A Young Artist’s Humble Beginnings

Troy Vera
2 min readMar 23, 2023

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I drew Tippy the Turtle and the pirate from an ad in TV Guide in the early 80s. I mailed it in and got a certificate from the company and an offer for 1 free class.

This was WAY before digital and social media; I did the lessons via correspondence. It was a lot of fun! My dad is an artist (painter of many mediums — oil, acrylic, watercolor, latex, tempera) and he paid for the rest of the series of classes.

Through this program — along with the Ed Emberley drawing guides — I learned a lot about composition, line quality, underdrawing, etc. I still use a lot of the things I learned and it was very beneficial.

I still draw today, most of it is single panel cartoons in the style of The Far Side.

I love the feel of graphite, ink, or charcoal on the paper, it seemingly connects me to each fiber as I cross it.

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Troy Vera
Troy Vera

Written by Troy Vera

Austin, TX-based Marketing People & Process Leader :: Happily married, wildly creative & richly blessed! :: Opinions expressed are my own.

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