Buy our shirts!!

Hi everyone! So we've decided to spread the love and offer our fabulous shirt "You're Not Alone Anymore" to all our lovely bloggy readers. You can pre-order this lovely shirt for $5 off the regular price! Part of the proceeds will also go to a charity (La Casa de las Madres) that provides resources for survivors of domestic violence, so you can rest assured that the shirt purchase is doing good for the world. Go here now! No seriously, now! We'll wait.

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Oh, back? Sweet, thanks for ordering! Anyhoo, many apologies for getting this post up so late, by now most of you are probably pretty liquored up and enjoying your Friday nights, but alas, Monkey was getting his teeth drilled, filled, and all that good stuff, so we've had our hands a bit full.

Anyway, we really appreciate everyone who has already bought a shirt - the t-shirt fund is our way of fundraising for Monkey's dental work. Thanks again!

PS - We want to do more shirts, so we'd love to hear suggestions of stuff you want to see. And yes, Monkey is already working on a zombie design. Hooray!

You Gotta Keep Showing Up

Many times in life, you may hit a wall or obstacle, or a huge setback. You'll probably feel like poop, and you'll want to stop working and just wallow in your own self-loathing. However, you can't let yourself fall into that pit for too long, or you'll fall into a circuitous path of feeling bad, so you don't work, which makes you feel bad, etc., etc.

Instead, there are two things that help us get out of the funk. The first is that you have to take action, any action, to get your mind and body moving and going. Don't get us wrong, sometimes you need time to mourn and to cry, but don't let it last too long. Do something, anything. If it's as basic as just drawing angry dinosaur stick figures onto napkins, do it! Write a list of little things that you could do now. Research some new opportunities or techniques online. Go to the library and scope out some inspiration. The key here to to keep on keeping on. No, you won't be as productive as you usually are, and if you keep working it'll probably won't be up to par with your usual work, but keep on working. Keep on moving, and shaking, and you'll find that you'll eventually roll yourself towards something new and positive and full of opportunity and before you know it you'll be back in the saddle again.

Recently, Monkey found out that he's going to need some extensive dental work done over the next few months. With a low, low, yearly maximum from his dental insurance (he does count himself lucky to have it though!), he's recently found himself with a huge financial burden to deal with. When he got home from the dentist, he immediately wanted to start drinking and just play games online. While as tempting as this was, he realized that it wouldn't really solve anything, and so he decided to start looking up submission information for book publishers and various art directors.

Now, Monkey has come up with a plan to rework his portfolio over the next week or so and to submit (scary!!) to some big-name art directors and try to get some freelance illustration work that actually pays industry rates. He is looking into ways to expand his current businesses and to perhaps venture into new territory. All in all, he found that a huge setback (crazy financial burden) has ended up inspiring him to take focused, concrete action towards his goal of being able to totally live off his art.

The second method that we've found to work is that you need to stop thinking about yourself. It's hard, since something crappy has probably just happened to you, but if you can take a step back and think about what you can do for others, you'll find that you'll end up helping yourself in the process.

By focusing on others and what you can do for your friends/family, you also stop thinking about the problem that is bothering you. Recently, Seal was feeling down and instead of letting that sadness swallow her up, she decided to try and give her friends a hand. After attending SIGGRAPH, Seal had seen a lot of animation and game companies who were hiring for artists, so she forwarded all the relevant info to some of her former classmates in her illustration and animation classes. In turn, she was able to catch up with people she hadn't talked to in a while which in turn cheered up Seal and helped her rise out of her gloom. By turning the focus away from herself and to her friends, Seal was able to cheer up faster than if she has constantly tried to figure out a way to help herself.

No matter what is bothering you, or what problems you're having that are stopping you from creating, you have to find a way to keep afloat. We know that it's difficult, and that the realities of life can constantly wound you to the point where you don't even want to get out of bed in the morning, but if you keep on showing up, and you take some time to help out others, you'll find that you'll heal faster and get back into the game quicker even stronger than you were before.

Failure Isn't Fatal

You shouldn't be afraid of failing...you should be afraid of this rhino.

Many times, people see the next step in their journey towards their dreams, but don't take it. Most of these times the reason behind not taking that step is fear of failing. Let us tell you something: nearly 100% of the time, failure is not fatal, so take that risk!

We have found that in many cases, the next step is so close, yet so many turn back because they are afraid of failing. Yes, sometimes there are other reasons for backing down, but most of the time taking the next step is possible, but we invent reasons and excuses why we shouldn't do something.

There is a difference, however, between fear of failing and researched, factual-based decision making, but most of the time it is actually our fear doing the convincing, not scientific research papers. For example, you have a decent enough reason to not submit to galleries that specifically show abstract paintings if you work exclusively in a style akin to classical realism. You do NOT have reason enough to skip submitting your work to a high-end gallery that does show work that is sort of similar to yours.

A tangent of that idea is that doing something without research and regard to anything or anyone is different from taking fearless, researched action towards your goals. If you want to be a fine art photographer, it makes little sense to just send your portfolio to every single art director in the world, as some won't even be into photography.

Back to the main point of this: failure is not fatal. We often think that it will be the end of the world in the worst case scenario. Most often, unless you're a superhero who actually defends the planet from an evil menace, everything will be okay if you mess up here and there. Failure needs to shake it's negative stigma and be seen as a necessary building block to figuring out what does work. Besides, what is really the worst that could happen from failing? By actually speaking your fears out loud, you'll realize that often the fears are ungrounded, completely irrational, and very possibly absurd.

Afraid of submitting your portfolio to art directors? What's the worst that can happen? You just never hear from them? If your work isn't up to par, they're not going to even comment - they're too busy. No one is going to tell you that they hate your work or that you shouldn't be an artist - you just won't hear back. And really, is that the end of the world? Hardly. Poop poop.

Monkey + Seal isn't advocating to act brashly. We aren't advising you to jump blindly into the fray, throwing caution to the wind. We are advising that you really stop and think (and vocalize) about your fears, and evaluate them at face value. Really, if you fail, what's the absolute worst that could happen? Don't let irrational fear hold you back. Breathe deep and go for it!

PS - if you aren't sure if your fears are justified or irrational, ask a friend (and yes, that includes us)!

How to get motivated

Zombies are motivated for brains like you should be motivated towards your passion in life. Learn from them.

Monkey here:

Today I'm going to talk about drive and motivation. Now some tough-ass type of coaches, gurus, advisers, and other sorts of people might tell you that you either have it or you don't, but that's not really the full story.

Often times, we have the drive, but we just haven't found the endeavor worthy of that drive. Because our society often promotes certain fields and not others (math and hard science over philosophy, art, and social sciences), often times we label others (and get labeled ourselves) as "unmotivated," "lazy," "unfocused." I find that when it comes to calculus, physics, and drawing subject matters that don't interest me, I am unfocused (hello Bejeweled Blitz!), unmotivated ("hmm, maybe I'll scrub the toilet instead of working on this commission") and just plain lazy ("zzzzzzzzzzzzzz"). On the flip side, give me a day off and tell me to draw monsters and octopi and zombies all day? I'll be glued to my Wacom tablet an easy 8-12 hours no sweat.

So to all those people who tell others that they should be focusing on their work more, go shove it. And yes, all you artists out there with unsupportive parents - I really am telling your parents to shove it.

If you've ever heard "you should focus on XYZ" instead of art, where XYZ is something that you have no interest in, then you should make a deal with that person who just told you that. Pick something that they have absolutely no interest in, and tell them if they focus on that, you'll focus on XYZ. After all, fair's fair.

The point of all this is that just because someone is not interested in a certain field (like their current job) doesn't mean that they aren't driven - it's just hard to push yourself to do something that you essentially hate. The "trick" is that you have to figure out what you are passionate about and go after that. You have to be specific and not generalize. If you are passionate about art, are you passionate about studying 14th century oil paintings, or are you interested in wheatpasting posters around town? Two very different fields, but both would fall into the general category of "art."

Once you find what you love to do, you'll find that life gets a lot more fun, and "work" doesn't seem so much like work. Maybe you won't be able to land that dream job right away, but once you know the concrete details of your dream job, you'll then be able to start taking concrete actions in order to wean yourself off your current job and move to what you really want to do.

The next step is to take a lesson from zombies and learn to be relentless in your passion. It may hurt, it may take a long time, but in the end, when you're truly delving deep into what you love to do, that's when it's going to be all worth it.

What are you passionate about?

Try something new

Monkey had never used the rainbow gradient in Photoshop. Now he has.

Try something new. Be a beginner again.

Be thankful for what you have, but don't be satisfied. Especially with your art. It's important to continually grow and experiment in finding the best mediums to express yourself. Some of the best architects are also the best photographers. A sculptor is also a filmmaker. A painter is also a screenprinter. "Why," do you ask? Because no matter in what medium we work in, something translates. We can see color in painting and in photograph. We understand light through three dimensional sculpture. We understand movement because we understand stillness. Being an artist means constantly exploring the seeming "paradox," or the unknown.

Sure, if you've never tried drawing before you may not be happy with your first drawing in comparison to your skillful photographs, but that shouldn't stop anyone from trying something new. As an artist we try so damn hard to learn one thing in a lifetime, to become "masterful" at something. Although it's good to have a goal and be dedicated and focused towards that goal. But a goal for the sake of the goal becomes yet another work.

Art thrives on something new, something not yet formed, something you are trying to grasp but don't know how to communicate. It's quite frustrating, but it's valuable to be a beginner. Occasionally, we have to let loose, and stop taking the art so gosh darn serious.

It doesn't work to drag our artist self to the easel, hand it a brush and say, "now, paint." No. We have to start the creativity by doing something crude, crazy, totally "BAD" art. Something happens when you allow the artist self to create "bad art" and relieve it from the pressure of perfection. Only then, can we move on to exploring deeper ideas, delving deeper into our craft, and creating something that's meaningful to us.

So what's the big deal in trying something new? Never knitted? Draw? or taken photos? There is no big deal. Poop poop.

The things in life you will regret are the things yet to be tried. Figure out something new that you would like to try. What is it?

Procrastination

Procrastination:

Procrastination is self-sabotage. Even though we knows this and most of us don't like to procrastinate on art, yet we still do it. Whether we start the art on Sunday or Wednesday, it is almost always done minutes before deadline.Why is that? Psychologists say that procrastination is an avoidance of pain. Why are we so afraid of our art? Why is it painful to do art? and NOT to do art? Given how society views art, Seal is not surprised at these paralyzing fears.

Have you ever heard of the phrase,"starving artist?" Or how about, "artists are crazy, self-absorbed, over indulgent, selfish, selfish." Where did we get that? If you live on planet earth, then probably from our parents, our parents' friends, teachers, students, our peers, our co-workers. While a typical high school program grooms their young-ins in biology, English, or math, art is seen as an elective (and only the nerds, crazies, or indie kids take art!). Artists are already filled with doubts and fears before they begin, so it's not surprising that we stare at the blank canvas and a week has gone by before any mark is made.

Procrastination is not born, but learned. The Procrastinating artist is avoiding some sort of pain. There are three main categories of procrastination:

1. They want the rush of a deadline. They feel they are not creative otherwise.
2. They want to avoid failure or success, or any kind of visibility.
3. They don't want to make a decision on (what subjects to paint, what color, what to say in their canvas) so they can be absolved of any consequence and responsibility of the outcome (look what you have made).

Seal guesses that most artists who procrastinate have had to deal with shame. (How dare you make that art? Who do you think you are to create? You think you can actually be a successful artist? get real.) Any bad crit, look, or comment, can trigger such fears to the point that the artist will put off working on anything unless they absolutely have to.

Procrastination is the artists' last resort. To run away. To hide. To put off the canvas for another day. If you are a procrastinator, I'm sure people have probably already told you: "get a planner" "learn time management" "be more strict with your time" etc. etc.

Although the above suggestions help, Seal would like to also propose the following approach:
If you think you are struggling with one of the above issues: Congratulations. Admitting it is already a big step. Here are some things to keep in mind: 1) Since procrastination is learned, it can be unlearned. It will take time (no pun intended), but the payoff is your freedom. 2). Procrastinators don't like what they are doing and most (if not all) would like to change their behavior. (So no need to tell them "they need to change," etc. they know). Now here is the big secret, it's scary, but you can do it. And even the best time management courses do not cover this, and yet it can help you breakthrough your procrastination: you need to find out WHY you are procrastinating. What are you avoiding? Why are you in pain when you do art? Who or What has caused this pain?

Finally, what eases the pain? What makes it better? What makes you feel safe to create? Get more of it.

BE a kid again and your creativity will soar!

What are 3 of your favorite childhood snacks?

What did you liked to do as a kid? Were you encouraged to do it?

What are 3 things you would NEVER EVER do?

Now, buy yourself those childhood snacks. Do those things you liked to do. And do those things you said you will never do. Because our creativity thrives on generosity with ourselves. You'll be surprised at how stingy we are with our artist self. Do any of these sound familiar?

"I don't have time to draw for myself" "I can't afford to fix my camera, or get that sweater" "Stickers are for children (trans: I will not buy that sticker. I'm an adult now.)" "I can't sleep, I still have work to do!"

We deprive ourselves of rest, of money, of time, of care, enjoyment, of child-like adventures. If we keep doing that, sure we can still make art, but chances are you will be scraping the bottom of the barrel for inspiration. The artists needs to be constantly feed with new experiences AND experiences that you enjoy.

The reason we asked about "childhood" things, is that most of the time, during our childhood, our enjoyment was unadulterated. We found amusement in a simple box. We made it into a jet, a cafe, a dinosaur. As we grow into adults, we feel that we must "put away our childish toys, go to the bank, pay the bills, cook dinner, go to meetings, sign contracts, walk, talk, and do things like an adult."

This is the fastest way to tack on stress, build health problems, and basically deprive yourselves of the freedom of creating. When we make art, we need to tap into our visceral. The more our artist self feels safe to create, the more it will play/work for you.

When was the last time you did your favorite thing? Hopefully, recently. But if you are like most of the population, probably days, weeks, months, and sometimes years ago. So let's begin again.

What is 3 of your favorite childhood snacks?

What did you like to do as a kid? Were you encouraged to do it?

What are 3 things you will NEVER EVER do?