Many of us are still all caught up in winter’s last gasp, so perhaps a little inspiration is what we all need to keep going. A few months ago I stumbled on a post from the Zen Pencils website—a weekly cartoon strip featuring inspirational quotes.
“Buy the ticket,” Hunter S. Thompson tells us. “Take the ride.”
Carl Sagan says, “A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.”
“I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun,” Joanne Rowling begins. Neil Gaiman also has encouragement for those who’ve encountered adversity. Ira Glass has advice for beginners.
My favorite, though, is “A Cartoonist’s Advice,” which illustrates a bit of wisdom from a commencement address cartoonist Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) gave at his alma mater, Kenyon College. I can really relate (“… as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth”!) to this one.
The artist, Gavin Than, includes a brief biography of the person he’s quoted, and other notes at the end of the strip. Have a look at the archives—it’s quite a body of work.
And don’t forget—this guy’s a creative, just like you. He’s recently embarked on a personal project: “a multi-part story that will run over the next few weeks without any inspirational quotes.” Ah, but it’s quite relevant to what you and I do. Have a look at part 1 and part 2 (all there is so far) and you’ll see what I mean.
Enjoy!
Tweet: “Make good art!” Inspiration for creatives from creatives.
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