Benefits of Long Hauling It
Let’s take a journey back to 1980-something. Long before the era of likes and retweets, it was an age of unchecked creation. Juvenile artwork hurtled into the cosmos, viewed by one’s immediate acquaintances, if viewed at all. Landing a spot on the family fridge was the highest honor. I was a kid.
Some would say I was a talented kid. What a nasty term talent is. Talent as a concept robs an artist of credit due for their years of dedication. But anyway, yeah, for a kid, I had some natural talent as a budding artist. Even so, it took decades of focus to build up my skills to a professional level. It just does.
In the 1980’s we didn’t (have a chance to) do it for the gram, either. We’d draw because we loved to draw, even if no one cared. There wasn’t a flood of Youtube tutorial channels streaming into your life. Just Bob Ross, and some how-to-draw books. Between local art classes, public education, and what your elders knew, you pieced together skill. You built it up like clay.
When I submit a commissioned illustration today, the client isn’t just benefiting from a few hours of labor. There are thirty (ahem, closer to forty) years of concentrated effort bolstering each piece of artwork I produce.
Have I reached my peak? Am I the artist I had always hoped to be? Nah, or at least, I hope not. As an artist, an illustrator, and a creative soul, I aim to improve each year that I am present on Earth.
If you are sincere about becoming a professional artist, you are in this for the long-haul. There aren’t any tips or tricks that an advanced artist can gift to you like a magic rocket, soaring you past the craggy bits. You are just going to have to do what we all have done, practice. And practice, and practice, and practice some more. Even as a full-time working illustrator, I practice. And it works. When you think you must be pretty darn good by now, you will see your pitfalls with crystal vision. You will want to improve.
Today I am much like a child again, taking up a new venture. Sure, I have conceived a graphic novel or two over the years, sketched up characters for a fantasy field guide, and plotted out a few children’s books, but I had not yet devoted enough of myself to truly learning the art of writing.
Taking my passion for drawing and pressure cooking it into a career was a tough task. It took sacrifice and focus. Our society doesn’t aim to foster everyone’s creative dreams. Maybe one day in a future Utopia, we will. But for a lot of us in the present, it is a struggle. One of the essential skills I obtained along the way was how to learn. Today, I am applying that hard-earned skill to pursuing a life of creative writing in unison with my illustration work.
My partner and I fondly call this adventure “having a brain baby.” Skillfully birthing my stories into the world will take just as much concentrated effort as learning solid draftsmanship practices. It might take just as many years. In the process, I’ll probably feel equally as obscure as I did in the 1980s. I’ll write because I love to write, even if no one cares. I am content with that.
Fortunately, education is easy to come by these days. As such, I’ve been studying my face off. During daily practice sessions, I read, write, rewrite, and research my way to a higher understanding of the craft. I am in this for the long-haul. That is the path to mastery.
