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The Art of Being an Artist

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Your first year or two as a creative freelancer the focus should be to build your boat and get in the water. When you’re afloat and not taking in water, you can start to think about your destination. Where would you like to go?

To many people, art is a hobby. But it’s when you really start to take it seriously and treat it as your job that you really pivot. William Faulkner is quoted of saying: “I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes at nine every morning.”

Showing up at your desk is when things start to happen. The more you show up, the more likely it is that you’ll create something of value. You have to put in the hours, consistently. Painting a couple of times a month won’t make you a great painter. You have to build momentum and consistency and daily routines is key.

You can have a somewhat mediocre talent and still have a great artistic career. Just as you can be insanely talented and still struggle making it work. It’s not about talent as much as it is about courage, persistence and resilience.

Keeping your ego in check is another important aspect. You need some ego to find the belief the song you wrote is so great that everybody needs to hear it. But that ego can just as easily trip you up, if you start to think people don’t appreciate your genius enough. Or you strive for perfection in your work, feeling like it’s never as good on the paper as it was in your head (hint: It isn’t. This feeling never goes away, believe me!).

As an artist you expose yourself a lot and have to be willing to take criticism. You have to push yourself, and not hold back out of fear of what people might say. You have to be okay with shipping something you’re not a hundred percent satisfied with – chances are you never will be.

In 2011 I sat for a few weeks at Dean Haspiel’s Hang Dai Studios in Brooklyn. One of the guys at the studio asked for Dean’s advice on whether to take on a particular storyboarding job. He was worried he would fall short and botch the job somehow. Dean replied: “You need the money? Then you take the job. And you fail. HARD. And you learn from that”. That attitude was truly inspiring; expecting to fail and being okay with it. I certainly learned a lot from my brief spell at Hang Dai but also from taking on tasks I wasn’t entirely ready for. 

One of the things I hear tossed around a lot, is the idea that you’re only as good as your last work. I disagree. You are the sum of all your creative outputs, good or bad. And you’re not always the best judge of quality – in fact you’re likely the worst. You just have to do the best you can at that moment and get it out there. You don’t end up back at square one because some project didn’t turned out the way you wanted it. In fact you learn more from a project like that than you do from a smooth success.

When the process is grueling, frustrating and hard, it’s likely because you’re evolving and growing as an artist. When you reach that plateau and it feels like you’re never going to get better, when you feel like quitting – that’s exactly when you need to push through.

If you want to learn to swim, you have to go in the deep end of the pool.

This post is an excerpt from my book SOLO – Survival Guide for Creative Freelancers – Order now on Amazon.

Ask the Right Questions

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Going to conventions is one of the best way to learn about the industry, meet new people and get advice from peers and pros. But often wannabe creators will waste the opportunity to learn by talking about themselves or asking the wrong questions.

“How do I break into comics?” is one of the questions I hear a lot by aspiring creators. The question is not easy to answer in a meaningful manner – and it certainly won’t be a short answer (my best and shortest possible answer is this podcast episode). It also requires a lot of background information on the person asking the question.
When not asking impossible questions like the one above, these creators will try and impress whoever they are talking to, pitch their comics ideas, tell rambling stories about their journey and aspirations – instead of using the opportunity to gain new insights and valuable knowledge. I’ve certainly been guilty of this myself. Becoming a better listener and asking smarter questions is something I would like to improve. So you could say this post is just as much for me as it is for you.
So instead of asking “how do I break into comics?” here is a list of smarter questions you may ask peers and pros alike, when you get a few minutes of face time at a convention or pin them down in a Twitter conversation:
  • What areas of my art do you see needs improvement?
  • What are your favorite cons to go to and why?
  • Who do you think I should meet while I’m here?
  • What is one thing people get wrong about the way the business works?
  • Is there any resource you can point me towards that could help me learn more about X?
  • What’s a mistake you see a lot of beginners make?
And then I also recommend taking notes! Either during the conversation or directly after. You can’t even memorize your Mom’s phone number so I’m willing to bet you can’t remember a key insight from a conversation a week later. It’s one thing to ask better questions but you also need to actually listen to the answers.
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If you have a question for me, leave a comment below!

The Art of Stealing

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I have a friend who has the habit of taking things apart to see how they work. Anything from a radio to a vending machine. To me this is the ultimate approach to art.

Find something that works – a film, a novel, a painting – analyze it, break it down, take it apart and figure out why. This is how Raymond Chandler started writing short pulp fiction stories. He took a story from Black Mask, dissected it and identified the various element and then created a new story by replacing each piece with his own. 

You can become a great artist by copying what you love about another artist. This will teach you a lot. Then after a while, you can bring in other influences and start adding your own voice, thereby creating something new. If you look at my early drawings, you’ll definitely see a Mike Mignola phase, a Frank Miller phase and a Sean Phillips phase (which you could argue is not over yet).

My first 48-page comic that was published in Denmark in 1999, was the result of sitting next to Peter Snejbjerg. Peter was a master of the quill (the kind of metal-tipped pen you dip in ink) and all the “real” comics artist all used it. So of course this young whipper-snapper had to try and copy the technique, with pretty disastrous results. I learned a lot of lessons by sticking it through for 48 pages – the most important being I shouldn’t be using a quill. I learned later, that I could use a soft-tipped marker to almost the same effect and that my hand liked working with that way better. Nowadays I listen more to my hand than I listen to my brain.

As an artist it’s important to stretch your muscles, draw the things you have a hard time drawing rather than sticking to the things you nail every time. Again, it’s a great strategy to just copy. Drawing from life or recreating works from other artists is a crucial way to get better at the craft.

This post is an excerpt from my book SOLO – Survival Guide for Creative Freelancers – Pre-order now on Amazon.

Dealing with Tangents in your Art

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One of the most important art lessons I ever got was when my studiomate Ole Comoll showed me what tangents are – and how to avoid them.

In this video I try to pass that lesson along while using examples from my own art. Tangents are everywhere – and once you see them, you can’t unseen them. You’ve been warned!

Tiny Habits and Baby Steps

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Hey, it’s a new year! Maybe you made a resolution that has to do with your creative craft, like write the script for your graphic novel or draw a page a day. A big goal, something to strive for! That’s the way to go, right?

Turns out 80% of new years resolutions fail by February.
There’s a better way to achieve your goals: Little habits, that can build skill and confidence over time. Small steps towards your big goal, instead of the big goal itself.
Making things a habit is a great way to get things done. Because a habit means it’s something you do without thinking about it. The more you rely on inspiration for your creativity, the less likely you are to be creative.
Being more creative is no different than trying to eat more healthy or getting fit. You need to make it super easy for yourself. Set the bar for success really low. Like “sit down at my desk and look at my comic every day for ten minutes.” You can do that, right? You don’t even have to work on it, just sit there. But I’ll bet you can’t helping doodling a little once you plant yourself in front of it. Maybe those ten minutes will turn into a good productive hour. Maybe not. The point is to set yourself up for success by lowering your expectations.
You also need to make it hard to fall into whatever traps you tend to fall into. I had a TV addiction once. I had this tiny little TV that fit inside my cupboard, so I coiled the antenna cable around it and put it in there. Every time I wanted to watch TV I had to pull it out from the cupboard, unwrangle the cable and plug it in. Bit of a hassle but totally doable. Here’s the thing; just making it a little harder to watch TV and putting the damn thing out of sight made me forget I had the option.
The same goes for Facebook. I deleted the app from my phone, so now I have to open the browser to check my feed. Again, totally doable. But you bet I go on Facebook a lot less since the app is no longer right there reminding me of it’s existence every time I look at my phone.
There are several apps for monitoring iPhone usage, I never tried any of them. I know the result would make me feel ashamed and miserable, even though my notifications are off and it’s always on silent. But we all check our phones more than we need to and it’s stealing precious time from us. Time we could spend flexing our creative muscles, even if just for a few minutes.
Waiting at the bus stop?
Instead of checking your phone, how about pulling out a small sketchbook and just draw what you see. Pick some small detail, like the window in the house across the street, the telephone pole or the old lady on the bench. Just look and notice the lines, understand the three dimensional object. Try to copy it on your notepad with as few lines as possible.
Bored on the train?
Draw one of your fellow passengers. Don’t judge your drawing, just make it. Then do another.
Standing in line at the post office?
Try to think of the main character in your story. What would he or she be thinking about right now, what would their posture be like, their look on the world around them.
There are many small things you can do that over time will move you towards your big goal. Try listing 3 things you can easily do, maybe a daily or a weekly thing. And then list 3 things you can easily stop doing, something that’s really taking you away from your goal. Commit to doing or not doing ONE of those things for a month, see if it sticks. If not, then maybe that strategy wasn’t built for you. You still have 5 other things to try out.

Bonus Video: Lucy Bellwood and her 100 Demons

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I first met Lucy at Periscope Studios in Portland, OR, where I had the great privilege to work from a guest table for a few weeks back in 2014 (you can hear the podcast episode I did with Steve Lieber here). Even then she struck me with her wisdom, despite her young age. I never managed to get a real sit-down with Lucy back then but when I saw her new project 100 Demon Dialogues I jumped at the opportunity to chat with her about dealing with your inner demons as an artist, tabling at cons and having a career as a creative freelancer.

Check it out here and please share with your self-deprecating artist friends!

Links mentioned in this video:

Lucy is @lubelwoo on both Instagram and Twitter