I have a hashtag that I love to use on Instagram, called #AlwaysBeCreating - or ABC.
#AlwaysBeCreating makes me happy whenever I use it, because it is a bit of a joke about “Always Be Closing”, possibly the best sales mantra of all time (and also the most cliche).
Sales and Creating Art aren’t always different, however the sales mentality and the art mentality are such an odd couple that .. Always Be Closing and Always Be Creating will always put me in a good mood.
I love the Always Be Closing moment of Glengarry Glen Ross so much, that I even make joke art about it from time to time, like in this mini painting of an office space that has a snack table with a bucket of art that says “Art Is For Closers.”
So, that’s how I got onboard with:
#AlwaysBeCreating!
Yet, there are definitely some days - especially during COVID-19 stuff - where I don’t feel like I am always creating. I start to get kind of stressed and worried “Am I doing enough?”
Taken too literally, “Always Be Creating” can’t be a healthy mentality, because it seems to pressurize. Artists are people too, right, what about eating and sleeping, and playing Zelda? What if by Always Creating, we get burnt out and exhausted?
So, I think Always Be Creating should be taken with the salt of more generous, kindhearted subtexts.
Generous, meaning:
If you’re eating a bowl of soup and the soup makes you think about drawing a ramen shop scene - that’s creating.
If you’re stuck in traffic and the traffic makes you think of an idea for a children’s book series - that’s creating.
If you’re drawing on an ipad or on paper or on a napkin - that’s creating.
If you schedule out your Instagram posts so that you can create later - that’s creating.
If you’re chatting with friends in slack or on twitter about your ideas - that’s creating.
If you’re organizing your home so that you can create more efficiently - that’s creating.
One of the best comics ideas I ever had came to me while I was driving cross-country from Texas to Maryland, and I was alone in a car bored out of my mind. Though I wasn’t in front of my art supplies, at my computer, or in the studio, I was still creating.
So, I think during COVID-19, it would benefit all of us artists to take the generous side of #AlwaysBeCreating even a bit further:
Even though we are all at home and staying away from people we might adore, even though cons are cancelled and zooms wax and wane between being cool and getting old, we’re still being as creative as we can. Nobody expects a global pandemic.
If you’re doing even the smallest thing for your health and well-being, that’s creating.
Always Be Creating! Until next time!!
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