Thread by @LarryDixonTGK

@SilvShadowSpark Hey here's the thing. When you're starting out on artwork, like when you're really young, say, & you get these ideas of cool stuff but you only know what's in your head & what others have done, you don't know the processes yet for getting 1/

@SilvShadowSpark what is in your head onto a page, "as good as" the people you admire. So let's say you get a ream of nice, acid-free paper. You have 500 sheets there for maybe $5. Pencils are cheap, too. So you go at it. You give it a try. 2/

@SilvShadowSpark You don't really grasp it at that moment, but you're doing what your idols did, & what theirs did before them. You're giving it a shot.
Giving it a shot at all puts you on the board.
You're having a go at these dreams in your head. 3/

@SilvShadowSpark But, see, since you're new to it the lines go weird & wobbly & proportions feel wrong & the heads get skewed & all this other stuff & it feels like:
"What am I doing here? Why is this stick in my hand? Can Comprehend brain think move?" & it all feels wobbly.
But.
4/

@SilvShadowSpark Here are some secrets.
Well, they seem like secrets at the moment.
You're doing what your idols did. I did. At the start of my professional career, after training for years in pro-art in colleges & all...
I got maybe 1 in 10 drawings right.
5/

@SilvShadowSpark That's "pay the rent, put gas in the car, & hey! Food maybe!" risk-level... I got 1 in 10 right.
Now, 35+ years later at it...
I get 4 in 10 right.
The stuff you see, the things from your idols, that's just the supercool, got-it-right finished work.
6/

@SilvShadowSpark What you don't see are the fiery crashes of concepts that didn't work, the "huh? My hands did what?" drawings, the sketchbooks full of "wow. Uhm..I'm stopping here. Continuing this sketch will end in tears."
7/

@SilvShadowSpark I think all artists should read this thread, retweet it even.
We all want to make great art, bring amazement & joy, & summon cool stuff into being. But.
We're doing something from the heart as well as the hand, & morale is a big deal.
8/

@SilvShadowSpark When I was pulling 1 in 10 right, out of that aforementioned ream of paper, 1 out of 10 meant 50 that worked.
450 were failures, abandoned, or genuinely bad ideas. But. 50 worked.
I got the 1 out of 10 because of morale.
The morale came from knowing that everyone 9/

@SilvShadowSpark I considered a master knew that if they kept at it, the 1 in 10 would become 2 out of 10.
Then, I looked back at what I'd done before.
Here's another one of those secrets.
Sometimes, you have a good idea, but you don't yet have the skill to pull it off.
10/

@SilvShadowSpark The "Art of Larry Dixon" book I'm always adding notes to has the working title of "90/10" because of this.
If a drawing is 90% bad, it's still 10% good.
As I went through my old material, I found, "This is horrible. But.. that lapel design is kinda cool."
11/

@SilvShadowSpark So I'd give it a go with the skillI'd gained. And so on.
This is the next secret.
The Continuum.
We start in on artwork & we have faith that we can accomplish something. This must be true, or else we'd never move a pencil or break open that ream of paper.
12/

@SilvShadowSpark When we look back at our previous work, it can be exhausting, because we remember the times that went with them. The heartache or joys. The injuries, the headaches, and so forth.
A drawing is a mark of history.
Even if it's not about the things that happened then,
13/

@SilvShadowSpark it's a trigger to the memory for what was associated with that time in the artist's life.
Then the moment comes when you realize... you aren't alone in this feeling.
Your idols did it too.
Every painting they see, every sketch, marked moments in their lives.
14/

@SilvShadowSpark Your place, as an artist, is a point in a continuum. You have the vision only you can have. You draw what only you can draw. And every idol you had did the same, and theirs, and theirs, back into time. At some point the names of the artists are lost to time.
15/

@SilvShadowSpark The way your hand moves now, with that pencil, on that paper, as you try each time, is connected to the history of every artist that went before you.
Remember when I said you're on the board?
You've joined the ranks of those who tried.
And they can't be you.
16/

@SilvShadowSpark Eventually you reach 3 out of 10 working out, & the money's steady & you have some admiration. Then the challenge to your heart comes along:
What is my mark?
What is my mark on history?
You know you're part of a continuum.
17/

@SilvShadowSpark That continuum reaches back to the first scrapes on stone or clay with the intent to carry meaning.
That kind of realization can spin you right the hell out.
It can make you draw back. Or be afraid. Or self-aggrandize. Or self-harm. Or decide, "3 out of 10 is plenty for me," 18/

@SilvShadowSpark and you just halt there. You may think you've reached your limit. And maybe you have; anxiety is harsh, and fear is the opposite of love, not hate.
This is the time when your love is challenged.
The next secret:
Love can win.
As you head towards 4 out of 10...
/19

@SilvShadowSpark ..you realize that your motives have changed, and so have you. This is where you have to own yourself. Every mistake, harshness, bad move, fumbles. All of it.
Because love messes with us.
Love of your art is love of yourself.
20/

@SilvShadowSpark You can go through any art show or publication & pick out who doesn't make it this far. If you fake yourself, you fake your art.
The art might press the right buttons.
It might do the job.
You can move some prints with that level.
It'll pay the bills.
/21

@SilvShadowSpark But... that feeling. After awhile, you can tell from the work whether someone knows themselves, knows the continuum, and has embraced it.
It shows in the linework, the approach to colliding fields of color or texture.
Someone who's committed
/22

@SilvShadowSpark to the continuum makes those lines caresses. The collision of positive & negative space takes on subtlety between the edges.
It's more than just filling a work brief.
It's confidence.
The artist owns themself.
They have accepted their mistakes & fragility & now show,
/23

@SilvShadowSpark "I have gone through the tens of thousands of attempts and endured the doubts. I screwed up my life while I tried to handle the concepts I struggled with. Now I have grit. Now I can make this more than just a job. This is more than fulfilling requirements now."
/24

@SilvShadowSpark Then they find the next secret revealed, after they take the chances with new linework, new compositions & techniques. They've taken the hard hits & now they have the confidence to try the risky stuff because they realize:
Now they're someone's idol.
/25

@SilvShadowSpark They've championed themself. And along the way, others saw them, and noticed, and was inspired by them. Now the artist's idols are colleagues.
And every colleague, each an idol, has hundreds of thousands of failed ideas & bad sketches & lousy choices behind them.
/26

@SilvShadowSpark Many years ago, my father gave me an extraordinary set of garage tools.
I said to him, "I don't know how to use these. I won't be any good with them."
He replied,
"That's how you get good with them. By using them."
/27

@SilvShadowSpark This is the advice I want all artists to embrace. I've been at this a pretty long time. After hardships and woes, I am still here. I am thought of, kindly, as someone of value in my fields of work.
What I want you to carry with you are these thoughts:
/28

@SilvShadowSpark When you tried to be an artist you put yourself on the board. When I was a racecar driver, I was in the middle or the rear of the pack. But, I was on the track. I was in it. I wasn't a spectator. I put my entirety--body, interest, skills, desire--into hurtling at 140+MPH.
/29

@SilvShadowSpark Being an artist is about bravery. It's putting yourself into a continuum of people who, as you might, were brave enough to endure failure and find what they're made of.
That's being on the board.
Yet everyone on that board since the board existed
/30

@SilvShadowSpark can't be YOU. Only you can express what you perceive and execute in how a drawing should be. Any famed artist you can name can not be you.
And then it hits you: your idols can admire YOU.
It's because you stepped up and got on the board.
/31

@SilvShadowSpark The artists who have embraced the continuum understand the hardships of it. They've studied history; they know the tragedies & triumphs. Their colleagues went through it & probably still are.
We understand.
That's an important takeaway here. We understand how hard it is.
/32

@SilvShadowSpark When you feel the emotional body blows, the uppercuts of snark, the kidney shots of self-doubt, the lead-legs of depression... we understand.
That pain's part of the process we all faced.
And we want you to succeed.
A lot of people don't grasp that.
/33

@SilvShadowSpark There is a saying: "The student validates the teacher."
We who have embraced the continuum & our place in it, when others see us as their heroes or models, want to see the results of it.
We want to see amazing stuff.
We want you to make it.
/34

@SilvShadowSpark We want you to be brave.
In the big picture, we know we're points on that continuum & we want the next points to be greats. We want people who've stumbled & skinned their knees trying hard. We want more than "adequacy."
We want legacies.
/35

@SilvShadowSpark And it's not solely out of ego; it's because we had our heroes too. Sometimes we got to work with them, or get nods of approval from them. We became their legacy.
And when you work with love, you care about who follows you.
So please.
Be brave.
Use up lots of paper.
/36

@SilvShadowSpark You have the stars at your fingertips. Make constellations, galaxies, superclusters. Show us things we've never seen before; things we can't imagine; things only you can imagine.
I'm trying for 5 out of 10, now.

Own what you are.
Give failure its due.
Don't give up.
Be brave.