I’ve been living this lesson. Graduated art school, couldn’t make a living from it, been working non creative jobs to pay rent, but keep making things in my own time, the things I make now are much more personal and fulfilling, no pressure that what I’m doing HAS to make money, or guilt about creating something just because I needed to when I could be working and earning. Now I make my own art for myself, and it feels much more sustainable.
My cycle is 'Make art because it feels good>share that art in various places>get zero attention or acknowledgment for it> start trying to get better as an artist>Get discouraged>Give up>repeat.
I agree big time about art constipation. Like trying to force out something that is not yet ready. Also not giving up, but maybe pushing more gentle so as not to hurt yourself. Such a beautiful metaphor which I'm sure all (most) humans could comprehend.
Art is bravery to live life at the fullest. The most brave thing is to create something that you believe is right to create, and every creation is holy cause it rapresents a part of our lives. Bad or good are not very fundamental, all that matter is trying to do what you want. And you must let yourself free. Very cool video full of inspirations as always Zapata.
"doing what you want" requires an enormous amount of skill and countless years/decades of disciplined dedication. art = suffering (as it should be). when you get to the point where something comes easy, thats when its time to take it to the next level and start all over again
A few years back I had to really convince myself that I achieved my childhood dream of being an artist even if I'm not a successfully paid artist. I felt a lot better about my work after that buuut it would still be nice to get to that next step.
Amen. This is all very true. I work as a security guard so I have more time to draw and sculpt and stuff. I want to get better, but only so I can give more life and credibility to my ideas. Every once in a while, I will make a sculpt or draw a character, and it will excite me so much, I will be on cloud nine for days. And my life will be filled with purpose, just because I gave life to a goofy idea that randomly appeared. And when-for whatever reason-I fall off the wagon and don’t draw as much, I get very, very listless and sad, and not very nice to be around. It’s a crazy thing. But I’m very glad there are people out there who produce great stuff for whatever utterly mysterious reason. I just recently finished a short puzzle game called “The Return of the Obra Dinn.” It’s a mystery game about sailors with epic music. And each “scene” in the game is like a frozen, walkable museum exhibit where you can admire the characters like sculptures. It was all made by one guy. Well, finishing that has given me a buzz like no alcohol can. I am still thinking about it and running through the game in my head. And it makes me look at my own life differently. It’s really neat that things like that can suck us in so much and really make us engage more deeply and thoughtfully with life and people and things.
Thanks for making this- something I've internalized over the last year is that I have no idea why I am interested in the things I am interested in, but those moments of curiosity and depth are possibly the most unguarded or authentic feelings we'll ever have as humans. On another note, thinking of money as a transfer of energy has helped me discard any notions of shame or disgrace around making money off an artistic endeavor.
You and Adam Duff's wisdom of art is so profound! so helpful to artists and I love that you said creativity never goes away. Anyone can come back to art. Sometimes it takes a bit of tinkering to have the drive to create again. So glad I came across your channel and on top of that your art is phenomenal !!!
Perfectly said. So much of this resonated with me. Night time artist who at 42 is finally crushing it. I am currently working on a drawing of an orangutan getting caught cheating at poker. People compliment my work, but also ask " why are you doing this". That's when I know I am all over the target. Thanks for this video.
That’s a really cool idea. I think obscure or humorous art is unique and takes even more intellect to make come about. Hopefully your drawing turned out well.
I always enjoy these art talks, and this one hits home. It can be a cruel joke how the brain consumes out of osmosis the narrative of our environment as children, that then becomes the big bad villain of the rest of our lives. Or at the very least I can say this is true for me at 24. I found a short little blurb the other day about the "roommate" who inhabits our consciousness, who will rear their head and tell us we look stupid, our art is not good, and the fear of creating poorly is perfectly sound reason to not create at all. They made the point to say, what if instead we turn and face it? The origin of the voice is from times in our lives where we got hurt, emotionally, physically, etc. , and those lines of thought were developed as a protection. For example, If I don't make art, then no one can comment on it. or; If I just dress the way I normally do instead of how I want to, no one can judge me for being "different". So once we turn and face that voice, who is truly just trying to do its damnedest to do whatever it takes to protect ourselves, and tell it thank you, but we don't need to do that anymore, it opens the door, maybe just a sliver, to make those moments of doubt into a new narrative...One that will fuel our true wants and desires for art, life, relationships and so on. I find that the mental blocks I smack my face against when making art has a lot to do with not being "good enough" to make art, which translates into not being good enough to post my art online. Honestly, its so stupid when you break it down; "I'm not good enough, so I don't create", which means that I never will get """"good"""". A viscous useless cycle. Unlearning the programming of our youth is one of the many tasks, if not the most monumental task, we will face in life, and channels like this are great for learning more about how to navigate the sometimes frivolous aspects of our mind. Thanks Steven for making these, stellar art as always, and I hope everyone's hurtles, art and non-art related, pass with ease and helpful lessons learned!
Steven - have you read “The Art of Being” by Erich Fromm? I just finished it and a lot of what you’re saying here he analyzes in that book. “Being” is in contrast to “Having” which is what many of these concerns you speak of come from. Having money, having clients, having skill, having clout and otherwise success. The foundation should be Being and the Having should be a result of the being, otherwise, as you say, you’re going to have poor results.
Here’s a lesson art school won’t teach you- professors are going to hate everything you do because they can. If you try to make work they approve of you’ll never get there. It makes no difference what you bring to critique… they’ll tear it to shreds in front of your classmates. What they’re trying to teach you is to make work that matters to you and not them. Your work is not a commodity and if you see it as a sellable consumer product you have failed as an artist. Do the work for yourself.
Did you mention what the image was for? It looks good. I am an engineer and the work is rarely creatively fulfilling. I am not certain if I would do it the same again if given the opportunity. The sketchbook for myself is nice to have and videos like this help cement that idea in my mind.
This vid just showed up on my feed and it really is very timely as I am very much low over my art. 😔😟 People often complain why I copy a lot on references ( But I always give credit to the Original Artist) . And no matter how hard I try to do things on my own imagination, I always end up on a blank page. I have been asking myself for so many years why I can't do an original art. Thanks to a you tube artist, she described it as Aphantasia. Having a blank mind and mostly relies on references to be able to draw or create art. No matter how hard I try, I cannot do art without a reference😓... I just do it as an ongoing practice
It's really hard when you're online surrounded by higher skilled artists (discord server) but they don't give the time of day to acknowledge or give criticism. Makes me question if this is cut out for me. And everything artistic I stood for. Makes me feel foolish and wrong about art. I guess i have a long way to go. I just wish this wasn't such a lone wolf path.
One thing that can kill your desires and dreams to make art is listening to your non-creative parents or letting what they say hurt you. Take it from me. I wish I someone told me this 16 years ago.
im a graphic designer and to put my fuzz into thiis: most of the work i do is behind a very simple reason.. i do it just for fun.. thats it.. its fun to see a reaction out of your action. and the consuming begins again and again :)
I highly believe that people talking about so-called neuroplaticity and this supposed inability to learn as you get older that scares people off from art: I legitimately think it's a self-fulfilling prophecy and that anyone at any age can learn to draw, play an instrument etc. as effectively as, say, a 14 year old could. The societal pressures and self-doubts and time commitments just pile up on people, as you mention in the video, and it gets harder and harder to overcome those pressures -- but IMO the more resistance that's overcome, the more interesting the art, sometimes (+ commitment of course.) Great video Steven!
I agree I've been making a comic book for the last year and a half becuse of a bet i made with my firends I was starting with almost zero drawing knowledge and when I started I was downright terrible but I could see myself slowly improving even in the first few weeks of me starting this journey I showed the first few pages to some coworkers back then and I stated that once I uploaded it I wanted to start a patreon for donations but the comic would remain free and 2 of the coworkers I showed my comic to where complete assholes one said "who the F*** would pay for this" Another said "don't quit your day job" (this second dude is just a complete ass hole rich kid flexing his dads money) But I said F*** them and kept drawing and now I've really improved a lot it's a night and day difference from when I started its still not good by any means but I feel more competent, and make better lines and background and im proud of what I draw. I'm a story teller first and artist second I feel like I have the potential to tell a great story and my chosen medium is comics and im not going to back down
Beautiful art work Steven - but when the "image set" takes your art and art style to build its data sets, from your art and gives/shares it with 20 million other user, and they call it their own, its time to be concerned. Know, this is what is happening right now with all AI generators; they are stealing your art without your consent.
Well, it depends if the person has real talent or if they can only draw like a toddler, you know? Living in delusion is a very bad thing, and some believe themselves to be good artists but their art is eye torture. Someone draws a stickman and says "behold my best piece yet, amazing isn't it?". What do you answer to that person? Are you going to be honest or are you going to feed their delusion even more?
Art is a compulsion first, a skill second, and a trade third.
I’ve been living this lesson. Graduated art school, couldn’t make a living from it, been working non creative jobs to pay rent, but keep making things in my own time, the things I make now are much more personal and fulfilling, no pressure that what I’m doing HAS to make money, or guilt about creating something just because I needed to when I could be working and earning.
Now I make my own art for myself, and it feels much more sustainable.
Man, you get it.
I'm a terrible artist, it is painful to do but it is even more painful not to do.
I wish I would have listened to this while drawing and not when I am at the gym. Know I can only think about drawing
My cycle is 'Make art because it feels good>share that art in various places>get zero attention or acknowledgment for it> start trying to get better as an artist>Get discouraged>Give up>repeat.
same
I adore your storytelling ability... the way you speak is so calming
I agree big time about art constipation. Like trying to force out something that is not yet ready.
Also not giving up, but maybe pushing more gentle so as not to hurt yourself.
Such a beautiful metaphor which I'm sure all (most) humans could comprehend.
Art is bravery to live life at the fullest. The most brave thing is to create something that you believe is right to create, and every creation is holy cause it rapresents a part of our lives. Bad or good are not very fundamental, all that matter is trying to do what you want. And you must let yourself free. Very cool video full of inspirations as always Zapata.
"doing what you want" requires an enormous amount of skill and countless years/decades of disciplined dedication. art = suffering (as it should be). when you get to the point where something comes easy, thats when its time to take it to the next level and start all over again
This was a beautiful video Steven. Hits the nail on the head. Why do I create and pursue art? Don't know, I just gotta haha.
Thank you for sharing your insight on this important topic
A few years back I had to really convince myself that I achieved my childhood dream of being an artist even if I'm not a successfully paid artist. I felt a lot better about my work after that buuut it would still be nice to get to that next step.
Amen. This is all very true. I work as a security guard so I have more time to draw and sculpt and stuff. I want to get better, but only so I can give more life and credibility to my ideas. Every once in a while, I will make a sculpt or draw a character, and it will excite me so much, I will be on cloud nine for days. And my life will be filled with purpose, just because I gave life to a goofy idea that randomly appeared. And when-for whatever reason-I fall off the wagon and don’t draw as much, I get very, very listless and sad, and not very nice to be around. It’s a crazy thing. But I’m very glad there are people out there who produce great stuff for whatever utterly mysterious reason. I just recently finished a short puzzle game called “The Return of the Obra Dinn.” It’s a mystery game about sailors with epic music. And each “scene” in the game is like a frozen, walkable museum exhibit where you can admire the characters like sculptures. It was all made by one guy. Well, finishing that has given me a buzz like no alcohol can. I am still thinking about it and running through the game in my head. And it makes me look at my own life differently. It’s really neat that things like that can suck us in so much and really make us engage more deeply and thoughtfully with life and people and things.
Thanks for making this- something I've internalized over the last year is that I have no idea why I am interested in the things I am interested in, but those moments of curiosity and depth are possibly the most unguarded or authentic feelings we'll ever have as humans. On another note, thinking of money as a transfer of energy has helped me discard any notions of shame or disgrace around making money off an artistic endeavor.
You and Adam Duff's wisdom of art is so profound! so helpful to artists and I love that you said creativity never goes away. Anyone can come back to art. Sometimes it takes a bit of tinkering to have the drive to create again. So glad I came across your channel and on top of that your art is phenomenal !!!
Perfectly said. So much of this resonated with me. Night time artist who at 42 is finally crushing it. I am currently working on a drawing of an orangutan getting caught cheating at poker. People compliment my work, but also ask " why are you doing this". That's when I know I am all over the target.
Thanks for this video.
That’s a really cool idea. I think obscure or humorous art is unique and takes even more intellect to make come about. Hopefully your drawing turned out well.
Thank you. I needed this. I've been getting lots of hate for my art lately. It pushed me back so often.
I always enjoy these art talks, and this one hits home. It can be a cruel joke how the brain consumes out of osmosis the narrative of our environment as children, that then becomes the big bad villain of the rest of our lives. Or at the very least I can say this is true for me at 24. I found a short little blurb the other day about the "roommate" who inhabits our consciousness, who will rear their head and tell us we look stupid, our art is not good, and the fear of creating poorly is perfectly sound reason to not create at all. They made the point to say, what if instead we turn and face it? The origin of the voice is from times in our lives where we got hurt, emotionally, physically, etc. , and those lines of thought were developed as a protection. For example, If I don't make art, then no one can comment on it. or; If I just dress the way I normally do instead of how I want to, no one can judge me for being "different". So once we turn and face that voice, who is truly just trying to do its damnedest to do whatever it takes to protect ourselves, and tell it thank you, but we don't need to do that anymore, it opens the door, maybe just a sliver, to make those moments of doubt into a new narrative...One that will fuel our true wants and desires for art, life, relationships and so on. I find that the mental blocks I smack my face against when making art has a lot to do with not being "good enough" to make art, which translates into not being good enough to post my art online. Honestly, its so stupid when you break it down; "I'm not good enough, so I don't create", which means that I never will get """"good"""". A viscous useless cycle. Unlearning the programming of our youth is one of the many tasks, if not the most monumental task, we will face in life, and channels like this are great for learning more about how to navigate the sometimes frivolous aspects of our mind.
Thanks Steven for making these, stellar art as always, and I hope everyone's hurtles, art and non-art related, pass with ease and helpful lessons learned!
exactly
well said and very accurate..
you are philosopher and artist.
Thank you so much I am so loving your words and intuitive insights xxx
Steven - have you read “The Art of Being” by Erich Fromm? I just finished it and a lot of what you’re saying here he analyzes in that book. “Being” is in contrast to “Having” which is what many of these concerns you speak of come from. Having money, having clients, having skill, having clout and otherwise success. The foundation should be Being and the Having should be a result of the being, otherwise, as you say, you’re going to have poor results.
I have not, but sounds interesting!
Here’s a lesson art school won’t teach you- professors are going to hate everything you do because they can. If you try to make work they approve of you’ll never get there. It makes no difference what you bring to critique… they’ll tear it to shreds in front of your classmates. What they’re trying to teach you is to make work that matters to you and not them. Your work is not a commodity and if you see it as a sellable consumer product you have failed as an artist. Do the work for yourself.
it's good to know other people are experiencing the same thoughts and i'm not the only one going crazy
I'd watch your videos more often but a person can only cry so often and still call themselves sane.
This is my favorite video of yours and also the pandaemonium design process!.. THANKS STEVEEN!
Damn Steven...thank you.
Thank you for that. So much.
This made me tear up
Always love hearing you talk, inspiration and insight to be found in everything you say
Did you mention what the image was for? It looks good. I am an engineer and the work is rarely creatively fulfilling. I am not certain if I would do it the same again if given the opportunity. The sketchbook for myself is nice to have and videos like this help cement that idea in my mind.
This vid just showed up on my feed and it really is very timely as I am very much low over my art. 😔😟 People often complain why I copy a lot on references ( But I always give credit to the Original Artist) . And no matter how hard I try to do things on my own imagination, I always end up on a blank page. I have been asking myself for so many years why I can't do an original art. Thanks to a you tube artist, she described it as Aphantasia. Having a blank mind and mostly relies on references to be able to draw or create art. No matter how hard I try, I cannot do art without a reference😓... I just do it as an ongoing practice
This helped, thanks.
That is crazy. And makes so much sense at the same time.
thanks for your golden words Steve love you .
I loved listening to this while drawing.
It's really hard when you're online surrounded by higher skilled artists (discord server) but they don't give the time of day to acknowledge or give criticism.
Makes me question if this is cut out for me. And everything artistic I stood for. Makes me feel foolish and wrong about art. I guess i have a long way to go. I just wish this wasn't such a lone wolf path.
I learn a new word every time I watch one of your videos.
Very moving lecture, man. Keep ‘em coming! I’m so motivated!
One thing that can kill your desires and dreams to make art is listening to your non-creative parents or letting what they say hurt you. Take it from me. I wish I someone told me this 16 years ago.
Art is a conduit to connect with other people
спасибо Вам за прекрасное видео с мотивирующими словами, Вас правда очень приятно слушать! Ваши слова вдохновляют меня продолжать рисовать 💖
love ur art wisdom
I love you dude
im a graphic designer and to put my fuzz into thiis: most of the work i do is behind a very simple reason.. i do it just for fun.. thats it.. its fun to see a reaction out of your action. and the consuming begins again and again :)
11:19 exactly what m pursuing, m just drawing no matter what it is, study-learn-draw thats it
This time whole time I cared about the opinions of my artwork to the point its effects negatively.
What yours pencils useds ?
These are the Mars black by staedtler
I highly believe that people talking about so-called neuroplaticity and this supposed inability to learn as you get older that scares people off from art: I legitimately think it's a self-fulfilling prophecy and that anyone at any age can learn to draw, play an instrument etc. as effectively as, say, a 14 year old could. The societal pressures and self-doubts and time commitments just pile up on people, as you mention in the video, and it gets harder and harder to overcome those pressures -- but IMO the more resistance that's overcome, the more interesting the art, sometimes (+ commitment of course.) Great video Steven!
I agree I've been making a comic book for the last year and a half becuse of a bet i made with my firends
I was starting with almost zero drawing knowledge and when I started I was downright terrible but I could see myself slowly improving even in the first few weeks of me starting this journey
I showed the first few pages to some coworkers back then and I stated that once I uploaded it I wanted to start a patreon for donations but the comic would remain free and 2 of the coworkers I showed my comic to where complete assholes one said
"who the F*** would pay for this"
Another said
"don't quit your day job" (this second dude is just a complete ass hole rich kid flexing his dads money)
But I said F*** them and kept drawing and now I've really improved a lot it's a night and day difference from when I started
its still not good by any means but I feel more competent, and make better lines and background and im proud of what I draw.
I'm a story teller first and artist second I feel like I have the potential to tell a great story and my chosen medium is comics and im not going to back down
It's true.
My dog really thinks I shouldn't do my art. Maybe it's because his back legs don't work, he is super jealous of my creative pursuits.
i would say something along the lines of .. "that's easy for you to say!!!!" however very good advice and your not at all wrong..
as unironic as it is, we truly live in a society
Ironically your current narrative contradicts your historical ones. Interesting.
Very Jungian. Great drawing too.
Даже не знаю что мне больше нравится его рисунки или монологи
I don’t agree with you saying it’s really difficult to make money as an artist
go back in time and tell that adolph
My "art" begins with "f".
Clickbait … kidding!
If my art was good yeah. 😂😢😂😢
Beautiful art work Steven - but when the "image set" takes your art and art style to build its data sets, from your art and gives/shares it with 20 million other user, and they call it their own, its time to be concerned. Know, this is what is happening right now with all AI generators; they are stealing your art without your consent.
Well, it depends if the person has real talent or if they can only draw like a toddler, you know? Living in delusion is a very bad thing, and some believe themselves to be good artists but their art is eye torture.
Someone draws a stickman and says "behold my best piece yet, amazing isn't it?". What do you answer to that person? Are you going to be honest or are you going to feed their delusion even more?