19 Comments
Jul 13Liked by Jacob Souva

The 3 Point Perspective podcast has really helped me too in terms of storytelling being super important. I love Will's advice of describing your illustration to yourself by preceding the description with "Hey guys! Check this out!" — so if the illustration reads as "Hey guys! Check this out! It's two kids in a room jumping on a bed!" then you know it probably needs more story.

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😂- that’s it 💯

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This is so extremely helpful!! Thank you! I am right in the stage of creating my first printed portfolio for a conference I’m attending in September. I need to get back into 3 Point Perspectives, there’s so much good stuff shared there too.

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I’m so glad it helped! Rooting you on!

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This is a fantastic post, Jacob. I love seeing how illustrators have pulled their own work together and share tips for others, and will look forward to adding this to links I share when people ask. Very cool, also, to hear that my portfolio post years back was helpful to you! The torch is getting passed well by you here.

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Thanks, Eliza! It was really helpful. Sometimes, I think just reading through someone’s experiences in publishing takes some of the mystery away and the pressures down a notch.

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Totally agree, Jacob! Seeing the process takes away that veil of scary mystery so that the path forward is more clear. :)

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Yes - agree!

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Thank you for the helpful post :)

What’s the ABLA?

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author

When I reread my post today, I realize I used an abbreviation without explanation! I hate that. Sorry! ABLA is my literary agency (Andrea Brown Literary Agency).

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Thank you ! No problem 😁

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Jul 15Liked by Jacob Souva

Inspiring and very helpful. Thanks!

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author

Thank you

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Jul 15Liked by Jacob Souva

Thanks so much for this post Jacob, it’s really useful. I also dislike the term ‘level up’ 😂 I cringe every time I hear it and am glad it’s not just me!

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😂 my brain couldn’t come up with something better in the moment

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Jul 16Liked by Jacob Souva

The funny thing is I didn’t even notice it in your post, I thought you were just making a separate comment. Clearly it must only bother me when I hear it verbally!

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Jul 14Liked by Jacob Souva

Thank you for yet another insightful post, Jacob! So many good points here, but this one is gold!! 👉 “They have devised a brutal and effective test to check if you’re guilty of stepping on this rake. Just write out the “Alt” text, ie. describe what’s happening in the picture with words. If you fall asleep, you’ve made a pretty picture that is devoid of story and is hopelessly boring, even if it’s technically sound.” 💯🔥

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This was absolutely brilliant! Many years ago I was invited to a meeting with a big brand in Paris to discuss partnering for my art. The booker hadn’t communicated that I should bring any samples and so, I didn’t! That was a mistake - though Instagram did save me in that moment as I was able to hand over my grid for them to easily scroll through and the conversation could continue (i ended up declining in the end haha)

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I’ve been in a similar situation - in a snap, Instagram can work. And hiring folks def look at that in addition to our portfolios.

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