Comments on: Roberta Browne, how’d you land that killer gig?

By: Michelle Goodman

Michelle Goodman — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 11:12:13 +0000

point taken.

By: hermes

hermes — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 10:20:24 +0000

after reading the article(surprisingly and not surprisingly), i have the same response and feeling as boo, except that boo stated it better and explained it better. i guess as a certain type of reader and as someone who is drawn to this article/blog, i was looking/expecting something out of the norm, something un-ordinary, something not along the same trodden path that we usually hear about, especially when i saw the word struggle, i was looking for something more, something that you don’t hear about, something where a reader would say, so this is possible, there is hope. but having read the interview, she was pretty much in line with what she was meant to do and aimed at doing. although it is not your intent and i am being quite critical here, it is a good interview and i have gotten a good sense of what being a game animator is about. thank you.

By: boo

boo — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:32:20 +0000

I only brought it up because of early in the artcle it says:

“Roberta’s career path is particularly interesting because (a) she initially struggled with how to turn her talent/love of illustration into a viable career”

As I read the article I found that Roberta was not struggling in her career, but just in her ability to obtainfreelance work. Thats not really a struggle of how she made her career viable. It already was viable, just not doing freelance.

In the beginning we do get a distorted vision of struggle with the statement:

“she tried her hand at freelance illustration for two years — and wound up earning the bulk of her income by waitressing and bar tending”

The trouble is that she could have always gotten steady work in her chosen field doing the old 9-5, but she just thought freelance by itself was enough to get her by. It wasn’t. I don’t think she was ever in any really danger of failure or not being able to use her talents and costly education. But as you said I do agree that talent and hard work will get you somewhere.

By: Michelle Goodman

Michelle Goodman — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:07:03 +0000

boo brings up an interesting point: that dedication, hard work, and talent will often rise to the top. agreed.

also, no one ever said readers should feel sorry for roberta, and the Q&A doesn’t mention whether she did or didn’t come from priviledged or tough financial circumstances, so i’m not sure what boo’s getting at (other than trying to play devil’s advocate for the sake of stirring the pot).

this is a simple Q&A i do for my local paper’s “jobs” section for not a lot of cash — just because i like hearing people’s stories of how they arrived at the proverbial gig of their dreams. i never said this was a rags-to-riches feature. there are plenty of those in every local paper if you want to read ‘em. google alerts can help you find about 100 right now, i’m sure…

By: boo

boo — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 23:52:04 +0000

Looks to me like she was always in the business and on track to achieve her goals, even when she waited tables. I don’t really see any it as any coincidence that she landed a killer gig eventually. Also, she is likely super talented and on par with whats expected in the industry. Not exactly somebody I feel sorry for or empathize with. She may have worked hard, but I don’t see any evidence of her encountering any real obstacles. Show me somebody who salved away working full-time in an unrelated field, while going to school for ten years and then landing a killer gig without family support or help from a large network of old friends. Now that would be a story!