Creative Pep Talk
015 - Transcendence- Aligning Your Creator Mentality with Your Audience Mentality
(upbeat music) Hey y'all, just a quick heads up. The episode you're about to listen to is eight to 10 years old. Now, these episodes were intended to be evergreen, and I still believe there's a lot of good information in these early episodes, but I do wanna let you know that some of my ideas have evolved over time. Times have changed since we made these episodes, and ultimately, I'd like to think I've grown a lot as an artist and a human, and that these don't necessarily represent my best work, or the best of the podcast. If you're new around here, I suggest starting with the most recent episode, or at least go back to around 300, and move forward from there. Enjoy the episode. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Hey everybody, it's the Creative PEP Talk Podcast. This is Andy J. Miller, and I'm an illustrator, and I'm sat here with my, well, I'm stood up, rather, with my coffee. It's early morning, it's about 5.30 in the morning. And I'm thinking about creative stuff, and, you know, I thought about, I've been thinking about how, like, what's the real goal, or what are you trying to do as creative people? And, you know, I was listening to a talk recently, and there was nothing inherently wrong with the talk. Actually, there was a lot of stuff that I liked, but I realized that it wasn't doing it, it wasn't doing it for me, and I hate to be so critical, but, you know, it got me thinking about what was I actually hoping for, out of listening to this talk, like, what was I, yeah, what was my goal as an audience listening, what was I hoping to hear, and started thinking about my new favorite word, which is, this is pretty hyped, pretty over the top, but it really, like, hits to the core of what I'm talking about. And so today's episode, oh, the word, rather, is transcendence, which sounds very spiritual and serious, but the idea of today's creative pep talk podcast is that when you're going to do your art, that you're not shooting to be good at making, you don't wanna make an image that's good, or you don't wanna make a piece that's good, you're trying to make something that's transcendent, and I'm gonna use that word lightly, so I don't mean something that, um, does magic necessarily, I get, but at the same time, I guess I do a little bit, you know? I think, I think for so many of us, what we want to consume is media that has that transcendent quality, but what we want to create is work that's passable, that, like, this work could pass as a good kids book, or this work could pass as a good logo. This could be, you know, this could get me into the club, and I think about that mentality sounds like, more like how you'd be part of a club than how you shine, or you make something fantastic, and, you know, it started to dawn on me that this is, in my consumption, what I'm always looking for, you know, it's like, nobody wants to listen to music that is passable, like, that's a passable electronic track, or that's a passable ballad, like, the music that you're searching for is the stuff that creates a moment with you that goes beyond your experience of listening to a song. This year, one of my favorite albums have been this album, "Benji", by "Sunkill Moon", and every time I put that album on, I can't even just put it on casually, because I have to save it for when I want to be, you know, blown away. When I put that album on, time kind of stops, and I get emotional, and it's a very intense experience, and I just, I think, you know, I think about, what does this actually mean? Like, what am I actually telling you? Well, I'm saying that thinking about the work that you do in shooting higher and keeping, not in, don't keep in mind the side of being a creative, but think about how it's gonna be received, and then I also think that this affects the way that you approach the type of work that you make. You know, I think, did anybody ever make any transcendent work thinking they were gonna dabble in something? I think that is, you know, I think that, in order to make something that transcends a moment or a genre, you know, to make an image that stops someone in their track, you know, recently ran into an image that was, I think, for the Society of Illustrator's contest, and it made me stop, and it did things to me that most illustrations never have done, and I think that, that's the goal. The goal isn't just to get the job. The goal isn't just to be part of the club. The goal is, you know, when I listen to a talk, I don't wanna be like, yeah, that was sufficient amount of information. I want there to be something in me. I want it to hit me in such a way that it takes regular life, and it sets it apart, and you rise above regular. That's what I think good art does. Good art is, it took you out of the mundane of life. And even, I believe a logo can do that. There have been times when I've seen a logo that is just so beautiful and unexpected. You know, I think I'm a big science fan, and I love listening to astrophysicists and quantum physicists, and I love Michio Kaku. He's kind of a famous, popular quantum physicist, and he said something that I thought was so interesting, but it totally affects art, and it wasn't about art, it was about people. And he was saying that he was trying to, you know, I guess physicists have like, I don't know, they seem to think about a lot of really strange things. One of them is what makes it different to be a human than any other animal, if there is any differences. And... I'm a believer in the idea of dressing for the job you want, not the job you have, and I have applied this to my creative practice too, which means if you want professional results, you need to present online like a pro, and that means going beyond social media and having a professional website that reflects your style and looks legit. I rebuilt my site this year with Squarespace's Fluid Engine, and was so happy with how easily I could build my vision without coding, that when they approached me to support the show, I jumped at the chance because I love and use this product. So go check it out, squarespace.com/peptalk to test it out for yourself, and when you're ready to launch your site, use promo code PEPTalk, all one word, all caps for 10% off your first purchase. Thanks goes out to Squarespace for supporting the show and supporting creators all over the world. Hey, in case you don't know, we have a monthly live virtual meetup every last Monday of the month with supporters of the show from Patreon and Substack. We have so much fun on these calls and they are the warmest, most encouraging creatives that I have ever met. And we also talk real creative practice stuff. We have authors, illustrators, lettering artists, picture bookmakers, fine artists, musicians, and folks that work in video and film as well. And we have people that are just starting out, people super established in their creative careers and everything in between. For the rest of this year, we're gonna chat through our new Journey of the True fan series, exploring questions and ways to apply these ideas to your own creative practice so that you can leave 2024 stronger than you came in with more visibility, connection with your audience and sales. Sign up to whichever suits you best at either patreon.com/creativepeptalk or antijpizza.substack.com. And I hope to see you at this month's meetup. He said that the main difference with the type of being that we are to the type of being that most other animals are is that all the other animals are forever stuck in the present, for the most part. They do instinctual things that prepare them for the future, but they're stuck in the moment of the present. And the thing that sets humans apart is that we think about the future. We don't just prepare for it. We think about it. And we think about not how our time just exists in this moment. We think about past and present. And everything about being a human is linked to this behavior. And then he pointed to comedy in that jokes-- so all of these things are just-- everything that we do is an exercise in expectation, because that's the human quality. And he said that if you look at comedy, that's just comedy at its core. What it really is is messing with your expectations, because what humans do, they don't just think of what's happening now. They are in tune with what's going to happen later. And so when someone tells you a joke, essentially what's happening is they say, I'm going to tell you this, and it's going to make you think that you know what I'm going to say next. But then I'm going to say something that totally catches you off guard. And that's going to make you laugh, because the way that humans interact with the world. And thinking about this, he also mentioned, I think, music, is that I think when a pop music formula becomes too expected, it's kind of like when you listen to a song too many times, there's no surprise left, there's nothing left to take you out of the moment that you're in, because you've been in that moment too many times. It's too expected. And I think that with pop music, the music that seems to be transcendent or to hit the most amount of people are the ones that take your expectations and do something and are expected with them. And when you have that moment where something hits you really strong and you have that emotional, visceral response, that's the transcendent quality that music or that art is all about. So what do you do with that? Do you just-- I think I could be tempted to just say, well, if that's the case, I'm done. Because how could I possibly make anything transcendent? Well, the main thing I think is the takeaway is that if transcendence is what you're going for, and if you can't hit that, then there isn't really-- if you can't make something that rises above average, that rises above when someone views it, it doesn't just-- they don't just think, oh, it's adequate. If you can't-- to rise above that stuff, you really have to get good. And how do you get good? You get good by practice, by playing, by experimenting, by pouring into one or two things, and putting your resources and your time and your energy into these things, not trying to do everything. I think that's a big thing. I think when we think, oh, I'll dabble in that, I'll dabble in this, I think it's like, because we think that being adequate is worthwhile. And I think that you see-- I think if you look at editorial, you might look at 50% of the people that you see doing editorial and think, I could do that. But rarely are the ones that are making that transcend at work, the one that's going to actually be remembered, the one that you could build a career off of. Rarely, could you say that about those pieces? Like, I could do that. How come when so many people think about, I could do that? They're always comparing themselves to the people that suck somehow, that manage to get in the industry, that manage, you know, it's like, I've heard people talk about terrible pop songs and say, I could do that. Well, yeah, OK, you could do that. But how long is that musician going to be around for? Like, how worthwhile is that pursuit anyway? So I think that the whole point of this is, how do you align your consumer experience of art with your creative experience of art and say, the standards that I judge others by, I want to judge my own work? And I think that hopefully will help you or help me elevate, when I'm going into work, when I'm going into my making stuff, elevate what I'm trying to do. I'm not just trying to make something adequate. The holidays are upon us and finding the right gift for your kids, nieces and nephews and partner and family members can be super difficult, but it doesn't have to be. Go check out "Uncommon Goods." Sophie and I were checking it out the other day, looking for gifts for our kids. They have a "Make Your Own Storybook" kit, which we love. There's this cardboard tool kit with a cardboard saw that's safe and connectors. You can build cool stuff and forts and whatnot. They also got these building connectors where you can connect sticks and make them for it. 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So you can get big flavors and big savings king supers, fresh for everyone, fuel restrictions apply. - So I have kind of an analogy. I loved "The Matrix", the first movie. I was a major fan of that movie. And I always thought, you know, when you see them, you have these people fighting the agents and they're doing this intense fighting and it seems like everybody seems to get a good hit on an agent and all the people that are fighting against "The Matrix". They all seem to get, you know, a good punch or hit like onto the agents, even though the agents seem to have that per hand. And I always kind of thought, like when you're watching it originally, you're thinking like, are they really not being able to, could they really not kind of beat these agents? Like, if they just kind of worked hard enough and you see just over and over that the agents maybe aren't even expelling their whole kind of power against any of these fights. And I think that it's that moment in the movie where you have that resurrection moment where Keanu Reeves, Neo gets shot and dies, but then he comes back to life and now he can see all the code in "The Matrix" and he tears the agents apart. And it's that kind of transcendent moment. And it's like all the other fighters are some of the best fighters in the world, but Neo goes beyond that to the next level. And it's just the same in the Lego movie, which I think they're kind of playing on that, when Emmet comes back from the real world, back into Lego world and he's doing this, he's having this transcendent moment. And I think of it like that. I think of it like you can make all this adequate work, but it's never going to result in something spectacular in your audience being blown away and until they're blown away with what you're doing. You're really not set apart as, at least for me, that's the type of career that I wanna have. I wanna have that career where when people read my books, my kids' books, it's not just like reading, yeah, that was okay or that was good or bad or whatever, but they forget that they were reading, that it created a moment that they can look back on and think, that was a specific moment. That wasn't just an adequate everyday experience. So yeah, I don't know how that affects what you do. I don't know how it affects what I do, but it's something that I'm pondering and I'm thinking about and I'm trying to shoot for. I think maybe it's just a raising of the goal on thinking about just trying to shoot for higher levels. Well, I really appreciate everybody that's been listening and all the personal notes that I've got, they've been extremely meaningful for me. This experience, even though I really love doing it, like I've said before on the podcast, it's a vulnerable experience and it's something that's not super easy to do always, not always easy to put out there. So I really appreciate all the notes and all the reviews on iTunes has been really awesome. And then if you guys have ideas for shows, sometimes I like to do a show that's just fresh off of an experience of mine. And then sometimes, you know, I get a suggestion and it just kind of strikes me a certain way. So sending in your suggestions via Twitter, you can find me on there by searching Andy J Miller. Yeah, thanks for your guys' time. I hope this has pumped you up for the day. (upbeat music) Hey, y'all, one more quick thing. Earlier this year, I rebuilt my website using Squarespace's new fluid engine and I was so pumped about how it turned out that I have been really thrilled to find as many ways to partner with them and tell you about what they can do and bring you discounts as possible. With social media going haywire, I think having a site that feels as unique as your creative work is essential to building trust with your target audience or your clients. I have had several clients point out how cohesive and fresh my site looks lately. And if you wanna check that out and what I was able to do without any code, check out AndyJPizza.com. If you wanna test it out, go to squarespace.com/peptalk to test it out yourself. And when you're ready to launch, use promo code PEPTALK for 10% off your first purchase. Thanks Squarespace for supporting the show and for supporting creative people. - Do you love hair raising allegedly true stories about the paranormal? Then some in the podcast scared to death. It's the popular horror series with more than 60 million downloads and is co-hosted by me, Dan Cummins. - And me, Lindsey, co-host and also Dan's wife. Each week on scared to death, we share bone chilling tales from old books and creepy corners of the web and some submitted by our listeners, all designed to make you sleep with the lights on. - Think you can handle the horror? 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