September 18, 2009
thoughts on being an artist
Sometime during the last year, I suddenly found myself somehow able to make a living from my drawings. Here are some notes:
1. I love it. Why the hell wouldn’t I?
2. “90% of success is showing up.” Like the famous British artist, Tracy Emin once said, “You don’t get to be Tracy Emin by being a slacker.” One thing you learn from befriending successful artists like Hazel Dooney or John T. Unger is JUST HOW HARD they keep at it, just to keep the show on the road. Insane. You can never turn the switch off. Doesn’t happen. Nor would you want it to.
3. I still don’t much like the word “Artist” to describe myself, but I’m getting more OK with it. I still like the word, “Cartoonist”, but I feel myself outgrowing that, somehow. The good news is, I’m not sure if any of this matters in the grand scheme of things.
4. “Good ideas have lonely childhoods”. There are a few art folk out there, trying to conquer this new Web 2.0 world of ours– Hazel, John T., Mary Anne Davis, Amrita on the gallery side, and a couple of others– but the number of people who REALLY GET IT still seems surprisingly tiny. Still, you could say the same thing about bloggers, ten years ago. It’s still early days.
5. Slavery is expensive. Riddle: Hang out in any gallery scene in any big city for long enough– New York, London, Chicago, Sydney, Los Angeles– and what do you see? Answer: The same frickin’ people. Most gallery scenes exist to supply free wine for the hangers-on, NOT to connect artists with collectors. The occasional (and increasingly rare) art star is the exception to prove the rule. Why artists still enslave themselves to an outmoded gallery model that proves itself ineffective IN THE VAST MAJORITY OF CASES still baffles me. It’s not as if the wine is ever that good, to begin with.
6. I’m spending less time asking, “Who are my readers?” and more time asking, “Who are my users?” Funny how having a proper business to run changes everything…
7. I haven’t forgotten about the books. I’m still writing away, having fun. Don’t see myself stopping, anytime soon.
8. It’s getting increasingly harder to wear so many hats. As the market demands more and more drawings from me, other sides to my business– consulting etc.- get harder to make time for. That being said, I am wondering what I’ve learned as an artist that could be helpful to other types of businesses. It’s something I think about a lot, these days.
[UPDATE:] John T. Unger left a great comment below:
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately too. Yesterday in the studio I was just kind of blown away by how much my life as an artist has changed with success. The day was punctuated by trucks arriving to bring pallets, trucks coming to haul away tons of scrap for recycling, trucks picking up art to ship, orders for more materials to complete a 22 piece sale of firebowls that will go to Norway, an interview, a conference call for a major hotel project, etc. if you’d told me I’d be operating like this five years ago I might not have believed it despite the fact that I always had faith that my art was worth pursuing.
The thing about working as an artist is that you never realize how much of the work is on top of making the actual art. I was remembering how when I started out, I would visit the studios of more established artists and couldn’t begin to grasp how they ran the show. It’s taken years to slowly put each piece in place. Every day there’s new problems to solve, but if you can solve them in a way that sticks— so that from now on that issue is covered, eventually you come up with an efficient system for supporting the most important work you do, which is the art.
I’ve got some support staff now, but still, most of the work and most of the problem solving comes down to me. I like to keep it close to hand… but the only way to do that is to work long hours, get organized as hell, and meet every deadline early. The weird thing maybe is learning that the better I get at getting things done, the more I do. I seem to just keep taking on more and more projects and finding time to do all of them by increasing the efficiency of how I do them.
It’s a crazy circus, but I’ve never loved life more.
Backstory: About Hugh. E-mail Hugh. Twitter. Newsletter. Book. Interview One. Interview Two. EVIL PLANS. Limited Edition Prints. Private Commissions. Cube Grenades.]
"Hugh's Daily Cartoon" Newsletter.
A new cartoon sent out every weekday morning to your inbox [RSS version here.].
A wee chuckle to start your day off right etc.
Artist, user, creator, consumer, etc… It all comes down to the story. If it’s good enough to tell others, yourself, or hear from someone else, you just might be on to something.
5 years later, I’m still listening and sharing your stories. Bravo!
being a poor “reader” and not making quite enough money to be a “user”, it’s interesting to see how far you’ve come in the few years i’ve been reading your blog and watching your cartoons. i have 2 copies of your book (i have mine and the one i let other entrepeneurs borrow), and ‘cube grenades’ in my house and office space.
it’s encouraging to see your words in action. don’t let wearing so many hats change your perspective. keep up with the cartoons. they’re what got me hooked on hugh, and they’re what keep me here.
a bit of advice a friend gave to me, to take as you will: always squeeze the toothpaste tube from the bottom.
Emily, the fact that you read my stuff and buy my books makes you very much a “user”, IMHO
Hugh,
What a wonderful post. Thank you for sharing it. I think what you’ve learned as an artist is incredibly valuable to businesses and the world.
You’re a visual storyteller and that is a fantastic and inspiring gift for the rest of us.
Nettie H.
Hugh,
When I talk about , I always describe you as a “marketing artists”.
Moise
Congrats on the big cross over! I can relate if only in some small way to your “too many hats” issue. For me I constantly have to fight off the urge of new ventures to complete the ones I already have going. Sooner or later the truth of your passion figures everything else out for you.
Simple recipe for success:
1) work your ass off.
2) mix in a dash of marketing and serve hot.
3) work your ass off.
Embrace the title Artist! So many aspire to attain it but you Mr. Macleod deserve it!
I think the trick to wearing multiple hats is to wear one long enough until you get bored or blocked, then swap it for a different hat. It works for hobbies. No significant reason it can’t work for business.
Your work is incomparable as are your observations) – at least, I’m not aware of any like it. Consequently, I hesitate to say what struck me when I saw your latest drawing, which I love! I said to myself, “How Lennon-Picassoesque.” But, of course, it’s way beyond both of them! And way beyond the “cartoonist” moniker.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately too. Yesterday in the studio I was just kind of blown away by how much my life as an artist has changed with success. The day was punctuated by trucks arriving to bring pallets, trucks coming to haul away tons of scrap for recycling, trucks picking up art to ship, orders for more materials to complete a 22 piece sale of firebowls that will go to Norway, an interview, a conference call for a major hotel project, etc. if you’d told me I’d be operating like this five years ago I might not have believed it despite the fact that I always had faith that my art was worth pursuing.
The thing about working as an artist is that you never realize how much of the work is on top of making the actual art. I was remembering how when I started out, I would visit the studios of more established artists and couldn’t begin to grasp how they ran the show. It’s taken years to slowly put each piece in place. Every day there’s new problems to solve, but if you can solve them in a way that sticks— so that from now on that issue is covered, eventually you come up with an efficient system for supporting the most important work you do, which is the art.
I’ve got some support staff now, but still, most of the work and most of the problem solving comes down to me. I like to keep it close to hand… but the only way to do that is to work long hours, get organized as hell, and meet every deadline early. The weird thing maybe is learning that the better I get at getting things done, the more I do. I seem to just keep taking on more and more projects and finding time to do all of them by increasing the efficiency of how I do them.
It’s a crazy circus, but I’ve never loved life more.
Hugh, love “Ignore Everybody”. You have put so much of my inner chatter on one placard. I take an herbal stress remedy to keep that chaos to a murmur so I can get on with life; apparently your chatter is streamlined enough to be able to put it in writing. Bravo! and thanks. I love this article also. I am a hairdresser first, artist second, but working toward the artist first dream. Thanks for sharing you. Molly
It’s so true! One must ignore the nay-sayers and have a sense of stick-to-it-ev-ness. *laughs* Essentially: Be relentless.
Thanks Hugh, for pointing out that the little voice won’t go away, no matter how much I try to ignore it. The gaping void is a experience I’m familiar with because of that fact!
I’m so happy you’ve written a book for the creative in all of us, which needs attention no matter what career path we are in.
Thanks for making me laugh =)