There is a sort of disconnect when you see someone's name in print and you know them in real life as just, you know, a person.
Timothy Bradstreet worked in an ADM refinery in Peoria, Illinois while simultaneously producing some fantastic art. He wore a hardhat, took break at the same tables, and once, I'm assuming while bored, drew a sketch on a bathroom stall door that took up most of the door. It was amazing. He didn't have to sign it, we all knew who had that level of skill, and we praised him for it and said things like "Man, what are you doing here?". Jon convinced him to sign it, and Jon swore he was going to somehow take that stall door down and smuggle it out of the plant...not an easy thing to do, as they distilled and bottled name brand liquors there using the alcohol made in the corn plant, so theft was a major concern and we were always subject to search. I hope that stall door did make it out of there, and I hope Jon was able to keep it, maybe display it somewhere some day.
Most people in comics would recognize the name of Tim Bradstreet. I bet they would be surprised to learn he spent his days working in a dangerous ethanol refinery, on the maintenance crew in charge of keeping the bottling lines running and the famous brand alcohol palletized and loaded on barges so it could be shipped out to international waters and brought back as "imported".
In some circles, he was famous. In other circles, he was the guy that drew that really cool marker sketch on the men's bathroom stall door while working as a shlub like the rest of us.
I tell people all the time, just make what's in your heart whether other people like it or not. And maybe it will move someone or even really take off after you die. That would be an honor! Yet it's not good enough for many people. I don't get it, the desire to be famous just for its own sake. Fame sounds annoying.
When I got into the biz, fame wasn’t an option, unless you thought being famous at a convention with 500 attendees was what fame was. Nowadays, people have crazy ideas about being rich and famous in comics. The stories I could tell about the groupies…
I, also, wanted to be an astronaut until I learned they tend not to take people with crappy vision, no athletic ability, and no ability to fix stuff. I just watch Star Wars and Star Trek instead 😂😂😂
I have many friends who are professional writers, including my husband (Chaz Brenchley), though it’s a lot easier to do that in the UK where healthcare is cheaper and easier to great (though it used to be free and easy to get).
Thanks for this. I oh so relate. Especially when it comes to the mention of age. Trying to move back into solely being an illustrator once again after 30+ years detour as a Retoucher/designer has been a hard row.
I know much of what is holding me back is being mired in the minutiae of my own 60 yr old perceptions and impatience; along with a general disgust with, and an absolute refusal to accept, the delusional, pointless toil of pandering to some tech bro's social media algorithm.
This has lead me to the conclusion, after 8 years of beating my head against the wall of cartooning, that I'm at the sobering breaking point where I need to change up my approach to art/storytelling. Not by abandoning art altogether. No, that I could never do, since that would crush the essence of what has always defined and enlightened my soul. Instead, I just need to take time to figure out a new path and way to release the stories trapped inside my skull.
Reading your Substack has been a giant help to redefining that path and what pitfalls to avoid.
And I think you missed my point? We're all living normal lives. This is a normal life. This is value, this is contribution. A good quality mechanic makes more money than I do. We both contribute. Is his value less because he didn't become an actor? No. He became a mechanic who contributes. This is all contribution.
You wrote on your blog:
"The vast majority who have been pursuing the craft, pursuing excellence, upward mobility, a career, whatever, have been playing the wrong game, as they should have known well before the Industrial Revolution’s latest wave. If they didn’t value your intellectual or creative work enough to pay you before, they certainly never will now...The creative classes fell into obsolescence in 2022, though it will be a while before the effect is fully felt, in part because they were already well on the way out...The Machine, the mirror, may be mediocre and a liar, but that is, as ever, beside the point.
It is good enough."
You clearly don't believe that creativity is exceptional, so good enough is good enough and skilled labor, like mine, eminently replaceable. So...not exceptional?
I may well have missed your point. But the idea behind that post, to my mind, is actually kind of still that it is exceptional to be a creative person who has worldly success precisely because generative AI soaks up so much of the in—between work. It seems like having Generative AI soak up more and more fields like web design or advertising or many kinds of writing that have been avenues for people to move up seems to serve to widen the gulf, though of course some people manage to rise to the top still. But of course it’s always been hard to rise to the top, and maybe the GenAI is just a new version of the old thing. I suppose I struggle to make the point.
Wordly success is kind of...not really. I'm not that kind of wordly success. To me, that's Taylor Swift. I don't make big money, I live in a middle class house with middle class income. I don't think that makes me exceptional in terms of wordly success. I actually feel pretty B-list in comics. Jim Lee? Yeah. Me? No. Even so, being a cartoonist is not something I have ever considered exceptional. I've always and will always consider it working class.
I'm not sure I'm all that exceptional, except that I made really good use of resources when I had the chance. And I do not believe that being an artist is exceptional in any way. I firmly believe it is a skilled labor working class job. If my life had been a little bit different, say, had I decided to become a professional artist only after graduating from college, I probably wouldn't be where I am today. In fact, I'm pretty sure of it. As a skilled labor worker, I had more than a decade to develop skills at a younger age than most people.
That makes a lot of sense and I do take your point, but I do think it is at least accurate to say exceptional in the sense of exceedingly rare or unusual, an exception, to be a professional artist is rare among artists, let alone among humans.
Very good of you to come back and talk with me. I understand that point. But I feel the same way about doctors, mechanics, and stonecutters. There will always be outliers, but the job itself - and in my case, the lifestyle - is pretty normal. I am not rich, and I am not getting famous people perks in general. The reason why artists who can make a go if is as professionals is fairly rare, is simply because so many people want to do it, and no one needs it. We don’t REALLY NEED another writer. Another cartoonist. Another musician. They’re everywhere. And plenty incredibly talented people never get to a point where they make a living. But the exception doesn’t mean you’re a better person or living a notably better life. It just means you have a different job.
What it doesn't say about Foster (born in my hometown, Winnipeg) was that he had already logged a number of years drawing the "Tarzan" comic strip before "Prince Valiant" debuted.
There is a sort of disconnect when you see someone's name in print and you know them in real life as just, you know, a person.
Timothy Bradstreet worked in an ADM refinery in Peoria, Illinois while simultaneously producing some fantastic art. He wore a hardhat, took break at the same tables, and once, I'm assuming while bored, drew a sketch on a bathroom stall door that took up most of the door. It was amazing. He didn't have to sign it, we all knew who had that level of skill, and we praised him for it and said things like "Man, what are you doing here?". Jon convinced him to sign it, and Jon swore he was going to somehow take that stall door down and smuggle it out of the plant...not an easy thing to do, as they distilled and bottled name brand liquors there using the alcohol made in the corn plant, so theft was a major concern and we were always subject to search. I hope that stall door did make it out of there, and I hope Jon was able to keep it, maybe display it somewhere some day.
Most people in comics would recognize the name of Tim Bradstreet. I bet they would be surprised to learn he spent his days working in a dangerous ethanol refinery, on the maintenance crew in charge of keeping the bottling lines running and the famous brand alcohol palletized and loaded on barges so it could be shipped out to international waters and brought back as "imported".
In some circles, he was famous. In other circles, he was the guy that drew that really cool marker sketch on the men's bathroom stall door while working as a shlub like the rest of us.
Great contribution, thank you.
Havent thought about Bradstreet’s work for a while. Loved your anecdote.
I tell people all the time, just make what's in your heart whether other people like it or not. And maybe it will move someone or even really take off after you die. That would be an honor! Yet it's not good enough for many people. I don't get it, the desire to be famous just for its own sake. Fame sounds annoying.
When I got into the biz, fame wasn’t an option, unless you thought being famous at a convention with 500 attendees was what fame was. Nowadays, people have crazy ideas about being rich and famous in comics. The stories I could tell about the groupies…
I, also, wanted to be an astronaut until I learned they tend not to take people with crappy vision, no athletic ability, and no ability to fix stuff. I just watch Star Wars and Star Trek instead 😂😂😂
LOL! And...math!
I have many friends who are professional writers, including my husband (Chaz Brenchley), though it’s a lot easier to do that in the UK where healthcare is cheaper and easier to great (though it used to be free and easy to get).
My health care is five figures a year, and that's just for the insurance.
Thanks for this. I oh so relate. Especially when it comes to the mention of age. Trying to move back into solely being an illustrator once again after 30+ years detour as a Retoucher/designer has been a hard row.
I know much of what is holding me back is being mired in the minutiae of my own 60 yr old perceptions and impatience; along with a general disgust with, and an absolute refusal to accept, the delusional, pointless toil of pandering to some tech bro's social media algorithm.
This has lead me to the conclusion, after 8 years of beating my head against the wall of cartooning, that I'm at the sobering breaking point where I need to change up my approach to art/storytelling. Not by abandoning art altogether. No, that I could never do, since that would crush the essence of what has always defined and enlightened my soul. Instead, I just need to take time to figure out a new path and way to release the stories trapped inside my skull.
Reading your Substack has been a giant help to redefining that path and what pitfalls to avoid.
I truly appreciate this post. And I wish you the best of luck going forward.
Beautiful piece, Colleen.
"Every success story is confirmation bias."
Thank you! I've been looking for that sentence for years to explain why those stories are the exception and not the norm.
I appreciate the effort but you know, it is kind of hard to have people who are exceptional assure you of the virtues of not being exceptional
And I think you missed my point? We're all living normal lives. This is a normal life. This is value, this is contribution. A good quality mechanic makes more money than I do. We both contribute. Is his value less because he didn't become an actor? No. He became a mechanic who contributes. This is all contribution.
You wrote on your blog:
"The vast majority who have been pursuing the craft, pursuing excellence, upward mobility, a career, whatever, have been playing the wrong game, as they should have known well before the Industrial Revolution’s latest wave. If they didn’t value your intellectual or creative work enough to pay you before, they certainly never will now...The creative classes fell into obsolescence in 2022, though it will be a while before the effect is fully felt, in part because they were already well on the way out...The Machine, the mirror, may be mediocre and a liar, but that is, as ever, beside the point.
It is good enough."
You clearly don't believe that creativity is exceptional, so good enough is good enough and skilled labor, like mine, eminently replaceable. So...not exceptional?
I may well have missed your point. But the idea behind that post, to my mind, is actually kind of still that it is exceptional to be a creative person who has worldly success precisely because generative AI soaks up so much of the in—between work. It seems like having Generative AI soak up more and more fields like web design or advertising or many kinds of writing that have been avenues for people to move up seems to serve to widen the gulf, though of course some people manage to rise to the top still. But of course it’s always been hard to rise to the top, and maybe the GenAI is just a new version of the old thing. I suppose I struggle to make the point.
Wordly success is kind of...not really. I'm not that kind of wordly success. To me, that's Taylor Swift. I don't make big money, I live in a middle class house with middle class income. I don't think that makes me exceptional in terms of wordly success. I actually feel pretty B-list in comics. Jim Lee? Yeah. Me? No. Even so, being a cartoonist is not something I have ever considered exceptional. I've always and will always consider it working class.
I'm not sure I'm all that exceptional, except that I made really good use of resources when I had the chance. And I do not believe that being an artist is exceptional in any way. I firmly believe it is a skilled labor working class job. If my life had been a little bit different, say, had I decided to become a professional artist only after graduating from college, I probably wouldn't be where I am today. In fact, I'm pretty sure of it. As a skilled labor worker, I had more than a decade to develop skills at a younger age than most people.
That makes a lot of sense and I do take your point, but I do think it is at least accurate to say exceptional in the sense of exceedingly rare or unusual, an exception, to be a professional artist is rare among artists, let alone among humans.
Very good of you to come back and talk with me. I understand that point. But I feel the same way about doctors, mechanics, and stonecutters. There will always be outliers, but the job itself - and in my case, the lifestyle - is pretty normal. I am not rich, and I am not getting famous people perks in general. The reason why artists who can make a go if is as professionals is fairly rare, is simply because so many people want to do it, and no one needs it. We don’t REALLY NEED another writer. Another cartoonist. Another musician. They’re everywhere. And plenty incredibly talented people never get to a point where they make a living. But the exception doesn’t mean you’re a better person or living a notably better life. It just means you have a different job.
What it doesn't say about Foster (born in my hometown, Winnipeg) was that he had already logged a number of years drawing the "Tarzan" comic strip before "Prince Valiant" debuted.
That goes for just about every artist who “makes it.” They have years of work logged before that, years of projects.