Grimby’s Gratitude – Tips for Sticking With It
the E-Newsletter of Goldeen Ogawa • Issue 18, May 2019
Originally posted for Patrons on April 5 on Patreon
What have I done?
- Cleanups for “All The King’s Mages” (The Camilliad, Book 2)
- Edits for “The Three Cavaliers” (The Camilliad Book 1).
- Read-through of “On the Surface Die” (Driving Arcana 2.5)
- Interior illustrations for The Aubergine Spellbook (Felpz Volume III)
- A Secret Comic
What am I doing?
- Cleanups on “The Four Cavaliers” (The Camilliad, Book 3)
- Edits for “The Three Cavaliers” (The Camilliad, Book 1).
- Final read-through revisions of “Free Man Running” (Driving Arcana 2.6)
- Interior illustrations for The Aubergine Spellbook
- Secret Comic and more personal pieces!
Where am I going?
I will be vending at Biggest Little FurCon in Reno NV May 17-19 alongside my buddy Moth Monarch. I’ll be under my Heliopause Productions banner with books and art!
Tips for Sticking With It
A while ago my friend Moth (professionally known as Mary Capaldi) asked for my input on a presentation they were giving on the artistic process at a convention. What follows is one of their prompts, and a tidied-up version of my original reply.
What advice would you give to someone wanting to start creating regularly but who has trouble sticking with it?
There are many reasons why someone could have this trouble so I’ll address the top three that I’ve seen or experienced, keeping in mind that my advice is not binding arbitration and readers should use only what serves them best.
1: Outside pressure
Because art (and by art I include drawing, writing, painting, singing, dancing—the whole shebang) is something people can and do do for fun, a surprising number of people wonder why they should be paying for it. This makes it difficult to make a living at without a lot of hard work and luck, which can create outside pressure pushing us away from it.
If someone is struggling with this pressure a good thing is to dismantle the sacred/worthless dichotomy that exists around art in our culture. This is a heck of a lot easier said than done, but it’s critical that as a professional you can view your art both as your passion and your soul calling without it being the have-all-end-all-be-all of your existence and as a serious business that must demand respect otherwise it won’t get it. If you’re working a day job block out time for your creative work as a second job. Be as accountable to it as you would be to your other employer.
Another good practice is to set aside blocks of creating time for nothing but pleasure. Take a sketchbook to the park and draw the birds. Or draw the Eldritch monsters living in the blackest depths of your soul. Whatever brings you joy.
2: Distractions
If someone is having trouble regularly creating art because they keep being distracted by video games or The News or friends wanting to go see movies (shock!) they have a hard road ahead. I had to throw out all my video games and pretty much whittle my social life down to “drawing with friends at conventions” or “chatting with co-workers on break.” You can find a work/play/create balance, but it takes practice, and if in the beginning your play is taking away from your creative work, you might have to give it up—at least temporarily.
Remember that the life of creating art is not for everyone, and it is a worthwhile endeavor to pursue it for any length of time, and to any degree.
3: Fear
Fear of failure is endemic in creators, as is perceived failure. The real, tangible work that we create will never be as searingly perfect as that brilliant idea that awoke in us and we strove to make real. It’s a battle we all have to fight, and there are many ways to do so. This is my strategy.
When I am seized by the fear that what I will make will not do justice to the thing in my head, I remind myself that the thing in my head does not actually exist yet. It is an ephemeral idea. If I die, it dies too. But even if I live and never create it, never will it live, either. But if I bring it into the world, however flawed it is, it will live, and it will live on beyond the scope of my flesh-bound consciousness. And while our ideas made into art might not attain that vague perfection of what resides in our minds, they can achieve a version of it. Because that pure idea is pure in part because it is only a concept. To become art it must necessarily solidify, collapse from its omnipotent superposition into a settled, limited—and yes—flawed form. And in its flawed reality it can become more beautiful, more meaningful, and more powerful than its imagined perfection ever was.
Also you can totally go back and try it again if you don’t get it right the first time. So try. Good luck!
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What’s coming in May?
Patrons can look forward to:
- Saturday updates to the Sparks Gallery
- Sunday updates to “Travels in Valdelluna”
- AND exclusive sneak peeks at upcoming projects!
ProTip
When making a shopping list, try pretending that the sheet of paper represents the floor plan of the store, and put the names of your items in the place where they can be found. This way your list is also a map, and looking at it can help you plot your course through the store and make the trip go faster!
This post has been generously sponsored by my Fellow Traveler patrons. Come join the party!
