Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/355934
w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m A u g u s t 2 0 14 • I nsIgh t | 41 equipped for but did not know existed. "I took the class and learned from my research that there's an international group of visual recorders that do this for a living," Walsh says. is 250-strong community held a conference in new York in which Walsh learned the business end of his trade. Visual recording is a global enterprise, but with only 300 professionals in the field (a 20 percent increase from 2013), the industry has a lot to prove. "It's still new enough that companies are not sure about it, and if they've heard about it they're not sure if they want to do it," says Walsh. Indeed, both interest and uncertainty is high. Recently Walsh was scheduled to draw in Brazil and India, and to do work for Disney and American Family Insurance – all of which were cancelled at the last minute. nonetheless, sketchBiz has received many local contracts, especially from FVtC. Walsh hopes to expand his business beyond regional boundaries. "I'm considered more the Midwest guy," Walsh says. "What I'm trying to do is train a bunch of people as subcontractors to sketchBiz. I could train them on how to do the FVtC workshops, because a lot of times I'll be committed to FVtC and I'll get a call asking if I can go to Cincinnati." Walsh hopes to recruit locally, and notes that many of his colleagues are former teachers because of their experience in classrooms. "e key thing is to capture the content – and not be afraid to stand up in front of people and draw." to Walsh, visual recording is not just a tool but a unique art form. "Even though I'm capturing content for a meeting, people come up to me all the time and take pictures between the breaks, and they're always amazed." "Most people have never seen an artist at work," he says.