How Bad Do You Want to Succeed?

It's the Monkey here again:

First off, this was inspired by this article over at Muddy Colors, a pretty cool illustration blog. While I highly suggest you go take a look, I know some of you don't like clicking blog links (I know I'm usually guilty of that), so I'll summarize for you: Life as an artist is hard, it usually takes on average, 5 years after graduating from art school to really get a stable illustration career. Live inexpensively, and take all the work that you can get.

While this is very, very true and great advice, it sort of brings up the big question: How badly do you want to succeed at this whole "chasing your dream" thing? Because with all the awesomeness that comes along with being able to do what you love for a living, not everyone will be able to do that right out of college. Yes, there are definitely exceptions, and we know lots of illustrators who got picked up by game companies within 3-6 months of graduation. However, that's not going to be the case for everyone, and especially if you want to be a successful fine artist, the road could be even longer assuming the traditional gallery path.

So you have to ask yourself, and be totally honest - are you going to be able to do what you love right now and make a living off of it? Personally, I think that the advice to live inexpensively is great, but when you've got nearly $200,000 in student loans to pay back, living super frugally still doesn't cut it a lot of the time and it's not even living frugally, it's being broke-ass poor.

Now to be totally honest, this is a question that I've found myself asking myself more and more. I'm generally a super happy, go-get-'em type of guy, and this isn't some front that I put on to just try and encourage other artists to go after their dream. I'm not the type to sell you something that I don't believe in. However, we've talked about going through Hell before, and the reason we can talk about stuff like that is because we've gone through it, or in my case, are going through it when we write these posts.

While co-owning a gallery and running the Monkey + Seal shop and co-running a screen printing biz and teaching workshops and doing demos at Paper Source and painting for gallery shows might seem all super awesome and fun and magical, and don't get me wrong, it is most of the time, it's also really, really, really, really fucking hard.

I work, on average, between 50-70 hours a week. I don't usually get entire days off, and if I do, they come about once every three weeks or so. Now yes, some of that time is painting or making prints, or designing a new tie design, or writing blog posts, or updating FB, or whatever, but nevertheless, it is work. I also cannot stop because to be perfectly honest, I'm broke, and if my income comes from the art hustle, I gotta hustle.

There are times where rent is put into jeopardy, and times that I skip meals because I spent all my money on bills or on art supplies or table fees at craft fairs. On good nights I get 6 hours of sleep, on bad nights I get 3-4. I also have to go to my two community college classes twice a week in order to defer my student loan payments.

Don't get me wrong - I'm really happy most of the time as like I said, I get to paint and draw and illustrate and make cool stuff for people for a living. But the cost is that I can't currently afford to travel or take vacations, and I can't stop. I'm constantly worried about money, and that's why I hustle trying to simultaneously make Monkey + Seal, Lords of Print, and Big Umbrella work.

So while this may come off as a whine-fest, it doesn't intend to be one. At any time I could go and apply to office jobs that would pay me enough to get by, or I could do my best to manage a retail store or something like that. All very valid and perfectly okay decisions for some people, but just not me.

But thanks to Eve's tremendous emotional, psychological, and financial support, I'm able to keep on doing what I love, even if it means some great sacrifices at times. And that's why I can't give up. I can't squander everything the lovely Seal and lots of other people have given me. To me, art is (almost) everything.

And while you might think that I'm trying to convince you to give up everything to follow your dream (I'm not), an equally important thing you have to figure out is your limits. How long will you give yourself before you give up? 6 months? 2 years? A decade? Your entire life? What else are you willing to sacrifice to get it? Are you willing to give up the love of your life for your dream? Your friends? Will you leave everything behind and relocate? Personally, I've decided that art is the most important thing in my life - besides Eve. We don't talk about our personal lives a lot on the blog. So while there are a lot of things I'm willing to give up for my art- vacations, eating at fancy restaurants, etc., I'm not willing to give up the little (seal) lady. But whether or not you are in a relationship, figuring out what you're willing to give up is crucial, if only so you know what not to give up.

There is no right or wrong answer to this. Everyone is different, and everyone needs to make up their own boundaries for themselves. The most important part is that you stick to them! Once you break a boundary, it's a slippery slope downhill. Just watch Requiem for a Dream and you'll see what I'm talking about.

So if you're already living the dream, congratulations. If you're not there yet, ask yourself: How bad do you want it, and what are you willing to give up (or: what aren't you willing to give up) to get it?

Why Your Competition Will Crush You

Dark Wizards are both competitive, nosy neighbors, and general sapphire-loving jerks.

Don't be a Dark Wizard.

That's right, your competition will crush you.

Not because you aren't wonderful and talented and amazing, because you are all those things whether you're willing to admit it or not. Not because your competition is better, stronger, faster, whatever. The reason your competition will kick your butt is because when we say "your competition," we don't mean other people/organizations/things that are competing with you. We mean "the competition that you're taking part in."

Especially now that we're completely over-saturated with media (thanks internet!), we can often find examples that prove our own internal head-demons right. With not much searching, we can find that famous person who started out homeless and a drug addict and then became a noble-prize winning scholar (or some crazy story like that). We can find examples of people who were in our own situations and then became wildly successful (seemingly overnight, as per the flash and bang of most stories like these). After hearing about something like that, how can we not compare ourselves?

So like we said in our title, your competition will crush you. It is much harder fighting the good fight when it seems like you've already lost to someone else. When we constantly compare ourselves to others, we never get a chance to really compare ourselves to our true potential, which is what really matters in the end. In that sense, the battle is lost before it's fought. So how do you win the fight with yourself?

The best way to overcome this potentially debilitating self-criticism is to not compare yourself to other people at all. While we're not advocating sticking your head in the mud and ignoring the world, what really is the use of comparing yourself to other people? Is there any point to compare ourselves to outliers that aren't representative of the population as a whole? To make yourself feel worse about yourself? Really? Seriously, what's the point? We'll answer that for you - there is none.

There's no reason to fuel your own self-doubt. Other people will be more successful and less successful (by your standards - make sure you have already defined success for yourself), so get over it. You have something amazing locked up inside of you (don't try to deny it!), it's just your job to figure out what your gift to the world is and to go and nourish it and help it grow.

Everyone should tend to their own gardens without looking at your neighbor's as if their grass is greener. Everyone has the capacity and seed and raw potential to grow their own unique beautiful garden, but too much time is wasted on envying others' growth spurt. It's wasted time and energy. While you are busy focused on other people, you may have just missed your own tiny budding potential peeking its way from underground. Don't miss that chance and see for yourself how awesome you are and really embrace all your raw potential that you have as a human being.

Honor the seeds you have planted. Nurture it and be your own number fan. Only after you have loved yourself, will the world come to see you as you see yourself. Your competition can't crush you if it doesn't exist, so grab your water bucket and start growing something worthwhile. Remember, you can have it all (and more!) if you really want it, so drop the competition and be the greatest success you can be!

How to Handle Rejection

Bottom of the 9th, down by 3, 2 outs, bases loaded, 2 strikes . . . you can still make a one-hit winning comeback.

Monkey here:

If you've ever experienced rejection for your art, you know how much it can suck. As an artist, you put so much of yourself into your work that, especially in a subjective field, rejection can really sting. Whether it's not getting called back after an audition, or getting a negative portfolio review, or being rejected from an illustration annual, rejection is never fun.

So how do you bounce back? How do you get over the fact that the person judging your art deems it wasn't right for whatever opportunity you're looking for? Well for starters, realize that rejection is just an opportunity to try again. But I realize that's easier said than done, and I hate to answer a question with another question, but most of the good answers in life are like this, so I'm doing it anyway. To figure out how to move on, you have to ask yourself "Why do I want this in the first place?"

Why do you want that gallery show? Why do you want that part? Is the answer recognition? Fame? Money? Or something more intangible? If you really just wanted recognition, you could always go back to school and try really hard in your classes and study and get A's and then show off your 4.0 GPA - it's a tangible, objective achievement that people can be proud of. If it's fame, you can always be a serial killer - no one really forgets them. If it's money, there's always thievery or prostitution, or simply some 9-5 job that you can take.

Yes, I know these are all extreme examples of ways to get recognition or fame or money, but really I bet your answer is a bit more nuanced than any of these. I bet that you're actually looking for recognition as an artist and to be able to live off your art. After all, that's the dream, right? To be able to do what you love and get paid for it.

So then, if you're chasing the dream to do what you love and get paid for it, isn't it painful when you face setbacks and rejection? Oh most definitely. So how do you get over it?

The answer to that should be really obvious at this point.

What are you going to do, are you going to stop doing what you love? So life has pushed you around a bit. You haven't heard from the galleries you sent your portfolio to. Your photos aren't selling. You lost money on the last few craft shows. What are you going to do, just stop?

Really, life can be painful sometimes. But is it going to be more painful doing what you love and not getting outside approval of your work, or is it going to be more painful not doing what you love and losing part of your soul? Honestly, if you're willing to just give up on your dream, then you have to ask yourself is that all your dream ever amounted to? Was it really your true passion to begin with?

I used to always think that my dream was to get into a huge gallery and sell my paintings for thousands of dollars. That's still my goal, but I've realized that if that never happens, it won't be the end of the world because I realize that in a way, I'm currently living the dream. I get to paint - and the act of creating art is what is really enjoyable. Don't get me wrong, I love getting into gallery shows and selling art and figuring out how to make money off my art, but when I don't hear back from a gallery I've sent my portfolio to, I keep asking myself "what are you going to do, quit? Am I going to stop doing what I love just because a gallery doesn't drop everything to curate me into the next available show?"

You never know why you didn't get into a show, or an annual, or get that lead role, or whatever. Things like that aren't a reflection of your worth as an artist. Maybe your price point was too low, or too high. Maybe the gatekeeper (forget about them and rush the gates already!) already had someone else in mind. Maybe you're a really fucking amazing artist, but they just liked someone else's submission a little bit better. Maybe your style just wasn't their thing, or they only like paintings with ducks and flowers (or alternatively, demons and skulls). Who knows?

The point is that you can't give up. Don't let the thing that you love to do slip away. No matter how many years it takes, or to what level of commercial success you'll ever make it to, you can't stop doing what you love. Don't let external forces tell you how to live your life. In the end, all those people don't matter -you're the final arbiter of how successful your life is.

I honestly hope that art comes easy for you and that people compliment your work as soon as they see it, and all your magical dreams of being a world-renowned artist comes true (or whatever your dreams are). Do what you love, and if you chase that dream wholeheartedly, the other stuff (commercial success, external acclaim, etc. etc.) will come along (if you so desire). Now get out there and do your thing. After all, are you just going to quit, or are you going to keep on keeping on?

Vote Monkey + Seal in 2011!

Hey everyone! We (and some of our friends) could really use your help!

So SF Weekly's Best of the Bay is going on right now, and they have a form that you can submit over and over again to vote for your favorite stuff! Even better, it's focus is DIY, which we are all about!!

We're trying to win in two categories: #1 Best Blog (www.blog.monkeyandseal.com), and #12 Best Artist (either Eve Skylar or Rick Kitagawa). You can vote here!

You can also help out our friends and other enterprises by voting for #8 Best Film Festival (Asian American International Film Festival), #10 Best Theater Company (Asian American Theater Company), #13 - Best Art Gallery (Big Umbrella Studios),and #98 Best Boutique (Urban Bazaar).

Please feel free to vote for other venues you think deserve the win too!

Note: You can vote as many times as you'd like, and also if you just want to vote for us quickly and be done (our category is on the first page!), you can just hit next over and over until you get to the "submit" page. You don't actually have to register or anything, nor do you have to fill everything out as long as you go all the way through the submit button (although if you want to, you should!)

To vote again once you've submitted your vote, just copy the URL from your browser and paste it back in where it was and hit enter.

Thanks so so much, and we really appreciate your time, votes, and support! You're truly the best!

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.

Are You Looking For The Wrong Thing In Life? How to Get Back on Track to What You Love

The Great Timble Chase: Find What You Love Most

If you do not know what to do, what your purpose in life is, or where to go from here . . . play the thimble game. Is it hot? or cold? Am I getting warmer?

What parts of the day do you have the most energy? when are you most creative? what are you doing? and who are you with?

If you have no idea of what makes you happy, start to pay attention to your body's reactions. It is the best compass you have. Try to remember when you were most happy. How did you feel? What is your body doing? Re-live that moment and take note of what your body is doing. On the surface it is probably registering simple things like smiling, or shoulders relaxing. And on the inside, you feel competent, grateful, or a sense of energy.

If you still have no idea of what you like to do or what your purpose is, I'm sure you can tell what you don't like to do. Can you recall a job, or task, or being around people you don't feel comfortable with? Your body will do it's best to sabotage you to get you out of the situation. You suddenly can't recall your co-worker's name or you forget to attach that file or you start bumbling like a social idiot. (For me, my stomach tightens up, my throat gets dry, and I would have huge blocks around people's names. This is my cue to exit and do more of the things that make me happy - like painting with Monkey and friends). Take notice of these things. In circumstances that impacts you negatively, you body will try to do everything it can except for that job or be with that company of people.

With that said, there will be moments when you will be faced by positive challenges, but your body will react with similar cues and social ills. Be aware of the subtle difference. The slight difference? On one hand, the task or people that are major negative blows to your life: you absolutely don't want to be there, you feel like dirt, and you would rather disappear through the floor. On the other hand when you encounter the scary, but positive new challenge: you will be scared, but the thought of doing that task still thrills you and if you had the courage (which you do), you honestly want to take that next step. For example, proposing marriage is damn scary or moving to a new city to pursue your dream job is too, but the very thought of ultimately accomplishing that task fills you with excitement and passion. Not everything "uncomfortable" is bad for you, but you'll want to avoid the things that impact your creativity in an uncompromisingly negative way. (Meaning, that there is no payoff in being there at all and in fact, it just hurts you).

"But how can I completely avoid everything I hate doing and only do what I love?" you ask. As we're building and flexing our body's compass power and moving more towards what we love to do. . . yes, there will still be times when you "must" do things or be around people you don't necessary like. In these circumstances, try to think if being there will get you closer to your ultimate creative goal. Is there still a payoff for being there?

There might be days as artists when we have to take on projects, day jobs, and be around people that are not our ideals. But does this day job get us closer to our goals? Does it provide us with the capital to buy art supplies and free weekends and nights to pursue our art (without worrying about rent) while we move closer to embracing creativity full-time? Does the job (you hate?) provide structure and feeling of competence through repeated actions during the day as opposed to the frenzied chaos of creating something completely new for each canvas? (Can you think: "I am thankful for this job because . . . " it provides me with a roof over my head. Or I don't like the people, but I'm learning a lot. Or I hate everything else, but my co-workers are great. If you don't come up with anything at all to be thankful about, quit and find a new one.)

For most artists, we are often torn in our either-or thinking (more about this in a later post). We think all or nothing. Day job or dream job. That's it. So "any compromise is short of perfection," and therefore we have "failed as artists." This limited thinking is harmful to your life's options and creative endeavors.

If you were given all the freedom in the world to just create - you'll get bored - and your art becomes your day job. Human beings need structure and balance. So yes, there will be times you must deal. But as you deal with present circumstances, keep reminding yourself, that this is only just a stepping stone, a transition, a resting stop, you have bigger vegan fish to fry and creative goals in mind and for that you must continually move towards the thimble. Keep playing the thimble game: find activities and people that are (hot!) in line with who you are and your creative life. Eventually, you'll move completely only towards things you love: you'll be surrounded by people you love, who love you back, and you'll be doing the things that make you absolutely happy. All the time. Isn't that worth searching for? Isn't it worth fighting for?

Do You Choose to Be Ordinary?

Monkey here:

Life can be hard. Especially if you are chasing your dreams. We've been told that following our dreams is the hard route - we're supposed to just grow up and work crappy jobs and get married and have kids and then retire and call it a life. So we struggle with our ambitions and our reality, with what we hope for and what we see in the immediate future. Thus, for a great majority of us, life is hard. It beats us up at times, kicks us in the ribs, and then makes fun of us. It is not an easy road ahead for those that dare to follow their dreams.

The truth of the matter is that most people aren't going to reach their full potential and aren't going to achieve their life-long goals. For a whole crapload of reasons, they're not going to make it. They're going to settle for being ordinary, with ordinary lives and if they're happy with that, great for them. Don't get me wrong - I don't think that there is anything wrong with giving up or being ordinary, as long as you make that choice. That choice isn't for me, but I don't hold it against anyone if they do choose to be ordinary. It is a very, well, ordinary life path to take.

But for those of us that can't stand to be at a job we don't love, for those of us that want to chase that dream, for those of us that want to achieve more than the average person, for those of us that want to do what we love for a living, this is unacceptable. If you're reading this, chances are you are one of these people who yearn for something more.

Now, I truly believe that people are amazing and there is almost unlimited potential locked away in each and every one of us. Granted, it's harder for some of us to get to that potential than others, and some of us have had more help than others too. However, we all have the potential to reach our goals - but it's a choice we have to make.

We have to choose to be exceptional, or to be the outlier. We have to bust our asses to be extraordinary. There might be a few geniuses out there, but we have to come to terms that we aren't one of them. And neither is the rest of the 99.9% of the population. If you weren't born with some amazing, near-superhuman talent that less than 1 in 1 trillion people have, you're not a genius (plus, you wouldn't be reading this). Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Walt Disney. All these guys were not geniuses. They practiced longer, they worked smarter, they failed and tried again and again and again and they never gave up. They asked for help when they needed it and forged a path no matter how bruised or beaten or tired they were.

The point is that when it comes down to it, we all have a choice to make. Do we decide to be the hero in our own stories or are we just going to be a supporting character? Do we decide to settle for what's familiar and safer or do we risk it and go for something frighteningly unfamiliar and new? Do we let the opportunities pass us by or do we jump at them with all our might and damn whether or not we'll land safely?

Yes, choosing to be extraordinary is scary as all hell. While if you've met me at a craft fair or at an art show or at my gallery or wherever, I'm probably not the first person you think would be completely frightened by life. But I am. I'm actually scared of a lot of things. I'm scared of not measuring up to my own ridiculously high (often unrealistic) expectations I set for myself. I'm scared that my art isn't good enough and that no one will pay for my paintings and I'll forever be the stereotype of the starving artist. I'm scared that I'll get turned down from galleries or art studio jobs. I'm scared of calling people I don't know on the phone. But in the end, what I'm scared of most is that I'm going to be ordinary.

So I do the best I can any given day to try and prove my fears wrong. I've failed often, and I try my best each time to learn something and to actually change my behavior and actions in order to prevent myself from failing again. Like we've said before, failure isn't fatal, and it's part of the learning process, but I'd still rather succeed than fail any day.

Some days I end up choosing to be ordinary, and other days extraordinary. My own personal challenge is to push the scale towards the extraordinary. Which are you going to choose today?