Money + Art

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“Beautiful work!” Seal said to an artist who had a booth at APE.

“Yeah, but I don’t do it full-time,” he countered, “I’m not a professional yet,” he flustered. “I’m not PAID for it yet.” Seal heard the door of a heart slammed shut.

“But your work is beautiful!” She protested. “Whether you are paid for it or not, it doesn’t take away the fact that it’s still beautiful and people notice it.” (A young couple lingers around his table and drops $7 for one of his prints. I look at him in confirmation, see?

“I guess,” he said with a sigh, “but I’m still not paid the ‘big bucks’ and uh, this is a local show, once I get into a National or International gallery, then . . .  then . . . “ he shook his finger at me and trailed off. The entire convention center became very boisterous. I am left alone to my thoughts and I suddenly become very angry.

“Then . . .” WHAT? You can finally believe me? Only when you’re paid the “big bucks” or in a “big institution somewhere” then you will believe that your work is actually beautiful as people think it is? When you get paid and other institutions recognize you, THEN you can finally embrace yourself as an artist? Or “better” yet as a professional artist? You are waiting around for some big institution or high-end client to swoop down from somewhere to come “save you,” and lavish over you art, especially when art is very personal and very subjective and money and pricing proned to inflation, you are waiting and waiting for someone outside of yourself to say that you are a professional artist?

Dude, you’re living in the future that may or may not come while ignoring all the people who are stopping by your table to admire your work. Whether people pay $3 for your art of $30,000 – it is still beautiful.

Don’t discount your artwork! Just because it doesn’t readily translate to big monetary equivalent.

Money is very very subjective. At craftshows, we’ve had “rich” costumers throw their crisp $20 bucks at us for a tshirt, vs. a young boy who was clutching his only $20 allowance and after circling the entire craftshow and our booth 3-4 times, he wholeheartedly gave us his entire savings for a “Create or Die” tshirt. Even though both instances were a purchase of $20, that 20 was worth a world apart difference to us.

It took Seal a while to learn that money or big institutions will never equal to the value of one’s art.

Most everyone I know, including myself, has a money problem. Artists often have double the trouble because we equate money with recognition and value of our work. Given all the myths we’ve heard about being an artist, it’s no wonder why it’s hard to untangle: “art doesn’t make money,” “if you make money as an artist, you’re a sell out,” “art for art’s sake” (don’t pay for it?), “money is greed” “if you become too tall, they’ll cut you at the base” “starving artist” “art is superfluous” “art is selfish” etc etc. It doesn’t help to have a society that is rather unaffected or diminishing towards artists. While other occupations usually have a standard starting pay (think doctors, mechanics, etc.), an artist can be paid anywhere from nothing (a free service) to $100,000 or more for an art piece.

Of course, it’s a challenge to know your true value as an artist. But let me tell you a secret, money isn’t it. Money will never equal the value of your art.

For a long time, especially throughout art school, Seal kept hoping that a big studio would pick her up. Then . . . then . . . she would be recognized for her work. Then . . . only then . . . will people value her. It was the magic pill. Suddenly, if she worked at a big institution, everything will be solved: she would always be creative, she wouldn’t be proned to roller coaster rides of artistic blocks. She would have peer recognition and money (something she didn’t grow up with) and could buy all the reference books and canvases she wants (instead of scouring for found objects, antiques, and wood to paint on). Then, she would be paid the “big bucks” and be labeled a “professional artist.” Then . . . then . . . the prince comes in a magic pumpkin carriage . . .

But this is not reality.

Whether you work full-time, part-time, contract, intership, or as a hobby in art . . . You will still have to deal with artist blocks – it’s part of the process. Whether you are at a big studio, small studio, or in the humble corner of your apartment making art . . . you will have to deal with the day to day frustrations and existential crises of being an artist, you will always have deadlines to meet and critics to face, you will always have to feel unsure when you put your work up. You will still probably have to deal with naysayers and family members who may or may not support you. Whether you are showered with praise, some or not at all, or whether you are paid big, small, or none at all . . . at the end of the day, you will still have to face the biggest challenge – yourself. Do you value yourself as an artist? If money were non-existent and you were the only living human in the world, would you still create art? Would you have fun doing it? Is your current project challenging you as a person?  Does it makes a statement about you as a person? Are you SATISFIED? FULFILLED?

When Seal takes away the myth of getting paid the big bucks and being in a big institution, she finds that she is just very happy to be creating art. She works on an independent film set with inspiring and creative people. Her voice is heard by the director and she can make positive contributions on the project and the people around her. At night, she explores her paintings further. Her limitations on money actually help her to be more creative, as she is forced to find alternative surfaces and new ways to approach a painting. She finds rare antique wood and unthinkable items to incorporate into her art and has expanded beyond the canvas. And people actually like her works on wood better than on canvas as they all have unique grain and texture. She is learning multiple ways to tell stories, to make art, and find her inner voice. She paints and creates comics as she wants. And she’s surrounded by warm encouraging friends who are excited for her and her art. She is in the journey towards knowing herself. She no longer lives in the future, but at the present moment enjoying her life and art-making.

Because the artist at APE is still waiting around for his “big chance,” when it actually comes in the form of people complimenting and buying art from his table, he didn’t notice that he is currently living his dreams, making art and being PAID for it. It was as if he was living on the ground breathing his dreams of being an artist, but still looking hopefully at the sky for something else. He’s waiting around for someone, something outside of himself to ordain him as a professionally paid artist. In the end, it’s not really money or big institution he wants. What he actually wants is someone, something “out there” to shut the critics in his brain and answer the burning question, “am I good enough as an artist?”

And no amount of money or outside recognition will ever fill up that hole, but yourself.

You are enough. You can begin it now. As you are.

Don’t wait for your life to start, to value yourself as an artist. Don’t give power to something outside of yourself to make or break your artistic endeavors. Don’t wait for the big bucks or the big institutions. Because at the end of the day, do you want to create or not? Are you having fun or not? Do you respect yourself as an artist or not?

Sure, having money is nice. And working in a big institution – if it fosters you and is aligned with your values and priorities – is nice too! It’s more than ok to want money or full time work as an artist. And you should definitely be paid for work that you do. And if you live on this earth with other people, you cannot avoid acquiring and spending money on something. We all need shelter, food, and ways to make our art, and even indulgences. But money or big institution should never be the measuring stick for satisfaction, and can never substitute the longing for the final verdict of  “I am a worthy artist.”

If you are living and breathing, you are worthy already. If you are creating, you are worthy already. So start now. Begin and live in the present moment. And create. Live your life because you are a million bucks already.

Nourishing Your Creative Soul, Or How to Avoid Becoming a Crack Fiend

Often times we can get caught up in doing what we have to do, whether that's pay the bills, or cook dinner, or go to work.  We have outside obligations, rent to pay, etc. etc.  However, as artists, sometimes you get a sudden wave of inspiration, or maybe you've just been putting off creating for too long, and every fiber of your being screams "Create!"

In these cases, unless it's not totally dire (and really, how bad will it be to take an hour off before doing the laundry?) you need to take care of your inner artist and make something.  If you don't nourish your artistic soul, you may find that you'll end up like a crack junkie.  How?  Let us explain.

Scientific studies have shown that if people have a finite amount of mental capacity (we'll call it 'brain juice.')  When you're working on memorizing the alphabet backwards, you're using up brain juice.  When you're doing a calculus problem, or trying to draw a 2-foot straight line freehand, or are trying to juggle ten different client accounts and write five urgent emails, you're using up brain juice.  You only really have so much, so when you're super mentally exhausted (ie, running low on brain juice), you don't have any brain juice to make good decisions.

Still with us? Heavy mental strain = bad decisions.  Cool.  We'll get to the crack addiction in a minute.

So when you feel that urge to create, and you don't listen to it, you're really spending brain juice to fight that primal instinct you have to do what you love to do.  Of course you'd rather be creating that making spreadsheets.  Of course you'd rather paint than write all those emails, or practice your trumpet rather than file all those receipts.  So when you fight down the urge to do something creative in deference for some other task, you're using up twice the brain juice.  Not only are you using the brain juice to do the task, but you're also fighting down your inner spirit that's trying to make something awesome.

If you're out of brain juice because you're trying not to create, then you could very well make some terrible decisions.  What if you're finalizing that cost-benefit analysis when you really wanted to work on that novel and then a co-worker asks you to a bar after work, and then you go and get drunk, then someone offers you crack and you try it, and then you get addicted and end up losing everything and living on the street addicted to crack?  What would you do then?  Well, you'd be doing crack, but besides that?  Nothing, that's what, so if you want to avoid becoming a crack fiend, then nourish that creative soul!

"But Monkey + Seal, what do I do?" you might ask, "I really have to file my taxes, I can't just stop and write my novel, the IRS will take away my house and I'll still end up addicted to crack!"  Well friends, we're not advocating you to drop everything forever.

We all understand that you have obligations.  Everyone does.  We do, so do you.  However, when your inner artist is screaming to create and you won't let it, you're doing yourself a serious disservice.  You see, when you desperately want to paint, or sing, or write, or dance, you don't have to do it full force.  If you're looking to write a novel, maybe take a 10-minute coffee break at your desk, writing out some dialogue. Or if you're looking to produce a mammoth of a graphic novel, start slow and maybe sketch out the layout for a page while you're at lunch.

The trick here is to give yourself little bits of the good stuff.  Ideally, you could just stop and sit down and make your magic happen (because remember, what you do IS magic), but the reality of it is that most of us can't do that.  So feed your inner artist little art snacks here and there, and you'll find that you'll feel much more rested, happy, and you'll feel less guilt about not creating as well.

Ideally you can even schedule times to create so that your inner artist will never feel so totally deprived that your brain shuts down and you start doing illicit narcotics.  By taking a few hours out of the week in order to make sure that you're still creating, you can plant the seeds that will grow into a more productive, creative, crack-free life.

Giving Up The Dream

Monkey here.

The other day, I had a sort of a crisis. Overworked, stressed, tired, and feeling like a great effort I put out for a project was totally wasted, for a second I thought: "I should just quit this art thing."

I pondered the possibility that I could just move back home with one of my parents, get a management job in some retail place, and just drink every day after work, watch my friends' band's shows, play video and board games in my spare time, and just grow old. I could just do nothing of great value or importance, and generally let my soul and passion slowly wither and die and "get a real job" that I hate but consistently pays the bills.

While there is nothing wrong with this sort of life if that's what you're into, for me, it brings up a huge wave of revulsion and disgust. I want to paint monsters and scared people and dark apothecary vials and tell horror stories and design shirts and paint Magic:the Gathering cards and see the world and inspire people to make art. I want to design video games and card games and board games and design a monster for a film and I want to never have to go to an interview again. For me, this is the path of greatness, of a dream chased and fulfilled, of the magic of the universe swirling in the palm of my hand. This is what I want my life to be.

So when I told Eve that I should just quit, she said "Fine then. Just quit." And immediately, I knew what my answer was: "I just can't."

I can't let the past four years of long nights and tens of thousands of dollars go to waste. I can't let all that I've worked for just fizzle out just because it got hard. I've tasted the appetizer of a dream fulfilled and I can't get it out of my head. I need it just as much as I need oxygen or food or water. Even if I fail, as long as I don't quit, I can still lay there dying and know that I tried my best and fought til the very end.

Now don't get me wrong - stopping or taking a break is much different than quitting. If the circumstances call for it, to survive maybe you think you do have to take a step backwards and there's no shame in that. But to quit - to truly give up on your dream...well, to be honest if I think you really could quit, you wouldn't be reading this blog.

You can't quit now. Whether your just starting or have been on the road for some time now, you've already taken that first step. You can feel that burning urge to do that thing in your life that you've always wanted. There's this welling up in your gut and tightening of your jaw when you let go of what society dubs normal and be honest with yourself and what you want. You start to hear the blood in your temples and a tingling in your hands. Whether or not you think you know what you want, you do - you just have to let your inner artist be truly honest with yourself and chase that truth til the end.

So do yourself a favor: if you think you can quit, fess up now, say a "good-bye" in the comments, and we wish you the best. But if you're one of the dreamers, one of the doers, one of clan of those who have tasted magic and want more, then share this with someone you think is of the like. Post your declaration in the comments. Talk to us on Facebook. Declare that you're gonna keep going and that you'll never quit. Make yourself an oath and tweet it.

The world is here for your taking. Let's get to work.

How to Make Art Into A Sport and WIN

When you're actually watching a sporting event or a film/show about sports (like Rocky, or the Japanese drama Rookies that we highly recommend), it's easy to get swept up in the emotional whirlwind that surrounds sports. People fighting, pushing themselves to be their best, determined to win. Players sweat, grit their teeth, destroy their bodies and fight past their physical limits in order to be the champion, to win the cup, to vanquish their opponent.

It's all pretty amazing to watch, and after getting swept up in World Cup fever and having played sports ourselves, we understand the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat (let's not talk about Monkey's high school water polo team...ugh). I mean, how can you not get a little excited over the Giant's win of the World Series last season?

In art, how can we capture some of that excitement? It's hard to feel the thrill of victory when you're staring at a blank canvas or would rather be playing Facebook games on your tablet rather than painting with one. With sports, the most enjoyable part (at least for Monkey) was always the games. Practice was a necessary evil, but the real fun is when you're playing a game (that's why in films it's always a training montage, not hours of them training). To figure out how to get pumped about painting, we have to figure out why games are more exciting then practice.

Games are more exciting because games or tournaments or matches all have objective outcomes. Besides hockey and soccer and maybe a few other sports I'm not aware of, you don't tie. You either win or your lose. You score more or they do, you get knocked out or you do the knocking out . Say what you will about bad referee calls, sports generally have clear, definitive objective outcomes, and it's those outcomes that we get excited over.

With art, you don't have a point system to keep track of or a win-loss record to deal with. There are no shooting percentages or conversion rates, or a final buzzer that you're racing to beat. But this is where we can start to make art into a sport - through practice. Because to be great at sports, you have to train your butt off. But at the same time, it's way more boring - it's not as exciting to see someone punch a punching bag a thousand times compared to two fighters dancing around each other throwing uppercuts and jabs. Just the same, it's not as fun to work on your art everyday compared to having people look at your final painting and give you feedback on how awesome it is.

In sports, there are the countless hours of training and practice that we aren't privy to as spectators. We don't see the weight training, or the rehab after injuries, the lap running or the thousands of practice swings. We don't have television cameras to watch people shoot hundreds of free throws late at night, and we probably wouldn't watch it even if we did. Just the same, people don't see all that you've put into your art. They aren't up with you at 5am struggling to finish that illustration, and they aren't there to watch you pour over reference books to make sure that your lighting is right. They aren't there to watch you drink another cup of coffee at your way-too-early-morning anatomy class, nor are they there for all the times your silkscreen didn't burn correctly.

One of our instructors used to say that if anyone ever asked you how long it took you to finish a painting, reply "X years" (with "X" being the years since you had started painting) because even though it might have taken you a few hours to actually put all the paint on the canvas, it's taken you years of painting to be able to do it how you did it. Our instructor would say "It took me 20 years to draw this" when we just watch him hammer out a figure in 10 minutes. That's 20 years of training for 10 minutes of game time.

So even though art is more like a sport than one might think, what is missing most of the time is are those clear "game" objective outcomes. Art is generally thought of as subjective, since you'll never be able to tell who is going to end up liking or hating your creation. So if you're in a subjective field, looking for the excitement about objective victories, the only way to go about things is to create your own standards and game play: create your own World Cup.

You can't win a tournament if there isn't one, so make your own. The way to do that is: Goals. Not the kind that you get from hitting a puck into the back of the net, but the kind that you set for yourself. If your goal is large (and it should be for a Championship level match), then break it down into manageable bites. Create your own objective outcomes for you to work towards.

You creating is the preseason. Show up for your daily/weekly/hourly painting session? Score! Finish your painting? Score! Get the reference for your next one? Score! Once you've finished with this phase, get ready for the regular season.

Figure out some concrete goals? You've already won your first game by "showing up on the page." Set a deadline to design those promotional postcards. Score! Hit that deadline? Score! Did you send those to the printer and just get them back in the mail? Score! Get your list of people/companies/galleries to send those to? Score! Did you send the postcards? Score!

Then, as things heat up, realize that you'll move on to the playoffs, and before you know it, you'll be at your Championship match. Whether you have a long or short season, whether your Championship is getting a gallery show or being able to retire early off your art, take it one match at a time. Make sure that your games are ones you can win, as you want to keep that winner's high up as much as possible - it's much better to have a 1000 game season and win them all rather than have a 5 game season with everything riding on each game. Set yourself up for success, not failure. Ride the positive, winning vibe rather than focus on any setbacks because in art, your opponent is always going to be the toughest ever: yourself.

Yes yes, we all have art rivals, or people you want to prove yourself to, or those jerks that think being an artist isn't a profession or a "real job" (although we don't see why that's a bad thing anyway). But when it really comes down to it, you're really fighting against your fears, your doubts, and your insecurities, nothing else. Because if even your rivals or your haters or whomever actually fell off the face of the earth, it wouldn't put you a single step towards achieving your goals. It might make it easier or enjoyable, sure, but the truth of the matter is that unless you release the rhino and defeat your inner demons, you'll never win the games against yourself that really count.

So now that you know how to create a Tournament of Tournaments with your dreams as the grand price that you can win, all that's left is to go do it. Now go take your place in the arena of your choice and take to the field. We (and your dreams) are waiting.

Does Your Work Measure Up?

It's the question that every creative needs to ask themselves at some point in their career - it's actually a question that you should be asking yourself constantly. Does your work measure up?

For most artists, especially those starting out, often times the answer that we often find is probably "No." For those of us that have gone to art school or had some sort of formal training, we're always studying other artists who have come before us, and are constantly compared to the best students that have preceded us. We've survived constant critiques which tend to focus on what we're doing wrong (after all, our teachers want us to fix our mistakes). If we haven't had formal training, and are self-taught, we've spent even more time studying and comparing ourselves to our role models and other artists whom we respect and learned our own skills from.
Growing up (at least as an artist) in this sort of critical environment can be beneficial, as we're constantly learning from our mistakes and developing our skills in order to create art. By getting feedback and taking a objective look at our own work, we're able to grow and thrive as an artist.
The big pitfall, however, is if you are measuring your work against the wrong metrics.

If you're just starting out on your art career, you have to be going after the right targets. Yes, it's great to shoot for the stars and go after famous artists and try and compete with household names, but at the end of the day, if you're at all discouraged because someone sells more than you, or maybe they got into a gallery that you wanted to get into, if you're comparing yourself to anyone but yourself, you're measuring yourself to the wrong person.

If you compare your own work to anyone else's, you're doing yourself a disservice. Even if you were classmates in school and took all the same classes, your lives are different. Because art is such a personal thing, it is highly affected by your life: your state of mind, your family situation, where you grew up, your income level, your friends, everything. In that way, just because you and Artist X took all the same classes and studied under the same people and both started painting at the same time, you'll never really know their whole story.

Often times we'll compare ourselves to other professional artists and it takes us a while to realize that we're focusing on the wrong person. It doesn't matter what other artists are doing, or how successful they are, or how long they've been painting. What really matters is how much time and effort did we oursleves put into the work. Did we do our very best? Could we have done better?

Art is subjective. If your work doesn't measure up to someone else, who cares? Sure, we want our art to be the best it can be and to succeed and thrive and find a huge audience to enjoy it. But really, none of that is really in our control. We can't force people to like our art. What we can do is make sure that WE love our own art, and that WE are doing the very best that we can be doing. After all, that's what really counts.

Does Your Art Say What You Want It To?

Seal here:

This past weekend, I went to see the "King's Speech" with a friend. On the surface, it is a film about a would-be King who struggles to overcome his speech impediment in order for his country to trust him as a "sound" leader. As an visual and performing artist, the "quality of your voice" becomes the deciding factor in being able to deliver your intentions; the pictures in your head needs to be communicated clearly to the public in order to be received and understood.

When you draw and paint, do you strike the canvas boldly? Do you layer the watercolor softly? Do you ink your comic with conviction? or fear? or dread? Does your canvas stutter? soothe? or shout? Or is it more like a quiet boldness? What is the quality of your voice in your art? What is the adjective of how you deliver your art?

When I was a theater director at UC Berkeley, I was exposed to the many different kinds of delivery. Anger in a play could be portrayed in so many different ways: in a bubbling explosion, in a seething whisper, in a self-destructive combustion, in a look, in a glare, in the small corner of the mouth. It was very fascinating that the voice and actor's body had so much range. It was a given that in order to stretch that range and broaden their ability to deliver all kinds of sounds, emotions, and gestures, the actors needed to rehearse their voices and their bodies: they did exercises to stretch their vocal chords, they enlarged and snapped their diaphragms, they expanded and contracted their bodies into different shapes and sizes.

So too, must we, the visual artists: the painter, the writer, the crafts-maker, practice our quality of voice by practicing and stretching our capacity. We must 1) expand our skills in our chosen subject, medium, and the way we see the world. We must also 2) contract and filter what it is we eventually want to say, so that the final delivery of our art is done with intention, some element of surprising impulse, but always with a heart-full conviction.

All great art is a visual form of [song].

~ Sister Wendy Beckett

Inspiration: Psuedopod

The Nightmare Planter

Monkey + Seal have recently taken to listening to podcasts, which seem to be the best thing since sliced bread. One of which, has been helpful to get Monkey in the creepy, haunting mood that is suitable for painting a crap-load (a scientific unit of measurement), of monster paintings for his upcoming show. That podcast is Pseudopod.


Pseudopod is a weekly horror podcast, and thus far it's been pretty damn good. You can download them via itunes, which Monkey then listens to while he paints, while he's on the bus, walking between the Monkey + Seal cave and Big Umbrella Studios.

Listening to podcasts is great for us, as instead of listening to music on the way to work, or while painting, we can expose ourselves to new inspirations and ideas. Granted, we lose a bit in the transition back and forth when we're trying to paint and listen at the same time (see our post on the myths of multitasking to see what we mean), but overall it's really great.

So far most of the stories have been pretty awesome, and it's nice to be exposed to new writers of horror. The host's closing notes after the story are always interesting, tying in the theme of the story with real life and his own experiences. It's good storytelling and definitely worth a download or two or twenty.

So for all you fans of the creepy and dark, the supernatural and horrific, go check out the Pseudopod! You won't be disappointed.

Keeping Things Fresh

In-progress painting, ~5 hours

Before we get on with our usual blog fare, we just wanted to remind you about some of the many events coming up in the next week or so.

This Friday, Feb. 11th, both Monkey + Seal will be in Wonderland SF's group show "Just Because.." along with 16 other talented artists. The opening night reception is from 6-10pm at Wonderland SF in the Mission, 2929 24th Street to be exact.

This weekend at Big Umbrella Studios, we'll be having a super duper trunk show! There will be vegan fare and baked goods, along with other awesome vendors on Sunday, from 12-5pm at 906.5 Divisadero St (x McAllister). You should also stop on by on Saturday to see an entirely different slate of vendors and show your support. Same time, same place, different food options.

Monkey here.

I recently started taking classes at City College of San Francisco (CCSF, for those in the know). As you probably know, I already have a (expensive) degree from Academy of Art University. Why would I go back to school?

Three reasons. The first, which is NOT what this post is about, is so that my student loans might be deferred just a little bit longer.

The second, more interesting reason (but still not what this post is about) is that I wanted to get back into printmaking (other than silkscreen), and by taking printmaking classes I'd have access to some presses.

The third, most important reason is that I wanted to keep things fresh. While at the Academy, because I was pressured to paint in the style of classical realism (ie realistic paintings, rendering form, strong light sources, etc.), I ended up feeling confined and frustrated and that's how I ended up going into my current style of looser, outlined, messy-background paintings that I do now, even going so far as to sometimes including text.

However, after painting in this loose manner for the past year, I started to get a bit bored with my current style. Fortunately I had been changing up subject matter over the past year or so, but I still saw things getting a bit stale. Because I had been fortunate to have a fairly filled schedule of shows, most paintings were paintings done under a deadline, and I didn't have a lot of time to experiment.

By taking painting classes at CCSF, I've given myself the permission (and time) to paint in other styles. Instead of drawing sketches on canvas with pencil (or completely making something out of random brush strokes) like I usually do for my current body of work, I've gone back to my Academy training of painting from reference, doing quick underpaintings with paint, and (albeit stylistically) rending form instead of using line to create the image.

Painting in this way helps me to keep my speed up and is just a great way of practicing my skill set. Regardless of the finished product, I'm practicing more, which is one of the keys to success. After all, practice makes perfect with art, and it's really all about mileage. While it might not be obvious how painting in different styles helps, there are a lot of things that I can practice regardless of the style. How to get my paint to the consistency I want. Brush control. Color mixing. No matter the task, creating with paint on a daily basis is super helpful if you want to improve your craft.

All in all, I think that it is really important to keep things fresh here and there, in order to make sure that you're not getting tired of the same thing. Experimentation and trying new (or older) styles or themes can be really helpful as even if you don't learn something new that directly applies to your current style, you'll be rehearsing the basics, which will just make you stronger.

Whether taking classes at a community college or going to art school (if you haven't yet), by changing stuff up and making time for a change of pace, you'll be able to keep things fresh and, most importantly, keep art fun. After all, when art stops being fun, then it's just a job.

5 Qualities of Successful Artists

Today we wanted to share with you the qualities that we have seen repeated over and over again in successful artists. We've seen these qualities again and again in successful people, actually, so it doesn't just apply to artists. No matter what you want to do in life, if you develop these traits, you'll definitely achieve all your goals.

Ready for the secret formula? Here it is:

1. Be true to your Inner Artist
First off, if you aren't being true to your Inner Artist, you're never going to fully reach your goals, because if you aren't going for the goals that the Inner Artist inside you really wants with laser-accuracy, you aren't really following your dreams at all. You're getting distracted, and the fastest path to a goal is going in a direct line, right? So listen to your heart and what you really want and pursue that dream with all your heart. In the end, you really gotta do what you love.

2. Work Really, Really Hard
Pursuing that dream with all your heart is tough, because it requires a lot of work. It's drawing or painting every single day. It's staying up late at night to make sure that your project is done on time. It's doing that tenth revision even though you got bored on the second. It's relentlessly and doggedly following your goal. It's not easy, but by doing the best you can at any given time, you'll get that work done.

3. Don't Be a Jerk
At the same time, while you're chasing your dream, we don't recommend being a jerk. People with bad attitudes are just as memorable as those who are super cool, only while we're anxious to help friendly, respectful, kind, wonderful people, we're just as anxious to do our best to not work at all with the jerks.

4. Be As Generous As You Can
Going along with inspiring others to help you, be generous in return. No person makes it all on their own - we're social beings that thrive with the help from others. By being generous and giving what you can (it's also important to note that you should never give more than you realistically can), the rewards, in whatever form that they might take, will always outweigh any benefits you could have gotten by being selfish and hording information or resources.

5. Never Give Up
This one is pretty self-explanatory. While one might assume that every great is this perfect, unfailing person, the opposite is actually true. The most successful people you've met have failed many times. The difference is that these successful people have learned that failure isn't fatal, and that each failure is an opportunity to learn and grow. They've then taken those learned experiences and knowledge to come back bigger and better, and that's what's gotten them where they are.

Kinda boring, right? Not the most world-shaking revelations. Sadly, there is no magical formula for success overnight. Sometimes the road to success is longer than you might want it to be, but there are really no shortcuts. If you do discover any shortcuts, just figure out what that trade-off is, as there are always trade-offs (you just might not realize there are, depending on where your values and moral compass lie). Now that you know what you have to do, what will you do now?

Go get 'em!

Your Pace

In our society, there is definitely a big push to do bigger, better, be greater, faster, stronger, etc. There is a sense of urgency - we need to do it yesterday, and if not then, now now now.

However, this fear of losing something - an opportunity - is based out of a mentality of lack. We think we won't have another chance, or that perhaps that you'll never be as good as you are now.

While there is definitely times when you do need to go all-out, those times are probably less frequent than you might believe. As weighed-down as we are with commitments, duties, responsibilities, and a bunch of other stuff, it's good to really evaluate how much time you really have.

Sometimes it might seem like you're going back downhill when you're trying to desperately to climb uphill. Well, maybe that's for the best, as if you were going to fast previously, perhaps you need to take a break - don't burn yourself out too quickly.

When you are climbing a mountain (literally), if you ascend too quickly you can get altitude sickness. Monkey has experienced this firsthand, with extreme headaches, nausea and/or vomiting..it is not fun. Guess what the only cure for altitude sickness is? Going back down the mountain and lowering your elevation. You can stay where you are and painfully tough it out, but climbing only makes it worse.

Same goes for any challenges in your life. Go at YOUR Pace. Some people might have trained longer than you have. Some people might be riding yaks up the mountain. Whatever. Don't compare yourself to the rates that other people are going because you don't know their story, their backgrounds, their support teams, or their advantages. You can only go at Your Pace, and that's the fastest you can go. Go any faster, and you risk burning yourself out and hurting yourself in the long run.

Sure, Monkey + Seal preach sustainability over destroying a bit of yourself to reach the goal faster, but that's because we're in this for the long haul. There are numerous times where we could have taken shortcuts, or done things like other people, or worked ourselves sick. But every time we've even considered doing this, we realize that it's just not how we work. If we push ourselves too hard, we get sick or burnt out. If we do things unethically, we feel guilty and terrible and self-sabotage ourselves. If we copy others, we feel cheap and like we've lost our identity. All in all, you just have to be yourself and go at Your Pace.

The fastest way up the mountain - where you can enjoy the view at the top - is Your Pace. Embrace it.

Still Small? That's Okay.

As Seth Godin pointed out a week or so ago, when Google first launched, it was in obscurity. It didn't make the New York Times until a year after, and it was basically just a sideline. Now, they are synonymous with "online searching" and every product they release makes headlines.

Many times we aspire for that "big moment" where we make headlines and shoot into international stardom. However, everyone has to start somewhere. Many other of the largest internet companies (ie. Paypal, eBay, etc.) all launched in the shadows before becoming household names.

The thing is that if you focus on the big splash and making huge waves out of the gates, that's what you'll be focused on. Instead, if you slowly build your name consistently and with a high degree of awesomeness (measured by quality and work ethic, if you were wondering), people will come to know you as substance over flash and bang and you'll be the ones to outlast all the trend-followers.

We can often get impatient, as it can take years to finally build up your name. But if you're following your dream and doing your best, with a lot of hard work and a little luck, you'll make it.

Hold Your Head Up High

When you are facing a tough problem, the first instinct is to bury your head in the sand. Like an ostrich, it's a lot easier to just keep trying to hide from your problems and hope that they go away. However, it usually just ends up making the problem worse.

It's been a tough day over here at Monkey + Seal. We'll spare you the details, but a culmination of a lot of stuff has been building up, and we've been doing our best to sort of ignore some issues. It is never easy, but making tough calls and facing your problems head on usually end up working out.

We know it's gut-wrenching, and your throat gets dry, and all the negative voices and self-criticisms in your head start shouting, and it's just a huge crap-tacular wave of emotions, but every time you keep your head up high and stand up for yourself, it'll get easier.

That first step towards wresting control over your own destiny away from fate and back into your own hands (although was it ever really not in your own hands?) is a big one. But by taking that step, you'll find that each next step is easier and easier. If that step seems too insurmountable, let loose a battle cry! Turn up some fight music to get yourself motivated. Get something to act as a sword to wave around before you're ready to go. Or heck, go mediate and quiet your mind, or do some yoga and clear your thoughts. Whatever works to get you to remember that no one controls your future besides you.

So keep your head up high and face whatever might be troubling you head on. Yosha!!!!!

Saving Your Ideas

As an artist, you can have too many ideas. Often we find that we get inspired to do a million projects at once, and the hardest part might be sitting down and focusing on one idea. It's been shown that the brain cannot actually truly multitask (it cannot process two things at once - you actually have to shift back and forth between multiple tasks), so the more tasks or ideas or projects you are trying to juggle, the less focused you'll be on any single task. Monkey especially has a problem with this, and will have to-do lists that fill up entire sheets of paper.

While having too many ideas is generally a good problem to have, it is still a problem. How do you know what to focus on?

Over here at Monkey + Seal, we write it all down. Seal is an enthusiastic fan of journal writing - she's been writing nearly every day for the past ten years. Monkey is less organized, jotting down ideas on old envelopes, post-its, or any other scraps of paper and stuffs them into his sketchbook. The reason behind our cataloging of ideas is that many times it's just not the right time for the idea.

Whether we have more pressing projects to finish (either freelance work, or other deadlines to meet, or a project for a specific event), or perhaps the idea just isn't fully flushed out yet, we don't want to simply let the ideas dissolve in the foggy murks of our memory. We collect and cherish these ideas, but acknowledge that maybe the timing isn't right, or we don't yet fully have the entirety of the idea developed. Sometimes we'll even start a project, and realize this a bit too late, and then we'll shelve it for the time being.

When we do have a bit of time, or are looking for new inspiration, we'll often revisit the old. By looking back through our records, we sometimes find ideas that, while they did or didn't work at the time, it might be the perfect project now. Additionally, revisiting your old "best work" can inspire you in new ways.

Recently Monkey has started to revisit a few projects that he had started nearly two years ago. While his laboriously hand-screenprinted book, at the time, was the best he could muster, he is now slowly working on rewriting the entire thing in order to add more depth and will eventually republish it as a fully illustrated work (or collection of works).

Even if something was your best work, you've lived and experienced new things and grown since then, so reinterpretations and reworkings are always new possibilities. New interpretations and new directions can spring up when looking at older work and older ideas. It also allows you to take an objective view regarding themes or patterns that crop up in your collection of works. What was the running theme of your work a year ago? three years ago? your lifetime?

By documenting all of your ideas to live on and incubate through pen and paper, or digitally, you can now figure out which ideas (just a few for now!) that you should currently focus on. Which ideas are the MOST compelling, or the MOST pressing? Follow your instincts and cultivate those few projects that you can wholeheartedly follow, and you'll have made the right decision.

Defining Success

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! While we still have to work on paintings and such today, we'll be taking extra time to contemplate the awesomeness of this great Civil Rights leader who kicked tons of butt and really fought for the changes he wanted made in the world. We hope you will too! Anyway, on to the talk about success:

When we think of success, we generally think of people who are well known, rich, famous, or leaders in their fields. We think about great contributions to humanity, or ground-breaking innovations, or work of cultural significance.

When we think of success, we generally think of all the people we admire, people who have what we (think we) want, who everyone else is heralding as being successful.

But what does success really mean for you?

This is a very important question that can help align (or realign) what your goals and hopes are. If you want to be successful, the first step, before taking any action whatsoever, is figuring out the answer to that question.

Does success mean money? If so, then would you be successful if you just worked your way up a Fortune 500 and made a boatload of money? What about if you managed to pull off an armored truck robbery?

Does success mean fame? If so, would you be successful if you were famous as a Hollywood actor? What about if you were famous for blowing up a city?

Our point is that when we think of success, we generally think in really broad terms. Money, power, fame, etc. But, what we really need to do to achieve that level of success is to break it down into concrete terms.

Success is really a personal, subjective idea. What if you were rich and famous and powerful, but you hated yourself and your job and no one loved you? Would you be successful then? If so, would it be worth it?

To answer that question, be specific. Very specific. By being suuuuper specific you can then figure out individual goals and the steps to achieve that success. This way, you'll have a concrete path that you can stay on to make sure you make it all the way through ON YOUR TERMS.

Becoming successful on your terms (and no one else's) is quite important, as this is probably the only way that you'll make it and still be happy with yourself. If success is just an end goal, and that's all you care about, then you'll make sacrifices and choices that might get you to that goal, but you won't be happy.

Have a conversation with yourself. Ask yourself "What does it mean for you to consider yourself successful?" If you answer "To be a professional artist that makes a living off of their art," then you could follow up with "Well then how about being a sculptor that makes toilet bowls for a living? You'd be living off your art."

We imagine your reply to then be "No, I want to paint for a living."

"What about painting portraits."
"No, I want to paint dogs."

"Well, what about painting a series of chihuahuas?"

"No, I only like Pomeranians."

"So what about painting portraits of people's Pomeranians?"

"No, I don't want to paint what other people want me to paint. I want to be my own art director."

"So then you want to be a fine artist who paints Pomeranians?"

"Yes, but I want to paint them with coffee."

"Okay, so you want to be a fine artist who paints Pomeranians with coffee."

"And I want to sell a lot of paintings."

"Like 30 of them?"

"Hmm, enough to make a living off of them."

There. Now you know you're a fine art painter who paints pomeranians with coffee, and your measure of success is to be able to live off your sales of pomeranian coffee paintings. Your goals are much clearer, and now that you have a concrete goal, you can now start making the steps to reach that goal. Market research. Actually making the paintings. Putting together press kits and an online portfolio. Photographing the paintings. Etc. etc .etc. (Although to be perfectly honest, you could probably keep on going with that conversation and you could be even more specific, but you get the idea).

While you might not be into Pomeranian coffee paintings, you are probably into something else. Whether it's being a creative writer who ghostwrites for Stephen King, or a comedian who is featured in a major, top-grossing motion picture, or an illustrator who makes $80k a year and has a client list that includes the New Yorker and Wired, it's up to you. But define your own personal measure of success. It's the first step to being successful.

Now it's time to ask yourself: How do you define success?

Take a Step Forward

Here at Monkey + Seal, we think we're off to a pretty good start for 2011. We just published two free guides to help other artists sell their art, and bum-ba-da-dum! We're here to announce that a full course on how to start selling your art is in the works. It'll be at least a few months worth of materials, advice, how-to's, worksheets, and more, starting from the very beginning, assuming that you're starting from scratch.

Anyhoo, we just wanted to take a bit of time to talk about the necessity of moving forward. Often, we think to ourselves "Only if X was true, we could do Y." But in reality, we are probably making excuses for ourselves.

Sometimes the "X" seems like it's something that we could never get. Whether it's a million dollars, or job security, or more free time, or feeling less tired after work, we always seem to talk ourselves into thinking that there will be a better time to do something. "If only I could save enough to quit my job for a few months, I could finish my portfolio." "If only I had more energy after work, I could work on my art." Phooey, we say.

Like we've said before, it all comes down to a matter of priority. If money is in the way, then I suggest you take a good hard look at your budget. How much do you spend on coffee, or eating out or on drinks? If a lack of energy is your issue, what sort of behaviors (like staying up late, or going out to party) could you cut out so you'd get more rest?

Often at Monkey's retail job, when he starts talking about the opportunity for people to take workshops, if they aren't interested, they usually give the excuse "I don't have enough time." Well, while this may be true for some people, Monkey seriously doubts it. How many hours do you spend on facebook, or watching TV, or playing video games? How many movies do you watch? The truth is not that they don't have enough time for workshops, but that they choose not to make time for workshops.

One thing to note is that while we highly endorse prioritizing your art (that's what we're here for, after all), we understand and recognize the need for a life as well. Sometimes you need that coffee, or need to take a break and spend an hour (or two) playing video games. We just hope that if you're really in pursuit of a more artistic life that you learn to strike more a balance between your art, other fun stuff, and the stuff that pays the rent.

That said, when you're going to sit down to work on your art, how many times do you let something (a phone call, or a text message, any sort of interruption, really) distract you? Now think about when you're hanging out with your best friend or you're on a date (an enjoyable one, that is), how often do you let something interrupt you in the same way? Chances are, not as often. While we don't endorse necessarily putting your art over the rest of your life, we do want you to analyze your priorities.

It is an amazing human quality to be able to somehow find a way to make things happen if you really want them to. If you can see your dream in front of you, all you have to do is take that first step, and you'll start setting things in motion that will make it easier for you to progress.

If you start managing your priorities today, you'll start to rewire your brain in order to make new habits and new routines that will be more conducive to your art. And if you think it's too late, you're wrong - it's never too late. It'll just be later.

Let us put it this way. If we could guarantee that if you worked hard for 5-7 years to chase your dream you would get it, would you start today, or wait a few years? You always need to start sometime, so why not today?

A Change of Perspective

Hello everyone! We hope you all had a good holiday this past Thursday! Sorry for the lack of a post on Friday..we announced in on twitter, but we realized a bit late that not all our readers follow our blog... (doh!) Many apologies!

Anyhoo, while we get ready for a few different shows (we'll be hanging work and hanging out at Chillin' Production's upcoming holiday show on 12/4 at Mezzanine, vending at Big Umbrella Studio's newest show on the 9th, and we'll be at Bazaar Bizarre Holiday at Fort Mason on the 11th and 12th), here's a little something for when you feel like you're running a bit low on inspiration.

When you're running low on inspiration, a great way to get your creative juices flowing is to take something you've been currently working on and turn it on it's head. What we mean by that is taking something familiar (and that you might be getting bored with), and trying to retell it from a different point of view.

If you're telling a story about a man who sits on a chair, try retelling the story from the perspective of the chair! If you paint portraits of cats, try taking one of your favorite pieces and then paint what the cat in that portrait was looking at. If you write music, try playing a piece you've written backwards.

This technique works great as it's something utterly familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. You'll learn new things about the original piece you're basing your new creation upon, and you'll find yourself challenged by thinking in a way that you don't usually think. At the very least, you'll have something new that will challenge your conventions (which is usually just the thing to inspire you anew).

Changing up your perspective is a great tool to teach you new things about yourself, your subject, and the way that you look at things. It'll push and challenge your thinking and frame of reference, and it might even inspire a whole new body of work! Try it and let us know how it goes!

Painting What Sells or Painting What You Love

What you choose to paint is usually regarded as a dichotomy. You either paint what sells, or you paint what you love.

It's easy to paint what sells. You can copy the style of a famous artist and do what they do. You can also just look into illustration/fine art annuals and figure out what people like. You can spend hours and hours practicing and drawing, and once you get your traditional classical realism down paint some dragons and monsters and barbarians with topless women and you're set.

It's not easy to paint what you love. You have to figure out what parts of your style are you, and what are habits that have been drilled into your brain by society, peers, schooling, or anything else that has led to your development as an artist. You also have to leave all that other stuff behind and do what you want. Sometimes you'll find commercial success right away, especially if what you love to paint also happens to be what sells. Other times, you'll have to find a niche audience that may be scattered across the globe. You'll probably have to spend years experimenting to even figure out what you love, then spend more years honing your craft before you ever get mainstream commercial success.

If you paint what sells, you'll probably end up hating your art and you'll be financially successful but most likely painting won't even be fun anymore. You'll be doing someone else's style, doing someone else's subject matter. When what's "in" changes, you'll find that your (borrowed) style is no longer as in-demand as it once was, and you'll have to start all over.

If you paint what you love, although jobs might be harder to find, and gallery shows might not come as readily, painting will be a total release from all the other crap you might have to put up with. When you paint what you love, you'll love painting enough to deal with loans, late fees, overdrafts, and budgeting between food and art supplies.

But life isn't a dichotomy. While it's true that there are subjects and styles that sell better than others, you can still paint what you love and be successful. Often times the love that you have for your paintings will translate onto your canvas. It becomes about finding your audience and giving your craft your all. Even if you are technically able to do a certain style, or a certain subject, if your heart isn't in it, you'll be unhappy.

When you're well-known and in-demand, people will ask to see more of what they've already seen before. Sure, styles and subjects might vary a bit, but people will want to see some continuity from your previous work. If all you have for previous work is stuff you don't like to paint, you'll be stuck painting more of the same. Even if it takes longer (which won't necessarily happen) to become more successful by painting what you love, when you finally reach that success you'll find that it's a lot more fulfilling and lucrative than just following the trends and doing what sells.

You can also figure out what your audience wants and still stay true to your own voice. Ask them! Put up a survey, ask your friends - what part of your art do they like the most? What would they want to see? Find out something that people will like, and then do your own twist on it - but only if you want to. If people say they want to see landscapes, and you hate landscapes, by all means pass. But if people say they want to see pirates and you actually like pirates, then you can paint them in whatever style suits you best.

Find the love in your work, whether its paintings, writing, acting, dancing, teaching, engineering, managing, selling, whatever. Find what you love do to and pursue it endlessly. And if you can figure out a way to make a living off doing just that, you'll be even better off. You'll find that no matter how long the journey, it will be an enjoyable and profitable one.

Junia y Andres

This weekend Monkey + Seal headed down to San Diego (Chula Vista, to be more appropriate) to attend the wedding of our friends Junia and Andres. Another super artistic couple (and creators of the currently-on-hiatus Popote card line), their wedding was so distinctly them, it was really amazing.
Between the centerpieces made out of books, hand-crocheted doilies, and hand-painted Munny dolls (seen above), to the giant balloons that were part of their invitations, to the unified signage on the snacks, the wedding was a DIY masterpiece.


We will most definitely be using some of their wedding elements as inspiration for our own, many-years-down-the-line-eventual wedding. Also, we must comment that the food was simply amazing. They had a nopales salad that was extremely kick-ass, and the ginger lemonade spiked with bourbon that they had during cocktail hour was delicious. Also, whatever tequila we had for the toast was one of the smoothest drinks we've ever had. Monkey could have most definitely just nursed a bottle of that tequila all night.


Anyway, best wishes to Junia and Andres (who are now on their honeymoon) on their new adventures as a married couple. Yay!

PS - Now that the wedding is over, you can focus on Popote again!

Tetsuya Ishida

Monkey and Seal recently had the incredible pleasure of discovering the work of Tetsuya Ishida, a contemporary Japanese painter. The store that Seal works at recently started carrying a collection of his work and when she showed Monkey, he was literally speechless.

His work is hauntingly beautiful, commenting on modern Japanese life. His topics range from the life of a salaryman to consumption to alienation and loneliness. Each painting was a self-portrait of the artist in the thick of it. He recently died in April from a train accident which is suspected to be a suicide.


Truly a great talent that will be missed, Monkey feels like this collection of work by Tetsuya-san is super inspiring and invaluable to the Monkey and Seal library.

Tetsuya does what Monkey ultimately wants to do with his art. By combining social commentary, politics, creepiness, and magical realism, Tetsuya says something deeply profound that resonates with one's soul and stays with you.

While Monkey's work currently explores the same themes but with a more humorous bent while using the interplay between text and images, he wants to eventually create something as moving and powerful as Tetsuya.

Monkey and Seal both highly recommend checking out more of Tetsuya's work - it is a simply stunning collection that finds beauty in the horrors of contemporary Japanese life.

Masking Tape - Huzzah!

What can you do with Masking Tape? Plenty! Flypaper, building construction, automobile parts, and best of all, creative innovations in arts and crafts! Some people have made dolls, photo frames, gift wraps, fans, giant props, and wall paper. Check out this awesome website for inspiration http://www.masking-tape.jp/ezawaBlog/

Recently, Seal came across a special masking tape company and is excited to feature them: Kamoi Kakoshi LTD., they are Japan's hottest Masking Tape manufacturer. They have been in the industry for almost a hundred years, and are the first to have made masking tape from rice paper, their "MT brand." It has just the perfect amount of translucency, vivid colors/patterns, and texture.

Probably the coolest thing about their website is their gallery and the Factory Tour Journal:it takes you on a complete picture book explanation of how they produce their masking tape, from raw materials into the final package.

Who knew that their company originally started out in 1923, manufacturing masking tape for construction sites, vehicle paint shops, and flypaper. It wasn't until 2006, that an educator/artist approached them with her book project and requested that they produce a variety of color. And they responded! Now they have over a 35 colors and patterns, you can check out their MT color chart here and their newest products here. You can either shop online or find these cool MT at Japantown, SF at New People the Store or at Kinokuniya Stationery both on Post St.

Inspired? Seal hopes that you are excited as she is about incorporating masking tape into her projects. If you end up making a masking tape project, take a photo and send us a link!

Be creative!