Pssst... hey kid, wanna make a 'zine?
The following is a fictional conversation between my confidence and paranoia.
That inner voice that always tells you that you are wasting your time making anything...
You know what would be really great? If we made a magazine about all the things we're interested in, and wrote articles for it and made some art and illustrations and... and... !!!
Yeah, that would be awesome, but... I'm not really that good at writing, or drawing, or anything.
What makes you say that?
Well, I see lots of art around these days which is really amazing, it just blows my mind. And there are so many great writers out there, people like Kim Stanley Robinson or Cory Doctorow...
Wait! Are you comparing yourself to professional artists and writers???
Sure.
Shouldn't I?
I mean, I'm just not that good.
Listen,
I'll tell you a secret; Everyone has to start somewhere. Even the
all-time-greats have that first piece of art, or story which is just
kind of so-so, or even a real stinker.
Yeah, sure. But they keep it locked away in a box somewhere, so they won't have to be embarrassed by it.
No, absolutely not!
Raymond Chandler, the undisputed king of detective fiction, published stuff for years that was really not that great. His first piece of fiction was for a cheap depression era pulp magazine and is kind of awful... just think of how many times he might have been rejected before then. If he kept it in a box, he never would have gone any further in his career.
But that was nearly a hundred years ago! These days we have the internet and there are literally millions of immensely talented people just a link away. No one is interested in talent-less nobodies.
What's your favorite webcomic? Hit the button that takes you back to the first ever cartoon. A lot of those guys have been writing for nearly 20 years. You can see how much they've progressed in that time, but that didn't stop people from reading the comics back then.
Wow, I see what you mean... I suppose practice really does make perfect.
Absolutely! If you want to make good art, you've got to make it everyday. I once found a notebook that belonged to my great-grandfather who was an artist and it was just full of eyes, from cover to cover. He had other books for noses, hands, feet and so on. He drew and painted every day until he smoked his last pipe.
Wow, that's dedication! I so admire real artists... I don't know if I've got the energy for that.
The best artists, comic authors and writers are masters of their art. They've mastered the ability to depict emotions, and create unique, interesting characters. They can also hit the comedic high notes nearly time they try. They have to, because that's their job. And many of them are multi-talented, You find webcomic artists who go on to direct short films for quality media networks... Most of us will never get to that level.
But why would anyone read amateur stuff, when there are professionals like that around?
Because even the greats can't output enough product to fill our newsfeeds 24 hours a day. Also, all media has a niche. If you like video games, there's a lot of media to choose from. But if you like gardening, the selection is not as broad, or is maybe targeted at a different demographic. There are a lot of gaps and areas of thin coverage.
Isn't the internet just like an infinite number of monkeys bashing away on typewriters? Aren't they going to end up producing Shakespeare, just by pure accident? Not to mention filling every single niche desire there is... What about Rule 34?
New niches are opening up all the time, and people fill them as fast as they are able... It's true that you can find a little bit of something for everyone. But there are usually not enough professional artist or writers on hand for the job. Media quickly comes in to being, but it's not always of the highest quality. That doesn't matter so much to the fans, because they are hungry for any content.
So shit art is good...
...when compared to no art. Yes, that's essentially what I'm saying.
Unfortunately, while there are many new emerging niches in our rapidly mutating culture, there are also fewer and fewer people with the confidence to step forward. These days we have such high standards that we end up stuck with the same tired content. It's technically excellent, but feels lacking, empty and out of touch. Maybe because it hasn't evolved to fill the new niches that have emerged. It ends up becoming a kind of joke. Artists who keep making the same art, over and over again, unaware that its time has already passed.
Yeah, I guess...
I vaguely remember the kind of media that people used to make before the internet, when the niches were slower to be filled. There was a hunger for content that the commercial media was just too slow to respond to.
Exactly,
and even better, the people making the content were at the heart of the
movements they were documenting. It had an awesome kind of authenticity
that made up for the horrible quality. Not to mention the thrill of
being part of a prosumer movement, where you both produce and consume
the media that matters to you as a group.
Isn't
that just nostalgia though? That time is gone and it won't come back.
The internet changed everything!Shouldn't I just sit back and wait for
my needs to be fulfilled?
I think it changed the speed at which a scene can mature. It definitely raised the bar on art and production quality. A single guy can crank out a full video game that would have taken a multi-million dollar company to produce 30 years ago. It gives us the tools to make really incredibly amazing shit art. And some say the prosumer model really came to life only with the creation of the internet. Fan fiction started off in fan club 'zines, but it really blossomed once it went digital.
So... I should put my crappy stories and shit art out there, in the hope that it will fill a niche and make people happy, even though it's really not that good? Even if it's just lame fanfic? Do your really think people will like my contributions?
Well, don't get too focused on making people happy... most people will hate your stuff. Passive consumers are really picky about what they consume, and most don't consider the work that the artist puts in to it, or the fact that without that effort, they wouldn't have anything to consume, or they'd have to resort to recycled, stale commercial bullshit, or endless complaining and shitposting on Facebook.
Aren't most people passive consumers though?
Yep. But there are dedicated, hungry communities of active prosumers just waiting to emerge, they just have to have a core to form around. Once they hit critical mass, the community can flower overnight.
There's a money aspect too though, right? I mean, I can't pay the bills with exposure.
True enough, but very few people achieve success with their very first efforts. Chandler was writing poems and reviews for publications as a unsuccessful journalist for 20 years before he even got published in Black Mask, and he was tempted to give up writing after he met a real writer... it really wasn't a great job to have, even back in the days of physical media. If you're relying on payment for your creative work to put food on the table, you may get very hungry for the first 10 to 20 years.
Ah, but silly me! I already ran up a massive, unsustainable student loan on my Liberal Arts degree. Is it too much to hope that it might not have been a foolish investment?
Well, only 27% of college graduates have a job related to their degree. So welcome to the club. While you're slaving away at your day job like the rest of us, would you be interested in making some shit art and sharing it with the community?
Hmmm... I literally don't have anything better to do, so why not?
That inner voice that always tells you that you are wasting your time making anything...
You know what would be really great? If we made a magazine about all the things we're interested in, and wrote articles for it and made some art and illustrations and... and... !!!
Yeah, that would be awesome, but... I'm not really that good at writing, or drawing, or anything.
What makes you say that?
Well, I see lots of art around these days which is really amazing, it just blows my mind. And there are so many great writers out there, people like Kim Stanley Robinson or Cory Doctorow...
Wait! Are you comparing yourself to professional artists and writers???
Sure.
Shouldn't I?
I mean, I'm just not that good.
Yeah, sure. But they keep it locked away in a box somewhere, so they won't have to be embarrassed by it.
No, absolutely not!
Raymond Chandler, the undisputed king of detective fiction, published stuff for years that was really not that great. His first piece of fiction was for a cheap depression era pulp magazine and is kind of awful... just think of how many times he might have been rejected before then. If he kept it in a box, he never would have gone any further in his career.
But that was nearly a hundred years ago! These days we have the internet and there are literally millions of immensely talented people just a link away. No one is interested in talent-less nobodies.
What's your favorite webcomic? Hit the button that takes you back to the first ever cartoon. A lot of those guys have been writing for nearly 20 years. You can see how much they've progressed in that time, but that didn't stop people from reading the comics back then.
Absolutely! If you want to make good art, you've got to make it everyday. I once found a notebook that belonged to my great-grandfather who was an artist and it was just full of eyes, from cover to cover. He had other books for noses, hands, feet and so on. He drew and painted every day until he smoked his last pipe.
Wow, that's dedication! I so admire real artists... I don't know if I've got the energy for that.
The best artists, comic authors and writers are masters of their art. They've mastered the ability to depict emotions, and create unique, interesting characters. They can also hit the comedic high notes nearly time they try. They have to, because that's their job. And many of them are multi-talented, You find webcomic artists who go on to direct short films for quality media networks... Most of us will never get to that level.
But why would anyone read amateur stuff, when there are professionals like that around?
Because even the greats can't output enough product to fill our newsfeeds 24 hours a day. Also, all media has a niche. If you like video games, there's a lot of media to choose from. But if you like gardening, the selection is not as broad, or is maybe targeted at a different demographic. There are a lot of gaps and areas of thin coverage.
Isn't the internet just like an infinite number of monkeys bashing away on typewriters? Aren't they going to end up producing Shakespeare, just by pure accident? Not to mention filling every single niche desire there is... What about Rule 34?
New niches are opening up all the time, and people fill them as fast as they are able... It's true that you can find a little bit of something for everyone. But there are usually not enough professional artist or writers on hand for the job. Media quickly comes in to being, but it's not always of the highest quality. That doesn't matter so much to the fans, because they are hungry for any content.
So shit art is good...
...when compared to no art. Yes, that's essentially what I'm saying.
Unfortunately, while there are many new emerging niches in our rapidly mutating culture, there are also fewer and fewer people with the confidence to step forward. These days we have such high standards that we end up stuck with the same tired content. It's technically excellent, but feels lacking, empty and out of touch. Maybe because it hasn't evolved to fill the new niches that have emerged. It ends up becoming a kind of joke. Artists who keep making the same art, over and over again, unaware that its time has already passed.
I vaguely remember the kind of media that people used to make before the internet, when the niches were slower to be filled. There was a hunger for content that the commercial media was just too slow to respond to.
I think it changed the speed at which a scene can mature. It definitely raised the bar on art and production quality. A single guy can crank out a full video game that would have taken a multi-million dollar company to produce 30 years ago. It gives us the tools to make really incredibly amazing shit art. And some say the prosumer model really came to life only with the creation of the internet. Fan fiction started off in fan club 'zines, but it really blossomed once it went digital.
So... I should put my crappy stories and shit art out there, in the hope that it will fill a niche and make people happy, even though it's really not that good? Even if it's just lame fanfic? Do your really think people will like my contributions?
Well, don't get too focused on making people happy... most people will hate your stuff. Passive consumers are really picky about what they consume, and most don't consider the work that the artist puts in to it, or the fact that without that effort, they wouldn't have anything to consume, or they'd have to resort to recycled, stale commercial bullshit, or endless complaining and shitposting on Facebook.
Aren't most people passive consumers though?
Yep. But there are dedicated, hungry communities of active prosumers just waiting to emerge, they just have to have a core to form around. Once they hit critical mass, the community can flower overnight.
There's a money aspect too though, right? I mean, I can't pay the bills with exposure.
True enough, but very few people achieve success with their very first efforts. Chandler was writing poems and reviews for publications as a unsuccessful journalist for 20 years before he even got published in Black Mask, and he was tempted to give up writing after he met a real writer... it really wasn't a great job to have, even back in the days of physical media. If you're relying on payment for your creative work to put food on the table, you may get very hungry for the first 10 to 20 years.
Ah, but silly me! I already ran up a massive, unsustainable student loan on my Liberal Arts degree. Is it too much to hope that it might not have been a foolish investment?
Well, only 27% of college graduates have a job related to their degree. So welcome to the club. While you're slaving away at your day job like the rest of us, would you be interested in making some shit art and sharing it with the community?
Hmmm... I literally don't have anything better to do, so why not?
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