“Acknowledging the lizard” is the idea of identifying the part of you that is slowing down your creative process, and then silencing it. One might argue that the biggest rival an artist has is himself, the lizard part of himself. The lizard is afraid of failure, afraid of change, afraid of risks. A successful artist cannot have this part of their brain controlling their lives. Another layer is “make art.” It makes sense that if you an artist, you must have art that has yet to be made. However, simply making it is not enough, which brings us to the ‘Ship’ layer. No one should let their art sit in their mind or their room where no one can see it, they have to get it out there, they have to get people to listen, see appreciate their art. The lizard will absolutely hate this, but it must be done.
I am actually surprised that I am saying this, but honestly I think that these blogs are very connected to these layers and the process of reinventing myself. My instinct is to dismiss weekly assignments as mundane, unnecessary busy work, but this blog has actually been very helpful for me. Reading these articles and writing these blogs, I have learned more about my strengths and weaknesses as an artist, and I have put serious thought and effort into reinventing myself. These assignments are stirring legitimate changes in not only the way my creative process works, but also my perspective on life in general.
To be honest, if not for this assignment, I would have probably eaten Cheetos instead of reading this article about reinventing myself as an artist. At this very moment, instead of thinking “these are delicious,” I am thinking “I have overcome my lizard to the point where I am not afraid to make art, but I have issues when it comes to ‘shipping.’ I need to fix this, because otherwise the only thing I will ever create will be a handful of unfinished projects that no one has seen besides me.” Clearly the latter is simulating my brain in much more positive way. By writing out my thoughts in these blogs, I have brought to life ideas that I did not know were even in my mind. Once I write explicitly what I need to do in order to succeed, it seems obvious, but while it was just an idea in my head, it was vague and difficult to pinpoint.
Most importantly, these blogs have made me hungry for more self-examination and improvement of my creative process that will extend beyond just the winter quarter of my freshman year in college. It is not enough to reinvent myself and be done. I want to be constantly and consistently reinventing myself not only as an artist but as a person. No matter how great an artist becomes, there is always space for improvement; space that the artist should constantly be filling up. This quarter, in more ways than just this blog, has started up something inside me that I will not allow to be stopped by anyone or anything. As it says in Brainwashed, we are living in a time where our opportunities as artists are virtually limited, and one would have to be a fool not to take them.
My lizard has an issue with posting this blog, but I’m just going to ignore him.
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