499 - Which of These 3 Pitfalls is Stopping You and How to Overcome

0:02on the creative journey it's easy to get lost but don't worry you lift off sometimes you just me a creative pimp song okay on today's episode we've got an ask dr pizza episode a fan favorite type episode around here where you send in questions and i explore and answer them today we're going to talk about ai we're going to talk about what do you do when you have time constraints like you're caregiving, you have other jobs, other commitments. What do you do when you just can't do the creative thing the way that you want to or the way you used to? And we're also gonna talk about how do you have a newsletter if you're not super comfortable writing or if there's something about your practice where you're being asked to do things that make you uncomfortable.

1:06I'll be back at the end with a call to adventure, a CTA, where you can put these things to practice. And it's called a little game we're calling Constrained Afraid or Uncomfortable. It doesn't sound like a fun game, but I promise it will be. And this was fun for me to work through as well and gave me some insights to my own creative practice. So stay tuned for that at the end. And without further ado, let's get to the first question.

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3:29Hello, Dr. Pizza. It's Phoebe here. I'm a fellow Neuros by C person. And I was working as a full time artist up until quite recently when I had to retrain as a teacher. And I'm now working part time to supplement my income. And we also have three neurodivergent children. So I only have small windows of time for creativity. I feel like there is so much pressure on that hour or so a day that I often become stuck with a kind of decision paralysis and I end up not really doing anything creative at all I am the sort of person that really gets into work after a few hours so I don't really know how to bring back kind of painting into my life and I'm feeling really frustrated so i just thought you might have some advice um and i also wanted to say thank you so much for your podcast it has been a lifeline to me and i'm sure countless others so keep up the good work and yeah thank you so much bye hey phoebe okay so first of all i just want to say i just want to recognize that there are seasons of your life where creativity isn't possible you know at least making art, making stuff.

4:49You can always be creative in all of the aspects, blah, blah, blah. Okay, whatever. You know what I mean. And I want to acknowledge that because I think it's important to acknowledge that there are life circumstances that genuinely make it impossible to be creative. And that's okay. And actually, sometimes that's exactly what the doctor ordered, this doctor included, that sometimes you got to really step away for a while and let the ground lie fallow, I think they say. And that's okay. I think that's great, actually, sometimes. That's exactly what you need. That aside, I want to just offer some different thoughts because that exact scenario I found myself in, not full-time but close to full-time when I was starting out in illustration.

5:35I'd gone full-time as an illustrator for a little while then had to go back and get a job. I had almost no time to make stuff. And what I had to do was not say, well, this is making it so that how I make stuff isn't possible. I had to say, how I make stuff has to change given this scenario. And so I get you have a rich practice and a long history doing this. And I totally understand that you have learned a tremendous amount about what it looks like for you to get in the flow state and for you to get great results in your work. But I would encourage you and maybe challenge you to say this phrase that here, there's a business expert named Michael Hyatt.

6:24And he says, when things happen, bad things happen, one thing that you can do is say, what does this make possible? and so what it makes possible is you have an opportunity to streamline your process you have an opportunity to reinvent your process to try something you never tried before you know maybe this is exactly what you need to look at the season you were in before and where you had this open wide space and you were exploring the the full possibilities of what it looked like to do what you did full-time in that huge canvas of time and now say, now I've got a smaller canvas, maybe literally, what could I do if I only have this amount of time?

7:07And what I would do and what I did do in that time was I said, what is a project that I can create? What can I create given the time that I have? And create a commitment to a small body of work going in a particular direction, take a bet in that direction and say, okay, at that time, all I wanted to do was make band posters, but I only had about a half an hour a day, sometimes an hour, half an hour to an hour a day to make any creative stuff. And I needed a half a day at least to make a poster, if not a full day to make a poster longer. And so what I could do, what that made possible when I no longer had that time was say, what other things have I wanted to explore that take way less time?

7:54And for me, it was character exploration. And so I did that character drawing project where I did a new character every weekday for a year. Another way this came up was I was working on a project in my mid-20s, like a book project where I was already behind in my schedule, you know, shocking. And about halfway through the project, maybe three-fourths of the project in, I lost all of my work. I lost all the files, like my hard drive died or something. And at first I was just completely panicking because that work had already been so time consuming. And yes, I mourned it and I needed to and I was frustrated, but then I also had this deadline.

8:34I also knew I have to make this stuff. And now you might not have a deadline, but if I know you and I've watched you make all this work, I have to believe that you also have this imperative, you have this intrinsic motivation that says, I have to make this work. And so you're in a similar scenario. So there I was, I'd lost all the work and I thought, okay, there's no way I can make all this work the way that I was working and get it to the finish line in time. Are there any ways that I could streamline this process? Or was I just going about it in a way that however I wanted to, or was I going about it in a willy way where the process just was whatever it became.

9:15And if I stop in this moment and say, how could I achieve the same result in a much quicker way? And I redid all of those illustrations and all the rest of the illustrations I had to do with so much more efficiency than I had starting. And I did it a totally different way. It completely changed my process during that time. And so, first of all, sometimes you need seasons where you're not making anything. That's legit, and I get that. Sometimes, even if you wanted to, you can't. I understand that, and I respect that. So that's the first thing. Second thing is, yes, grieve that things have changed, that you had a whole season of your life where you were making things in a certain way, and assuming you were doing so because on some level, it was successful.

10:03It was meaningful. It was joyful. That's important to accept and grieve. You know, that's legit. And I think it's important to create that space for that. But the third thing is you can stop and say, what does this make possible? Because now is the time to explore curiosities that you had that didn't fit into that old way of working. that you have moved from a closed mode of executing a way of work in a certain way into an open space because of these constraints. These constraints, these closed doors have created a new space. And that new space, you get to determine if you paint stuff that you'd never painted before, that determines if you throw paint out the window and you start creating in a totally different medium.

10:55Whatever it is, what I would encourage you to do is to do it through the lens of curiosity and do it through the lens of what does this make possible and do it through the lens of what Ryan Holiday and the Stoics call the obstacle is the way. Because also when I moved to the UK to study illustration design, I did that to make screen printed band posters. I couldn't find anybody in my city that could teach me how to screen print onto paper. They were all only t-shirt shops, acted like I'd lost my mind trying to do it onto paper. you know, I'm not sure why, but I couldn't get anybody in the whole time that I was there for, for three years of my college experience.

11:35Um, their college experience is three years. Okay. I finished the degree judgy people that whole time. It took me to the end of that experience to say, okay, I can't make band posters, which is the thing that illustrators are doing in that space. I can't do that. But what does this make possible? And if you're watching on YouTube, you see right behind me, the Indie Rock coloring book. That's what I did. I created a coloring book instead of posters because that's something I can print at home, black and white. That's what was made possible to me. And that's what you have to, you have to see those obstacles as the brief.

12:12That's the constraint. You got a brief through the door from life. It said the next body of work you're making, there's one constraint that you can't defy and it's, you only have 20 minutes to make it. And once you create that project, and at first you could do, I'm going to do five pieces in this direction because I'm not that sure about it. Create this commitment. And once you've decided, now you've also dealt with that analysis paralysis because you don't have to show up to the canvas and say, what am I going to make? You've already decided it because you've decided it because you've made it a project.

12:46So that's what I would do. If you haven't taken time off and taking time to grieve, do that first. But after you've done that, ask yourself, what does this make possible? What is the obstacle that's the way? How has life given me a different brief to get a different type of creativity? And see how, even if that's not the ideal result, it might actually come full circle and impact your old process and your old way of doing things as well. Hello, Andy. How are you? I hope that you are doing well. My name is Candice, and I'm currently working as a graphic designer, but my true passion is illustration.

13:28So somewhere around last year, I started to pick up my drawing and I draw on my free time. It's been almost a year now that I finally feel a bit comfortable and want to share my illustration on my social media. But every single time when I was about to share, this fear of the AI scanning thing really prevents me from posting because I guess I'm just not a fan of this using other people's intellectual without permission. But at the same time, I know that this is unavoidable So this is a constant struggle for me. And I wonder if you've ever thought about it. And if so, how do you make peace of it?

14:17Like, how do you eventually be okay with it? What's that conversation like in your mind? Thank you. Keep up the good work. And I hope you have a great day. Hey, Candice. So I really like this question. and it's a really important one, I think. Should you put your stuff out there when we know these AI models are training on different platforms stuff? This is a super complicated question. It's really hard to answer. And I don't have an exact answer, but I do have something interesting to add to the conversation that may be of use to you. And I'll start it by saying that although we are experiencing this phenomenon of AI art for the first time, and it is really groundbreakingly overwhelming, I'll just say, in all sorts of ways, and unprecedented, we'll say, our favorite word in the past few years.

15:14It is unprecedented. However, there are some things about your message that are incredibly familiar to me. And it reminds me of this quote that I heard from Eric Newsom, who's a guy that works in podcasting. He has a book called, I think it's called Make Some Noise, something like that. I'll put a link in the show notes. He's worked in podcasting for a long time, worked at NPR, and then worked at an Amazon company. I think it was Audible is where he worked. And during that time, he heard Jeff Bezos say this thing. Now, just for the record, not a Jeff Bezos fan by any stretch of the imagination.

15:59However, you got to give credit where it's due. And this particular insight I think is really juicy and applicable here. And I think it really, a lot of creative people could get a lot from this idea. And so I try not to always judge something useful by where it comes from always. So, you know, the fact that it came from Jeff Bezos aside, let's just talk about this idea because I think it's a really powerful one in terms of getting anything done, getting anywhere interesting. And so Eric Newsom tells a story in his book about Jeff Bezos saying that he constantly gets asked to predict the future and he tries to always refuse to do so because anybody that does ends up looking stupid almost 99 % of the time because predicting the future is actually impossible.

16:48We don't know how it's going to go. And the same goes for this. I'm not going to predict the future. I don't know how this is going to pan out. Is it the AI art apocalypse? I don't know. I don't know. Who knows? It's the artmageddon. I'm not sure. And it is scary and it is a weird time and it is a valid concern. So, you know, I can't tell you what to do there. It's beyond my pay grade and I'm not able to see in the future to the degree in which I know whether this is going to be risky or not. However, that's not the end of that Jeff Bezos thought. It is the beginning. And he says he doesn't predict the future, but what he does do is lean on what he knows about the past and what he knows about the past that's unlikely to change.

17:36And so in the case of Amazon, it's things that people like cheap and convenient stuff. Okay. Now that doesn't add to the equation, the cost of that, who's paying for that. And we don't need to get into that right now. But those two things are true. They are true that people tend to gravitate towards convenient things that are cheap. So they build their model off that. Okay. Now I can do a similar thing with totally different value system and say, one thing that has been always true is that when you put your stuff out into the world, other people are going to be inspired, influenced, and even ripping off that stuff.

18:18You are always running the risk of that. In fact, if it's any good, you are guaranteeing that some level of that's going to happen. And some level of that is going to be phenomenal. I was listening to an interview today, long interview. I think it's the New York Times, some kind of pop culture-y podcast. They did an interview with Bon Iver, pretty big Bon Iver fan. really love some of the new songs from the new album that he's coming out with. It's just exactly what the doctor ordered, man. The happy, there's a song, Everything is Peaceful Love. The thing has got so much goodness coming out of it.

18:51I've been desperate for it for a long time. So I'm really pumped about that. In this interview, one of the things they talk about is the influences that influenced Bon Iver and Justin Vernon, the guy behind Bon Iver, and then people that were clearly influenced by him, like people like Dijon and McGee and these like newcomers that are doing these super interesting things in the indie music space and then how they then influenced Bon Iver and there's a symbiotic relationship of influence. That's kind of the best thing about being an artist. Like that right there, that community, that participation, that give and take and I'm liking what you're cooking and you're liking what I'm cooking and we're mixing it and matching it and we're having a great time.

19:35Like that is kind of the ideal. That's like amazing. It's what Austin Kleon talks about, him referencing this idea from Brian Eno, scenius, it's the genius of a scene. There's nothing more fun than that. That's great. But only happens if you're willing to put stuff out. Unfortunately, you also have the vultures of the scene. You have the corporate vultures of the scene. And no matter what you do, even for years and years and years, before AI ever existed, that thing you're afraid of was happening. And in fact, it wasn't just happening. It was stopping people from putting out stuff. And so I can't predict the future.

20:16I don't know if we are at an impasse like the likes of which we have never seen. And putting stuff out is just digging your own creative grave. I don't know. What I do know, though, is that you could have asked this same question 10 years ago when I started this podcast. And I know what answer I would have given you then, which is best case scenario, people are gonna get inspired by what you're doing and it's gonna add to the sauce and it's gonna add to the groove, it's gonna add to the scene and it's gonna make some interesting things happen. And the worst thing that could happen is it gets ripped off and people actually make more money on what you do than you do.

20:57Yeah, and that happens and it always has happened and it always will happen. And it is happening in a way that is unprecedented. So I'm acknowledging that. There are ways in which this is a tale as old as time. And I have to feel, I can tell you what I'm doing, which is I'm continuing to show up. I'm continuing to put stuff out because I believe if I don't, the scene ends and the fun ends and the forward momentum in my own creative journey, regardless of capitalism, regardless of monetization, it ends if I refuse to participate. So that's what I'm going to keep doing. Not sure what you should do, but that's my perspective there.

22:02Hey Andy, how you doing? Zach Stoof here. I'm thinking about starting a newsletter on Substack. However, my extremely small following of like 1600 people, they don't really know me by my written word per se. They know me more by my visual voice and my imagery. So I wanted to ask you, how did you go about cultivating a written voice for yourself to appeal to your following on Substack? I would find that advice extremely helpful, especially as, you know, I'm not, I haven't written much since college and it's, it's been a while. So appreciate all the help I could get in that area. Thank you. Hey, Zach.

22:50Love the question. I think it's a very relevant one. It's one that a lot of creative people find themselves wrestling with. It's not just illustrators. It's also people like actors that are not responsible for writing the words or musicians that are not writing the lyrics or doing the vocals. A lot of us get into these scenarios where we are, you know, in a position where we need some substance to work with, that our medium maybe isn't the starting point of a creative endeavor or a finishing point. And we get into this scenario where nobody is passing us the ball in such a way where we can play our position.

23:34One thing that we've talked about on the show a few times, whenever this comes up, being asked to stretch and do things beyond my skill set, beyond my comfort zone, beyond my medium of choice. The way I always think of that is through this little story I heard about Paul McCartney getting to the studio to record for his band Wings and none of the other studio mates showing up and having only this limited period of time for this particular studio and just deciding that he was going to record all the different parts himself. And I think there comes a time where you have to play parts that you're not an expert at, that you're not comfortable with.

24:13and it doesn't really matter too because if you can pair that with something that you're great at or you love or you are comfortable with, it can really outshine all of the imperfections of the other stuff that you're doing. So if I were you and I definitely, if I were you, I would be starting a newsletter of some kind be it Substack or some other place. I think it's really, really essential to building a thriving creative practice to have ownership of your connection to other people, People that want to hear from you can hear from you if they opt into doing so. And you can't do that on all these different social apps.

24:49So I think it's super important. And I think if I were you, I would be trying to lean into the way in which illustration is writing with pictures. We've talked about this a lot. It's my favorite definition of illustration. A lot of people think illustration is synonymous with drawing. But I actually think that writing with pictures is a much better term. that works in both like narrative as well as conceptual. So narrative speaking, you know, you could have a page of words that's describing the room and a lot of novels do that, or you can just show a picture. And so every time a picture book artist is making pictures, they are writing the story, like literally they are adding to the narrative.

25:32They are describing the room. And in fact, there are times where you're illustrating a story and they will actually delete parts of the text because you don't need the words and the pictures to say the same thing. In fact, John Classen, one of my favorite illustrators and picture book makers, who I just think does great work in space, he talks a lot about this, like this mismatch of having the words say one thing and the pictures say a different thing. And that actually creates a really interesting moment. You see this in picture books. So the pictures saying something, that means they have to be writing.

26:05They have to be telling a story. And it's even more interesting when they're telling their own story. And great editorial illustrators do that too. Anyway, I'm getting into all of that to say that you probably are a writer even if you're writing with pictures. And I would lean into that. So use text sparingly. Like my favorite substacks to follow, a lot of them are illustrators that are mostly picture heavy. You know, they're writing comics or they're supplementing their words with pictures and tell the story that way, tell the story visually. But then on top of that, don't be afraid to play someone else's part if nobody else will show up to the studio.

26:43And so for me, I see a lot of illustration is like the way less glamorous, good-looking version of acting. Actors have to wait for a script. Illustrators have to wait for a text or a manuscript of some kind or a brief and to illustrate it, to make it come to life. And so we're in the same camp as actors and the people that don't wait for someone else to decide their fate, take their destiny in their own hands and they start writing even if they're terrible at it. If you write one movie, if you're an actor, that helps tell people the types of roles that you do, you might not ever have to write another movie again.

27:27It might not even be made. But the people that read it, the people that see it, You turn it into a one-man show or whatever it is, it just can get the ball rolling. And sometimes the only way to do that is to play the parts that we're not comfortable playing. And so those are two things that you can do. One is you don't have to be a great writer. Be a great illustrator and supplement the writing, but do the writing. And the last thing I want to add to this is, speaking of Substack, I saw a little rant from a guy I know. I would say we've been friendly with each other over the years. Like, I don't know him super well, but his name's Roman Muradov and he's an incredible illustrator, really hilarious person.

28:07His energy in the world and on the internet is kind of the opposite of pep talk. And I'm a big fan of that. I feel like the world needs these, you know, opposing energies sometimes because he's kind of cantankerous and cynical and whatever, but very funny and super talented. And he went on a rant recently after the AI, just this supercharged run of AI doing Ghibli style. If you didn't see it, OpenAI made it so that you could, with ChatGBT, feed it images and spit out versions of it that look somewhat like Studio Ghibli made them. If you don't know, Hayao Miyazaki, Spirited Away, How's Moving Castle, Totoro.

28:53What do you do with your life if you don't know that? Stop what you're doing. Watch those movies. They will make your life so much better. But anyway, so there's this AI that's doing this. It's this trend. And Roman Muradov got on Substack the other day. And his argument was, I agree 100%, something we've said on the podcast a bunch of times, that style isn't just aesthetics, is what he said. it is substance and he went on i'll put it in the show notes so you can check this little post out but i 100 agree in fact the next course that i'm going to make is going to be connected to that because we did a course a few years back about style on skillshare you can go take it it's a really well taken class like a lot of people on skillshare have taken the class and uh i'm really passionate about it but there's a hidden part to that where we really start with substance we're really starting with what lights you up what connects to you what is what are you all about i've been working my way through the book master and his emissary by ian mcgillcrist and it's all about the left and right brains in a really detailed uh really research-backed not pop psychology way which makes it hard to work through but also is really valuable and really interesting and one of the things he talks about is the left side of your brain is so much more concrete and the right side of your brain is so much more abstract.