Skip to main content

Why Do You Do Art?

I was recently asked the question 'Why do you do Art?'. You'd think after forty plus years of doing art I'd know the answer to this question but I actually had to stop and think about it.

Anywhere but here, by TET, July 2004
"The art that I'm most proud of is work where
I've set out to communicate an idea..."

I'm aware many people create their art as a relaxation or escape from stress. I suspect many artists in this category are those that get their inspiration from painting their surroundings - such as landscape, still-life and portrait painters.

Just from my observations those artists, once they've developed their skills and are confident in their techniques they can afford to relax and enjoy the experience of creating their art without stressing too much about whether their final artwork will be successful... chances are it will be.

I'm not one of those people.

Creating my art certainly isn't a stressful experience by any stretch but I can't say my mind is relaxed during the process. If anything, it's more active than ever as I have to bring my idea out into a visual image from my imagination. On top of that, my painting style is rather quick, so the next decision is never very far away and I'm usually planning ahead to what I imagine the finished result to be.

Some people do art to earn a living. I'm certainly in that category but it's not why I do art. I create art whether I think it will sell or not. I do consciously try to steer my non commercial efforts towards a commercial gain, as I did with my GoAnimate videos, which started out as a fun activity two years ago but this year earned the bulk of my freelance design income. However the reason I do that is to avoid having to get a regular day job - which would severely limit me from doing art.

The more I work as a freelance artist/designer the more I realize that bringing other people's ideas to life is not personally satisfying to me. Challenging sure but not satisfying. Even though I'm the first to admit that some of my best work is done for other people (particularly among the cat paintings that I'm known for) this is more a result of my high personal standards than trying to fulfill my need to create art.

I used to think I create my art for other people because I'm not that sentimental about hanging on to my own work. Having other people enjoy my paintings and having them on display in their homes. It's great to know that people do that with my work but I think it pleases me mostly because, if I kept hold of it, I'd store it away out of sight - because once an artwork is completed, I've got from it what I needed. I don't need to keep looking at it.

 When it gets down to it, I do art because I have an idea to express. The art that I'm most proud of is work where I've set out to communicate an idea, whether that be a simple emotion or an entire narrative. It's why writing and animation both appeal to me. They allow me to express complex ideas and complete stories in a creative way beyond the single image or series of images you can create with a painting.

That's pretty much why I do art. I'm all about expressing an idea.


Comments

Buy Gifts and Apparel featuring art by TET.

Popular posts from this blog

Movie Review: Captain America: Brave New World (2025) *No Spoilers*

I  decided not see Captain America: Brave New World in a cinema because everything I heard about the film pointed to a disjointed mess, from testing poorly, to whole characters being added in during reshoots. The trailers looked okay but, since they featured Red Hulk, quite a bit, it felt like there wasn't much left as a drawcard for seeing the film in a cinema. Having now seen the film on Disney+ I feel it was a good decision. While the big budget effects no doubt would've looked better on a big screen, the story wasn't particularly complex or intriguing enough to make the film stand out. If anything, it's a straight forward action movie with a hero who is just kind of... there. The story revolves around a plot to kill the newly elected US President, former General Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford). Captain America (Anthony Mackie) must find who is the real mastermind in order to clear his friend and the original Super Solider, Isaiah Bradley's (Carl Lumbly), name. I...

I'm Confused About Why People Prefer to Say Discombobulated?

D iscombobulated. Is a word that I think someone rediscovered about three or four years ago (maybe more because the pandemic years have thrown out my sense of time) and now I hear it a lot. It's not a new word by any means, but when I started hearing multiple celebrities using it in everyday sentences, I actively had to look up what it meant. Define it with as many synonyms as you like but essentially it's just another word meaning 'confused'. Seinfeld Quotes: Quotes.net The words are pretty much interchangeable. He was discombobulated by too many choices. He was confused by too many choices.  My confusion is the length of the word. It's unnecessarily long with too many syllables. There are many other words that mean confused, and therefore also mean discombobulated. Most of them are shorter and easier to say. So why not just say 'confused'? Perhaps discombobulated sounds more intelligent, maybe?  Hawaii Five-0 Quotes: Quotes.net I've noticed it gets us...

Resident Dragon: Checking In with My Daily Gag Cartoon/Comic About a Fire Dragon Living in the Suburbs

A t the beginning of the year I introduced you to my latest cartoon/comic series, Resident Dragon (because a dragon's got to live somewhere).  A daily - well, week-day-ly - gag cartoon about Red the Fire Dragon, living in a shared house in the suburbs, with his human friend, TET and his two pets, Grrr Dog and Cool Froyd the cat. Back then I had about 100 cartoons sketched out, with eleven completely digitally inked and coloured.  As of writing this, I haven't yet skipped a day of my schedule, and am seven toons short of an even 200 sketched out, with 31 fully inked and coloured. Actually, it's 33 but I only publish one full colour toon each week, so I have two in the wings. I'm not planning on doing daily toons forever. My goal is to hit 366 so I have enough to fill a daily desk calendar, should I decide to sell one. Currently you can buy individual prints of my finished toons in my Resident Dragon Store . When I have enough finished toons I will be compiling them into...

Australian Federal Election 2025 - World's Most Boring Government Re-elected by Landside - We're Even More Fine!

Anthony Albanese Victory by ChatGPT and TET. W hen I started writing about the 2025 Federal election the polls were suggesting the world's most boring government was crusing to a defeat . As it turns out, boring is good, and Australia wants more of it, handing the current government a landslide win with a majority vote. Anthony Albanese became the first PM since John Howard to win a consecutive term, and the first Labor PM since Bob Hawke to do so. Some of that comes down to the leadership revolving door both major parties had through the mid 2000s. Although Anthony is my preferred PM over Dutton the irony is Dutton sounds more like a leader with a fairly commanding voice and an ability to speak well, without sounding like he's waffling and dodging questions, even if he is. Anthony, on the other hand, does have the ability (and speech writer) to say a lot of inspiring things but it gets lost in the delivery. He doesn't seem to know when to emphasise a point for effect. In h...

TV Series Review: Star Wars: Andor - Season 2 (2025, Disney+) *No Spoilers*

D isney+'s Star Wars: Andor  the first season is widely regarded as some of the best Star Wars since the original trilogy, and I don't disagree in my  Andor Season 1  review. Despite that, it does have its problems, mainly a lot of space between action pieces. That's not to say nothing is happening in those spaces, but I do remember being frustrated how long season one took to get to a promised heist scene, going from conversation to conversation over several episodes. However, when Andor does have action, it usually delivers, with action that serves the story rather than action because 'it's time for some action now'. Unfortunately that gave Andor the reputation for being Star Wars 'for grown ups'. People who understand how tension and intrigue can come just as much from character interaction, who is talking to who, and what they're saying. That lead to low viewership and the show's proposed number of seasons being reduced to just two (I believe...

TV Series Review: Humans (2015-2018, 3 Seasons) *No Spoilers*

Colin Morgan, Katherine Parkinson, Ivanno Jeremiah, Gemma Chan, and Emily Berrington in Humans (2015) W hile it may seem late to be reviewing Humans now, nearly seven years after the show wrapped, the only thing that's really aged about it is the opening titles... and even then, not that much. I think I caught the first season on Netflix back in 2015, and then kind of dropped off waiting for a new season to appear. As of writing this, all three seasons are on Amazon Prime. Humans is set in a parallel world that looks much like ours except humanoid robot helpers, that look just like real humans, called 'Synths', are now common place. Season one begins at the point where the first synths go from being subservient machines to gaining consciousness, and explores not only how humanity reacts to that but how the synths react to humanity's perceptions as well. Initially it follows a group of OG synths, already given consciousness by their creator, and just trying to survive i...

Second Sunday Skateboard Session Episode 6, 7, and 8 - Shuv-its On Lock (Pretty Much)

TET - Heel Flip attempt Episode 8. A s I near the end of filming my ten part series, Second Sundy Skateboard Sessions, I'm feeling pretty good about my skating generally. Filming the series has given me a focus, schedule, and a goal, so that when I do skate I'm not randomly riding around doing not much... and getting bored, or just half arsing attempting to learn my tricks. If you're a solo skater like me - especially if you're learning or relearning - I'd recommend this approach. Even filming your progress. Though you don't have to publicly bore the internet like me if you've got the same 'resting lack of enthusiasm' demeanor I have. Just having the video footage to compare, and to watch in slow mo to see what you're doing wrong or right is useful.  If you're not familiar with me or my ten part series of Second Sunday Skateboard sessions , I'm attempting to master all seven basic skateboarding tricks in Braille Skateboarding's Skateb...