Friday, November 13, 2009

Meeting Charles Santore

It's not often that you get to meet one of your idols and having that person turn out to be as impressive as you'd imagined is a bonus. I took a chance and called illustrator Charles Santore a few weeks back and told him I'd be in town. I asked if he would have time to meet with me and, without hesitation, he invited me to his studio. Mr. Santore was as nice a person as one could hope for. I had the opportunity to see many of his original paintings which were illustrations for his wonderful books. Snow White, The Wizard of Oz and Santa Claus to name a few. We spoke about illustration and he gave me his opinion of my own work which was encouraging and complimentary. He also gave me some advice on making my work even stronger. I value his suggestions. This was a great chance for me to see the artist at work on a new project as well. This is one day I won't soon forget.