I am occasionally asked how I knew I wanted to be an illustrator. How did I know that drawing pictures was the thing that I wanted to do as a career? There were a lot of things I liked to do as a kid, and as a young adult, and I was pretty good at several of them. Until recently, I’d just kind of felt that drawing pictures was what I was “best” at, and at various points in my life, I opened various doors and went down various paths that led me this way. Both of these things are true: I am better at drawing pictures than I am at anything else I do. And there are several points in my life where I made choices that continued my journey down this particular path rather than some other direction.
But there is another connection too. While I like doing other things, like playing music, animation, graphic design, and, let’s say, riding bikes1, drawing pictures is the only thing where I am just as happy spending time doing the tedious behind-the-scenes parts of the work as I am doing the parts that the audience gets to see, or hear. I don’t like practicing guitar scales or learning actual songs. I can’t imagine spending days planning out the incremental movements involved in creating an animation. I don’t want to go out at 6:00 am on a bicycle to train in the cold.2 And when I did work as a graphic designer, collaborating with illustrators, all I wanted to do was to be the illustrator.
What it comes down to is that, except for drawing pictures, I don’t like to practice.
Practice has often made me wish I were just doing the thing. I get bored practicing scales, so I just start playing guitar with no real purpose3. When I have tried to prepare for rides and runs by stretching and other workouts, I get bored, and I just want to get outside and get going.
Worse, when I am done with whatever it is I am doing, I am terrible at cooling down, or recovery, or putting the things away I was using. This actually extends to my drawing and illustration work. My workspaces are always a disaster, covered in remnants from previous projects, books left unshelved, and piles of tools and papers. My mind doesn’t recover, since I seem to be working on top of old projects, and I can’t find whatever it is I need when I need it. And I don’t recover physically, either, as I finish the 50-mile bike ride or trail run, and immediately just start a new thing.4
So, I’ve been thinking a lot about practice.
What exactly is practice, anyway? Well, I looked it up. There is the verb, to practice, which means doing something habitually to get better at it. Like playing those guitar scales until you’re good at it. Drawing trees in one’s sketchbook for six hours. There is also the noun version, which means the doing of a thing versus the thinking about it. Practice versus theory. One’s art practice. Doctors have medical practices.
I’m going to put both into action here.
My Vinyasa Flow
I went to a yoga class yesterday morning. And I plan to go again. I plan to find some classes on YouTube and fit some work in here at the studio, and even when I travel. That’s the plan, anyway.5 I like the idea of yoga, a lot. I like the idea of balance, where the practice is as much about intention and mindfulness as it is about the physical strength and stretching.
Sacha and I used to go to a yoga class together, nearly every Sunday, in the two years preceding the pandemic. It’s probably no coincidence that this period is also when I felt best on and after long runs and bike rides, as I was stretching and developing some core strength that I had lacked. But I wasn’t taking in the mental and emotional side of what this sort of practice offers, which is something I hope to do differently this time.
I’m hoping to use this as a way to find this space and balance in all aspects of my activities and my life. I’ve felt frantic for so long, and I’m tired of it. I’m feeling stiff and my shoulders and hips hurt, and I’m tired of it. I might change some eating and drinking habits, too, or I might not.6
However, I will be more thoughtful about what I eat and drink directly after a long bike ride. I plan to stretch more before and after a run. I want to be okay with writing and drawing without it directly leading to something like a publication or a paycheck, and I want to take the time to put away my things when I am not using them.
But I’m still okay not practicing the guitar, and I won’t be out on my bike, training in the rain at 6am. That’s why I draw pictures for a living.
Namaste
I spent four hours on a Thursday night gabbing and doodling with Mark Hoffman. He recorded this whole affair and has posted it on YouTube. And I have the drawing I made up for sale on my webshop.
Summer vacation! My illustration class at Tyler School of Art, Temple University, wrapped up last week. I loved this class, and not just because I know some of them are reading this. But summer break is always great, and this one is no different. Three weeks from today, I’ll be in London for an art residency and workshop, making collages. Then in July, I’ll be in Norway for nearly two weeks riding bikes and hiking. Sacha and will be in Upstate NY for July 4. And I have some work goals as well. The windows are open and the sun is out.
Cat Content!
Let’s be honest: animation and graphic design are the only two of these four things where I might have had a career. Is it talent? Some sort of genetic makeup that one is just born with? I don’t know, but no matter how hard I worked, I don’t know if I’d ever made it as a professional musician or a bicycle racer. But that’s another issue of Random Orbit for another day. I love doing them, and that’s the point here.
I don’t mind going out in the cold at 6am to actually just ride a bike! It’s about the purpose and intent.
I have recorded a lot of music over the last decade that came directly from playing and making something from the lack of intention. Listen here if you like. The usefulness of play would make another good post subject.
I could get away with a lot of this when I was younger, in my 40s, and could just mentally convince myself to roll out of bed and ride one hundred miles. At 57, it’s a different story, and my whole body is telling me all about it.
I’m interested in pilates as well. Anyone reading know much about that?
This is a harder sell for me. I find a lot of joy in the social aspects of eating and drinking, and I’m currently not really that interested in cutting out things that, rather than frustrate me, I actually like. So there’s that balance again. We’ll see how well that particular cheese or whiskey, ages.
I can relate to your aversion to practice… even when it comes to drawing, I’m not really one for filling sketchbooks that aren’t directly in service of a project. Though whenever I do “aimless” sketching, I don’t regret it! But omg the THOUGHT of practicing 😆
This hit the nail on the head for me. In the past couple of years my definition of practice has moved towards the noun and I feel better for it. For me it started after getting into yoga. Similarity, it was for the physical benefit after mountain biking or stationary cycling workouts. However since my diagnosis of fibromyalgia about 2 years ago I had to shift. No longer mountain biking because I can’t physically do it without feeling terrible pain, I found the meditative side of yoga to be just as crucial to my ability to move and function with less pain. While I can’t do the poses I use to, it is less about the achievement and move about the present state of my mind and body. This also made me change the way I think about my art practice. Using my sketchbooks, painting, and drawing are all just a continuous practice as well. That has helped me focus less on the final result and more about what I am getting from creating. Actually the only thing that didn’t resonate for me was trying to keep my space cleaner as I tend to stray towards an OCD level of organization. Reading your post and seeing your awesome yoga pose illustrations this morning made was a superb way to start my day. Thanks for sharing Random Orbit Brian as it has been so insightful for me on many levels. Can’t wait to watch you and Mark Hoffman create together as well!