I love you, Ira Glass

I love this quote. (Although I do question the idea that all creative people have good taste. I mean, just check out Regretsy. Shudder!) In art school I've heard people say that it takes 10,000 bad drawings to get to the good drawings. That's why our teachers are always urging us to draw a lot, because the sooner we get through those 10,000 bad drawings, the better.

If you don't know, Ira Glass is the host of the excellent radio show This American Life, which I often listen to while drawing and cannot get enough of. Ira looks like this:

He definitely knows how to rock the sexy geek radio producer look. And that is why I give him my money whenever he asks for it.

Monday Motivation

Today I just happened to stumble onto all sorts of great motivational stuff on the topic of pursuing your goals and dreams, totally by accident, too.

I found the above graphic on the blog Making Things Happen. Once I heard an art teacher say that his students sometimes moan, "it's going to take me ten years to become a good artist! Why should I even try?" He says to them, "ten years is coming no matter what." Meaning, in ten years you'll either be a good artist or you'll be looking back and wishing you had put the effort into being a good artist.

Why Not Pillow in Sunshine - $45

Secondly I found this awesome pillow. I love the font, the colors, everything. What an inspiring message to wake up to in the morning, right? Too bad the price is way more than I'm willing to pay for a pillow. I'm going to see if I can DIY an imitation pillow.

Thirdly, a friend on Facebook posted this quote, "If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done." -Bruce Lee

Good stuff!

We Are...

I first heard this quote in a sermon at church, and my husband immediately wrote it down on a piece of scrap paper. I designed this poster in Photoshop, printed it out, and hung it next to my desk. (If you like it, you can download the full-res version by clicking on the image above and saving it to your computer.)

This quote inspires me to work hard on my art, even when I don't feel like it. Although I love drawing, I also love to be lazy. Sometimes I'll think to myself, "I should be drawing," and then I'll think, "or I could play video games." This poster reminds me that if I continually make the decision to procrastinate, I won't be an artist; I'll be a procrastinator.

The second part of the quote goes, "excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." I recently discovered a great illustration of this. There's a kid at my school whose paintings are absolutely phenomenal. "He's a prodigy," I said to a friend. "He's not a prodigy, he just works hard," she replied. "I asked him what he did for his birthday, and he said 'I painted.'"

And that's why he's amazing.

Do you have any quotes that inspire you?