Just imagining a drawing isn’t good enough. If no one can see it, how will I know it’s any good?
Author: Matt Shanks
The necessity of unpleasant emotions
While all emotion sits on a spectrum of pleasant to unpleasant, what may matter more is the energy behind it.
Being published doesn’t help
Do you start thinking professionally once you start working professionally?
The death of the still image?
With the overwhelming cultural move toward video content, what is to be done with the humble and understated still image?
Becoming more like me
Is it possible to iterate and calculate your way to your authentic self? Or, is the way to get there, in fact, the opposite?
Artist as social media bait
Is social media worth the time of the artist, anymore? Or is that time better spent making the work?
Monks don’t use leaf blowers
Is there value in doing things the slow way, sometimes? And why don’t monks use leafblowers when there’s so much sweeping to be done?
The feeling of the thing
What does it mean to find ‘the feeling of the thing’ and why would anyone bother?
Those distinguishing features
Why are we so quick to identify what we don’t have rather than what we do have?
What are the stakes?
How might our stories have universal appeal and what can we use to make sure we don’t forget about the core conflict that makes it exciting?