All artists wish they were good and doing the things they dreamed of doing—even the ones you are seeing on Instagram, etc. Most of them are slaving away, posting stuff online and wishing they were more. Even those at the top of the game, with awards and solid careers (very few get this!), can talk about low payments and how hard it is to get work and make a living. I used to go around at SDComic-Con and chat with them…
Yeah, I suppose it's easy to think everyone is successful and making money because people don't post their failures, so on the outside it looks like they're doing great. I wish this culture valued art more.
When I was working on computer games, our company would give us time off to go to the big Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) which previewed all the games. I’d get together with artists from different companies there and just have major b*tch sessions about how awful things were—and we were all at an exclusive fancy expo doing our dream jobs—sort of! It’s never as good as people think.
I used to worry about crushing all the starry-eyed young kids dreams by my bitter reality, so I usually don’t talk with those not in the know. Sometimes you just have to follow the dream, no matter how unrealistic it is. But seriously—you can achieve all your goals and find out you are still in a sad place.
In other words, motivation is important, but you have to like the road you are on and not rely on achieving the goal.
All artists wish they were good and doing the things they dreamed of doing—even the ones you are seeing on Instagram, etc. Most of them are slaving away, posting stuff online and wishing they were more. Even those at the top of the game, with awards and solid careers (very few get this!), can talk about low payments and how hard it is to get work and make a living. I used to go around at SDComic-Con and chat with them…
Yeah, I suppose it's easy to think everyone is successful and making money because people don't post their failures, so on the outside it looks like they're doing great. I wish this culture valued art more.
When I was working on computer games, our company would give us time off to go to the big Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) which previewed all the games. I’d get together with artists from different companies there and just have major b*tch sessions about how awful things were—and we were all at an exclusive fancy expo doing our dream jobs—sort of! It’s never as good as people think.
I used to worry about crushing all the starry-eyed young kids dreams by my bitter reality, so I usually don’t talk with those not in the know. Sometimes you just have to follow the dream, no matter how unrealistic it is. But seriously—you can achieve all your goals and find out you are still in a sad place.
In other words, motivation is important, but you have to like the road you are on and not rely on achieving the goal.