Wednesday, April 19, 2006

When Pigs Fly

As a student several years ago, I applied to BYU's illustration program. They turned me down. I met with the head of the department to ask what I could do better. He told me I would never be an artist and I should try a different major.

Now I'm working for Disney and teaching animation and illustration classes at the same university that told me I'd never be an artist. Never? Luckily for me, "never" only takes a few years. I didn't have to wait for pigs to fly... I made them do it myself. Ah, the magic of drawing! That's why there's a flying pig on my blog's title. They've become the mascot of my career.
Little pig, not too big,
You have wings. I don't.
Should a plane fly overhead,
You may die. I won't.
I should also point out that the illustration program was right... I was terrible.

11 comments:

Tillerman said...

Sometimes that's all it takes - someone telling you that something is impossible for you. It's happened to me a couple of times and both times I proved them wrong.

Audrey said...

Shane, Your pigs rock. The poem too. That's good to hear you didn't let them get you down. BTW this is my new blog addy. Take care ya.

johnski said...

My BFA submission portfolio got rejected 3 times in a row, and ten years later my work still sucks. However, people still pay me well to do it, and I don't have time do take every job. I heard from one of the faculty that you will "never" find a great businessman who is a great artist. I guess that all depends on your perspective, but I think "never" was kind of strong in that case too. I still have a lot of years of drive still in me, and I might just find a way to do both. I plan to focus on business first and art second. But, a lot of people seem to be able to do it just as well in the opposite order. In my opinion, both types of success just take time, passion, and effort - and possibly some genetic engineering.

Joe Fowler said...

I was told by the U of U film school that I would never amount to- oh I can't do it... they loved me!

Adrian Ropp said...

Most importantly, you didn't let any negative feedback deter you from your dream. That's how you measure your success!

Also, I think your flying pigs are cool.

Seth Hippen said...

This is a classic post -a keeper! In fact, you could sell your story. Or better yet, you could make a movie about yourself. Just change your name to Carl or something like that. Seriously though, you've got the stuff that seperates the goat from the pigs. I'm glad you've stuck it out if for no other reason than to have such a cool story to tell.

Blogerts said...

Shane, you'll never buy me a sweet new Mercedes... Ever. It's impossible.

(hee hee)

Jeff Young-Sterling said...

Honestly, who can really say that flying pigs wouldnt be awsome.

I love this drawing. Its so lively.

Nice!

Jeff Young-Sterling

Unknown said...

AWESOME PIG!!

Ken Chandler said...

I stand all amazed! Nice one Shane! You've inspired me, again. You KNOW that's unacceptable!

Jed Henry said...

One time this girl told me she'd never date me, and so I totally pulled a shane and tried to make a pig fly on that one too. but it didn't work, and it just hurt a lot to be rejected over and over until my self esteem was a messy pulp.