Last week I was catching up with a close friend over dinner. He congratulated me on some recent work, on the progress I’d made, and asked about my plans for the near future.
I told him I had a few art pieces in the works. But to me, they all feel flat. Boring. Like they weren’t new or interesting.
Then I remembered a quote I’d heard a short while back (and I’m still stunned I can’t find who said it):
“No matter how good you get at something, it’ll always look like you made it to yourself.”
I love your work
I’ve had the privilege of sitting front row to watch people build their dream careers in real time.
I’ve seen
start a book club that’s turned into one of the city’s biggest.I’ve seen Los and
run their app studio more like a boy band dropping singles.I’ve seen dozens of others do their own thing across different creative, professional, and even athletic fields.
The most enjoyable thing for me with my friends is seeing them in their work. The words in their marketing stemming from an inside joke, the whimsy in their design resemble their doodles, and the tone reminds me of their character.
When you’re building something on your own, you inevitably pour yourself into it.
That’s the magic — but also the trap. It’s why creators take flops personally. And it’s why doubt creeps in.
We can look at others’ work and appreciate it with clarity. But with our own, we zero in on every flaw. We see the fingerprints, the brushstrokes, the quirks no one else notices. Imperceptible autographs that, in our minds, are glaringly obvious.
But that’s also why we love the things we love.
The fragrant scent of coffee every morning.
The taste of a home-cooked recipe.
The soothing sound of a friend’s voice.
They’re familiar, intimate, unmistakably theirs.
Our work is intimate to us too. Which is exactly why it’s so hard to see its objective beauty and why, sometimes, others can see it more clearly than we ever will.
Gotta learn to love your own work :P
What I Did This Week — I took a class!
This week was filled with small milestones and progress across a bunch of things.
But a fun thing I did was take a class with renowned artist and professor, Zach Lieberman!
He was teaching an intro to shaders, which is a lower level approach to making code art, but allows for really beautiful and responsive art pieces. I had been meaning to get into shaders for a while, and this class was a perfect reason to do so!
Below is a snippet from doodling with some of the templates he showed us.
Felt good to get back into dedicated learning mode and hear from one of the bests!
Also — if you made it this far. Really couldn’t put pen to paper this week, a writer’s block and creative rut. Don’t think this is my best writing, but glad I got this out and kept the streak alive :D
Something Beautiful — A Deck of Cards
This deck cards by CLO is sooooo cool! The photography for each card and overall typography and design across the deck is so satisfying.
It made me think about how design carries history too, like how Sacagawea ended up on the dollar coin. Ordinary objects can become little monuments.
It’s been a dream of mine to make a deck of cards into a generative art piece. I actually wrote about the idea almost a year ago.
The title alone caused a lot of broken inboxes and lost subscribers.
Thank you for sharing
!!
u done it pete. hats off to u
A message that many need to hear. Thank you for sharing - as always.