If the practice makes it into the performance, how will anyone be blown away by the magic?
Author: Matt Shanks
Safe bets
How do you choose a wine if you’re not into wine? Standing in front of a shelf of over 1200 wine bottles, all of varying prices, designs, flavour profiles or sizes, the choice is overwhelming. If you know nothing about wine, awards help. If something is awarded, and something isn’t, perhaps the awarded one is… Continue reading Safe bets
Manage or Make
The work of illustration is deep work. It’s difficult to chip away at it in-between other things. It takes a while to get into a flow state and to stay there for a period of time. Illustration work requires stretches of time and concentration in the realms of 2-4 hours per session, minimum. Schedule even… Continue reading Manage or Make
Someone else is better than you
What if we forgot about our weaknesses and focussed on our strengths? What if we teamed up with people who had strengths that complemented our weaknesses?
It’ll be slower than you think
Success isn’t slow, we just imagine it to be fast.
Test and learn
When learning anything new, fast feedback cycles matter. The earlier we get feedback, the quicker we learn, the quicker we learn, the faster we improve.
It’s not you, it’s me
It’s easy to blame ‘them’ for not understanding. For not getting it. For not seeing the genius in your work. But what if they’re right?
Roald Dahl doesn’t have an Instagram account
Roald Dahl doesn’t have an Instagram account. He passed away in 1990. But there are over 300,000 posts tagged #roalddahl and the ‘official HQ account’ on Instagram has over 57,000 followers. Managing social media, along with all the other stuff I have to do in life, is hard. It’s a time-suck. The algorithms that drive… Continue reading Roald Dahl doesn’t have an Instagram account
A new table
Changing me is hard. It’s far easier to change my environment, and then watch it change me in return.
Draw everyday. Or don’t.
Some advice is good, and some is bad. What’s most important about any advice, is that it’s just advice. What works for some, doesn’t work for others.