Read an Excerpt

FOREWORD

One of the saddest lessons you will learn when you go to art school is that your art is not very good. One day in sophomore year you will look down at your Dali-inspired colored pencil drawing of anthropomorphic lizards, and you won’t be able to ignore it any longer. You’ll look up at your professor and see it in her eyes: she thinks you’re a bad artist. She thinks you’re a bad artist, and she doesn’t think you’re ever going to get better. 
“Very creative,” she’ll say. 
“Thanks,” you’ll say.
John Lowe thinks you can get better. In fact, he’s sure you can get better. He’s sure you can get good.

This is what makes John Lowe a great teacher and an unusual one. If you are his student, he is interested in you and he is interested in your art. He finds out what your goals are, and he doesn’t let you forget them. He finds out what your comfort zone is, and he jabs and teases you out of it. He finds out what tools you’re used to using, and he doesn’t let you use them anymore. He finds out how much homework you’re used to doing, and he assigns twice as much. He takes artwork you were up all night working on and tells you to change everything. He tells you to change everything, and you squawk in disbelief, and John laughs and say, “Nothing’s precious.”

And it’s true: nothing you put on paper is precious. You have something else that’s precious, and it’s something John will find for you when you can’t find it yourself anymore. It’s why you started drawing in the first place. It’s in your hand, your eyes, your heart. Don’t lose it. Don’t let it get away.

Eleanor Davis
SCAD Alumna

Eleanor Davis a cartoonist and illustrator. She created the graphic novels The Secret Science Alliance and The Copycat Crook. Her work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators and Print. She has won the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor and the Russ Manning Award. Originally from Arizona, Davis now lives in Georgia.