August 15, 2023

Crunchy or Smooth

Some people prefer crunchy peanut butter, other people prefer smooth. It’s not that one is better than the other, they’re just different. And, no matter how compelling-a-case I could put together for why crunchy is better, I will never win over devotees of the smooth variety.

Same goes for art. While some types/styles of art may appeal to a bigger audience than others, there will always be a smaller audience for a type of art – some like crunchy, some like smooth.

So, when we’re judging ourselves and our work based on quantitative metrics like how many sales, how many followers, how many likes, and so on, we’re looking at the wrong metrics. If you’re trying to sell smooth peanut butter to crunchy fanatics (and no one is buying it), it easy to think your smooth recipe sucks rather than what’s really going on, you just haven’t found your people, yet.

Other observations
December 30, 2025

Procrastination or rest?

How do I know if reading books, playing video games, going for walks and doing chores around the house is procrastination or rest?

December 23, 2025

Not a dream, a job

Is being a ‘full-time illustrator’ all it’s cracked up to be or do we romanticise this way to make money because it reminds of childhood?

December 16, 2025

The elements of beauty

Beauty comes in many forms, in many different times, to many different people. So, what makes something beautiful?

December 9, 2025

Which idea next?

If an artist finds themselves with too many ideas, is there a deceptively simple way to decide which idea we should work on next?

December 2, 2025

Making a map of dead ends

If we can more easily see the paths we shouldn’t follow, does that make finding the correct one easier?

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