If you don't want to have a plan B, fine. But then I really hope that no one else is depending on you, and that the only life you're gambling with is your own.
SERIOUSLY! I've been catching up and, really, Jilli (and a few others) pretty much says everything I think. Anyway, I admire people who take care of their business and manage to do their art much more than people who think their ART is so important that they don't have to TCB.
you need at least three of the following: talent, looks, determination, and luck.
I think you pretty much always need luck. Luck often meaning meeting the right people.
Absolutely -- you always need luck. But maybe not talent if you're determined enough!
I think you're right, Jesse!
Dear body, forgetting one pill in the morning should not make me cry over nothing. Please do not be freaking out. Chill the fuck out and stabslize yourself. No love, me.
How is being supported by your wife for five years not a Plan B?
Right? It's a parasitic Plan B, but a Plan B nonetheless. If you are (1) not succeeding at Your Great And Super Special Art, yet you are still (2) eating and have a place to live, you have a Plan B. It might not be a Plan B where you choose to work at something else, but it's still a Plan B. Right up until your wife says "Get a job, seriously, or move the hell out. The mime gig is NEVER going to happen."
A friend of mine who had some minor success in the comic book field
Chatty!co-worker's dream since childhood has been to be an artist for DC or Marvel. He also happens to be married with a child. His priority is his supporting his family, and he works on his art in his spare time.
He also recently got a freelance gig with Marvel.
So, you know, the whole deal where Artists DON'T Get Day Jobs Oh Mah Gawd -- not always true.
But I guess what it comes down to is what the Great And Talented Potential Artist's priorities are. They can put Their Great Potential Art before everything else, but they might lose everything else along the way. And if that's what they're willing to do, cool. But if that means you might bankrupt your spouse who's supporting you, if it means you might destroy your marriage because your spouse can't take it any more, you might want to be 110% goddamn sure that your spouse knows *before* the wedding that Your Great Potential Art is more important than he/she is.
Talent, determination, and luck. Also charisma. Which subs for looks
IIRC, Lady Gaga is a trust fund baby, which may have smoothed the path for her some. Note that Paris Hilton hasn't had much success in a singing career, by comparison. Gaga actually does score pretty high in the "talent looks determination" categories.
There are reasons why some people become police or firefighters and some people become actuaries. I do think there are lots of creative types working regular jobs and sometimes, people get lucky.
I just read the column in Newsweek about the Dyson vacuum guy. He busted his ASS (and his wife supported the family) while he tried to engineer and sell his machine. And now, he's a billionaire.
