Leonieblog

There's an article over at the new Indie Review website which caught my attention. In it, Tom Humberstone briefly touches on a topic which most people working or striving to work in a creative industry will find familiar.
Art - Comic Art.
For years I tried to dress up my comic work as sequential art, going so far as to submit an entire dissertation which ultimately concluded that 'comics are art and I'm not wasting my time, so there, now leave alone you big meanies'. Once I accepted that comics didn't need to be art and that it's okay to be me, I fell in to exactly the same trap all over again. This time I tried to apologise for my 'commercial' work as a designer and remarket my work as fine art. Again, I realised that segregating the different elements of my work was not the answer, and that the 'arts scene' was generally horrendous anyway. I do design, illustration, comics, even write stuff, and it's all the same because it's all by me. Why don't some people get that? Why do comic artists need to validate what they do and why do artists get respect, grants and kudos for intangible conceptual weirdness? Perhaps that bitter thought could form the basis of a new dissertation. Okay, rant over. Just be glad I wasn't drunk when I wrote this! DISCLAIMER:I have many good friends who are artists and, before I get inundated with grumpy mails from them, I'm not specfically talking about any individuals, I'm just making general sweeping statements.