Students, artists in particular, get frustrated with the seeming lack of speed on their journey to “success” (whatever that might mean). And I get it. I quit art school (the first time in the 80s) with one semester to go because I was offered a job “ghost” painting with a professional illustrator. I mean, the choice of go to school or make money and art…. well, it was a no-brainer. I wasn’t even an intern; I was drawing and underpainting this guy’s commission work and he’d finish the last layer, sign the pieces, and off they’d go to the publisher. The artist ended up being really bad to work for so I quit that as well. It took me another 4 years of working on my skills to build a portfolio to get a break into the illustration industry.
The kind of work opportunity in the creative arts like I had might not exist nowadays so what do you do to speed things up? Well, you don’t. You really can’t put learning a craft and developing your style and unique voice on overdrive. You really can’t. You just have to put in the time.
Yes, time. I always like to call it “ass-in-the-seat time”— which made my college students cringe-giggle I think, because it acknowledges the painful reality that an arts career for most people has no shortcuts. Time in the studio at your easel or on your instrument are really all the dues you have to pay to get to where you want to go in the arts. Honing our chops is what gets us there.
But you cry, “what about so-and-so who got into such-and-such gallery and got this [insert lucky break here]?” Well, there are always the rare exceptions. We hear about these Special Ones and think that could have been us. We like to think we’d have gotten the same lucky break, but statistically speaking, it was never likely so, no.
So, gentle art Gnomes, just put in the time. Do the work. Spend your energy on thinking about your art and your path and don’t worry about anyone else’s timeline or luck. Flood the world with your vision. Keep plugging away at it and don’t quit. Good things are bound to happen because those ripples in the pond must end up somewhere.
~K2