I stayed up late last night waiting for the drop of Kanye West’s new album, Jesus Is King.
It’d been pretty hyped not by him, but by Kim Kardashian, who I view as a bit more reliable than Kanye as far as what’s said.
And as of now, when it’s supposed to be released, it’s nowhere to be found.
It made me start thinking about artists, and ones I’ve worked with over time. There’s always trouble getting them to turn in work on time, to simply do as they say they’re going to do, and I don’t understand it.
It’s pretty easy to say “I will finish The Iron Wedding and have it out by October 17th.” (my forthcoming 4th book in the Von Monocle series). I won’t miss that date because I have committed to having it done well ahead of that time. Before I set that date, I made sure I had a target I could hit.
But for some reason, a lot of artists don’t have this business mentality and seem to flake on release dates, are unable to get things done in a timely manner, divert themselves to other projects, anything but get the work done.
All it does is make the expectation of a product higher. If Kanye is taking more time to release this album — it had better be damn amazing,. The pressure gets more the longer the delay.
I’d rather not give myself the pressure, so I just do what I say.
Flying Sparks is already complete. It’s written. Drawn. All that needs to be done is 1/3 of the lettering and set up for printing. We’ll hit our intended date of November 2019, because my team runs like clockwork in producing the greatest indie superhero comic out there.
Back now the last 24 hours. Get your copy and help the stretch goals while there’s still time!
Touche! That hurts. XD
Speaking only for myself, I think it’s because there’s so much variation in how fast or slow different phases of drawing are, and I’ve tended to make estimates based on thinking about the fastest parts (I confess to giving you estimates based on drawing organic things and forgetting that drawing mechanical things takes much longer) and also imagining myself in the best mood for working. Yes, one should always push oneself to work no matter on one feels, but with art possibly more than anything else, if one is extremely not feeling it, the result will inevitably be crap that has to be done over after having somehow achieving a better mojo.
Judging by the relative numbers of people who can do each competently, drawing is harder than writing. Yet good writing is far more important to storytelling than good illustration. This is also my theory for the question you’ve asked in the past as why artists are crazier than writers. A more difficult but less significant path. Frustrating!
On the other hand, this post is mainly about a musical artist, and I know nothing of how that process works. : )