I'm busier now than ever. Or perhaps just more productive. I'm in development for a film, working on a Tv series, writing and if I find the time, which is rare at the moment, I'm working on the large illustrations that I share on this blog.
I love the quiet corner where I do the illustrations. It's just me and the drawing... or is it? Looking at the work I could tell you I have no collaborators. I could therefore tell you, 'I can do what I want'. Ironically the opposite is true. Sure I have no collaborators but this doesn't mean I gain power or control. Art isn't about getting a want or desire. I must instead become powerless, without want and therefore creatively free. It is important to have intention without expectation. The process is creative discovery. I use my knowledge, skill and experience to guide the work, to shape and define it but the art is never mine. I am in partnership with the paper, the pen and with chance. Whenever in the past I sought to do the work' I wanted to do' it never came about. I don't think creativity is about want or control rather it is about allowing the work to happen. The artist's job is to shape it. To take chance, opportunity and all its energy and make art that has life. That, to me, is the role of the artist.
Often in film it is common place for artists to become possessive and defencive rather than to trust the creative freedom that would make better films. It is such a competitive industry! It is only natural to fight for your spot. A film is in one place with one crew today, another the next. Tax incentives move artists from country to country or leave us without work when local crew take precedent. It is only natural to become possessive and defencive. We might not have a job tomorrow. In fact I can vouch that we won't. So the natural defence is to fight for it, to work harder, to set increasingly ambitious goals. But is this really a productive approach? Are the goals we set achieveable? In my experience they are not. Art reminds me to stay open and to remember the work is not mine but merely happening with my guidance. Just like I can't control an illustration without limiting it in some way so it goes that I cannot control a collaborative work like a film or the film industry. It means accepting there are times that I go without work. That's scary in tough financial time. But I believe it is the only way good work can happen. It's easy to forget when under pressure. That's why I keep drawing.
