By Ethan Harmon
Let’s start this one off with the hard facts: No one supports your creativity. You have to earn it. You have to get people to appreciate you craft, understand it, look at it, listen to it, appreciate it, and then, and only then, will anyone support it. It’s just a fact. If you are a writer, a painter, a musician, whatever, you have to fight for attention and earn respect, whatever that means to people these days, and then can you gain the support you need. I’m sorry. I’m right there with you, and I’m truly sorry.
I’ll give you an example, and one that is close to me. I write this article, hoping to inspire, not to demean or push people away. I want to inspire. I write comic books. My entire free-time is spent writing and lettering comic books. It’s not easy. I have to craft an entire world, create characters to live within it, make it interesting, fun, engaging, hand it over to an artist (which happens to be my friend), have him draw it, ink it, color it, so he can hand it back to me, so I can letter it and have it finished, ready for the world to view. Afterwards, I need to push it on social media platforms, head to comic book conventions, try to get people to give it a chance, see if publishers from larger companies want to print it and sell it, and ultimately, at the end of the day, make a few fans that will embrace our story and work, share it amongst their friends and family and tell others about us, our comic, our work. (Hey, if you want to read something, check out The Singularity, which is the comic my friend and I have been working on. If you like sci-fi, awesome action and great characters, download it on the Comics Plus app. Yeah, it’s a shameless plug, again, but hey, we are trying to push our dreams and live them.)
Shameless plug aside, the point I’m trying to make, and the point of that second paragraph, is that you need and have to work to gain support. No one (again, I’m sorry) cares about your creative venture. They want something from you. Value maybe, sometimes worth, or sometimes, just something that means something to somebody. People want a material, emotional or value of your craft. It’s a sad truth, but it’s a truth.
Go to any art gallery, comic convention or concert. People want an experience, which is heightened by a value. People want a possession, especially if it means something, extra especially if it is a signed something. Your work doesn’t mean anything unless someone or something gives it value.
Ultimately, creativity is lost within a world of materialism.
You will have to struggle if you want your craft, your work, your dreams to come true. You need to gain attention and prove your worth. I know, you don’t need to prove anything. Yes, I don’t need to prove anything to myself as you do not need to prove anything to anyone else. BUT, if you want to be noticed and gain the recognition you deserve, you will have to work and struggle in order to obtain the support you need.
People need to read your books, look at your comics, watch your short film, understand your art, appreciate your poetry in order for your name, your work to gain any “value.” Again, sad truth.
But, once more, I need to remind you of one thing: don’t give up. Push your work and your craft. Push your dreams and make them be known. Show your art on social media platforms. Shamelessly plug your ideas on an article or behind a table at a convention. Play your film at a theater. Pay for your art gallery. Publish your work online. Keep going and keep pushing. Your work, your craft, hell, your dreams mean something to you. Make others understand this. Don’t give up. Gain the support you need. And make damn sure you still have hope, for your dreams and your being need only that. Hope.