Introduction
This week’s blog post is a personal one. I’ve been thinking about my relationship with art and how I want to continue my passion, if at all, in the future. In my last “The State of Things” blog post The State of Things #3 | New passions & a new house I talked a little about why I don’t consider to by art my passion anymore, but in this blog post I want to dive deeper into my relationship with art and how I hope to keep it alive in my life - forever and always.
Table of Contents
Introduction The BeginningTodayYesterdayTraditional Art My InstagramBrief attempt at Concept artTomorrowConclusionResources
The Beginning
Nicole's love for art started at a young age, as a way to cope with a restrictive and lonely childhood.
If you’re an artist, or really into one of your hobbies, chances are someone has asked you how you got started. Here is my answer to that question.
Without going too deep into it, know that I had a bit of a lonely and restrictive childhood. No more than 10 minutes of TV per day. No going outside without supervision. My parent were constantly on call at home, and when they were on the phone I wasn’t allowed to been seen or make noise. So, what does a child do when they have to stay in their room (X sports), aren’t allowed to make noise (X singing), and are confined to their room all day (X cooking, gardening, gymnastics)? They read! But I’ve read all my books all ready… twice… Ok well then, they draw!
And thus my artistic hobby began at the ripe age of 10 years old, with the help of my light blue Nintendo DSi. My parents didn’t know I had it. It was my window to the outside world via an animation and drawing app called Flipnote Hatena.
I still remember one of the first comments I ever got on Flipnote… it was something along the lines of “You’re only X years old, and your art is already this good? I just know you’re going to make it big someday!”. To be honest, my brain probably romanticized the wording of that comment a little - but to young, emotionally starved Nicole, that one comment was the fuel I needed to kickstart a deep, intense, and life long relationship with making art.
You can see the kind of art I made and my improvement progress on this blog post - 12 years of pixel self portraits.
Today
Despite social media clout chasing, Nicole prefers to create art that is impactful and enjoyable to her.
- I’ve purged social media out of my mind for a few years.
- I don’t want to do fan art anymore. I’m not really into the clout as much as a used to be.
- I’ve been thinking about doing video content… but then I remember… I don’t like doing video content.
- I would rather focus on outputs that are both 1. impactful, and 2. that I enjoy.
- I think starting up momentum for creation is the hardest part. Once you start and you have a good rhythm going, the story and creative momentum will push you to keep creating. The difficult part is to balance and hold on. Life may randomly jump in front of your creative car—the goal is to navigate it with grace and keep moving.
- I’m currently working on a reverse iseaki project. My goal with this project to is to have fun and to produce something tangible.
- I think I’m going to make this one into a light novel. I don’t have the time or energy to make it into a real comic. Related articles: Generate creative momentum (15 minute challenge for creating new ideas) and (why the light novel format instead of a comic).
Yesterday
Art……………. I love art……….. I love the feeling you get when you’re validated by internet strangers by little internet hearts and comments.
I’m competitive and I’m a try hard. From Noob → X Rank. How to be good at Splatoon 3
Traditional Art
This painting is around 5 ft tall in person. Completed at an intensive Summer art program in 2016. The most well known alumni from that program is Donald Glover AKA Childish Gambino.
Both of these paintings I finished while doing 1 painting a day during the summer of 2017.
My Instagram
- I used to be a total clout chaser. I joined fandoms for 1. the art clout, and 2. the community. I was a contributing member of the JJBA fandom when Part 5: Vento Aureo was airing.
- I love contributing to zines! I’ve so far participated in 7 of them. What is a Fanzine - Anime News Network?
If you want to know how deep fanzines go, check out this exhaustive list from just one fandom List of Boku no Hero Academia Zines - Fanlore. I participated in 1 of these zines - the Arise Winter Edition BNHA fashion zine. It was probably the most well organized zine I’d ever been a part of.
Brief attempt at Concept art
At the start of 2020, when I was burnt out from being a Computer Science major at an Engineering University, I decided I wanted to take my art career seriously. I took a couple of concept art classes In L.A., and ultimately decided that concept art wasn’t for me.
If this is your first time hearing the term concept art - a concept artist is a designer who visualizes & creates art for characters, creatures, vehicles, environments, and other creative assets. So think of the imaginary world of Star Wars. A concept artist is the person who designs the visual elements of the aliens, spaceships, costumes, and planets (though likely there are multiple concept artists working on a production who all specialize in their own thing).
If concept art sounds interesting to you or you want to level up your art skills in general, check out my blog post on Here’s where to take art classes online in 2023 .
Tomorrow
In tomorrow's creative journey, Nicole aims to start her own media company and work with a variety of artists to make comics.
My goal for tomorrow is to continue to work on my very first light novel, then to pull a Merryweather. Start my own media company, work with a bunch of different artists to make a ton of comics. The goal isn’t to make money, but to support creativity and foster financial stability and independence for artists and creatives to live their best lives.
I recommend The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber to any artist who wants to make money from their art. This isn’t a book marketed or written for artists. Its a book for small time entrepreneurs who are first starting out. It really opened my eyes to the different roles a business owner can take to work in and on their business:
- The Technician lives in the present and is focused on doing the work of making it, selling it and delivering it. Examples: the concept artist, line artist, colorist, comic creator.
- The Manager focuses on achieving results through people and systems, focusing on the present and strategizing for the future. Examples: a project manager, a creative producer.
- The Entrepreneur defines the business, and focuses on closing the gap between where the business is today and where they want it to be. Examples: a creative director, a business owner, a CEO.
Conclusion
Holy shit this was a long article… I meant for it to be short, but I just couldn’t help it—I had too much on my mind. But regardless, I hope this gave you a glimpse into my creative mind. I’m looking forward to continuing my creative journey, wherever it takes m
Finally, Keep an eye out for a future article by me on the myth of the tortured artist. Why I hate the myth of the suffering artist | Books | The Guardian.
Here’s a video by Ethan Becker that I watched recently and resonated with.
