Entry One

Being a student is a difficult life. You constantly take orders from superiors, lose lots of sleep, undergo severe tests of willpower, and get deep into financial debt. Yet most everyone pulls through. I am going to lend tips to help you pull through with gusto, so you can get to a professional level more quickly!

     To do this you must start thinking holistically. Go look that word up if you don't know its meaning. Thinking like this is difficult when you're 18 or 20, but I'm going to get you started here. Put your thinking cap on, because what I'm going to tell you will not likely be heard from anyone else!

     Become aware from the day you start school your art career and your regular life will become inseparable. Whatever you do in your life will affect your art career, and whatever you do in your art career will affect your life.

     Starting with school, you are designing an artist's life, literally. The main reason for this is because most people don't become an artist for the money, they do it because it's what they want to do, it's an intrinsic part of them, it occupies their minds and hearts all day and night. Most artists do not come home from working 9 to 5 and have to "unwind." Artists often don't retire, art is their life and life is their art.

     Therefore, you are deciding to become self-sufficient, self-actualizing, self-motivated, and in a way, self-centered. By choosing to go to art school you must take it seriously enough, because after graduation no one but you will be in the driver's seat. If you have a good employer you will be getting outside help, but in general, especially for the self-employed, "If it's to be, it's up to me" is the motto. This is true for just about everything in life, but with artists it's even more so. I'm going to offer tips on how to make the most of your art schooling because you will need to be very motivated and rock-solid in your handling of your new journey toward becoming an artist.

     Begin with your impulses, desires, and what you want to achieve. These may change along the way, but the underlying purpose for doing what you do must always be there. What is the purpose? Why do you want a career in the arts? My initial purpose was that I've always liked to draw, so maybe I could have a career doing something that I liked to do. After first year, after I saw what my potential was, I saw a way to merge my interests in metaphysics and human potential with my art, and my purpose became more lofty--to show people another way to perceive the world through my art. I want to show people what great spiritual thinkers see and feel, but do it through fine art painting and graphic novel storytelling. I want to free people from erroneous patterns in their lives. This has become my guiding light, my reason for getting up in the morning. This is what I'm about, in every way and in every day. I want to be on my death bed and know that I did what I came here to do.

     So, VIRTUALLY EVERY ACTION that I take in life, everything I ever ponder and consider, has this purpose behind it. Of course, life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. Much of the day is dealing with things other than my purpose. This is life. One must eat, sleep, poop, take care of family, finances, setbacks, change, appointments, disasters, hardship, illness, etc. But maybe, just maybe, I can make a little time to fulfill my vision meanwhile.

     To succeed you must maintain a balance all through school and career. Balance is key. Too much work makes a dull boy or girl. Too much play makes a lackluster girl or boy. Don't get so caught up in your purpose. Being attached to the fruits of the action causes burnout. To keep a balance requires energy and mindfulness.

     Starting right now, start a focus on learning how to run your mind and body to produce the best you're capable of. Some people don't need to dwell on this. Some people just spew forth so intensely who they are, regardless of how awful they treat their mind and body, that their vision and purpose is accomplished in a very short time, or they fall into something great with the right people at the right time. Others like me seem to have to keep improving this, improving that, trying this, trying that, scratching at this door and that door until something finally gives way, taking up decades in the process. Either way, the schooling life and career life usually is easier if you can provide the proper support for your body and mind.

     This is tough to do while in school. You have little time to eat well, to work on yourself, to think about the future, to focus on your purpose in life. But that's alright, because school is a time to experiment, to make mistakes, to cultivate career networks, to learn to produce instead of consume, to develop career skills, and to learn to take bullshit. Yet, I tell you, if you take each day of schooling as if it is absolutely crucial that you succeed, you will come out of there already at or close to professional level, ready to go full-steam ahead on your path.

     Like a lot of young people I didn't want to go to classes, they're often tedious and thought of as something you have to get through and make the best of. But I knew that if I missed a single day I might miss a critical lesson that could help me later on in my career. I rarely missed a day.

     Hit the ground running by going into your first day at art school with an attitude of getting every penny you (or more likely your parents) are paying for. Push your desire to learn to the hilt. Ask questions, find out what you want and need to know, push your teachers to reveal the nuances of their skills and professions, watch how they hold the pencil and brush, record in your mind how they philosophically approach their work and workday. Assume the physiology of an eager learner, sit up straight (also gives you more alert energy), and become the participant instead of a spectator. Find every ounce of intense focused energy you can muster when doing your homework and the results will be higher quality work, and done in less time. Constant interruption and distraction makes everything take longer. If you're 18 years old you're probably going to have a tough time with this, but always keep this practice in the back of your mind. Usually around the middle of 2nd year you'll have spent enough time jerking around so now you're more likely to start your focus on becoming a professional. Being good enough to call yourself "professional" is a gas. To whip through a drawing and say, "Did that come out of me?" is deep satisfaction. I'm not being egotistical here, I'm saying, that to have refined an intrinsic ability to such an extent and have virtually effortless command over that skill--this is self-mastery, and worth any price, especially if you were "born to do this."

     My 2nd and 3rd year Narrative Art teacher was the legendary Joe Kubert. This man had, at the time, fifty years of drawing experience besides having been an editor at DC Comics as well as owning the actual school I went to. When he called others up for a personal critique I stood behind him and watched him draw corrections on tracing paper over other student's work while most everyone else sat at their desks working on their assignments. This is what I'm talking about! You can work on your assignment at home later! The master is here, spend those fleeting moments with him or her while you witness a half century of effortless magic gush from those hands! What you are seeing is your future. If you keep up what you're doing you will also have that kind of skill one day. Start stepping into that role NOW.