How to start delivering great work while continuing to grow.

A lesson from the startup world for illustrators

📐 SideA: MVP - Design your minimum viable product

🍿 SideB: How Pixar created 24 years of amazing products while learning on the job.

---

They say you can have everything, just not all at once.

Side A

There is a concept in the startup world called the MVP. Minimum Viable Product. The idea is to produce an amazing product that delivers your value proposition in the shortest amount of time. And then iterate on that product with new products, rather than spending a long time developing an imagined perfect product that nobody might want.

This illustration by Anthony Cozzi says it best:

I used a similar method when transitioning to work as a full-time illustrator. There are so many skills to learn. Should I become a master of all of them before I start looking for work? Or should I focus on a minimal viable product.

I chose to focus on Characters, knowing that that is the biggest bang for your buck in my chosen industry of illustrating picturebooks.

Getting really good at something can get you into the game, and now that I’m in the game I’m developing the other aspects of my skills.

It takes courage to choose to focus. Have Courage!

Side B

How pixar applied the same idea over 24 years