005: Know thyself
Starting off with some gratitude. Iāve been having so many great conversations through this newsletter, DMs and through the āDefeat the Funkā free course. I never really thought it would take off so quickly. Or that it might help so many fellow creators so deeply. That is incredibly humbling, and I am truly grateful to be speaking to you. I try to get back to everyone as quickly as I can.
When I say āweāre all in this togetherā, I mean it.
Art communities and groups have a way of eating their own, or it can become very cut throat. Too many rules. Too much pressure. I wanted to build this little community as something you can choose to engage when you need it the most. And it seems Iāve hit on something here that many feel.
Onto this weekās topicā¦
Do you know who YOU really are?
I had a conversation with an artist from the āDefeat the Funkā course last week tell me they just felt adrift, or kind of lost. They asked how they could be more like me, because I seem like I have it all together. Iām hyper focused and producing a ton of stuff. Iām humbled to be seen as some kind of role model, but the truth is, I donāt have it all together.
I get down sometimes too. Sometimes I feel lost. Even when things are going tremendously well, I can still feel like an abject failure inside. You have to learn not to listen to that voice when it creeps in. I think everyone hears it from time to time, and more so, artists like us.
So my answer to anyone feeling like that, is to know thyself.
Hereās what I did to right my own ship
Develop your personal pillars. I had heard of this concept before, but never actually did the work to physically write it down and look at it often. People pay thousands of dollars to attend seminars and workshops to learn this simple thing Iām about to show you here for free, and it will help you too.
And listen, no cheating! It wonāt work for you unless you write it down. Take a piece of paper and actually draw this out. Thank me later.
Step one: Draw 4 columns on a paper. Thats easy enough!
Step two: Think deeply about what you care about or what moves you in life. A fun trick here is that even if you think you donāt know, your inner self-conscious will start popping words up. And usually the first 4 words are already your personal pillars.
This may not come instantly to you. It can take time to develop these pillars. What was once important to you 10 years ago may not be the same today.
This exercise will help you begin to see, or remember, who you really are deep down inside. In a world full of noise, itās easy to sometimes forget, or wander away from the original path you wanted to be on.
Iāve never shared mine with anyone before, but here they are.
Hereās a breakdown of my personal pillars:
Creating Comics: The words āthe craftā jumped out to me when I was thinking. This was the first thing that popped out when I did this exercise. You may notice, itās not about āmaking moneyā or bring a famous comic artist. Itās the true love of the magic of sequential art. I could talk about that for hours and days with other artists.
Helping Others: I generally love to share what I know or have learned. I get some sort of positive energy from helping others when they are down and pulling them back up. When I say āweāre all in this togetherā, I really mean it.
Stoicism: I was introduced to stoicism by way of Ryan Holiday and āthe daily stoic.ā I credit stoicism for helping me get through a really hard time in my life, and help me calm the waters and remove drama from my life. Also, itās just super cool. The idea that when we read ancient philosophy we are āspeaking with the deadā, was just rad to me. Also the core idea of āthe obstacle is the wayā, helped me move many mountains around in my life. It made me want to be a better person and serve a greater good anyway I can, in the very short time Iām on this earth. One of my everyday carries is Ryanās coin that says āmemento moriā.
Innovation: I have always loved trying new things and thinking about whatās next. Especially for artists. I studied disruptive strategy through Harvard, and this is another topic I could yammer on about all day if you let me. Watching what has happened to Netflix this past week and why has been fascinating. Unfortunately, the entire animation division got wiped out first. Artists and creatives, the first to go! - You want to know where the future lies? We have some clues already, and animator Rad Sechrist breaks it down here. Spoiler alert, itās TikTok.
I know my own pillars very well. I go back and review them often.
And once you know yours, you can use them to define what you say yes and no to. If something doesnāt āfitā your pillars, toss it out! Even when you just take a look through mine, and see what Iāve been up to the past quarter, you can see that all of my content, even this newsletter, all align with my pillars. I donāt feel lost anymore. My pillars keep me focused and driven.
Recently I turned down some pretty big jobs, only because it just didnāt align with me or where I want to go. It was scary to turn things down, but then such a huge feeling of relief set in.
Thatās when you know youāre on the right path.
What Are Your Personal Pillars?
Yours will not be the same as mine. Everyone is different, and thatās the beauty of this. If you want to share yours with me or talk it through, drop me a line.
To give you a quick example, here are some sets from other art friends of mine:
Faith, Family, Fun, Adventure.
Animal Friend, Mental Health, Drawing, Writing
Tattoo Culture, Entrepreneurship, Localism, Music
Digital Art, Outdoors, Brewing, Pop-Culture
Donāt skimp, write it down! It matters. Thereās something magical about writing it down on paper.
It could be that you might only have one or two figured out right now, and thatās okay. I suggest 4, because then you can really have some fun as you bounce ideas off each pillar. Maybe something aligns with all 4 pillars for you. For me, I kind of feel like Iām bringing all 4 pillars to this very newsletter.
This weekās prompt is SELF-PORTRAIT. Draw yourself in any style you wish. As an alternative you could just draw something that symbolizes who you are or how you visualize who you are. Maybe itās a burrito? I dunno. š
Iām still sending some surprise things in the mail to those who take part in the drawing prompts. To be eligible post your drawing to Instagram, tag it #drawordiechallenge, and DM me there to make sure I see it! If youāre not feeling brave enough to post it or want to remain private, you can just e-mail me your drawing and your physical mailing address. Sound good?
Okay, I have some comics to draw and they arenāt going to draw themselves! Back to the drawing board for me.
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