“I would encourage people who want to be creative to invite miserable circumstances.”
Nicholas Gurewitch of The Perry Bible Fellowship is one talented individual. His online comic strip is apparently record-breaking. How or what records were broken I have no idea, but only because I haven’t done any research.
“I would encourage people who want to be creative to invite miserable circumstances. If you cram that brain into a dangerous situation, it will work your butt off.” ~Nicholas Gurewitch
He said this during a small comic convention, Stumptown Comics Fest, apparently held in Oregon. He amazed the crowd by being a natural entertainer as well as someone who could draw some extremely funny shit in a matter of three or four comic cells. I believe this quote is extremely true, especially for people that have a sense for creativity, like me. I’ve long put myself down for not staying on top of my own art and keeping my portfolio up-to-date, but at the same time have to cope with the fact that it’s probably like that because I do have a full time job.
This is where passion comes in. A passion for your art is completely different from just having a simple desire to do it. Passion is something that is developed and drives you towards finishing projects with the same expression of thought and emotion toward it as you had when you first started it. I’ve got about three to four 3D projects sitting in folders right now untouched for anywhere from two months to four years.
I’ve started to analyze why I haven’t completed them, and honestly believe it’s because I don’t feel like I can do anything with it when it’s done. For instance: Here is the 3D model of my Samsung Blackjack phone I’ve been working on for a little over 2 months. I’ve reached an “artist-block”, if you will, and don’t feel as compelled to finish it anymore. I sat and analyzed why I felt this way and came to the realization that because I can’t animate a potentially inanimate object, why should I finish it?
Well, that’s it, right? Wrong. Stop modeling shit, start animating. Animating is what I really love doing; so why the hell am I modeling shit I can’t animate? A good friend/coworker, Chris, gave me the awesome idea to take the phone and make into a Transformer of some type. Genius. Why the hell couldn’t I think of that? Now I’m driven to complete a project that probably would have never seen the light of day simply because when I’m done with it I’ll be able to make it shoot something, run away, or do some other sort of motion driven action.
Anyway, Gurewitch’s work is something I’ve admired for a little over a year; mostly because of the simplicity, yet extreme diversity, of his comics and art. I purchased the hard cover book in November of last year. Other than some of my favorite strips being missing from the book entirely, I recommend it to anyone and everyone that asks me about it (considering it tends to be an eye-catcher sitting on my office bookshelf at work, it looks a lot like a children’s book so people ask me why I have it). It does take a certain sense of humor to admire it, though. Here is one of my favorite strips:
The look on the green guy’s face in cell three is absolutely priceless as he realizes his impending doom. And the fact that blue is missing all together is just gut-wrenching. The subtlety of the whole thing is what really makes it so funny. This strip along with many others have become my favorites, far surpassing anything Larson has done in my opinion. Gurewitch is the Larson of today if I do say so myself. I commend him for his hard work and dedication to his site and strip and look forward to many more strips in the future. Great Job!