Tag: freedom

  • Mastering the flow: why less pressure works better

    Mastering the flow: why less pressure works better

    We all aspire to greatness. Some more than others–and it often leads to dissatisfaction, frustration, and burnout. Less pressure works better than pushing to your limits at all times.

    I’ve always been a tryharder and often, I felt proud of it. My approach to everything was just to try harder. I made a mistake? Try harder. My client wasn’t as happy? Try harder. My drawing wasn’t perfect? Yes, you guessed it: Try harder.

    We love to think that life is simple like that, that we can have a formula for success and follow it to get the results we want every time, but growing up means realizing that isn’t true. Life sometimes gets nasty, and even when we “do everything right”, results can lead to failure. It is ok to try hard but not for everything, at all moments.

    I published a video about how the flow has been my friend lately:

    Maybe the answer is to not push ourselves all the time. I know that there are moments in life where there’s no way around it, but unlearning the “tryhardiness” has been one of the most difficult tasks of my 30’s.

    Final Thoughts

    Be nice to yourself and allow yourself to be OK. Not perfect. Sometimes we can’t control the outcome even if we push ourselves to the limit, so let go of that expectation to be better all the time. You’re a human being that is human just for being. To be or not to be….amiright?

  • In defense of freedom (you don’t need a style)

    In defense of freedom (you don’t need a style)

    Do you know who George Miller is? He wrote the movies Mad Max and Babe. Do you think those two movies are part of the same “collection”? Let that sink in.

    You might identify as an artist, or wanna be artist, or just someone who enjoys creating. If you want to do this professionally, they say, you should find a style and stick to it. Really? I mean I get it. People see things and say “oh I want one just like this one”. And if we’re applying to a certain job or gig, maybe we can create a tailored portfolio for that (we’re supposed to do that anyway, no?). But why limit yourself to marrying a style or theme?

    So here I am once more yelling at the void.

    Even the greatest artists needed some freedom. You probably have heard of Picasso. And this is what you think of when they mention his name:

    But did you know this is also his? (And to put us all to shame, he painted it when he was 14 years old!)

    Even his later work was pretty different than his early cubism days but since he was pretty famous (and still is) nobody cares much. He was/is allowed to be free. To talk about freedom is a little bit deeper than this but at the end of the day, when you have a certain status, you’re allowed to make more choices and execute them. Most people probably won’t have this same privilege, but in retrospect, I am no one. Nobody expects anything from me (perhaps just mom and dad) so why should I limit myself to a certain style or theme? Being a nobody, and having no current prospects for my art or clients, why shouldn’t I just enjoy creating?

    Yup. I think even if I had prospects… I can tailor my portfolio, right? I’ve read and seen in many videos of well-established artists mentoring young aspiring artists that they must create the work they want to be hired for. For example, do you want to be hired for children’s books? Do passion projects for yourself, do children’s books. Then put that in a pretty portfolio and get out there. Yell to the void. Someone will listen eventually. Or not. It is very much luck anyway but let’s get free of this idea of style and pressure when there’s really no actual value on that.

    So here are some images because I want to show how different things can be when you’re having fun. I had a lot of fun with each of these, and they all are special to me. I don’t think people will necessarily map them together to say those were painted by me, but does that matter? We add our little signatures, or social media, or whatever. It is there.