The 2 secrets to creating anything

During my time working in the comic book industry I had many people, particularly students, approach me discussing their desire to be published.

I was fortunate enough to be published as a writer, an artist, and a production artist more than 75 times for 11 publishers. I learned a lot of lessons during that time, many of them the hard way and most of them painful.

It became difficult to talk about it to those youthful creators with desire and passion in their hearts. They were no more interested in the politics, the games, and the betrayal than I was when I was in their position. When it comes to bringing life to your imagination, whether for comics, books, movies, music or anything; it is all-consuming and you are willing to do most anything to make it happen.

So what does it take to be a successful creator?

With experience and hindsight, I have learned to answer that question with two references:

Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead and Tim Burton’s Ed Wood

These two films (and more accurately, the book, in the case of The Fountainhead) represent the duality required to be a successful and fulfilled creator regardless of your craft.

The Fountainhead shows the importance of being committed to the integrity of your design without compromise – to realize that people will want to put their fingerprints on your work and try to use it to speak with their voice – even if the whole world disagrees, if you believe in the creation that you have built with your ideas, reason and efforts you need to hold fast to your ideals.

Ed Wood has a different message – that as a creator, regardless of the talent, the budget or the obstacles you must have an unbridled love and passion for the work AND the process to create – you must be true to who you are and serious about getting the work done even if the content of the work isn’t as serious.

The right mix of these two philosophies makes for a creator who will be true to their work, themselves, enjoy the journey and get the work done.

Or perhaps be a schizophrenic. You decide.

Check out links from both films below.