219. Use your Illusions too
a blank page, a new year, and a reintroduction to the sneakyart post.
Dear reader,
Every drawing begins the same way - a blank page and the nib of the fountain pen hovering over it.
When I go out to draw, I do not always know what I will find. If I sit in a cafe, I do not know who I might see. Even when I go to the same places, at the same times, nothing is the same. Even when nothing changes, everything is changed.
If time is a river, is there any such thing as a new year? In today’s post, a useful illusion to confront the blank page, and a reintroduction to the SneakyArt Post.
The SneakyArt Post is a publication of secretly drawn art of the world. Every week, I share the best lines from my sketchbook and the best ideas from my journey as an artist and writer.
If you like having this in your inbox, help me reach more people this year.
If time is a river, is everything always changing or always the same? Time is just a matter of perspective, say the ascetics, philosophers, and quantum physicists too. And reality is just a construct, a collective illusion resulting from the limited spectrum of human sensory perception, literally falling into place as it is observed.
My favourite other ways to look at time are - Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang, and The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli.
A Blank Canvas
“You don’t know how paralyzing it is, that stare from a blank canvas that says to the painter you can’t do anything. The canvas has an idiotic stare, and mesmerizes some painters so that they turn into idiots themselves.”
- Vincent van Gogh in a letter to his brother.
A blank page is like a new year in that both mean essentially nothing, yet contain within them infinite potential. Only inside true nothingness can we find the infinite, says ancient Indian thought. Something like that.
This is also how a Sneaky Artist must see their world. Every blank page of every sketchbook is every drawing ever created, and every drawing yet to be created. Like van Gogh, determined to not turn into an idiot, a sneaky artist must confront the infinite universe of the blank page with confidence and clarity of vision.
Like Michelangelo with the block of marble, a sneaky artist must chip away at the infinite possibilities, and see the angel within the marble, and set him free.
I flip through the empty pages of every sketchbook I buy. There is nothing to see, of course. I am only trying to imagine the angels that will be set free from those pages one day.
In a way, when I draw, I am not creating anything at all. I am simply marking the edges of my reality against an infinite canvas a few inches tall and a few inches wide.
Whatever it takes.
This is my advice - Use your illusions too.
Dear reader, what are some useful illusions?
Hi. My name is Nishant and I am a Sneaky Artist.
This is a job title I made up for myself. As it turns out, you are allowed to do that. It is funny what you can get away with as long as you convince some people. Collective illusions are powerful things.
My job title is made real by another collective illusion of humankind - art.
SneakyArt began as a way to teach myself to draw. I was in Chicago then, a year after leaving a PhD program in Neuroscience (and a budding career in scientific academia) to become a novelist instead.
The writing was … not going well. I picked up a sketchbook partly so that I would not have to pick up the notebook. I went outdoors partly so I would not have to look at my desk. I started drawing partly so I would not have to write. I called it sneaky art because I was ashamed of being seen doing this odd, desperate thing. I felt out of sync with my world. What kind of adult walks around trying to learn to draw?
But it worked. Every day I felt it grow. Every day, a little better. I pushed and pushed. I pushed to see new things, do new things, learn new things, become new things.
If you are new to my work, and would like to learn more about it/me, here are some ways to do it -
🎤 Watch my short talk at PechaKucha Night Vancouver.
💻 Watch me draw live with Art Toolkit.
🎙️ Listen to my conversation with Natasha Mitchell on the Science Friction podcast, about taking a leap of faith from engineering to art.
🚝 Watch my interview with CBC Vancouver.
Dear reader, did you find my work in the last year? I would love to know how you came across it.
Confronting the Blank Page
Every month, I meet with SneakyArt Insiders - the paying subscribers who support my work - on a Zoom call. In this month’s Insider Hangout, we spoke about ways to confront the fear of the blank page.
Insider Dave shared his quick sketches made in little notepads. His clear ink lines were blotted and feathered on the thin paper. But the cheap notepad was part of the process, he insisted, because it allowed him to sketch without hesitating over the cost.
So here is an idea to guide your art practice this year, whether you confront a blank page or the infinite inventory of an art supply store -
Anything that lowers the cost of starting a drawing is a good thing. Anything that raises this cost is unhelpful.
The best sketchbook is the one you are not afraid to use. The correct pen or pencil is the one you are most comfortable with.
Dear reader, are you challenging yourself with new art materials this year?
Do you feel obligated to exist on social media?
Dear reader, this publication began as a way to escape the prison of social media. But sometimes escape is not an option. For artists, writers, musicians, and creatives of any type, it can be essential to also exist on social media.
After over a decade of existing on social media as a writer, cartoonist, artist, podcaster, and writer again, last month I completed my first year as a big Instagram account. From December 2022 to April 2023, my account exploded from less than 20k followers to over 300k followers.
In some ways, it feels like everything has changed. In other ways, nothing has changed. Is it a matter of perspective? Or are there meaningful and tangible gains? In this Sunday’s post, I will consider the value of social media in my work.
Dear reader, if you are an artist or creative trying to share your work online, if you are baffled by the hoops that social media makes us jump through, if you (like me) wonder whether any of this is worth it, share your questions and experiences in the comments.
Thank you for reading. I am glad to have a space in your inbox.
I find the social media thing quite difficult, but I know I need to be there. I find the scrolling leaves me with anxiety. Love this space though. thanks for your posts, I really appreciate them
I like the idea of existing ALSO on social media - not only. Thanks for sharing.