Hereâs some of the most amazing and invaluable advice youâll most-likely ever get from one of my good colleagues and legends in comics/gaming, creator JOE MADUREIRA. Itâs what iâve been preaching to you aspiring artists since i arrived on DA, but i think his POV says it perfectly:
*WARNING: SOME MATURE LANGUAGE*
"DO YOU REALLY WANT TO BE A SUCCESSFUL ARTIST?Â
Or a successful WORKING PROFESSIONAL?
Believe it or not there is a difference. Iâm not usually a soapbox type guy, I donât like instructing people, and I think Iâm a terrible teacher. But hey, itâs Friday and Iâm in a strange mood. So here goes:
Iâve noticed that a good number of my fans happen to be aspiring artists themselves. This is for all you guys. I get asked constantly: "Where should I go to school?" "What classes should I take?" "What should I study for anatomy?" "What pencils and paper do you use?" "Should I be working digitally now instead of traditionally?" "How do I fix my poses? Learn composition? Perspective?" "When am I going to develop my own style?" "Who were your influences?" "Teach me how to draw hands!" The list goes onâŠ
Hereâs the deal. All of that stuff *is* important, and it may nudge you in the right direction. A lot of it you will discover for yourself. What works best for one person doesnât work for another. Thatâs the beauty of art. Itâs personal. Itâs discovery. DONâT WORRY ABOUT ALL THAT CRAP!
Instead Iâm going to answer the questions that you *SHOULD* be asking, but arenât. These are things that have only recently occurred to me, after doing this for 20+ years. These things seem so obvious, but apparently they elude a lot of people, because I am surprised at how many ridiculously talented artists are 'failing' professionally. Or just unhappy. The beauty of what Iâm about to tell you is that it doesnât matter what field youâre in or what your art style is.
1) DO WHAT YOU LOVE. If you are passionate about what youâre doing, it shows. If youâre having fun, it shows. If youâre bored, IT SHOWS. Some guys are able to work on stuff they have zero interest in, and still pull off great work, but I find that when I do this my motivation takes a huge hit. And Motivation is key. Money is not a great motivator. Itâs temporary like everything else. And honestly, Iâve gotten paid the most money for some of the shittiest work I have ever done. That may sound awesome, but itâs not. And hereâs whyâŠ
2) You MUST stay Excited and Motivated. Have you noticed that there are days you canât draw a god damned thing? And some days you feel like you can draw anything? Itâs 4am but you donât notice because you are in the ZONE. Your hand is racing ahead of your mind and you can do no wrong?! Maybe itâs some new paper you got. Or a new program youâve been wanting to try out. Or you just found some amazing shit on DeviantArt, or watched some movie that just makes you want to run straight to your board. This relates to the above because while it is possible to involve yourself in projects you arenât excited aboutâmaybe you need the cash, or think it will look good on your resume, whatever it isâitâs not going to last. You need to stay fresh. Expose yourself to new things. New techniques. You should be getting tired of your own shit on a fairly regular basis. Otherwise other people will.
3) Check your Ego. If you think youâre the shit, youâre already doomed. You may be really, really good at what you do, but thereâs someone better. Sorry. Thereâs always plenty to learn, even for us old dogs. So when I meet young upstarts who have this sense of entitlement, or a know-it-all attitude, I just have to laugh. Some of the biggest egos Iâve ever witnessed were from people who have accomplished the least. Meanwhile, most guys who are supremely talented AND successful, and have EARNED the RIGHT to have an ego and throw their weight around, donât. Why is that? Itâs becauseâŠ
4) RELATIONSHIPS ARE IMPORTANT. This may be one of the biggest lessons Iâve had to learn. Early on, I didnât value my relationships with people. Creatively or otherwise. I felt like I didnât need anyoneâs help and I could figure everything out on my own. Letâs face it, many of us become artists because we are reclusive, social misfits. Weâd rather stay inside and draw shit than go outside and play. We like to live inside our own minds. Why not?! Itâs awesome in there! And sometimes we donât want to let other people in. But like I saidâyou canât do it alone. I can honestly say that as much as I try to stay current, as much as I try to push my work and draw kick ass shit that will excite people, I would not be where I am today if it werenât for all the other people Iâve met and learned from along the way. Guys who pulled strings for me. Took risks on me. Believed I was the right guy for the job. You need to manage your relationships. You need to network, and meet people. Drawing comics is still a pretty good place for reclusive typesâbut if you want to work in big studiosâMaking games, Films, animation, basically any other type of job on the planet, youâd better start making some connections. Be likeable. Be professional. That doesnât mean be an opportunistic ladder climber. Fake people lose in the end. Be yourself, but be professional. Itâs no secret that when people are hiring, our first instinct is to bring in people we know. Itâs human nature. I donât like unknowns, even if their portfolio is awesome. If we have a mutual connection, if they have great things to say about you, youâre in. If you have AMAZING artwork to show, and I call your last employer and they tell me what a pain in the ass you are to work with, youâre done. Talent and skill only get you so far. I am literally amazed at how often I meet guys that are total assholes and think they are going to get anywhere.
5) Hereâs the BIG ONE. The greatest obstacle you will ever have to overcome IS YOURSELF. And the Fear that you are creating in your own head. Stay positive. Stop defeating yourself. There are artists I know that are so damn good they make me pee my pants. I look up to these mofos. I study their shit and I want to draw like them. And they are almost NEVER working on their DREAM project. Andâbig surprise, they arenât happy in their job. âWhy NOT?! WTF is WRONG WITH YOU?!â is usually my reaction. And the answer is almost always "The market isnât great right now" "Other stories/games/comics like mine donât do very well" "The shit thatâs hot right now is nothing like mine, Itâs just going to fail." "Iâm not sure Iâm good enough." "I need the money." "Too Risky." "I tried it before and failed. " It doesnât matter what words they use, they are afraid for one reason or another. I know. Iâve been there.
But hereâs the deal. YOU NEED TO TAKE RISKS. Guess what? YOU ARE MOST LIKELY GOING TO FAIL. If you want itâREALLY want it, that wonât stop you. You will learn A LOT. My good friend Tim constantly jokes about how I jump out of planes without a parachute and worry about the landing on the way down. You may think that Iâm lucky, that itâs easy for me to say because Iâm already successful, that Iâm in a different situation than you all are. But itâs not true. Risk is risk, no matter what level youâre at. If youâre already successful, you just take even bigger risks. But they never go away. Everything in life is Risk vs. Reward. Not just in your career. LIFE. Youâd better get used to it.
I didnât know what the hell I was doing when I got into comics. I left the #1 selling book at the time ( Uncanny X-men ) to work on Battle Chasers during a time when 'Conan' was about the only fantasy comic people knew. And no one was buying it. I wanted to work in games, so I started a game company. I had NO IDEA WTF I was doing. I just wanted it, really bad. We tanked. It failed. No big surprise. But the people I worked with got hired elsewhere and rehired me. I started ANOTHER game Company. We had 4 people and a dream, and some publishers wouldnât even meet with us, because their ânext gen consoleâ teams had 90+ people on them. I literally got hung up on. "Stick to handheld games, itâs smaller, maybe you can handle thatâŠ" one MAJOR publisher told us. I donât blame them. But we didnât let it stop us. Thank god we didnât listen to them. Vigil was born. Darksiders happened, AND we got to make a sequel. It stands shoulder to shoulder with the best games in the industry, and the most elite and experienced game dev studios in the world. How is that possible?!!! Hardly any of us had even worked on a console game before. Iâll be honest, I was thinking we would fail the whole time. I just didnât care. If I had to play the odds on this one, Iâd bet against us.
Why am I telling you all this shit? This is not me patting myself on the back. Itâs just stuff that has somehow only dawned on me recently when itâs been staring me in the face for so long. I feel like I need to wake you guys up!!! Iâve been limiting myself. Iâve gotten afraid. Iâve taken less risks. I saw my career going places I didnât want to go. I wasnât happy and I wasnât excited. And Iâve realized, that all that stuff I just talked about is the reason I am where I am today. Not because I have a manga style, or I draw cool hands, or thereâs energy in my drawings, or all the other things people rattle off to me. There are other guys that do all that same shit, and do it better. And amazingly, those same guys constantly tell me âMan, I wish I could do what you are doing.â âSO DO IT!!!!!â PLEASE listen to meâbecause I want you guys to make it. I want to look to one of you people for inspiration some day when itâs 2am and I need to keep drawing. Stop worrying about all the other stuffâthe pencils, the paper, the anatomy, all that shit. It will only get you so far. Youâve already got most of what you need. I hope this helps some people. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for all the support over the years. You are all one of the greatest motivating forces in my life and my career. Sappy but true. Ok, letâs go draw some shit!!!â
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