Just as for every other artist, being recognized as an artist to me is the ultimate compliment. Recognition comes in many forms. It can be found in comments on social media or in likes below a post. But the most rewarding forms of recognition are the real interactions you have with people that come in contact with your art and how they show that they remember these moments as much as you will.
Like the moment I had with Sully Erna, lead singer of Godsmack, when I gifted him a drawing I made of him and his daughter, back in 2017. He appeared to be fairly speechless and was genuinely happy with the gift. The tour manager told me that after he received this gift, he took out his phone and called his daughter to tell her about the drawing and during the solo show, singing “My Light” he teared up, probably because he missed his kid.
Maybe my drawing hit a soft spot and I felt honored to have been able to witness that vulnerable moment he had on stage.
Later that night, after the show and back in my hotel, I checked social media to see if there were any good photo’s published, or if Sully or the band had made any comments about the great show in Amsterdam. Just to find out that Sully wrote a social media post, about 10 minutes after the show, with my drawing and the original photo I used as reference photo for the drawing. The ‘maybe soft spot’ suddenly appeared to be a real possibility.
Later that year, on fan Friday, the Godsmack social media page shared some additional pictures that were taken that day in Amsterdam.
Or what to think about the fact that I presented the entire band with action drawings when they toured Europe in 2019.
After which the guys signed my arm, a moment that ultimately ended up in the official “Under your scars” video of the band.
Moments like these, when faces light up and people are genuinely touched by the artwork I created for them, are the moments of true recognition. And sometimes, moments like these create new special moments. But I’ll tell about those in another blog.