On my trip to San Diego Comic Con in 2014 I had the opportunity to meet another of my inspirations - Adam Hughes! My first experience was joining a live drawing session he had in one of the conference rooms which was full of spectators. I remember asking him a question during the Q&A session at the end - if after all of his success if he really felt like he had truly arrived. If memory serves correctly, he responded saying that ultimately you don’t feel like you really have and that there is always more to be done but that he was somewhat content with his current level of success.
I remember speaking with him more at his table about his line art skills and responded about the necessity of consistent daily practice dedicated to achieving smooth, controlled lines and gave an example of another skilled artist who also had a daily practice to master his lines (I forget who though). We went on to chit chat about other things and then I said my goodbyes.
I also had the fortune of meeting him again at SDCC 2018. He was setup 2-3 booths away from the KRS Comics booth where I was. He was busy with his faster style black ink commissions which was impressive to watch. I remember speaking with him about his choice to no longer offer his higher-end commissions at cons due to someone getting one of those commissions before and then flipping it (selling for a large profit) online. It’s a pity this happened and I fully understand his choice in no longer offering such convention artworks. I’d be pissed too.
Meeting Adam was a great experience. He’s a kind, friendly and very gentle soul.