Draw is Life: Masterworks from homework.
Plus, Fly Eagles Fly!
What is this column? I’m going to do that classic “answer by saying what it’s not” thing. First, it’s not going to be the definitive answer on anything. It’s not going to be “the way”, I’m not going to preach from on high on how things should be done.
I draw for a living and in an age when folks are trying to crack the code to making art, but I want to share the human experience behind the images you all see. This business is wonderful and treacherous, I’ll share stories here about how I get by.
If that’s instructive, then cool. But none of this is gospel.
My name is Mike Hawthorne, and welcome to Draw is Life
I’m a college professor. That’s weird for me to write, as I’d never intended to be one. I just sorta fell into the job. I was invited to speak at an art college after having worked on a film as a story artist. The school liked me, invited me back for 24 Hour Comic Day, and at about 3am the head of the illustration department asked if I’d consider teaching. I was having a great time, hopped up on soda and pizza, and said yes.
The next day it hit me, “What the hell did I agree to!?”.
You see, I thought I’d done nothing to pursue a career in education. I never had it as a goal, never went for my Masters, never prepared for it. All I’d done was studied and worked.
Turns out, that was enough.
I did well in college myself, mostly because I was scared I wouldn’t make it as an artist so I figured I’d just work as hard as I could and hope for the best. You can’t learn “luck” but you can learn anatomy, perspective, etc.
I continued to overwork after college and throughout my entire career. It’s a joke within my family that I draw for work, then afterwards I relax by drawing more. It’s not the most healthy approach, I see that now, but it worked for me.
Plus, honestly, I do genuinely love drawing.
So, when I fell into this college professor life I gave myself homework; Review everything I ever studied and try to distill it down to the simplest explanation possible. I started writing my syllabus months before I started my class, reviewing all the material and even hand-drew my lecture notes to give out to students. That’s how I “accidently” wrote an anatomy reference book as well as figure drawing “Cheat Codes” 1 & 2.
I’m proud to say the classes have been consistently popular, to which I credit my having done the homework.
A year back I was a guest of Moore College of art. That evening I was hanging out with the head of that school’s Illustration Department Joe Kulka, a good friend and talented illustrator. I was talking about how I still “practice” drawing and Joe said something to me that stuck*. He compared our practice to pushups and said “Not everyone that does push ups goes to the Olympics, but everyone in the Olympics has done push ups.”
That’s the key. Doing the practice, doing the homework, doesn’t promise success but it is the key to doing good work. All the artists that succeed in some way have done the homework.
That’s why I believe you get to Masterworks through homework.
You may be thinking, “Duh”. I thought it was self evident too. “Train hard, fight easy”, right?
Well, I’m often surprised at how much effort students will put into avoiding the homework. I don’t fully blame them, our culture at large wants the art without the art education. They’ve come up in a culture that derives immense joy from the art itself, but somehow also does not value it nor the pursuit of mastery of an art form.I guess the homework feels like a waste of time.
This is a crying shame.
There’s no real way to avoid the homework, not if an artist wants to make great work. Great work is exactly what we need right now. Work to remind folks that an AI who copies what we did yesterday can’t replace the unpredictability of an artist’s vision for tomorrow. We need that work, work that surprises us, enriches us, astounds us.
And that great work comes from the everyday toil and practice of a working artist.
So, please just do the homework.
*I believe Joe said another illustrator had said this to him, so he was quoting it to me.
This newsletter is a day late, but for good reason.
I was at yesterday’s Eagles game!
The Eagles asked me to draw a game day poster for their Panther VS Eagles game.
It featured Eagles offensive linemen Lane Johnson.
The Eagles set up a mobile-signing where we drove around the tailgating areas and gave out posters.
I even had my own ride!
We drove around, hopping out to talk to fans, handing out signed posters and just having a great time.
Hell, I even signed a a bus! “Betsy the birds bus” to be exact.
In the end we gave out almost 400 of these posters!
I wasn’t sure what to expect, being a comic guy in NFL territory. But, there was a lot of Philly love at this game, fans being genuinely warm and welcoming. I couldn’t have asked for more.
After the signing the Eagles set me and my son up with tickets. We go really great seats!
The Eagles, of course, won. (I didn’t charge them extra for that ;-)
Many, many thanks to all the fans and the folks at the Eagles for having us out.
Go Birds!
Best,
Mike
That’s so awesome!
Let's go! Good mojo for the Birds!