I love this. I'm a hobby artist myself (though I've never wanted to make a career out of it). It's great to know that people can still succeed in a career that is common prefixed with "starving." I also love to see the artistic progression of a youth to a professional. It's a fascinating visual journey.
A great takeaway is how he offered free prints during his Illuxcon convention. I rarely see artists (even amateurs) doing this at conventions. I imagine this accelerated his success as his free prints were probably hanging on the wall in various art directors' offices.
Bingo. I could have made a few dollars off of selling prints or spent a few hundreds dollars and had everyone there talking about them and taking them home. That was worth a lot more to me.
A great takeaway is how he offered free prints during his Illuxcon convention. I rarely see artists (even amateurs) doing this at conventions. I imagine this accelerated his success as his free prints were probably hanging on the wall in various art directors' offices.