My Manifesto 2017— the WHAT, the HOW, the WHERE and WHY I create.
Written down here for the World to see.
If you have read my Series posts, or saw my video on Instagram last night you’ll know I was sitting on the fence. I’ve been sitting on the fence about posting this for a while now. Then I woke up to an article by Gary Vaynerchuk and thought fuck it, let’s do this!
[As an illustrator and visual storyteller I’d obviously prefer for this to be a more visual/hand drawn post but that would have just delayed getting it out there into the wild.]
It’s inspired by Gary Vaynerchuk. When I say inspired, I mean I’m just putting into practice what he has said many times. With a slight tweak in the language.
It started with this video:
I’ve since watched him refine the idea of:
DOCUMENTING NOT CREATING
While I agree with the overall sentiment, I’m not fan of the word ‘not’ in the statement. So, instead my philosophy is documenting the creation.
I like how he sums it all up with the question — imagine how many views a shitty little little video of Zuck’s in his dorm room with his buddies talking about The Facebook would have today?
Now, unlike some people out there I have absolutely no delusions or desire to achieve anything like what Zuckerburg has. I’m happy just doing my thing, no matter how big or small that is. In doing so, I have to believe that it’s going to be a success. And when it is, I want myself and others to be able to look back on just how hard it was, how fun it was and also hopefully have a few laughs at my expense.
So this is an opportunity to share where I am, where I want to get to and how I’ll get there.
So let’s get started:
THE WHAT
What’s the what?
What’s my thang?
Art.
More specifically, drawing.
Drawing graphic novels/comics/visual stories, call them what you like.
A little background….
I’ve been very ill for the last few years and in that time I shut down my content marketing business, most of my social media accounts and largely closed myself off from the world.
However, in that time I turned to drawing to keep my sanity. It gave me something to focus on and to keep learning.
Looking back it was a natural progression. My final few years in the business world had revolved around this idea of ‘visual thinking’ starting with Alex Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas and progressed to using it to help businesses communicate and engage internally and externally with their customers.
I was a contributor to to The Sketchnote Workbook by Mike Rohde, I created a successful eBook and I generated some traction online around the importance of visual thinking. However, at the time I was always more interested in the artistic side of things.
This period of illness has given me the opportunity to work on my craft, to reallly learn how to draw. Most of this was behind the scenes but more recently I re-engaged with Instagram. One thing I have realised in this time is that it is not enough for me to just create for the sake of it. To get better and better at drawing and painting pretty pictures.
I want to combine words and pictures to tell meaningful stories. To tell stories in a way that the words or the text couldn’t on their own.
Given the constraints I have in my life combined with my strengths I know I can be a very successful career as a graphic novelist.
However, I am not there yet. I am a nobody in this World. Sure, I’ve done a few things, but in a macro sense I am nowhere. Shit, I tell people I’ll be a good artist in 10 years and it’s interesting how people react. Am I good at drawing? Sure. Am I as good as I want to be and know I can be? Hell no. But I am happy to share that journey.
A few months ago I stumbled on a post on Instagram about a Graphic Short Story competition being run by the The Guardian/Observer/Comica and the publisherJonathan Cape. This was the perfect opportunity to push myself a little as well as test a number of assumptions I had.
I didn’t have a lot of time and I was going through a lot of physical problems but I made a commitment to myself. I would submit something, no matter what.
And I did.
The story focused on a trip I took exactly one year previously to a refugee camp on the Serbian/Hungarian border. It is far from perfect and as I read it now I see many things I’d change but I got it in and that’s what matters. You can read the story here.
Prior to any results being announced I am already working on how to expand the story as well as collecting data and testing ideas in preparation for how to get it out into the world.
One final thing…
Creating on my terms
The other thing that being ill has taught me is that if I am going to do this, it will be on my terms and at my speed. While I am passionate about this, ultimately my health will always come first.
HOW
As I alluded to above I am interested in the interplay between words and images so I will be sharing both.
Sometimes on their own and sometimes together.
As I think about it now the content may naturally fall into a couple of categories:
#SHOWYOURWORK — I see this being the more artistic, process side of things
#THINKINGOUTLOUD — whereas this is more about the reflections and strategic thinking behind the decisions I’m making
But we’ll see how it emerges, this will very much be an iterative approach based on the feedback I get throughout the process.
WHERE
Given the visual nature of the activity I will continue to share a lot on Instagram.
For example, work in progress pictures:
And time-lapse videos of drawing still draw the crowds but I have to think more creatively.
And using Instagram Stories to show the more personal side of things.
Medium
This is where I will really dive in and assesses the creative process — reviewing and reflecting on what I’m learning in the moment. I’ve always found that there is something powerful about learning from someone at a similar level, or slightly ahead of the curve as you. Often when a genuine expert teaches they forget what it is like to know very little and be right back at the beginning of a journey.
I am also experimenting with the new series function to test ideas in a more unfiltered manner prior to larger posts. As a sort of Instagram Stories/Snapchat for writing.
To add one more area to Gary’s original thinking
THE WHY
The number one reason for documenting my creations?
I love the process. [I’ll definitely write more about this soon]
I genuinely believe it makes me a better creator. I’m comfortable having my mistakes and sketches out there in the world for people to react to. I prefer that to the idea of sitting in anticipation for the big unveil of the finished polished product. I want to get my ideas out there, test them and get feedback quickly as possible.
It also keeps me honest and accountable.
If you are another practitioner following in the footsteps of Gary Vaynerchuk I’d love to hear from you and support you in your journey. So, hit me up here or on Instagram.
And finally…
I’ve heard Gary give so many people specific advice and then ask them to email him in 30 days to update him. I’ve also heard Gary say that noby ever does it.
Gary hasn’t asked and Gary doesn’t know, but I will email him 30 days from now with a nice visual document of where I’ve gotten to following this post.
