August 30, 2013

Creating a Life

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Gavin Aung Than of Zen Pencils on Calvin & Hobbes BILL WATTERSON: A cartoonist's advice: After working on the strip for 10 years, when Calvin and Hobbes was at the height of its popularity and was being published in over 2,000 newspapers, Watterson stopped. He had given his heart and soul to one project for 10 years, had said all he wanted to say and wanted to go out on top.

“I did not want Calvin and Hobbes to coast into half-hearted repetition, as so many long-running strips do. I was ready to pursue different artistic challenges, work at a less frantic pace with fewer business conflicts, and … start restoring some balance to my life.” Since retiring the strip, Watterson has pursued his interest in painting and music. It’s pretty incredible when you think about. Could you say ‘no’ to millions, I repeat, MILLIONS of dollars of merchandise money? I don’t know if I could. Would you stop creating your art if millions of people admired your work and kept wanting more? I don’t know if I would.

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Take a look....

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Posted by gerardvanderleun at August 30, 2013 2:23 PM
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

Something truly Wonderful.

Thank you.

Posted by: Mikey NTH at August 30, 2013 3:33 PM

Well, God Bless you in all your endeavors, Mr. Watterson!

Posted by: Jewel at August 30, 2013 4:23 PM

He'll always be successful.

One of my favorites is a one-frame piece of Calvin sitting on a sled, looking out at the reader saying, "My brain is trying to kill me."

I know what he means!!

Posted by: Kerry at August 30, 2013 4:28 PM

Love it.

Posted by: Leslie at August 30, 2013 4:42 PM

While I agree with his sentiment, he chose to do so only AFTER having made enough money that he could support and keep his family. Following your dream at the expense of your responsibilities is just childish.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at August 30, 2013 5:47 PM

@Christoper Taylor is correct. I love & admire Bill, and push his collections on those who will listen. But this is tone-deaf as hell. Whatever...life is odd...go, Bill.

Posted by: Scott at August 30, 2013 6:54 PM

It's based on this speech here: http://web.mit.edu/jmorzins/www/C-H-speech.html

As for Mr Watterson, he could have made a lot more. He stopped when he had "enough". That counts for something, doesn't it?

Posted by: pdwalker at August 30, 2013 7:52 PM

Certainly does. Condemning a man for his good fortune followed by good judgment seems to me to be picking the nit a bit too finely.

Posted by: vanderleun at August 30, 2013 9:18 PM

Its a tough balance between personal growth and fulfilling the responsibilities that you taken upon yourself.

Both big-picture goals are important in fulfilling your desire for happiness, yet focusing on one or the other too much will result in not achieving that objective, thus the 'stereo' of juggling both (many times disparate) objectives.

This reminded me of an old essay called 'How to be Creative" by Hugh Macloed - especially the section called "The Sex & Cash Theory":

The Sex & Cash Theory: From”How To Be Creative”:

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The creative person basically has two kinds of jobs: One is the sexy, creative kind. Second is the kind that pays the bills. Sometimes the assignment covers both bases, but not often.

A good example is Phil, a NY photographer friend of mine. He does really wild stuff for the indie magazines- it pays nothing, but it allows him to build his portfolio. Then he’ll go off and shoot some catalogues for a while. Nothing too exciting, but it pays the bills. Another example is somebody like Martin Amis. He writes “serious” novels, but he has to supplement his income by writing the occasional newspaper article for the London papers (novel royalties are bloody pathetic- even bestsellers like Amis aren’t immune). Or actors. One year Travolta will be in an ultra-hip flick like Pulp Fiction (“Sex”), the next he’ll be in some dumb spy thriller (“Cash”).

It’s balancing the need to make a good living while still maintaining one’s credibility. My M.O. is gapingvoid (“Sex”), coupled with writing advertising (“Cash”). I’m thinking about the young writer who has to wait tables to pay the bills, in spite of her writing appearing in all the cool literary magazines…. who dreams of one day of not having her life divided so harshly.

Well, over time the “harshly” bit might go away, but not the “divided”. As soon as you accept this, for some reason your career starts moving ahead faster. I don’t know why this happens. It’s the people who refuse to cleave their lives this way- who just want to start Day One by quitting their current crappy job and moving straight on over to best-selling author. Well, they never make it.
Anyway, it’s called “The Sex & Cash Theory”.

Keep it under your pillow.

gapingvoid(dot)com/2004/03/25/the-sex-cash-theory/

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Nice video that touches on the subject too:

www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=g-jwWYX7Jlo

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(I'd provide the link, but my comment always seems to end up getting stuck in the spam-filter, so you'll have to type/edit your way to the links. Yea... I've gotten to be an info-highway Luddite) :)

Posted by: Cond0011 at August 31, 2013 6:18 AM

Exactly, creativity and "being yourself" is fine, but you can't make that your goal in life. Being so self-absorbed you refuse to take care of your responsibilities turns you into an occupy bum. You need both, not one or the other.

That fine fellow in the cartoon has a little girl to feed and clothe and take care of, not just play in the autumn leaves with. There's nothing wrong with working in a business, nothing necessarily soul crushing about it; its why and how you do it that matters.

This kind of thing appeals greatly to our "inner child" as it were, but the truth is adults have to do a lot of stuff we don't want to in this life, in order to get to the stuff we do want to.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at August 31, 2013 7:58 AM

If only he got royalties from all those little Calvins peeing on truck logos.

Posted by: steverino at September 8, 2013 7:09 AM