Tag: animation mentor

Overrated, Underrated

Is Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa the most overrated piece of art in history? Or does it even matter?

“There is no art without contemplation.” — Robert Henri

We live a lifetime of constant comparisons; from the time of early sibling rivalries and competing with schoolmates for grades or popularity to who’s richer, more famous or more powerful as full-grown adults. We treat life (and people) like games and sport. It’s all quite silly. But for fun, let’s look at what’s overrated and what’s underrated when it comes to things that matter:

Overrated (vs the Underrated):

  • ownership (vs stewardship and the sense of duty that accompanies it)
  • acquisition and entertainment (vs creating and learning)
  • big social life (vs isolation, which is a gift)
  • busyness (vs being at rest doing nothing)
  • people’s opinions (vs what your heart-mind tells you)
  • digital technology (vs real analog materials & experience)
  • money (vs real wealth which is defined by your actions and who you are)
  • concern for time (vs being present)
  • being fast (vs being good)
  • possessing lots of information/knowledge (vs having understanding and taking action)
  • recieving/getting (vs giving)
  • over-importance of holidays/events (vs living fully each and every day)
  • having lots of options (vs limitations which challenges your thinking)
  • having lots of resources (vs building your resourcefulness)
  • striving for the end (vs focusing on the first step)
  • treating work as a chore/job (vs work as play, as duty and opportunity)
  • thinking (vs listening, looking, & attending)
  • photographs/videos (vs the real thing)
  • being clever (vs being sincere — both actions reveal your intent)
  • things you can just see & hear (vs things you can touch & smell too)
  • power and position (vs kindness and communion)
  • pleasure from leisures/comforts (vs the joy derived from effort)
  • a mind full of ideas/opinions (vs a clear, empty and useful mind)
  • envy & bitterness (vs humility and the ability to laugh at oneself)
  • ambition (vs the peace of needing nothing)
  • fear (vs the reality of a benevolent universe)
  • Artificial Intelligence (vs using your own brain & doing it yourself)

“Those who don’t read have no advantage over those who can’t read.” — Mark Twain

The Journey

Wall painting for Homer’s Odyssey

As we embark on the new year, so many questions lingered in my head. I had doubts about this blog — this place I share using time and resources to make happen. I began to question its usefulness or relevance. I considered deeply whether I should close it down. I’ve been posting less and less articles (which take many hours to write). More and more of my video analyses/tutorials were being blocked by studios despite the fact that they actually promote their products and I make absolutely no money off of it (actually, I lose money). Furthermore, my teaching notes, demos and drawings were being copied and used by others as if their own. All rather perturbing realities. I also know that closing this website would give me more time to my art projects and to my students/clients who have requested my guidance. I’d also have more time to spend with family and friends, and rest and care for my body. There are so many reasons.

“The more I wrote, the more I became human.” — Henry Miller.

Then the thought came about as to why I created this website in the first place: to share, to inspire, and to help if possible. And like my art, this blog which is now over seven years old (with no social media links or advertising) is part of a journey. And like any journey it has its struggles and doubts but ultimately it’s part of who we are, and in this case who I am, as a teacher, as an artist and ultimately, as a person. Just as drawing is the probity of art, giving is the probity of being genuinely human. I want to live in a better world. I want to see a kinder world, one of beauty and consideration, a human existence in harmony and alignment with nature, rather than dissassociated from it. Art — writing, music, painting, filmmaking, etc — is that act of courage that says yes to living and yes to greater possibilities, possibilities of creating a world more invigorating and more meaningful than the one we’ve created so far. Our legacy lies in not just how we see the world, but how we live it and who we become. Isn’t that the best blueprint we can lay forth for future generations? Or as one of my favourite thinkers noted so duly:

“Men walk as prophecies of the next age.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

So to cut out this blog from existence would be to cut short the journey. Henceforth, I will actually try to increase the rate of my postings, perhaps making them more succinct so that it can be more readily disgested. That will be my compromise. But succinctness might reduce repetitiveness which, as a teacher, I naturally tend towards. After all, art is process and process is a journey of change. It’s also a form of nourishment. Like Homer’s tale, journeys are hard, requiring immense effort but ultimately, incomparably fulfilling. Because to live without art — without expression and connection — and the long trial it implores would be terrible in its shallowness.

“The shortest distance between two points is often unbearable.” — Charles Bukowski