Heroes

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. Oscar Wilde

I've been thinking a lot recently about style, about being good enough, and about my sources of inspiration. As I've been creating materials for a prop design portfolio, I find myself constantly referencing portfolios of The Ones Who've Gone Before - in other words the people who have made it in the industry, and who I hope to become someday. Referencing other artists has been a part of my art-making process for a while now, and I felt it was the time to make a proper post about the importance of "art heroes." And to do that I need to talk about Joshua Gibbs. 

Joshua Gibbs is not one of my art heroes. But he is a philosopher whose work I enjoy reading from time to time on the Circe blog. He writes about current issues with an ancient perspective (that's not a bad thing). His posts are often insightful, humorous, and vaguely smelling of old books. To put it briefly, I think he's a pretty smart dude. Gibbs doesn't talk too much about the visual arts (though he does have the most reasonable argument against modern art I've ever found). He mostly talks about writing. But I find that many of his points about what makes good writing and writers can be rather seamlessly translated into what makes good art and artists. He recently published this post which talks about the making of a good writer/artist. You can read it if you want, but here's the summary - each of Gibbs' points talks more about the importance of an aspiring artist's heroes than the talent or motivation of the artist herself. Here's an example from his first point: "No one may become a good writer [artist] until he wants to sound [draw] like someone other than himself." 

Now this might strike you as odd - isn't art supposed to be about being original, and sharing your unique view with the world? Doesn't this directly contradict the quote I started this post with? Yet at the same time it strikes me as profoundly true. I'd wager that no one who got into art wanted to draw like themselves. They wanted to draw like someone else, and that's what moved them beyond stick figures and into the world of creating compelling images. I don't really want to draw like Daniel Haycox, cause Daniel Haycox is new it this art thing and mediocre at best. I want to draw like Nicholas Kole, like Aaron Blaise, like Celine Kim, like Peter de Seve. Those guys are the pros. They are the guardians of style. And it's through the careful assimilation and compilation of heroes like these that you find your style, and your voice as an artist. It's kinda paradoxical, no? And similar to a maxim that's very important to my heart: to save your life, you have to lose it. To be the best version of yourself, you have to imitate someone else. You are what you eat. Funny how things work out like that. 

I don't really take any issue with this. Cause for me, having heroes is a way to ground and define my art journey while still having so much room to grow. Heroes are both my anchor and my finish line. But to some of you who may have never thought this way before, or have avoided it, I hope I can be at least a little like Gibbs in this way and remind you that this is a valid way of art-study, and of finding originality. It's probably something you're already doing, even if you don't recognize it. This goes for any art field. C.S. Lewis probably wasn't thinking about animation when he wrote 

"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it." C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

While heroes may not give you the truth, they can give you the skills you need to find it and express it eloquently. In the imitation of someone else, you accidentally find originality. And now we're back to that big old paradox we started with. Which all goes to show we're on to something big here.

Even so, heroes are something we don't usually talk about when it comes to the "good artist equation" (which usually only involves talent, hard work, and maybe focus). I guess having heroes is so inherent that it hides in plain sight. Yet heroes may be the most important part of the artist equation, and the secret to how some artists progress faster than others. Consider this - which would be more destructive: being told your art is bad or that you have the wrong heroes? For me, it's the heroes. Somehow, your choice of heroes seems even more personal and foundational than any particular work of self-expression. 

so much of this episode is about the topic of art heroes, but I don't want to clip the whole thing

I know I'll be able to collaborate well with someone when we have similar heroes, even if our actual drawing styles are different. Cause on a bedrock layer of principles and vague sensibilities, I know we're both drinking from the same well. And I have to try really hard to hold back my pride and/or judgement when I see someone venerating what I feel to be the wrong heroes, or bad art. When I came to art school, one of the reasons why I was able to grow relatively quickly was that I had friends recommending good heroes to me all the time. And I hope that the Roost can be a place where I share those with you, and where I can evaluate whether they're worth following. Over the next few months I'll be doing deep dives into the work of my favorite artists, and analyzing what makes their work so compelling to me. I plan on posting them here on the Roost, in case you'd like to take a peek at my notes. That's no substitution for actually doing some digging yourself though! The podcast I mentioned above has some good places to start. I hope it's an enriching time for the both of us!


I feel like I've said enough, and am feeling an increasing sense of redundancy each time I type the word heroes. So I'm going to call this post here.

But not without some music recommendations!

Vulfpeck has already been one of my favorite bands for a couple years now, but I was recommended this hidden gem, Animal Spirits, recently. It's got some Jackson 5 vibes that are very nice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTUnDV3MgVQ

And another update from my incredibly niche love, video game jazz covers. Although this group isn't straight jazz (kinda a pop-y, orchestra, jazz blend) I enjoy their covers and their rendition of the DuckTales Moon Theme is a *ahem* duck-blur. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GewpSQMFvbw (Man I want to work on DuckTales SO BAD)

Thanks for your support! Stay cool -
-dh