Struggle of an Artist
On the daily grind
I spent much of last year trying to get work as an illustrator. This year is about doing the work. This slide is by Cristoph Niemann, where he talks about… not the typical struggling to put food on the table artist.
Nope he’s talking about the struggle as an artist. The struggle to turn a blank page into something that, as he puts it, is not embarrassing.
The most painful part is ‘getting the idea’, It’s a treasure hunt from one procrastination to the next until one sudden moment of joy, which quickly deteriorates into mundane execution.
As I get into the new year, I’m embracing the struggle, thankful for every blank page that I will get to transform.
A wrestler enters a ring. A footballer takes to the pitch. In better times we struggle through traffic to get to our cubicles and co-working spaces.
Everyone struggles with something, this is my chosen form of struggle, the blank page. I love the struggle :)
They say, do what you love. I say find a struggle you can endure the most.
“If I persist long enough, I will win”
Haha, that graph is spooky. That concept stage is agonising for sure. But the idea when it comes, is so full of possibility. But when it comes to actually getting it done - more agony. Until you chisel out something good. It reminds me of the classic Hemingway quote: "There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly; sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges." Why do we do it to ourselves? Haha!
HaHa! I love this graph! I live it every time!