Back when I was WAY past ready to leave my cozy insurance job, I was dishing out my art portfolio like fresh crab at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
One problem that kept coming up was, most publishers said my art was too ‘cartoony’.
I used to draw more realistic but exaggeration won. Especially after I read this quote:
“At Pixar, we’ve always said that reality is just a convenient measure of complexity—we take a step back and create something the audience knows is not real, then we make it look as believable as possible. See, the closer you get to reality the harder it is to be convincing to an audience.”
John Lasseter, from the Art of The Incredibles
From that point on, drawing cartoony was my jam. I accepted that my weird cartoony style was not for the mainstream. This was my style 20 years ago and I still draw and paint like this today.
In an interview actress/comedian Aisha Tyler did with CNN. They asked her what would you tell your younger self about who you are now?
She said: “I would probably tell my younger self, Don’t worry about it. You’re always going to be a weirdo, and at some point that’s going to be OK. That’s eventually going to be your calling card, or your badge of courage, that you’re going to be a weird kid.”
Not only do I not mind being the weird ‘cartoony’ comic book artist guy, but I own it and embrace it. Like Tyler said everything weird or negative about you usually becomes your strong suit.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was told his voice was too robotic and his accent was too strong to make it in Hollywood.
Oprah was told she was too female, too black, too caring, all sorts of nonsense.
And ironically those are the same reasons why Oprah and Arnold have had tremendous success doing what they love. It’s because they are who they are.
The Artist Paradigm is about playing the long game. Embracing that you’re different and knowing what’s weird about you is your greatest strength.
Adam
P.S. Seth Godin has an excellent book on this topic called We Are All Weird.