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I work in the music industry, running a small northern California music venue and working with mostly local area bands. So many of them don't understand "The Work" that has to go into "making it," and even less of the area musicians understand that they're not going to "make it." It's very much a world of, you do it because you love it.

I really enjoy reading these kind of posts about the comics and publishing industry art large, the worlds are so very similar and i get so many great lessons that i can take back to my music world and apply them to my job. Lots of great insight and real advice that applies to the music world is right here in this, and a lot of your writing. Thank you so much for putting so much of this out there. It really is something meaningful.

I learned a lot from this post, and it also cemented a lot more of the ideas and ideals i already had. ❤️

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Thank you Damian, I am so glad to read this. There's a lot of magical thinking in the arts. There is no fairy godmother. There is no magic formula. If there was, everyone could be a star. And they can't. That's not being a downer, that's just the truth. You get far more power from truth than you do from pleasant lies.

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Jan 28Liked by Colleen Doran

Word!! Been through a lot of that and learned from those hard lessons. Thanks for sharing such wisdom.

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Jan 25Liked by Colleen Doran

There are many things I would like to say to you, but I think the most important of them is "thank you very much" Colleen, thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience with us.

After years of discouragement, I decided to return to drawing and who knows maybe in the future I will be able to live through my art, but with that I created unrealistic expectations, with that came the fear, stress, and frustration of not getting the dream position in this market, like working for big publishers like DC and Marvel for example.

Thank you for opening my eyes to what really matters, your words left me feeling relieved and very motivated to start my journey, it hasn't even been a year since I discovered your work, but I have to say that your art had a profound impact on me.

I could have met you for recommendations, but I am very happy to have found you among thousands of people in the artistic world on my own, I feel as if I have found you a Treasure, and in a way it is true, because your art for me is an immeasurable Treasure.

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What a marvelous thing to write, thank you!

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Truth. All of this.

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Thank you.

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You are most welcome, my brother.

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Another amazing post with a ton of insight. Thank you.

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