I am sitting here in a mad scramble to finish up these notes for my very first class I'll be teaching tomorrow. Yes, that's correct. I'll be teaching a class on children's book illustration for Portland State University for the second half of this semester. I'm scrambling to get these notes together, to make sure I don't sound like an idiot and what am I doing? Posting something for the blog? I know, it doesn't make sense, but I don't care. I need a little bit of a break from all this note-taking and image-gathering, just to somehow gather my thoughts somehow. It's been a long time coming, some folks have said. I agree. To a point. I've always enjoyed talking to students about what I do (I've done several appearances wherein I talk about my career, show a few tricks of the trade & how I work, and show off some of my vintage book collection), but it's an entirely different thing to actually teach. The more I think about it, the more nervous I get.
I hope I'm up for it. I guess I better be, huh? After all, it's only the potential careers of 11 some odd art & design students that're on the line here, right?
Many thanks (or blame) to Kate Bingaman Burt for roping me into doing this. She & her co-horts got a good thing going on at the Graphic Design department at PSU. Looking forward to being a part of the mix.
Man, you will be awesome. You have the knowledge and the passion, the two tools that you need most and which you can't fake. All the rest will come into place. Trust me. I was 22 when I started teaching college and I know you can do better than I did then (and I did pretty well, to be honest).
I think you've got a lucky group of students there.
Hey Brad, thanks for the words of encouragement. I really need to hear it at this point in time. I guess I'm worried that I'll bore them to tears with all the info that I plan on giving them tomorrow - but really, that's what they're there for, right? :) Thanks again, Brad.
Ward, nervous is good; it'll make you sharp. Break a leg. And be sure to tell us how it goes.