How My Day Job Influences My Art, Too

​I’ve written a fair bit about artists having day jobs, I guess, and I’ve mentioned my own day job here more than I wish I had.

But I guess it can’t be helped, and though I would’ve liked to keep both my jobs separate, I guess given my own big mouth it was inevitable for one job to find out about the other.

Although it has happened where colleagues from one job would be somewhat surprised upon finding out about my ‘moonlighting’.

It’s not a complete stretch, though, I mean, both jobs are sooomewhat related ~ I guess anybody would say they’re both (so-called) ‘creative’ lines of work.

There’s a hole in the bucket

I remember this one artist I used to know, I met him as part of that illustrators’ group I used to hang with, who told me something like, illustration was very different from studio art. I didn’t understand him at the time, because I thought it was all ‘drawing from the same bucket’, as it were.

What bucket is that, you may ask ~ uhh, I’m not sure, to be honest.

I think it might be the bucket that, you know. Catches all the creative juice? Har.

Anyway I think I kind of get it, now, but, right now I’m reflecting on how both my jobs draw from the same bucket.

I used to think they drew from two separate buckets. I think it was around the time I was writing for that company that published business supplements in the SCMP that I realised that maybe I only had the one ~

Weird, right? You’d think that’d happen at any of my ‘creative’ jobs ~ believe me, there was hardly anything creative about writing about what CEOs had to say ^^;

But I think I was working on some editorial type thing or other about, something to do with the Malaysian economy or whatever ~ that the ‘one bucket’ thing occurred to me.

Go figure.
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Cross-contamination

​Well that might’ve been a stretch, really, but otherwise, that part of my 30-odd years as a writer for advertising or marketing, really has had some impact on my work as an artist. And actually, vice versa.

For one thing, it was the way I was trained. My first major was in advertising, and one of my professors (God rest him) happened to own the second-largest ad agency in the country at the time (which was also the largest all-Filipino-owned agency).

He told us that if we did very well in his class, he’d hire us right out of school, and lucky me, he did. His ad agency was unique at the time (probably still is) because they’d developed something called ‘foxholes’.

Instead of having (like other agencies), all the account managers on one floor, all the media humans on another, all the writers on yet another, and all the artists and designers on still another ~ one foxhole would have one person from each floor, all in one group together.

That meant that as a writer, I learned to work very closely with my art director, which was an invaluable experience for me. Think music and lyrics (not the movie, although that works too lol) ~ or more to the point, a picture book or a comic book ~

This trained me to figure out how words and visuals worked best together ~ for maximum impact on the audience (not just for static but video as well, because back in the day we did TV commercials, yeah?).

Plus I learned a good deal about how to storyboard things (so imagine my horror at what I find the ‘kids today’ think a storyboard is!). Or actually ~ imagine my horror at ending up working ~ today, in our AI-powered 2020’s ~ with agencies who were still ‘doing things the old fashioned way’.

I mean, having all the writers in one place, all the designers in another silo, all the media humans in another… and never the twain (thrain? Thorin? LOL) shall meet. Again, go figure.

The last of the Mad-hicans

Anyway, I have to say I count myself extremely lucky (or blessed, more like) to have caught what I think was the tail end of the ‘Mad Men’ era of advertising ~

My best friend art director had left the industry for a while and had been brought back on board to join my foxhole. He said he’d been ‘left behind by the technology’ and was learning the ropes of how to use a Mac. (Didn’t take him long, took to it like an otter to water ^^)

That guy was a genius and I can honestly say it was a real privilege for me to have been able to work with him for as long as I had.

Anyhow, he and this other art director were true watercolour masters ~ in spite of the fact that we had already been using computers by then. I cannot tell you how, even to this day how GREEN I still am with envy of how loose and light and effortless and perfect everything they made was.

They were still doing storyboards by hand (then scanning them for presentations) and once in a blue would actually illustrate mock ups for print ads.

I’m pretty sure I kept one of those illustrations (which I will never part with till the day I die because it’s a freaking masterpiece). Also among my super prized possessions are the watercolour brushes that other art director gave me when I resigned to go to art school.

It rather felt like, you know how the apprentice inherits the master’s sword and hopes that the power of the sword would go to him, too? Some bull like that hahhaha ~

I flatter myself thinking my watercolour style now was influenced by theirs ~ I wish it was, maybe it is? Even a little? I should be so lucky.
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I have to have time for composition

​But in any case, I definitely, kind of, learned, I guess, to consider things like ‘how would I compose’ say, my painting to convey what I would like to say ~ which is what we do for ads, you know? Plan things like what colours to use, ‘framing a shot’ or the ‘lighting’ ~ things like that.

For illustration as well, obviously.

And inversely, or, the ‘vice versa’ I mentioned a while back ~ the skills I picked up ‘in the studio’ or as an artist have served me very well in the workplace, as well.

For instance, when I used to have a show, and I had X number of paintings to finish in X amount of time ~ I would plan out my time and my resources to get the job done.

That’s not a whole lot different from say content management ~ whether that’s for myself or (like I’m doing now) for a bunch of other writers. There are X number of articles to get done in X amount of time, and you plan out your time and resources accordingly.

That old ‘eating the elephant’ in chunks thing (gag) (sob) (sorry Mr Elephant) ~ you get the idea.

And I like to think (my foxhole experience notwithstanding) my experience as an artist and sometime illustrator has given me this ‘edge’ as a writer. I can see in my head (‘visualise’ is the preferred term, I suppose) what images might go well with a headline, let’s say.

Also, the ‘time-stop technique’ I’ve been using to achieve flow state in the studio is something I’ve started using for my agency work lately to help me manage my huge workloads (or actually, more like managing my, um, emotions? Stress?).

In any case, if I remember correctly, there are (so-called) gurus out there who actually, more or less recommend this practice for the workplace, although probably under another name.

Finally (although admittedly this has been waning of late), the discipline I developed in the painting facto~ erm, I mean studio has seen me through things like super long, interminable articles.

I’m looking at you, 17,000+ word ultimate guide to SEO (and you, too 2 to 3,000-word tech articles) ~ and all those team all-nighters x the pitch is in a couple of hours type-deadlines.

I’m not interested in your excuses, Lieutenant

I guess you could say I’m just making excuses again here, but the reason why my vaunted discipline has been failing me nowadays is because well ~ I’m old now ^^ I’m having to make time for those ‘pesky necessaries’ like sleep and physical therapy.

As I write this I honestly don’t know what the best way forward for me is. I’d like to continue taking care of my girls (my writers) for however much longer my current agency will have me. But on the other hand, I find I’m having to take care of me as well ~ and that includes me as an artist.

Having played the advertising and marketing game for so long, I’ve always known that long hours come with the territory ~ which didn’t matter as long as I could still put in my painting hours after hours.

But everything seems to be breaking down now and ~ well I nearly laughed (bitterly) when I was told I needed to get at least seven hours of sleep every night. But I suppose I can’t paint if my hands don’t work (or if I’m dead), so…

Sure, Matisse started cutting paper when his hands weren’t working anymore ~ and one of my old art school professors (God rest him) (even if he never thought much of me or my work) started doing conceptual art.

But I’m not them and cutting and conceptual were never my thing ~ and you have to stay true to yourself as an artist, でしょう?

One thing that occurred to me today after I got back from therapy was that, that’s why I need to do all I can now before my hands stop working. I’m going to therapy now to keep them working a little longer.

But can I do that with the long hours I’m putting in at the agency? It was hard enough balancing Bruce Wayne and Batman, and now that I’m as old as Alfred, I need to throw in Leslie Thompkins, too 0_o
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Dear Diary

​Anyway I guess this has been more of a diary entry than a proper blog post, which seems to be where the jillablog is headed these days. Which is probably for the better. The whole ‘true to yourself’ thing, remember?

Guess I’m a bit ~ okay more like big time befuddled right now. But maybe this is something that happens to everybody who leads this sort of double life and one day hits rock bottom ~ or old age lol (or both loool).

On the off chance that you’ve read all the way here, and you’re inclined to share any thoughts or advice for me (and other artists like me), I’d be very grateful for a helpful word or two.
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