Rock and roll. J.C. is (finally!) back with a final State of the Book address. In this ep, Hutch talks about his appearance on NPR’s Weekend Edition, sales of Personal Effects: Dark Art, serves up some news about Personal Effects: Sword of Blood, declares war on “disbelief” and more.
- Purchase Personal Effects: Dark Art
- J.C. on NPR’s Weekend Edition
- J.C. in his hometown paper, the Courier-Journal
The anthem for Hey, Everybody! is “Chip Away” by Jane’s Addition, distributed freely via BitTorrent and the Nine Inch Nails/Jane’s Addiction tour site, Ninja2009.com.
Like what you hear? Please leave a comment, and tell a friend about the show, and about Personal Effects: Dark Art!
JC,
First of all, congrats on the success of your new book. Its tremendously gratifying to see someone reach for their dream and make so much great progress, and especially thanks for allowing me (us) to have even a small part in making it happen for you. (I knew JC way back when…).
Second, as for 7th Son the Print Edition, if there’s more 7th Son coming, I want it. I like Personal Effects, but I miss being so incredibly cliff hangered that I scream bloody murder in my cubicle while wearing my earbuds.
Finally, the reason I really had to reach out tonight. Disbelief is the Enemy. Totally agree. As a creative, I’ve been there many times. The worst STARTED almost 2 years ago when I was given a new boss that criticized everything I did, and was completely devoid of any advice on how to get better. He treated me like I was a no-talent hack who wasn’t worth putting the effort into improving. He told me I didn’t understand good design, and didn’t bother teaching me. If the world at that time only existed of him and myself, he probably would have destroyed me. What probably saved me were the sheer number of satisfied freelance clients I had who not only liked my work, but were begging me to continue moonlighting to help them, and a handful of coworkers who knew what was happening and assured me that only one of us really knew anything about design, and it wasn’t the guy in charge. While that sounds loyal, I can actually say that at this point, I believe them, tho at the time I wasn’t so sure. Even tho he’s been gone for over a year, the crap he spewed at me still lingers.
This of course is an extreme example. Other things have gotten to me before, the most common is when I’m trying to learn new tools and the art suffers for it. Almost every artist I’ve known who’s gone into web design gets in the trap of thinking in ‘boxes’. It takes a lot of familiarity with web design to break out of that mentality, but in the meantime, its easy to start feeling like a hack.
Here’s something I’ve found, tho. When things get dark or hazy in your own mind, it helps to let some light in from outside sources. Here are three examples:
1. I have a decent sized portfolio of stuff I’ve done. Some is good. A lot is really good. And if I may say so, a bit of it is outstanding. When I get into a funk and start thinking I’m a hack, I find its helpful to pull out my portfolio and take a look at what I can do when I’m not in a rut.
2. If you keep a file of ‘thank you’ emails from happy clients, or in your case, perhaps fans, it doesn’t hurt to go back and read thru them. These letters show you how other people perceive your work, which is more than just an ego stroking when you get stuck inside your own head.
3. Go back to the basics. For me, my Mac, Photoshop, Illustrator, CSS, HTML, Flash, these are great tools, but sometimes they get in the way. ESPECIALLY when you’re learning a new one. I find if things just aren’t working, that if I open my sketchbook, pull out a pencil and eraser and work on something TOTALLY not related to whatever is putting me into a funk, that I have fun. And fun releases all sorts of things like creativity, confidence and perspective.
OK. Its way late and I’ve got an actual day job, so I’ll look for you in my feed. Night!