12-08-2014, 12:24 AM
Not only can you do all those things but in some respect I recommend that you DO do all those things. An epiphany is not some sudden revelation out of nowhere that suddenly gives you all the knowledge in the world. An epiphany is the accumulation of knowledge, that ultimately results in a great idea. Most people sleep 8 hours a day. That means you have SIXTEEN hours every day at least to pursue your interests. You have plenty of time every day to invest in your knowledge and skills that you can do all of those things, and do all of them relatively well. There's likely going to be one you favor over the other, but they all feed into each other.
You may have a job that takes up 8 or more of those 16 hours. Well that still leaves you with another 8 hours a day. 8x7=56. 56 hours a week. Divide that up by the importance of the subject you want to study. Do you prefer illustration over comics? Prioritize that. Do you want to improve in one area that you're weaker in? Prioritize that. etc etc. Bill gates didn't take a single day off of working on microsoft from the time he was 20 til he was 30. He loved what he did and did it everyday and look where that got him.
"Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Discharge your duties faithfully and well. Step by step you get ahead, but not necessarily in fast spurts. But you build discipline by preparing for fast spurts. Slug it out one inch at a time, day by day. At the end of the day – if you live long enough – most people get what they deserve."
-Charlie Munger
Some days you won't have 8 hours to work on your craft. In those times, do as Jerry seinfeld does. Buy yourself a single sheet, 12 month calendar, and a big red marker. Your only job is to do your thing every single day. It can be for 5 minutes or for 10 hours, and if you do that then you get to put a big red X on that day. The important thing is this : DONT BREAK THE CHAIN.
That goes doubly for trying new things and experimenting. The more diverse the range of experiences you have, and the more consistently you pursue them, the more pools you can draw from to become amazing at whatever you settle down on. If you like a cartoony style, that doesn't preclude you from studying realism. In fact it will likely inform it and make it all the better. I used to think that all I'd ever do was character art, but I decided to step out of my comfort zone and do environments and perspective and I ended up loving it. In fact many days I wonder if I should focus on them more since I love them so much. Point being, if you're torn between two things that might just be because they deserve the same amount of love. And when it comes to art there's no reason you can't do that
If you don't have what you want yet, it's probably because you don't deserve it yet. But by asking this question, by joining this forum and sharing your work, by toughing it out and staying with your passion for four years when most would have given up in the first few weeks, and by not caving in to peer pressure, you've already taken the first and most crucial steps to deserving it. You've written yourself a post-dated cheque signed by the future you, the you that has what it wants.
But that doesn't mean be overly optimistic. There's still work to do, but you can rest easier and stop pulling your hair out knowing that your actively seeking out the right path to your end desitnation (a career in art)
Hope that helps
You may have a job that takes up 8 or more of those 16 hours. Well that still leaves you with another 8 hours a day. 8x7=56. 56 hours a week. Divide that up by the importance of the subject you want to study. Do you prefer illustration over comics? Prioritize that. Do you want to improve in one area that you're weaker in? Prioritize that. etc etc. Bill gates didn't take a single day off of working on microsoft from the time he was 20 til he was 30. He loved what he did and did it everyday and look where that got him.
"Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Discharge your duties faithfully and well. Step by step you get ahead, but not necessarily in fast spurts. But you build discipline by preparing for fast spurts. Slug it out one inch at a time, day by day. At the end of the day – if you live long enough – most people get what they deserve."
-Charlie Munger
Some days you won't have 8 hours to work on your craft. In those times, do as Jerry seinfeld does. Buy yourself a single sheet, 12 month calendar, and a big red marker. Your only job is to do your thing every single day. It can be for 5 minutes or for 10 hours, and if you do that then you get to put a big red X on that day. The important thing is this : DONT BREAK THE CHAIN.
That goes doubly for trying new things and experimenting. The more diverse the range of experiences you have, and the more consistently you pursue them, the more pools you can draw from to become amazing at whatever you settle down on. If you like a cartoony style, that doesn't preclude you from studying realism. In fact it will likely inform it and make it all the better. I used to think that all I'd ever do was character art, but I decided to step out of my comfort zone and do environments and perspective and I ended up loving it. In fact many days I wonder if I should focus on them more since I love them so much. Point being, if you're torn between two things that might just be because they deserve the same amount of love. And when it comes to art there's no reason you can't do that
If you don't have what you want yet, it's probably because you don't deserve it yet. But by asking this question, by joining this forum and sharing your work, by toughing it out and staying with your passion for four years when most would have given up in the first few weeks, and by not caving in to peer pressure, you've already taken the first and most crucial steps to deserving it. You've written yourself a post-dated cheque signed by the future you, the you that has what it wants.
But that doesn't mean be overly optimistic. There's still work to do, but you can rest easier and stop pulling your hair out knowing that your actively seeking out the right path to your end desitnation (a career in art)
Hope that helps