So objectively, compare "honesty" to "working hard". Which is more important?
Which is less important?
[Nice come back.]
You always have to be honest to yourself. Always. But living in an society, putting "working hard" in front of "honesty" is favorable simply because you can't always be honest.
[Why not?]
Do you think car sales people are honest? How would they make a living if they were?
Good point. But you seem to be pretty honest in this interview, so you obviously hold that virtue at a high standard. Do you ever worry that your honesty can be hurtful?
I take pride in being a genuine guy. Many people will say I am a dick, without realizing that I am only a dick because they don't like what I have to say. I don't criticize anything unless I am provoked to, meaning that I will be a dick to you if you say or do something that affects the harmony of the group I am with. If you said something stupid and try to act clever about it, I am gonna point it out to stop you from further embarrassing yourself. That usually makes me the bad guy, if you look at it on the surface.
But you know what? Most of the time, it's just somebody complaining to me about having to pay for the consequences of doing something he/she knew better than to be doing. And when I agree with him/her, or ask if he/she thought that the punishment was wrongfully brought upon, all of sudden I am a mean person. I didn't even instigate the "dickness".
I must clarify that, however, that being honest, isn't a free pass to degrade people with name-calling. "Being honest" is not an excuse to hurtfully make fun of people, because saying hurtful things isn't constructive. It just makes you feel better about yourself at other people's expense.
You're quite a diplomat. Is that a talent?
No. It's just interpersonal skills. The ability to recognize what situation you're in, and knowing when you should say what will make a difference.
Do you think drawing is a talent, then?
No, I don't. Drawing is a technical skill that may be cultivated and refined through learning and practice. Anyone can draw if given the desire and patience. Drawing dynamically and creatively, however, is another story.
So do you believe that your talent is in the area of creativity?
Possibly. What I have noticed over the years, and I am trying not to sound cocky, if that's possible at all, is that what differentiates me from the person next to me is my shaper observations. I can read people, recognize situations rather well, and remember the details enough to translate my observation onto paper. I can't claim that I ever came up with anything new. I can only claim that, from the handful of techniques that I actually know, that I can determine what may be best suited for a particular illustrated piece, then which line to be drawn and which to be left out. So I'd say that it's kinda like a quick decision making talent.
[You make it sound so unimpressive...]
Maybe it really isn't a talent, huh?
Well, assuming that it IS a talent, do you think it makes you special?
Hmm... how can I put this? To say that everyone is special in his/her own way is pretty much saying that no one is? Let's assume the constant that everyone IS indeed special, then I think it's not so much that who is more special, but whose specialty is more marketable, in demand, or well-liked by the general public that ultimately determines the success of an individual.
[Wow...]
Did I just make my life sound insignificant? Maybe you should've stuck to interviewing a regular designer?
[No, I wanna major in illustration, so I wanted to talk to an actual artist.]
So why did you come to a graphic design department?
[My sister doesn't know the difference between artists and designers.]
You mean kinda like people thinking that mechanical engineers can fix cars like mechanics, and electrical engineers can fix power outlets like electricians?
[Yeah...]
But if you're not special, why do you keep on doing what you do?
We are all unique in some sorta ways. But we need to recognize that we are not that much special from one another. If you were to draw a circle around everyone's name, and each circle contains the likes, dislikes, abilities... etc. You'll know for sure that there are others that share something similar with you and that their circles will overlap with yours. The probability is high that there are many, many people out there that are very similar to you, which is totally okay.
As to why I keep pushing myself to be a better person and a better illustrator: I enjoy being good at what I do. Having someone that does same thing better is not an issue.
So how are you not-so-special?
The most egotistical mistake a person can make is to think that he/she can be exempt from something that happened to someone else. Anything can happen to anyone at any given moment. People do the stupidest things, and it isn't because they don't know better. They do the stupidest things because they somehow believe that whatever happened to the people that came before them can't possibly happen to them. So each generation we get people that reinvent the wheel, because they can't put down their egos to admit mortality. Then there's me. Unlike most people who still believe in success stories or fairy tales, I accept the fact that I don't have control over everything about me.
How does that affect what you're doing, career wise?
I can accept the fact that working hard will not guarantee success. That sounds like common sense, but you have no idea how many people will claim success as a guarantee. Now, people and especially Christians will say that I have no faith. They cannot be more wrong. I have plenty of faith in my ability. I am just realistic enough to recognize that my road to success isn't solely dependent my ability alone. A lot of time it's who you know, not what you know, that counts.
[To Be Continued]
Comments (1)
Geebus, no wonder when I said we are somehow similar, that made us less unique in a way, haha. Anyways, you have pointed out reasons and what happened to youth these days, or American youth these days. The system wants to shape each individuals to think differently and the though of being special or "individualism," has resulted in producing more dumbasses from the genepool. On the other hand, look at the other side of the globe, people, e.g. Asians, are shaped more towards to become the common work bees, with "personal" or "individual" taken away from them by the system is somehow a mental oppression me thinks. It's sad, but true, and no way to get a perfect balance.
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