Category: Discussions/Essays

“There is no pleasure in this world without skill.” — Alan Watts, Philosopher

Skill is the foundation by which we bridge our understanding of things. Without it, there is no way of comprehending our craft and therefore no way of achieving clarity or expressing our vision at its fullest creative potential.

“An artistic work is not an intellectual riddle seeking an interpretation or explanation. It is a complex of images — experiences and emotions which enters directly our consciousness.” — Yuhani Pallasmaa, Architect

Skill doesn’t just sit in the technical domain but also the artistic and creative domains. Each layer, each process of creation requires skill, and hence requires development. How do we build skill? We build it like how we build anything else — through education, organization, and discipline.

Let’s redefine those 3 dimensions as it pertains to being an artist:

1. Education — the acquisition of knowledge, an environment for experimentation and feedback, and time for such knowledge to develop into understanding and real abilities.
2. Organization — clear decision-making, order in terms of approach to the work (or workflow), and a schedule for development.
3. Discipline — a devotion to a creative mindset and commitment to rigorous practices required for growth and excellence.

Do such things sound too hard? Well, nothing worth doing is ever easy.

“Behind every beautiful thing there’s been some kind of pain.” — Bob Dylan (lyrics from ‘It’s Not Dark Yet’)

Contrary to popular thinking, making art is one of the hardest, most courageous things one can do. That’s why I always stress the need to build strong rituals and for being prepared, for I know of very few truths other than the truth that our habitual behaviours mold us and that preparation gives us greater clarity and raises the probability of success. Good practices are one of the keys to fulfillment.

Drawing is one such practice. An artist who doesn’t draw is like a musician who doesn’t play any musical instruments or can’t sing or read music. To ignore drawing hinders visual creation because “making marks” teaches us so much in terms of design, composition, and being able to layout tangibly a visual game plan that’s formed from our minds. It’s the seed of imagination. Physical practice engages the mind via the hands. It teaches us to see.

“The hands want to see, the eyes want to caress.” — J.W. von Goethe, Writer

Seeing is so huge. The lack of an artist’s ability to see holds him back. It’s a skill that needs constant development. When an artist draws, he caresses his eyes along and around the surface of the objects. He feels the weight, textural form and inner substance of the thing. The mental-visual filtering of the experience becomes existential knowledge and a connection between subject and artist is formed. This builds a base which then rises towards understanding, with knowledge becoming more than just mere information.

But seeing too, requires constant practice. All skills do. As we grow as artists, the base — which is our visual and intellectual skillset — must grow stronger and more expansive in order to support the rising complexity that our art demands. The most common mistake of beginners is that they ignore or forget their foundation when they begin to take on new or more complex challenges. This lowers their capability to learn new skills and express their ideas. What follows then is overwhelming frustration because the demonstrative failure is as painful as it was inevitable.

The strongest artists — masters of their craft — spend countless hours building their fundamentals skills. Patience is important. Like the star athlete who has developed over many years a strong, fast and flexible body that allows his talents to shine above all others, an advanced artist carries with him an excellent understanding of the technical and graphical aspects of his craft. For animators, that means powerful and expressive command of body mechanics and design principles. When such individuals execute their art, their skills become second nature and they’re free to focus primarily on the expression of their ideas, their foundational tools mere weapons in their arsenal in the battle for creative victory. Skill isn’t everything, but it’s always a required element for creativity to take flight.

“Every artist was first an amateur.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson, Philosopher

“Where admiration is lacking, both heart and work are weakened.” — Albert Camus, Writer

What does passion mean? For the average person it suggests unbridled romance, sexuality or lust, an insatiable even uncontrollable attraction towards the seemingly unattainable object(s) of our desire. Viewed this way passion can be interpreted as unreasonable, possibly delusional, even dangerous. But for the artist, passion means connection — a longing for the chance to explore, express and create something inside this world, inside this life. This kind of passion is compassionate, a passion born of deep admiration and desire for a richer and humbler understanding of the immediate world around us. It’s about taking each and every thing and moment at its fullest possible value. Nothing half-hearted or half-measured. A devotion to truly creative living means to live with passion— to love fully, play fully, and rest fully (and you’ll need less rest if you do!)

This is why it’s so often said that it’s not about doing what you love but loving what you do, not what you do but how you do it. Attitude is what matters most. We can, and should be, passionate about all things if we are to view ourselves as creative beings. Living truly is living truthfully, living with respect and with honor. Although truth may be a matter of perspective, the right kind of perspective can bring us real joy and fulfillment.

When passionate people perform — and yes, that is ultimately what all creation is, performance — they give it their all. Artists of measure, are constantly challenging their ability to focus, to experiment and to push boundaries. They also resolutely stay the course regardless of obstacles or opinions of others. Discipline, consistency and persistence are hallmarks of all the great artists in history. Whatever stage he’s at, the professional digs deep and digs hard into the work he does. And he takes the same approach to everything. It’s no wonder creative people, like many professional athletes, tend to excel across various platforms. Just as that top footballer also happens to be an excellent skier or tennis player, the accomplished animator is also an excellent painter, can storyboard, or build rigs. Why? Because he loves all that he does and applies the same level of focus and attention to the process, in all his interests. Excellence is a way of being.

“Once your thought, emotions and energy are organized, your very body will be organized.” — Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, Yogi

Passion means balance too. It means aligning all the dimensions of our entire being — mind, body, emotions — and channelling all the energies along the same path, in the same direction. Only in this way, is there hope of peak performance, or flow. Creative people who take an unprejudiced approach to doing things slip into “the zone” much more often than regular people do and their body of work is often a testament to that.

“Your head is a tower with lenses where light rays dance.” — Paul Klee, Artist

With clarity of focus and dutiful preparation, we can allow our entire being to dance with the universe. Then magical things can happen. For creating art is no small wonder; it takes the most complete attention and at the same time the courage to be utterly vulnerable. When playing with powers beyond our understanding, we must always give our proper respect.

A friend once asked me, while admiring one of my larger paintings, why and how I had formulated it. I said that it did not come from me, but through me, that neither its original conception nor its execution was wholly my own doing. Being a highly rational-minded person, he said it still came from me, that it was really only me, while I insisted otherwise. The reason for my conclusion? The entire process was both a battle and a dream. Much effort went into its creation, but there was so much that was unknown (both before and during), so much serendipity, that the end result was not anything I had anticipated. When I finished it, I didn’t remember how I made it. I still don’t. I think our best work can only come about in such manner, the result of an interdependent concoction of will and destiny.

“The whole arrangement of my picture is expressive. The place occupied by figures or objects, the empty spaces around them, the proportions, everything plays a part.” – Henri Matisse, Artist

I don’t mean to infer that fine results are the result of luck, but outcomes require many elements to both exist and align at the right place and time. This is why the process is everything. We can only control what’s inside ourselves — and that’s why we work from the inside out for any other approach would be fruitless. Our passion is the vehicle to which we can use to marshal the internal with the external. Everything counts. Everything plays a part, both in our art and, in our lives. How we do anything is how we do everything.

At the end of the day, there’s only life. Sometimes it can all seem like an illusion. For life is so uncertain; only the present moment is real and it’s gone all too soon. In Latin, the word for illusion is “ludere” which means play. Perhaps this is why we must “play” with passion — irrefutable, unapologetic, unprejudiced passion. That’s what I call real living.

“Life is a dream. But it’s also real.” — Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev