Bryan Collier, amazing author and illustrator, gave a moving and inspiring keynote at this year’s SCBWI Summer Conference. At the end he received a well-deserved standing ovation. Here are some of the gems he shared with us.
You have to drop that idea of what it means to be a romantic artist and do the things of the real world. Do what you have to do to get things done.
Society will tell you your dream doesn’t make sense. But no one knows the gift you embody.
Nurture the seed inside you. Protect it.
The dream is bigger than you dream it. Elmo is known around the world, but started with an awkward kid who made puppets of the arms of his mother’s coats.
Your art will transcend all.
The beauty is in the struggle. Nothing can help you, except the struggle.
The only way to get something is if you dare.