I received a very nice response to my last blog post. In my post I did the usual bitching about not making gobs of money or not dating super models because I can't make it as an artist. The respondent said something to the effect that if I did this stuff for fame money or recognition I will probably wind up being disappointed. The respondent then went on to say that if I did my work for my own personal satisfaction, that would be the most important thing, and that I might be able to get an audience of some kind to boot.
I appreciate the feedback I get, especially comments that are so encouraging and complimentary of my work. It blows me away that anyone sees this site, much less takes the time to write back. That kind of thing makes my day. I'll just say that I've been doing art "professionally" since I graduated with a masters in fine arts in 1991. I've had very little in the way of success in doing it, but yet I persist. I do know how to do this stuff for love. It's great to do this stuff for love. It's better than loving another human being for twenty-one years and getting very little in return for all that one puts into it. Why is that? I guess that the art objects that are the artifacts of that devotion can't decide to make a doo-doo on you whenever they feel like it. They're inanimate objects, and have no power in and of themselves to break your heart.
Doing it for love means you have no real deadlines. You may take as long or as little an amount of time as you wish to do a project. You can be as ambitious as your time constraints and your budget allows. For reasons such as these, it is good to take care to meet at least your own standards of excellence before sending your artwork out into the world. Therefore, it is important to have viable standards of excellence in the first place. It is painfully obvious why a lot of artists will never make it, and I have a feeling that a lot of it has to do with market driven concerns that one produce works of "genius" at all times. If everything you do is a work of true genius, than you never have to worry about developing a critical voice. It is obviously the world's fault that you're not getting the success you so richly deserve.
I've submitted my comics to indie publishers at various stages of my career, and have been rejected on all fronts. Enough rejection of that nature occurs, be it from galleries, museums, publishers, or whomever, one begins to think that one's work really doesn't cut it. For reasons such as these it can be hard to keep on doing it for love, so to do so after twenty-one years of very little in the way of success means that I need very little in way of a lecture about commitment. That said, I appreciate the respondent taking the time to write about my last post. After all, who knows if I'll even get another one? Much less one as thoughtful and encouraging as that one.
I appreciate the feedback I get, especially comments that are so encouraging and complimentary of my work. It blows me away that anyone sees this site, much less takes the time to write back. That kind of thing makes my day. I'll just say that I've been doing art "professionally" since I graduated with a masters in fine arts in 1991. I've had very little in the way of success in doing it, but yet I persist. I do know how to do this stuff for love. It's great to do this stuff for love. It's better than loving another human being for twenty-one years and getting very little in return for all that one puts into it. Why is that? I guess that the art objects that are the artifacts of that devotion can't decide to make a doo-doo on you whenever they feel like it. They're inanimate objects, and have no power in and of themselves to break your heart.
Doing it for love means you have no real deadlines. You may take as long or as little an amount of time as you wish to do a project. You can be as ambitious as your time constraints and your budget allows. For reasons such as these, it is good to take care to meet at least your own standards of excellence before sending your artwork out into the world. Therefore, it is important to have viable standards of excellence in the first place. It is painfully obvious why a lot of artists will never make it, and I have a feeling that a lot of it has to do with market driven concerns that one produce works of "genius" at all times. If everything you do is a work of true genius, than you never have to worry about developing a critical voice. It is obviously the world's fault that you're not getting the success you so richly deserve.
I've submitted my comics to indie publishers at various stages of my career, and have been rejected on all fronts. Enough rejection of that nature occurs, be it from galleries, museums, publishers, or whomever, one begins to think that one's work really doesn't cut it. For reasons such as these it can be hard to keep on doing it for love, so to do so after twenty-one years of very little in the way of success means that I need very little in way of a lecture about commitment. That said, I appreciate the respondent taking the time to write about my last post. After all, who knows if I'll even get another one? Much less one as thoughtful and encouraging as that one.
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