December 2, 2008
make art and drink beer
[The Techcrunch Party print from 2007.]
I’ve been spending a lot of time this week, researching and talking to fine art print shops. Like I said a few weeks ago, I’m planning to spend more time in the print business.
This development has been a long time coming. In the last twenty years, I’ve drawn thousands of cartoons and shared them with tens of thousands of people, which has slowly built up what I believe to be a reasonably-sized commercial market for my work.
Besides that, I’ve been living in the West Texas desert for over nine months, and I’m finding drawing cartoons is far more aligned to that way of life, than being an “internet marketing guy” or whatever. Like a painter friend of mine told me the other week, “There’s not much to do out here, except make art and drink beer.“
Being a full-time cartoonist is still not something I ever plan on doing, but life has been pulling me more and more in that direction for a while, almost against my will. Maybe one day I’ll get tired of resisting it, who knows?
Wish me luck, anyway…
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Luck not needed, but wished for. All good things for you, Hugh.
dude, please don’t take this the wrong way but I’ve been coming to your site for months and months and BY FAR what I remember / “get” is the business card artwork — it’s massively cool shit -
the social objects / internet marketing / pi stuff is ok
the art is UNIQUE / COMPELLING — it’s the secret sauce
so I’d second the good luck but don’t think you’ll need much of it for big success
Hey Bob,thanks for the kind words
I pretty much agree with you, but if ALL I did was the bizcard art, I’d be bored shitless inside a month. Mixing it up keeps things interesting for me.…
Hugh
I just read this column and it seems resonant with much of what you have written. It’s from a game/rpg producer perspective, but I thought a new view would be welcome here:
http://www.rpg.net/columns/soap/soap138.phtml
Daniel
Hugh your art no matter if it’s the business card size or whatever other awesome stuff you do is seriously cool. That’s why I love your blog. Is that Stormhoek I see on the shelves behind you?
i’ve been reading gapingvoid off and on over the years. after seeing this today http://www.haring.com/cgi-bin/art_lrg.cgi?date=1978&genre=Drawing&id=00383, i realise that you, Hugh, are just a big Keith Haring copycat!
I feel the same way — I am a lot happier teaching and writing than consulting and fear that my seeking the easier $ has put me off my calling.
All the best to you Hugh
Rob
Heh. Ted, if you want to call me a copycat, you’ll have to cite much bigger influences on my work than Keith Haring.
I have always liked his work, though. He always seemed “one of the good guys”, to me…
Count me as part of the market for your work. I’m actually going to be driving through west texas this coming Tuesday. Can I buy you a beer? Perhaps a glass of Stormhoek instead.