When it comes to being a commercially successful creator, there is something more important than talent, or skill, it’s the ability to delight.
Have you ever seen or read something that immediately just spoke to you? You thought, “I love this!” Have you had the opposite experience with something that everyone else seems to love but it just falls flat for you? Or even more than that, you think, “This is not good. Why do people like this?”
That’s the thing with art, it’s subjective. But less important than if you think something is good or not is perhaps why. Craft is important and you should absolutely work to improve what you do. But if you want to create something for an audience you should also be thinking about how they will connect with it.
It’s an element that is not usually considered when something is super successful. It’s not how well something is written, or drawn, or sung, or whatever – it’s its ability to delight. Just look at Rotten Tomatoes and how often there is a huge gap between the audience’s score and the critic’s score. The “experts” thought it stunk but the audience loved it.
Resonate, move, appeal, you can define it however you want. It’s the reason why that work connects with a person.
You should be asking: Does your work delight others? What is it about the things that you like that speak to you? That super-popular artist you don’t like, what are they doing that delights their audience? Don’t be snarky or dismissive. What is it that its fans are connecting with?
Your success directly correlates with your ability to delight others. Keep creating and keep growing.
News
It’s official! This deal took way too long to make but it’s finally signed. Woodland Hills will be making its graphic novel debut in 2025. That feels like a long way off but there is a ton of work that goes into creating a 200-page graphic novel. I’ve already finished the rewrite based on the editorial notes and now working on the thumbnails. (Quick small layout drawings to figure out what goes on each page).
I am super excited to actually start drawing it and I can not wait for it to be out in the world and for you to be able to read it.
Other Stuff
Artist I just discovered that delights me (and apparently loads of others). It’s funny how something can be phenomenally popular and you’ve never heard of it.
Favorite Thing I Drew This Month
A movie poster of a film character the kid’s in Woodland Hills like. There wasn’t a specific reason to draw this other than I liked the idea.
Family Stuff
We kicked off the new year by attempting to go tide pooling. It was so insanely windy, we didn’t even walk down to the water. We did the next best thing though and went to the little aquarium in San Pedro. River was not terribly interested in the touch pool. So I’m glad we didn’t bother trying to fight the cold and wind at the ocean.
Thanks for reading. See you next month!
-Josh
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