Am I pursuing my art?
When I find myself in this conundrum or in a discussion regarding a fellow artists questioning their own artistic endeavors my first suggestion is to step back and look. Of course there's the "be thankful for what you've got" feeling of guilt when I even question my current state of work. I do agree with the fact that you should feel thankful. Having been in the situation where I was unable to pursue animation work I definitely am thankful that I do get work in my industry of choice. I also realize there are many more people in the world who don't get to choose their career. So for this, yes, I am certainly thankful.
But that doesn't answer the question that titles this entry. To come to a conclusion I still have to step back. This entails examining what I am trying to pursue. Of course for each artist this will be different. Pursuit means you must have an end point or goal. Much like constructing a good story. It's best to know where you are headed in the end before you start. Otherwise you tend to wander aimlessly and lose track. With a clear goal you can always focus again on your end point.
I can choose to be lazy about the answer and not really examine my goal by saying, "my pursuit is to better my art". If I BS myself with this kind of lame answer then I might as well give up and wander aimlessly. What specifically is the goal, for example specifically for myself I want to work on refining my abilities to see the drawing on the page before pen or pencil touches the surface. Building these skills will help me see the forums and structure better. This type of skill can be worked on no matter what it is I'm drawing. So even though the work you are doing at a job on a daily basis may not seem to be helping you pursue your art you can find ways to use it to help pursue your art even though it's not your own personal work.
And of course always keep sketching!
A recent sketchbook page I did while riding the train. The sketchbook has heavy paper and I use mostly brushpens but also some pencil.
But that doesn't answer the question that titles this entry. To come to a conclusion I still have to step back. This entails examining what I am trying to pursue. Of course for each artist this will be different. Pursuit means you must have an end point or goal. Much like constructing a good story. It's best to know where you are headed in the end before you start. Otherwise you tend to wander aimlessly and lose track. With a clear goal you can always focus again on your end point.
I can choose to be lazy about the answer and not really examine my goal by saying, "my pursuit is to better my art". If I BS myself with this kind of lame answer then I might as well give up and wander aimlessly. What specifically is the goal, for example specifically for myself I want to work on refining my abilities to see the drawing on the page before pen or pencil touches the surface. Building these skills will help me see the forums and structure better. This type of skill can be worked on no matter what it is I'm drawing. So even though the work you are doing at a job on a daily basis may not seem to be helping you pursue your art you can find ways to use it to help pursue your art even though it's not your own personal work.
And of course always keep sketching!
A recent sketchbook page I did while riding the train. The sketchbook has heavy paper and I use mostly brushpens but also some pencil.
posted by Rusty Mills | 9:09 AM
2 Comments:
Hi Rusty! Congrats on the blog! Keep posting your sketches! More! More!
-Eddie F.
Thanks Eddie, now I know why you started one...It's great to be able to freely show and tell about what we do.
Post a Comment
<< Home