what the fuck do you do when...

[marco nelor]

i want to quit. today i was downtown, and ii left the back door of my car open. someone opened my car door, and stole my work breifcase. the important thing is.........inside the briefcase wqas my artbook.


someone stole my artbook. Inside that artbook i had pieces that i was SURE to win me a spot into massive black school. i had some work that was SO MUCH on a higher level than what i had scanned in here, that i was SURE it would land me a spot of fame. you cant imagine tha caliber of work in there. and someone stole it.

i feel like someone stole my entire life.

i dont want to even draw anymore.

i swear to god, ive never felt so cold and alone.
i dont even care that they stole a 150 dollar pair of headphones used at the call center where i work. or that they stole 4 weeks worth of school work(training for the job i do)....i dont even care. what i care about is that someone stole my freakin book, with all my dreams, and hopes, and future works in it.

seriously . i want to cry. might be a while before i post again.

what do you do when this happens? how the fuck do you go on?

[Jason Manley]

you quit your cryin and remember to take photos of your important work...its called backup...do the same shit with your computer. back it up. those that do not...lose it.

back to work man....nose down....it happens to everyone. Last time something like that happened to me the guy was actually still in my car when I got out there...laying on top of my wet paintings in the middle of the night. oh well...and such it goes...freaked me out though.

[Interceptor]

I actually had my sketchbook stolen about a month before the Montreal workshop. I took it as a chance to start fresh, really. it does suck, it's like a personal album of your journey as an art student. But in the end there's really nothing you can do.

And the thing is, if you drew it once, you can draw it again. You've got skill, Marco, you know this. Go back at it balls out, man.

-Loren

[Spacemanchuck]

Yup, Jason's totally right, I too learned my lesson the hard way. Last quarter I left my sketchbook in the copy machine at school, it wasn't even and hour later when I realized I had left it there. I went back to find it gone and no where in sight, I thought for sure it would turn up somewhere, that a student found it and knowing how bad it would be to lose sketch book would surly turn it in. Nope, some ass hat at my school is probably showing it around like it's his work, and I too had some shit in there that was not easy to replace and there was work in there for a job as well. So like interceptor said, I went out and got my self a brand new shiny bad ass sketch book and started busting out with all my furry, there's something about drawing with vengance, feels good. I remebered some of my favorite pieces that I had done in the previous book and improved on them, and guess what, my work in this book is ten times better than the last, and the same will happen in my next.

So yeah, be pissed, drink your self stupid and punch your self afew times for not protecting your imprtant work, and never do it again. Or you could give up.

[aesir]

Just remember that it wasnt wasted effort. You undoubtedly improved through the work.

[j a k e]

Its definately a tough thing dude. I feel your pain. But if there's nothing you can do to get it back, I think it's best just to get back to work.
You know you've the skills man. Keep your chin up.

[cotron]

sorry to hear, although... if you could make good work once, you can make it again... and no doubt better than before.

and yeah, keeping all your eggs in one basket is a good way of losing all dem tasty eggs.

[Magic Man]

Sorry to hear that, but the best thing to do is to dive straight back in, you still have the skill when you made those pictures and thats the most important thing.

Think about Frank Frazetta after losing the use of his right hand, so like a true champion, he came back and learned how to paint left handed.

[marco nelor]

you quit your cryin and remember to take photos of your important work...its called backup...do the same shit with your computer. back it up. those that do not...lose it.

back to work man....nose down....it happens to everyone. Last time something like that happened to me the guy was actually still in my car when I got out there...laying on top of my wet paintings in the middle of the night. oh well...and such it goes...freaked me out though.

yes but......i had JUST DONE whis work, over the course of the last four days. and u guys dont understand...i was doing these pieces SPECIFICALLY for my application to massive black school....(sorry to keep mentioning that, but im just tryin to let u know how i feel), and these pieces were SERIOUSLY, SERIOUSLY something ELSE!!!! seriously!! in fact the ONLY reason i went downtown was because i was so excited at the piece i had just done and finished today that i had decided to go downtown, and treat myself to a drink. ONE drink.

i know i have to get back into the books. and i know i have to just suck it up and go back after it. but. it still hurts. a lot man. it still hurts . and in no way am i trying to sound like a pussy. but damn, when you FINALLY got something that "clicks" and your happy about it, and just that fast, someone steals it....within the same DAY, i swear to god it can make yu feel like you wana jump of a building.

i guess tomorrow morning ill have to go and buy another moleskine.....and just, well...get back after it

[Kresh]

Marco ! This could be a blessing in disguise. Your recent work that I've seen has been much better than before. The portfolio that you were gonna send CAN be much better now than the one you where going to show.

If you want Massive Black to know how serious you want to get in their school, then get cracking on some stuff ASAP. You never know....they could turn out to be your best stuff yet!

[marco nelor]

sorry. i know ill get back after it. i just feel , well, .

a little down , i guess. thank you for your support tho guys.

[sleep]

chin up, man. i can't even begin to think how you must feel about this.. to think that just leaving the back door of your car open could affect the course of your life and, well..

if you really want to impress mb and earn your place in that school.. show them you'll keep working your fingers to the bone no matter what happens.. etc.. understand that mb cant just take your word for it that you had stuff that was sure to win you a place.. now you have to work harder than ever..

go get 'em, tiger

[marco nelor]

that sounds like a good idea. thanx tie, and everyone else. your all right. no more weeping. im comin back even harder. damn, i wish you guys coulda seeen that fully rendered piece i did of psylocke (from x-men) tho. it was PERFECT. and i know i cant re-do it again just like it was. but maybe i can make it better.

[jcaffoe]

it's like they kept saying over and over at the workshop, nothing should be precious, 9 times out of 10 the thing you work the hardest on will get lost, screwed up, or will be the one the client decides not to pick.

I'm not at all saying that it doesn't suck to have your book stolen, but just remember, you've done it once, you learned from that, now you can come back and rock it 10 times better.

And knowing you and your drive, you will. Don't let this slow you down.

[Shamagim]

I lost all the work I did this past 3 years in a hard drive accident 4 months ago, now I know about backing things up, that was actually what I was doing XD, I bought a new computer, I took all my work from the older one that needed a format, I was going to move all the files to another hard drive...but first I thought about making a wacom stand for my desk to go with my new PC.........and the piece of wood slips and fall right on the external hardrive I was using.



I was mentally stunned that day and a part of the next......

But sometimes is fun to start all over again, because next time it will be better! Cheer up

[cartoonfox]

Sorry to hear that man, that really sucks : [

Looks like you've cheered up since your first post, which is good.
Too bad we'll never see that work, but don't let that little fuck who stole it win, you're better than that. Go back out there, do your best, oh and scan and take photo's too : ]

Good luck man


Peace

[Simon.Rain]

what a bummer.

One of the most important thing to always do is NEVER put anything important in a briefcase or a bag that could carry a laptop. Thief will always go for the laptop... not the transparent case filled with loose paper or sketchbook...

My dad got his car window smashed because he had a bag that remotly look like it could carry a computer...

Keep up the good work tho... use this to event to drive yourself to an even higher ground

[Fozzybar]

marco....1st step of getting into gears:
REMOVE the artwork at your homepage and replace it with your recent stuff...

I read this thread and went to your homepage to see what your skills are about and what i saw at your homepage was making me think you shouldn't whine about what you lost

But then i looked at your new sketchbook thread and the stuff in there is like 100 times better than your "portfolio" on your website...so even if the artwork there is old and out of date blabla...REMOVE IT!!! MB or other people of the industry will see it and there goes your chance...

[marco nelor]

yea, thats the funny part. in the case was nothing but notes and my book....he COMPLETELY bypassed the bag CHOCK FULL of tattoo equipment, worth over 700 dollars, lol. fuckhat

[Carnifex]

i guess it's still abit better than giving away one of your best pics to someone you met the same evening in a bar while being punch-drunk.(guess who did that? ) atleast it wasn't your own fault (not entirely).

good luck with rebuilding my friend. you can do it

[vigostar]

shit bro I feel your pain. It must really suck having someone steal anything nevertheless something truely valuable like artwork you pride. On a good note now you have all these intense emotions that you can just harness and put to a greater use. Think about the Yin and yang of life. With every action theres a reaction. Make sure your reaction reflects the shitty action that set the ball into motion. You have drive and serious dedication. Think of this as a true test. How much do you really want it?

[White Rose]

.......wow
that is really fucked up....
but Ive always beleived..and i do think this will happen to you ..when shit goes wrong..
it means something else is going to happen... and it will beway way better for you. so no matter what..release your anger and fustration but dont ever give up
keep on going. its not the end of you and its not the end of your ideas. one creation after another..would be more amazing than the next
I'll be praying

and good luck to you

[Dile_]

Hey man, im sooo sorry to hear, but what I felt when reading your post
ist that if you could make it once , you can make it twice!! so yeah, im with cotron : I seriously cant belive how fucking low it is to stole someones elses sketchbook, I understand that its very valueable for you to got it, but for
the THIEF? wtf.. just low
Hope you get this Scholarship anyways, and really, if this was only a "one time-lucky" thing, and you cant do it again, are you really the man then ?

Keep working

[Dougbot]

That sucks. I had my locker broken into when I was in my Community College art class, they took my portfolio (I had just finished a Pantone color chart, done by hand, hundreds of fucking matt board squares framed and matted, most horrible ((but useful)) assignment I've ever had), all my supplies and all my sculpting tools (I did fairly big crappy abstract work). They also smashed all pieces hanging on the walls and sitting on tables. It sucked. My teacher at the time, who was a hard ass, but in a good way said, "Which pieces do you miss? The 2-D stuuf, or the 3-D? Whichever one you miss the most is the direction in which you should head." It was like the scene in Yojimbo when he's deciding what road to take, except I had vandals instead of a bottle. I decided even though I had fun doing 3-D I really enjoyed 2-D, and in that, I enjoyed doing more commercial and comic work, than fine and abstract work. For the first time in my artistic career I finally had some direction.

I also had my tires flattened on my portfolio review day, by the time I got to school I had missed the deadline and had to retake the class. Of course it meant I also had to move my schedule around, which put me in an illustration class where the teacher hired me on graduation. I've worked steadily since.

I heard Dermot Power had his greeting card portfolio stolen, and that helped him decide to go into comics/concept/fantasy art.

So the moral of the story is, this sucks now, but in the long run it might actually work out to benefit you.

Goodluck.

[seansea]

That's Fubar Marco. I'm sorry to hear about that and I can relate. I had a portfolio stolen from my locker right before finals. I couldn't understand why they took the artwork instead of just the portfolio case. From what I've seen of your work, I'm confident you can make another portfolio just as tight if not tighter than the one you had.

Hang in there man.

[magicgoo]

Sorry to hear it too, Marco. I know your art has been improving by the truckloads.

Walked out one morning to go to work a few years ago. My whole CAR was stolen.

Walked out another morning to find all EIGHT tires on both cars SLASHED.

Once came out to find my window smashed into a zillion pieces. I was still picking glass outta the seat cushions years later. They took my case of CDs, my fave jacket, cell phone, radio, speakers, and everything else inside the entire truck.

Life moves on. You learn lessons the hardest ways possible sometimes. Backups, backups, backups. And never for an instant keep anything valuable in your car within open site.

[cartoonfox]

Oh yeah, I've lived in some crappy places, had stuff stolen all my life.

The best once when I was a kid, I had this Simpson's skateboard, I was riding it down the hill on my street, i left it by my front door to get a drink, i was in the house 10 seconds, litteraly, I went back out 'cos I realised it probably would be better to leave my skateboard inside before I get a drink, So I went back out and it was gone!
Looked up and down the street, no one was in sight.
To this day it still baffles me. Loved that li'l skateboard : [


Peace

[Snuggles]

I'm sorry to hear it, man, I really am. I guess all I can really say is what's already been said. As far as everything I've seen you do is concerned, you're a fantastic artist, and even though they mighta took the evidence of that away, the fact of it remains.

[shadoman]

Marco, that really sux, but I do have to agree with most of the comments above. This shitty experience may just send you into a different road with your art. It may just help clear your mind and papers of bad habits. Use this bad as a good. I think that I know you enough to see that you can get past this in a positive way and hopefully get to the goals you are looking to attain.

I have lost files on machines before, but never a physical book. Best way to eliminate this from happening again is to scan once a week and backup in the same manner. I now have two drives in my machine: one with just Windows and the other with files. So when Windows does its thing and fails, then I have my files nice and secure. I back up the files to DVD on a regular basis too.

I hope that you have gotten a few bottles of JD, found a hot chic, and gotten your frustrations out. Start with a fresh outlook and out do what you have lost. Only you, and some low-life asshole, know what was in that book, so only you can make it better.

Best of luck man and give me a ring sometime.

Shawn

[Prometheus|ANJ]

I live on the countryside, there are no thieves here, I've never had anything stolen (doesn't stop me from losing stuff though). I'm scared shitless of moving to a big city for work or whatever.

A any rate, I scan stuff occasionally and also make backups on a separate hard drive which I stow away in a closet.

Perfect paranoia is perfect awareness.