Intention
January 15th, 2007
Life shrinks and expands in proportion to one’s courage
-Anais Nin
The above sentence is written on a postcard that came with Living Out Loud. Last week I taped it above my desk, to serve as a reminder, motto, intention, whatever you want to call it. Since then I have built my portfolio, applied to one magazine illustration job (they liked my work and will contact me about the next number) and started blogging again. After feeling stuck for a long time, something is shifting.
I am starting to believe in what seems to be written in every success/creativity book. You need to state your intention. And not in a vague kind of way. I want to make it as an illustrator some day, won’t cut it. I am a successfull illustrator, is more like it. Whatever you want, write it down. Post it in the place you see it. Think it, breathe it, live it. It will happen.
My intention - to live on my illustration alone.
Right now I am employed otherwise. And little by little my work has become (to paraphrase Tuukka) a life-sucking experience. But to make the leap to full-time freelancing? Scary as hell. Yet I think about it everyday, so I know, something’s got to change.
I also have the hardest time promoting myself. In my mind every magazine AD becomes a scary monster. Do I want to email a scary monster? No! But now I push myself. I stare at the postcard and think: I want my life to expand.