From the Drawing Board

Here is some concept art for a game I'm working on.  Gangster enemies.  Holla.

The Truth About Success

I've read a lot of material about succeeding and following your dreams.  While there is a lot to be learned about both from reading, ultimately I've learned...

...there is no clear path for success.

There are too many variables in a person's success to replicate another person's formula.  A person's journey in life is affected by natural gifts, upbringing, circumstances, personality, friends, temperament, the times in which you live, etc. ,etc. etc.  A lot of these things can't be chosen.  You get what you get.

The mediocre can rise to the top and the prodigious can self-destruct.

I know we've been taught from a young age that we can do anything we set our mind to, but we can't.  That's just a fact.

I couldn't be a jockey.  I'm 6' 3".

What we really need to learn is something I picked up from Robert Greene.

The ability to see life and ourselves exactly as they are...that is a truly great skill.

We're often so blinded by our desires and frustrations that we don't clearly see things as they are.  We spin our wheels trying to do something we're better off not doing.

That doesn't mean you'll have instant success in the areas you excel.  It means you have the will to persevere because you know you have the ability to succeed.  You know you have the tools and the ability to learn what you need.

I would never try to discourage someone from following their dreams, but I would urge you to clearly and realistically assess yourself and what you can do.

Do you ever play video games?

In a lot of games you have the ability to upgrade your character's abilities.  You can make them stronger, faster, etc.  If you're a warrior you need strength and fortitude.  If you're a magician you need intellect and willpower.  You wouldn't choose a thief and boost his strength more than his other traits.  That's not what he needs.

I have this natural desire to be good at everything, so I often try to improve things I would be better served ignoring.  My advice would be to improve what you're good at and forget what you're not.  Life is too short to try and be good at everything.

The truth about success is that you can succeed.  Your path will be your own.  You'll have to take stock of what you have to offer, what you can learn and do, and use that knowledge to make your own way.  Don't compare yourself when there is no true comparison that can be made between two people.

From the Drawing Board

Here's something I made in Photoshop.

From Zero to Hero in 60 Seconds

Success and failure are often a hair's width apart.

A few days ago I was working on a drawing.  I don't even remember what it was, but I recall that my first attempt was horrendous.  I mean, it was so bad that I was ready to quit drawing, sell all of my possessions, and live in a cave.  It was the kind of bad that makes you think you'd lost all the skill you had while you were asleep.

I fumed for a few minutes, but was quickly itching to give this drawing another try.

My second attempt was excellent.  It was more excellent than usual.  I was shocked-shocked that 2 subsequent attempts at the same drawing could be so widely separated in quality.

And I realized that in art, your greatest successes sometimes come after abject failures.


Making a bad drawing doesn't mean you're a cruddy artist.  It means you made a bad drawing.

Bad drawings are just a series of poor choices-of line, shape, composition, etc.  We often make poor choices because we don't have clear information about how something actually looks.  Sometimes we don't know the best way to represent something with the medium we're using.  Sometimes we labor over something that should be drawn quickly, and vice versa.

What we often lack is not ability or skill, but information.

So when a drawing is bad, we can simply ask ourselves:

-Am I clear about the way this object or body part is shaped/put together?
-Is there another way to draw the same object?
-Is the composition boring?
-Am I using enough contrast?
-Is my hand moving the way it should?*

*A note about this question.  I feel like I need to move my hand in a certain way when I'm drawing a comic page, and another when I'm drawing a slick cartoon.  Different hand movements equal different lines.  I can draw wildly different images depending on how much freedom I give my hand to move the way it wants.  My hand movements change the appearance of the lines, and therefore the tone of the entire drawing.

Keep drawing.  You never know when a masterpiece is going to show up.