illustration, but I don’t think if you applied now, you would get in.”
Actually, I knew she wouldn’t get in. I was being nice. Her face dropped.
Go and read the whole piece. It’s good stuff.
March 29th, 2007 at 10:36 am
I am the adviser for a highschool Anime Club. Every word Butcher says is gospel truth.
March 29th, 2007 at 10:49 am
Wow, that was a really good piece. And it’s not like he crushed her into little bits; I’ve seen people be a LOT meaner and corrosive than Butcher and then not even give the person the right tools to get better or even words of encouragement.
March 29th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
“I hate to say this, but the Newsarama commenters, as attrocious as they are, don’t hold a candle to some of the bullshit I’ve seen.”
Oh god. Someone’s going to take that as a challenge.
March 29th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Soooo… a guy who works in a comic store is qualified to decide if someone gets into an art school? Not disparaging comic book retailers, I’m sure they know their business, but just because they read the things doesn’t make them artist or art school teachers.
Unless of course, Butcher is, in fact an artist or teacher…
March 29th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
” In addition to the manager of world-famous comic book store The Beguiling, he is a freelance writer and comics production artist and the co-founder of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival.”
//\Oo/\\
March 29th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Somebody needs to post this piece in response to Warren Ellis’ essays, every single time he tries to argue that the fans of American superhero comic books are somehow responsible for scaring away potential new readers, because if fans alone were enough to scare a significant number of new cosumers away from any genre or medium, anime and manga never would have gained any sort of audience, not even in the country that they originally came from.
I believe The Onion did a piece along those lines, with the title, “Sports Fan Mocks Sci-Fi Fan For His Fandom.”
March 29th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Aw, that poor girl. Still, it sounds like the story had a happy ending, since he gave her good advice and she still had the willpower to keep trying for success.
One thing that about that post struck me as odd, though. He said that he’s “more-or-less given up” on his artistic dreams, but he still works in the comic book industry and clearly loves art – so maybe he should take some of that advice himself and give his dreams another shot. He’s only twenty nine, after all. Plenty of people have completely changed careers when they were much older.
March 30th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
“In addition to the manager of world-famous comic book store The Beguiling, he is a freelance writer and comics production artist and the co-founder of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival.”
From the definition I found on the web, a Production Artist is “The person who produces camera ready or plate ready artwork”. Not quite the same as an actual illustrator or painter. However, according to Kevin’s post, Butcher mentions in his blog that he’s an aspiring artist as well, so perhaps he feels that gives him the authority to comment on another’s abilities.
In any case, I hope that this woman continues to pursue her dreams and also solicits helpful advice from other qualified individuals on how to get where she wants to be both academically and artistically.
March 30th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
I don’t know if he wants to be an illustrator or not, it’s just that he says he’s mostly given up pursuing his dream. That’s what really struck me about the post: the contrast between an inexperienced young hopeful still willing to fight through disappointment to make her dreams come true, and an older, more experienced man who’s gotten a bit depressed and made a compromise or two.
I mean, we’ve all been in the same place that Chris Butcher seems to be coming from, haven’t we? I sure have.
March 30th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
So nice of my stalker to show up when my name is mentioned. Barry, just to let you sleep easier at night I used to teach art and comics classes to middle school and highschool kids for 3 years.
Kevin- I just realised I don’t have the discipline to be a professional illustrator. I still love art, and even enjoy drawing, but to try to earn a living from it? It requries real dedication and persistance that I didn’t seem to have at the time. Who knows, I could completely change my mind next month, but for now I’m happy helping other people’s works through the process of getting published. I’m definitely a little wistful about the whole thing, but not depressed.
March 30th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
Glad to hear it, man.
Sorry if I read a little into your post that wasn’t there.
March 31st, 2007 at 12:13 am
Enh, no big.
- Christopher