On Formspring, someone asked me:

What topic absolutely blew your mind when you heard about it?

This is a topic I was talking about just last night.

Blogging blew my mind when I saw it.  You see, I was blogging since before there was such a thing as blogging so seeing blogging made me go “What the blood??!!” and it was the bomb.

My friend Shaun McGrath was the guy who got the Internet first.  We used to spend gobs of time calling up BBSes over a 14.4 modem all night long to play Legend of the Red Dragon. This one BBS had ten phone lines, which meant that ten people could be on the BBS at once, and that was a huge deal.  So when he got the first Internet access that any of us had, with an unlimited number of people on at all times from around the world, that was insane.

One visit to Shaun McGrath’s, he signed me up for Hotmail and Geocities.  I put up a picture from Pulp Fiction and a list of my favorite movies and now I was as big as any mainstream brand on the Internet.

Over the years, from site to site and service to service, I always kept a journal.html file on my site which amounts to a blog that I would update by manually editing the HTML document.  So when I saw blogger.com for the first time, and saw that this thing I was doing privately had a name and you could use this service to take the technical heavy lifting out of the equation, I had a vision.

I saw this thing that you could do if you’re an Artist, using blogging and streaming video and online networking.  I had this picture of how Charlie Chaplin and Andy Warhol would have distributed their work online and had pretty much the same career arc.

I know that I was right when I saw it because I remember when I was working for a late night TV show.  We were looking for an online video solution to replace the current one that had the user download a small-resolution .WMV clip and play it locally.  I found YouTube, brought it to the bosses, and suggested that we use it as our solution.  Fans can embed clips anywhere they want, we don’t have to worry about transferring files and bandwidth, and “mark my words”, I said.  ”This is going to be the standard for online video so if we get in now, we’ll be the first ‘mainstream’ brand to embrace it.  They’ll support us and we’ll be at the front of the whole thing as it goes huge.”

“No,” the bosses said.  ”We don’t want people to be able to post our clips wherever they want.”

I explained how the coming attention economy was going to work, how the number of people who see it is the most important thing, and it doesn’t matter where they see it.  I explained that if we don’t start a channel and start running it hard, all of those low-quality WMV clips they’d been distributing for years were going to start getting uploaded and then we’d have no control and get no benefit.

They got me to get a guy to manually throw together a slap-dash FLV viewer for the site.  As online video grew more popular, old low-quality WMV clips of the show began to proliferate on YouTube.

Meditating on the current state of my art and business and the rising trajectory of it all, I got to thinking about how when I first got the vision for how to make Art on the Internet, it wasn’t ready yet.  The Internet itself needed to catch up to the capability of what I had in mind.  Then Twitter, Facebook, and the iPhone happened, people started to get the picture about what the Internet is really means, and here we are.

I’m really happy with the quality of my work right now, and it’s always fun to bring new insight to old ideas, put them into new combinations, and watch what they turn into that you couldn’t have predicted or planned for but kind of knew all the time was on its way into your life.

Thanks for asking me this question, whoever you were.

If you want to ask me a question on Formspring, you never know – it could become the subject of a blog post right here!

I got an email a little while ago from a girl named Emma asking me what advice I could pass along to her friend about how to get his career started as an artist. I thought I would answer her here on the blog since this is the kind of question professionals get asked most frequently.

Morning Sean Ward,

Thanks for hitting me back on Twitter! The reason I wanted to connect with you is kinda weird. I am interested in becoming better acquainted with the Toronto comic book scene. I mean, I’ve lived here for 6 years, and I’ve haunted the Hairy Tarantula and Silver Snail, etc… But a buddy of mine just moved here from the Territories and wants to get into comics here… drawing them mostly…and I have no advice to give him, so I thought I should find someone who could! (also I am pretty pumped about everything you do, as I am a videographer and hip hop head… seems we have things in common!)
Anywho, what advice would you give to a newby transplant about getting into comics here? Toronto is a scary move, and not knowing anyone here doesn’t help much. Whaddya say Sean? Words of wisdom from someone who knows what he is talking about? It would be much appreciated, I would take you for a coffee or beer if you’d let me!
Have a good one dude!
Emma

This question of how one goes about getting started in comics or in any art has been asked many times. Those of us who have been asked it have usually heard different people answer it different ways. But here are a couple of the recurring themes that emerge:

1. The person doing the asking has a conception that there’s a specific blueprint that can be followed.

2. There is no blueprint. Everyone’s journey is unique.

Tony Robbins and guys like that tell you that success is a system that can be easily duplicated. I’ve got a lot out of listening to them, reading books like Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, and attending workshops & seminars. I keep a Bible & a Hare Krishna prayer book near my work space, making a point to flip through them often for context and insight. But those materials do not provide the answers. They help you be the kind of person who finds the answers.

And that’s what it’s all about: success is a process, not an event. It’s about having a vision, and the continual process of doing whatever you can to try to move closer to it.

When I first started doing comics, with no connections in the industry or the scene, I jumped in and went crazy. I spent a year cranking out as many issues of a series as I could, photocopying them and selling them on the street downtown. The most important thing was not how good they were, it was how many of them I could get out there and how many people I could get looking at them. I was wildly prolific – an idea that’s become popular in the business world with the recently popular rallying cry of “ship often”

You’ve heard about the 10,000 hours theory, right? That’s the idea that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to get good at something. So Emma – the only advice there is to pass along to your friend is to start putting in those hours right away.

As my mother used to say: “There’s no way around – you have to go through it.”

So that’s for your buddy to get down to making some comics.  As for getting in with the scene, that’s what Twitter is so damn good for.  Follow these people, talk to them often, jump into the conversation, and go to anything you hear them talk about going on.

Essential Toronto Comics Scene Twitter links: @SilverSnailTO @TDotComics @EscapeFromRL @comics212

(If you can think of anyone else who would be good for Emma to follow, let me know in the comments)

This is an e-mail I got over the weekend, seeking advice.  I asked Steve, the writer, if I could respond in a blog post since his question is of a kind that I get asked much more than any other:

Hey Sean, I need some words of wisdom from you on how I can get my own art career going and on track. I am working in an office right now – Fraud detection analyst for a Mastercard issuing bank.

In short, I have lost my sense of humor, and each day seems to lack a sense of purpose.

I have been watching as you’ve grown and progressed, and realized that we both have the same 24 hours in a day to work with.

I need some words of wisdom from you in this regard. I used to have a wicked sense of humour. I want it back.  I want to reclaim it.

-Steve

Hi Steve!

Thanks very much for writing.  I am flattered that you would come to me with a question like this.  I thought all weekend about your question and I thought of a catchy way to explain how to find what you’re looking for.

It’s all about The 3V System: Values, Vision, and Vehicle.

Values

First, you have to know what you stand for. You have to know what’s important to you, who you want to be, what you want for yourself.  Be opinionated, keep high standards, and surround yourself with people who inspire you instead of people stuck in the same rut as everyone else.  You don’t want comfort in forgetting your cares, you want to be uncomfortable enough to take action.

Vision

Your vision is the effect you want to have on the world.  It doesn’t have to be earth-shatteringly huge.  It could be as simple as a word of advice for the people around you.  Care passionately about what’s important to you and you’ll start spotting places where there is a bit of class, taste, or beauty missing that only you can fill in.  That’s what art is for.

Vehicle

Your vehicle is the form in which your vision expresses itself, and the arena in which you explore your values.  You need a vehicle because otherwise the ideas inside you collect dust and eventually disintegrate.  Whatever you feel is the best expression of your talents and your vision whether writing, drawing, speaking, or any other outlet, you need a project to get passionate about.  This will give you something to look forward to while you’re doing the things you’d rather not, and it will provide the means and opportunity to get to know yourself better so that you’re more of the real you in all areas of life.

The hardest part is making the time for your vehicle.  There are a million and one perfectly good excuses for why you have no time for it.  You get home from work, unwind, prepare dinner, check in with the world, relax a little bit, go to the gym if you’re on your fitness game, and next thing you know it’s time for bed again.  That’s the routine.  That’s also how the Universe finds out who is serious and who is just phoning it in.  Most people want everything to be in place, but I’ve always been a big fan of just jumping in and seeing what happens.  Besides, at this stage what have you got to lose except for some of your sleeping hours?

I started seeing the microscopic, incremental day-to-day changes that the workaday world was having on me and that’s why I stopped showing up to work to be an Artist with no plan, no money, and no idea how I was going to pay the rent.  My way is hard and sometimes it’s not very fun, I’m not going to lie.  But for me it’s about what’s going to make for the most interesting story to tell at the end of it all.

I hope his helps.  Keep me updated on how it goes!

-Sean

You get good by Doing! Whatever is your thing, do it often and get it out there!

For more videos, have a look at my VIDEOS posts. And check out my Youtube channel where I post new vlogs every day!

In this week’s Monday Meditation, I am going to share with you a hard lesson that I learned about content creation. I try not to write from the point of view of “don’t do what I did”, and only be proactive, but an innocent tweet got me thinking about the importance of creating content.

NEVER STOP PUMPING OUT CONTENT

Here is a tweet sent out last Friday by one of my favorite Twitter peeps, Scott Stratten of un-marketing.com - @unmarketing on Twitter:

“Community, sponsor, content. Content builds community, sponsors want ur community”

Gary Vaynerchuk, author of Crush It, also stresses the importance of content creation as the foundation of building community online.

When I first started my career as an artist, I instinctively knew that content is king. With no education and no money, I knew that I would have the edge if I was more prolific than the other guy. I pumped out photocopied comic books like crazy, and quickly developed a style, an audience, and a modest business.

DON’T REST ON YOUR LAURELS

But then my first taste of real success came. I signed a development deal with a production company for a TV show, entered into a publication agreement with a comic book publisher, and went to work for a late night TV show helping them launch a spin-off comic book and rebranding the show for the web.

Surprisingly, all of these deals brought my content creation and being prolific to a halt, costing me time and ruining my momentum.

The comic book publisher delayed and delayed and delayed and then went out of business before anything by me got published. The network wanted to see another edition of my underground cinema event, but the production company spent a year writing Word documents. Working on the late night TV show, a lethargic and complacent corporate culture meant that I only got to do about a quarter of what I was hired to do.

For the two years that all of this was going on, I wasn’t sharing my vision, nor creating content around my passion. I was caught up in other people’s schedules, other people’s priorities, and other people’s goals, instead of continuing to do what attracted those opportunities to me in the first place. I was sacrificing my momentum and the community I had built, putting my success in other people’s hands. I treated my business like the game was over and I had won.

I learned the hard way that it never gets easy.

In fact, the demands on your creativity and problem-solving increase with the scope of your challenges.

This is why it’s so important to create content around what you’re passionate about – you need that high level of passion to get you through when it gets really tough. Lucky for me that I’m so stubborn and single-minded about being an artist.

Welcome to INSIDE THE ARTIST’S MIND – real talk for creative people. This week I’m going to address the Artist and money, and the new forms of currency that creative people are investing in.

I’ve been thinking lately about money, and the artist’s relationship with it. I get to remembering where Dave Sim explains that when you’re an artist, the time you spend on your art is an investment and you have to treat it like other people treat their mortgages and RSPs.

That was before the Internet, and his point rings even truer today. What Dave Sim was talking about was building a body of work that will pay off for you down the road. But now, in the age of Social Media, the investment you make in yourself, your brand, and your creative vision can pay off even more directly.

Social Media is a currency, and I’m surrounded by people who are cashing in. The Internet is how you stake your claim, mark your territory, build your brand, and express your vision. The Internet will let you know in a minute if your work is connecting with people. And the more you connect with people, the more say you have. That translates into influence and opportunities.

How have you implemented tools like Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Tumblr, etc. into your work? Are they central to the work or just a vehicle for getting the word out? Let me know how important social media is to your work in the comments!

And connect with me:

Twitter: seanward
Youtube: seanward
Facebook: seanwardsuperparty

Have you seen 7th Floor West?

It’s a fake/joke reality show about the behind-the-scenes goings on at Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.  I am very impressed.

Whether or not I like Late Night with Jimmy Fallon or 7th Floor West is beside the point.  I am impressed because I remember when I worked in late night TV, and 7th Floor West is exactly the kind of value-add that I was hired to bring to the proceedings at Ed’s Night Party. In fact, web-exclusive comedy shorts that take place behind-the-scenes of the TV show was one of several ideas that I pitched, had approved, and then got put on the backburner at the last minute with claims that there was no time for it.  Ed’s Night Party used to tape over a three-day weekend, three times a year plus two one-week remote shoots.  Late Night with Jimmy Fallon shoots five nights a week, almost all 52 weeks of the year yet they find the time to make 7th Floor West.

The lesson here is the difference between Urgent and Important.  We’re quite lucky when something is both important and urgent, but very often something is one or the other.  It’s easy to get lost in the tyranny of the urgent, neglecting what’s not biting you in the ass right now but is indeed important.  Tim Ferriss touches on this in The Four Hour Workweek when he explores the choice between getting a video-tape back to the rental place to avoid a $5 late fee (urgent) instead of just paying the $5 and getting the work that’s in front of you done (important).  The Late Night with Jimmy Fallon team respects what’s important and their audience grows by leaps and bounds on multiple platforms.  Ed’s Night Party neglected what’s important and is no longer on the air.

Every time something pops up that makes you feel like you have to rush in quickly to deal with it, take a moment to ask yourself “Is this actually important, or just urgent?”  And if it’s just urgent, think for a moment about what is important that it’s distracting you away from.

Here is something new…

It’s really hard to draw a woman if you’re trying too hard to make her look pretty or sexy. If you concentrate on what’s unique about her, chances are she’s going to come out pretty and sexy. The Queen has a big ass. She has been way easier to draw ever since realizing that and sticking with it instead of trying to draw a magazine model in her costume.

Now, in this picture, what is Benny Banana doing going for a ride in The Queen’s hot air balloon? Why is he weeping while she’s C.C.C. (Cool Calm Collect)?

Guess you will have to find out when SuperParty starts on June 12!

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Speaking of business, what do you think about ERP Software?

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One of the producers who is making beats for me has a big problem! His external hard drive is messed up!

He can only run it for a moment before it shuts off on him. I think it’s a problem with the fan. He’s tried opening it up and taking the hard drive part out and putting it in his tower, but that doesn’t work either so maybe it’s a problem with the thing reading the data inside.

Anyone have any advice or know where he can direct his issue without having to send it away and paying $500? He just wants to get the data off of it.

E-mail me if you have any tips or advice!! We need to get at these beats!