2016 - Saying goodbye to a turbulent year

As most of those who read this, I tend to reflect the most at the end/beginning of a year. We arrange our binders in years and we tend to think chronologically. It's only natural to contemplate more about ups and downs when there is a big cut in that cultural logbook. It asks'what was before?' and 'What will come next?'

I sure as hell didn't write as much as I wanted to. Five blog posts are a measly amount of posts. There are two main reasons - though not excuses:
1) I was really really busy.
2) I am still scared that I have nothing new (or for that exciting) to add to the chorus of creators out there.

Number one is not a problem at all. It just made it obvious to me that I have to step up my game when it comes to my planning skills in the next years. But although I am a wee bit nervous, I also am confident that I will grow into a life with better planning.

Number two is a major issue. 2016 was a better year for me when it comes to social media and I learned a lot by watching how other develop their platforms and fandoms. At the same time I feel tension and hesitation when it comes to putting myself out there.
Why should anybody be interested in what I do? There is already so much stuff out there. Before the summer of 2016, I still had that idea of creating something nobody ever made before...

Which is ridiculous for two reasons.

On one hand I will never find a theme in a medium that nobody ever did think of before....but secondly...when I do it my way, just as it speaks to me, actually, nobody ever did do it like that before because there is nobody exactly like me out there. I'm still getting into this because this asks another "scary" action of myself. Getting in touch with myself and not feel like an egotistical, pretentious prick about it. I put "scary" in quotation marks because there is a shitload of really scary stuff out there in the world, like living in a war zone etc. That shows how relatively easy I feel stupid for getting too deep into own insignificant motifs why I do anything at all.

But there is another reason why I had a hard time convincing myself to write something. There already is so much stuff. Regularly I get overwhelmed by the amount of information waiting for me on social media. Sadly it works like a bag of crisps. You just can not stop until the bag is empty aka. until you read EVERYTHING that happened when you weren't online.
As much as social media can work as a tool for you it also works against you when you fledge from beginner to something more like a pro. Sometimes you need to check what is going on around you and sometimes - as I learned this year - you just have to turn it off. There is a point when you have to put theory into praxis and take a break from taking more stuff in. Letting your brain rest, create boredom to be able to be creative. Just as athletes have to take days off from torturing their muscles to give their muscles time to recover and grow. And then....you have to have balls... to stand out.

Just get out there and quit being afraid!

And with that I'll keep reflecting to myself right now and wish everybody a Happy New Year!

About being in between and getting there

So you finished art school. You are not a beginner any more. Officially - for sure compared to someone who just pursues it as a hobby - you are now a professional. But you yourself feel far away from being as professional as you would like to be? You get commissions. But you are not producing the work you would love to produce?
Then you probably in the gloomy grounds of In-between. When you are still surrounded by the safe borders of art-school-country, In-between seems a country that is far away. You might even think “Yeah, but I will just pass through In-between to get the land of milk and honey were the professionals live and work”.
Then you cross the border and get 'professional' stamp in your passport. Before you can protest - “But I am not a real professional yet” - you get shoved out of the line. There you are in In-between. Just you, your pencil and a stamp in your passport that says that you are already that what you want to be, but seems too presumptuous to actually call yourself that.

Some things that happen in In-between are weird commissions. Things you would not do if you had the freedom (aka. money) to chose in that certain moment: “Sure I do logo design....” up to: “soooo.... you want me to illustrate that book in the style of that famous illustrator who wouldn't work for you because you don't want to pay them what they are worth?” up to just plainly getting laughed at by potential clients, because they assume you are filthy rich if actually anybody would pay you the rates you proposed to them. They didn't laugh at the phone. No, they wrote the laugh in an email (“Hahahahaha....”).

Luckily - at least some wise art-hermits told their followers - you won't spend the rest of your career in In-between. There are some lucky bastards who are able to board the train which goes directly from art-school-country to the promised land where thy pencil has never to be sharpened and thy Wacom nibs won't tear down nor scratch thy Wacom surface. The rest of us have to go through In-between. Sometimes for a longer time than you have thought or you would like to. But just try to enjoy the ride! To give your arty soul some fuel to speed your travels up a bit:


Stephen Silver - "DAMN IT!!! Follow Through"



Stephen Silver - What does hard work for artists mean?

Confessions of an illustrator

Since I wrote about feeling insecure and doubting yourself I thought it maybe time to address how illustrators interact with other people. My view is of course mostly based on my own experiences, feedback by my creative friends and the illustrators/artists I've talked about these experiences. There are however exceptions, so don't think I'd allow myself to think ALL illustrators on this planet feel like this.

If you create art, you have to like spending time with yourself.



Some of us love to paint, draw or write. A big inspiration to write is the fact, that the stories you WOULD have wanted to read, are not out there yet. That's why you write them. Same goes for painting/drawing. The fact that you would rather write/draw/paint than....lets see, go to a big ass party or go rock-climbing or go hiking for days or be a marathon-runner. You write/draw/paint because you feel like it is the best thing to do with your life.
If you paint or draw and pursue it as a professional career it is because you really like doing that. You like making art so much, that you even do it although it can be hard and frustrating at times. In art school I had a time that I got so frustrated by my teachers and assignments, that a friend of mine said 'I don't get it. If you hate making art so much, why don't you stop!?' Fellow artists know what I mean when I told him 'I could never ever do that!!'

Most creatives live in a bubble. It can be hard to grasp why you do what you do for people outside of this bubble. Especially friends and family who have a normal day job have a hard time to understand working freelance, let alone working as a creative freelancer. Sometimes there will be days (or weeks) when things go slow. You finally have a lot of time to work on your personal projects or your website OR to tend to some other things (spring cleaning the house). And then there will be the crazy times, working several client jobs at once, calling non-stop, sending out emails non-stop, being stuck to your phone because you wait for important calls, short nights and ordering take away because you just don't feel like cooking on top of everything else. Sometimes it even means working through the weekend or holidays. Sometimes you will have to cancel a night out with friends because this commission is juicy but sadly has to be done in 2 days (in editorial it's even shorter). Sometimes friends don't understand because 'Your client just can not ask of you to work those crazy times!!? Right!?'
This is only part of it. Living a modest life, so that you don't get into trouble when a client drops you, or working a day job next to your profession are other parts people tend to forget. Not taking part in sports or activities that might endanger your hand/arms/eyes is another consequence of wrapping your life around the fact that you make art. Instead of pursuing these'dangerous activities' you do boring exercises against the inflictions of working as an illustrator.
And although this might sound horrible or weird to some and although others might not understand why you go through with all this when you could just have a normal nine to five job and enjoy holidays and nights/weekends off, you still just LOVE what you do. More than regular work times, more than weekends off, more than being outdoorsy, more than a sport you would like to pursue but is too dangerous for your hands.


(That's me being outdoorsy....)

A lifetime friend - S. Doubt

Everybody has that special friend. For some of you this friend is a big part of your life. Spending waaaayyy too much time with him. Sometimes he starts to creep you out because he just seems to know which are the nights you can't sleep and pops up to keep you company. Some of your other friends don't like him so much. They give you advice, that you don't really need him, that he is just dragging you down, making you feel bad about yourself and that the friendship, you two have, is more of an abusive relationship. But there are other friends who introduced you two by giving well meant advice about what to do differently in your life.

Self Doubt:
noun
1. Lack of confidence in the reliability of one's own motives, personality, thought, etc.

Everybody knows him. Even if you don't belief me because the CEO of a big company can't possibly be uncertain about his business, or the doctor who helped you so confidently in the hospital, or the bus driver who is nice to everyone, or the kind primary school teacher or....
Of course they all have their own Self Doubt. Some are greeted by him in their homes where nobody else waits on them, but him. Some run into him when they least expect it (mostly at nice dinners with a group of friends) and he just sits there, whispering in their ear that everybody else is doing better. Some sleep next to him and he gets up with them, when they are going to make coffee, following them around for the rest of the day. Self Doubt is a good friend, always there when he thinks you need him. Right?

Since Self Doubt is not someone to chase away easily maybe it is a solution to embosom him? Use your relationship to get an insight in your way of working, to get an insight into why you would react as you do. Spar with Self Doubt:
Why are you scared to talk in front of a crowd? What is the worst that can happen? Make Self Doubt clear although he tries to convince you that you will drop dead the moment you mispronounce a word, move weirdly or if you lose your thread, that it won't happen. You won't drop dead. People won't point their fingers. Hack, most people won't even notice and even if they did, they will forget about it.
If you are scared you could mess something up just think about how it could impact your life a month, a year, five years from now. Think about moments when you doubted yourself because of something embarrassing that happened in the past and if anybody now (besides yourself) still cares about it. It will show you how your anxiety fuelled imagination differs from reality. It will put Self Doubt in his place.

Or another example: Why do people give you advice how to do things in your life? Most of them mean well. They want to help you to go down the right path. The problem is that everyone - especially in the creative business - has their own path. There is no recipe to success. Why does Self Doubt show up, when you get that well meant advice? Does he whisper: “They think you are doing it wrong! Everything will be better, if you would just follow their advice.” Do you get confused or angry because you start to doubt yourself after getting that advice? Or because you get the feeling that maybe your friends or family doubt you because they think your life needs some tweaking in the right direction?
They probably just feel that you are not quite there yet. Not there where you want to be, or where they want you to be. Doing well and leading an independent, self sustained and happy/prosperous life. As soon as you realize that most comments about how to do things, are - although not very thoughtful - meant to help you. Self Doubt will not be able to use these comments in his advantage.

These are just two examples how to deal with Self Doubt or one of his friends and family (...auntie anxiety anyone?). Don't ponder too much and confront your Self Doubt why he showed up in that specific moment. It can show you that people want to help you with their advice because they feel your dissatisfaction that you are not yet where or who you want to be. And when you ask him "But I am not that unhappy!? I know it takes time to get where I want to go. I know there is no shortcut. Hack, maybe I never arrive. But that is no reason for you to spoil my ride!"


So F*** you Self Doubt!

First illustration of the year

To get into the mood I started 2016 with this small illustration of a european robin! There is one of these little fellas visiting and living our garden every winter.

Something old and something new.....

So.....its this special time again...

In the neighbourhood I live and work in it is impossible to miss that the end of the year is close. The frequency of early fireworks (although illegal before New Year's Eve) increases with every passing day in December.

With every pop of firework outside my window I get more conscious about this yearly fix point in time. Unintentionally I start to reflect about the ending year and to ponder about the beginning year. What happened? What were the good things? What were the not so good things? Would I do something differently with the knowledge I have now? How will these things change my behaviour in 2016?

At the end of 2015 I followed some good advice from Vanessa Lemen and Laura Panepinto from Muddy Colors.

"Your art as your voice and mirror" by Vanessa Lemen is a more reflective post and helps to get a new, different view on your art/your life. By looking back on what made an impact on you in 2015 helps you to determine what was/is very important. Writing it down and reading it again after some time gives you a clearer image of events. At the same time you will be challenged to ask yourself some questions to get a totally different view on things.

"How to Get What You Want: Know What You Want" by Laura Panepinto is not only for 'New Year's Resolutions' but you can use this throughout the whole year. It is a good method to concretize your goals. On the one hand will you end up with some workable ambitions (e.g. blog once a week/start an instagram) in contrast to a vague goal (e.g. have more online followers). On the other hand you will get a clear picture what is really important and what is not as important as you always thought it would be.

A third method to end the year on a high note and start the new year very motivated is my 'happy jar'.

I write down all the little and big things that made me happy in at some point and put them in that jar. Each year a new glass. I started this new tradition in 2013 because I tend to lose track of all the things I did or experienced and always feel disappointed when a year ends because I wasn't able to fulfil everything I intended to fulfil - or even if I did everything I intended to do - I still think I could have done more or could have done these things better....
At the end of the year I open that jar... and I get a warm fuzzy feeling that this year wasn't so bad after all ;).


All in all 2015 was a good year. Probably even a very good year! My very first year of working full time as an illustrator and I can't say it was a bad first year!

Taking part in competitions was a big part and although I took part in about 10 bigger competitions/judged annuals/judged exhibitions I won one of them and got into two exhibitions.

Through that I got to know some awesome artists and I hope that I will be just as successful as they are, enjoying my wonderful job together with my loved ones. I got to travel and went on holiday for the first time in 8 years! I grew a shit load of vegetables on my 100m² allotment garden, learned to crochet and to knit...and started a new secret hobby which will stay secret so that nobody can ask me to show them how good I got. Something that I greedily keep to myself, hrhr.


Happy new year to everyone out there. May 2016 be a magical year!