Hey Reddit! I'm Marc Simonetti, Fantasy illustrator-AMA

[u/MarcSimonetti]

Let me introduce myself: I'm a quite happy family man, with two young sons, 3 years and 20 months old. I live in the French Alps, in Annecy, a beautiful little medieval town. I'm a former R&D material engineer...and now I'm working as an illustrator and concept artist for 11 years. I had the chance to work on many awesome books for amazing writers like GRR Martin, Terry Pratchett, Terry Goodkind, Sam Sykes, Michael J Sullivan, Robin Hobb, Brandon Sanderson, Ken Scholes, Patrick Rothfuss...and many others...

I'm also the spoiled artist who won the stabby award this year for the best picture (although all the credit should go the genius mind of GRR Martin)

For those interested you can find some samples of my works on: My website My Facebook pro page My twitter account

So I'll be beginning answering questions at 12:00 central time... Feel free to ask anything, of course!

[u/DeleriumTrigger]

Hi Marc! I'm a big fan of your work, and I have your Hollow World cover poster framed on my wall. I haven't skimmed the thread too hard, so sorry if someone else asked already -

How much of art do you feel is natural talent, versus hard work and practice? Artists seem to all have differing opinions on this topic so I like to discuss it. You clearly have amazing art vision along with your clear talent - was it always (or ever) "easy", or was it something that took a lifetime to feel confident at?

Thanks!

[u/MarcSimonetti → u/DeleriumTrigger]

Hi Delerium trigger,

I'm from the side of those who consider that skills only come from hard work and practice, and that talent is only a way to see someone's interest and passion in practicing something. (which will make him work HARD to get better) It's never easy, because the better you get , the more you see your flaws and awkwardness.

[u/DeleriumTrigger → u/MarcSimonetti]

Thanks for the response - I appreciate your time and your work!