Are we all insane?

[OmenSpirits]

I've been reading books about painters/illustrators; Alex Ross, Steve Rude, James Bama, JC Leyendecker, and am moving on to finishing Leyendecker and Bama, after finishing Dave Stevens book, "Brush with Passion".

.....what coined the question above was reading Dave's book.

He finally hit his true abilities, I mean, to see the paintings he was just starting to produce was incredible...

...only to fade away from cancer before truly realizing it to his fruition.

Given my own disease (diabetic) it hit me, making me wonder the path I've, no scratch that, the path I've no choice but to walk, and ask myself...

Am I fucking nuts? usually this is a rhetorical question given what we strive to do, but hell.

:wtf::thinking:

(now, I've got to get back to studying that stephen Rogers peck anatomy book and take a look at Henry Yan's Figure Drawing Book).

[Crane]

Of course we're insane, we're human, heeeellooo?!?

[squidmonk3j]

add this to your reading list:

http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Sisyphus-Other-Essays/dp/0679733736/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244934808&sr=8-1

[Jynette]

how does a physical sickness make you think that you're insane? it's not like your own thinking made your body sick.

[OmenSpirits]

how does a physical sickness make you think that you're insane? it's not like your own thinking made your body sick.
Meaning in the way we pursue something that may or may not be obtainable, and for him, JUST when he was reaching another level...

*POOF*

Are we insane for pouring heart, soul, sacrificing a great deal for something that may be...

[Viridis]

Would you rather die having NOT pushed yourself to the highest level you could achieve, having not tried at all?

[OmenSpirits]

It's a question of purpose, than pushing to the highest level of achievement.

I pursue what I do because I seek an answer...to what, I'll let you know when I can formulate a cognitive string of words together that justly express the question as a topic fully.

It just struck me to see Stevens finally find that step and then...

So the question arose.

If I did not question, every and all, then I stop.

The journey gives me answers and raise more questions which forces me and pushes me further.

I just...felt for him.

[Noah Bradley]

Yeah, but it's a good kind of insane.

[Musselfarmstudios]

"What if I told you 'insane' was working fifty hours a week in some office for fifty years at the end of which they tell you to piss off; ending up in some retirement village hoping to die before suffering the indignity of trying to make it to the toilet on time? Wouldn't you consider that to be insane?"……Steve Buscemi as Garland Greene from that "magnum opus" Con Air

[Ilaekae]

"Are we all insane?"




Yes.

What's your point?

[Grief]

we? :[

[TASmith]

Are we all insane?

yes.

[Spirit]

Sanity is overrated.


So don't worry about it :P

[Black Spot]

No, everyone else is insane and I'm the only sane voice in the world. When I become supreme ruler of the world I'll think of some rules for my underlings.

[Katfayheirti]

No one should give up their dream to become an artist just because they're afraid they might be killed by a disease! Don't let diabetes frighten you away from becoming a professional artist!

I empathize with you, but I think you're wrong to doubt yourself like this. I say this personally because I was born with an extremely rare birth defect that might very well kill me later, but I don't think that the likelihood of a shortened lifespan should force me to give up all hope of becoming a great artist. If anything, the realization that you may have a little less time than other people should only make you push yourself harder. There are plenty of people who did incredible things in a short span of time!

[Baron Impossible]

You'll find that a lot of extreme achievement arises from hardship and the drive to overcome it. Without that it's difficult for us humans to break our natural complacency and achieve maximum motivation.

[Choob]

Insanity?

Lunatics make the best artists.

We have vision.

;)

[J Wilson]

I think our entire lives, if we are motivated, are filled with advancements. If you stay passionate about art I think you'll continue to mature and advance for your entire life. I'm not sure you would ever reach a point where you'd think "well, that's it. I finally know it all." On the contrary I think the more you learn, the more aware you are of the things that still elude you.

[Nrx]

You'll find that a lot of extreme achievement arises from hardship and the drive to overcome it. Without that it's difficult for us humans to break our natural complacency and achieve maximum motivation.

which would ironically make the ultimate hardship being comfortable, no ?

lifes such a bitch

[KarylGilbertson]

the question, for me, is: would I feel worse if I tried my best pursuing a dream and a journey relating to something I love to do, or if I didn't try at all?

If you draw for your whole life and die just as you're about to reach a new level, well, at least you drew your whole life. :) Is that really anything to complain about?

[armando]

We are alive therefore we must act. To behave as something we are not, to think we are something we are not, are forms of insanity. To behave as though we are already dead, to not act, when in fact we are alive is the true absurdity.

[carlosranna]

"Living is a dangerous thing... It always ends up in death..."

[Aaron Death]

I don't quite understand your worries, I mean, art is fun, and even if you can never become the best, you can still draw.

[Twelve]

Given my own disease (diabetic) it hit me, making me wonder the path I've, no scratch that, the path I've no choice but to walk, and ask myself...

Diabetes is not as life threatening as Cancer, however if it is this that drives you then no, I dont think you are nuts.

If having diabetes worries you, then I guess you are not looking after your blood sugar levels properly. And yes....I do know....as I have it too. Letting your blood sugars soar into the highs will result in loss of teeth and eye sight. Yes blindness!!! Not very good if you want to be an artist.

Is this what you meant? I'm unsure, but i wrote it anyway.

[Leonor]

It's sad that he died, but he was not insane to have such a high purpose in his life. Cancer and diabetes are illnesses that can be researched and for which better treatments and even cures can be found one day.

If your goal is to become the best ever and you think you could do that, if not for the diabetes, stick to your goal. Treat the illness as a different problem. Take care of yourself and invest any spare money you have on diabetes and even cancer research so it improves your chances you survive illness.

[Choob]

Diabetes is not as life threatening as Cancer, however if it is this that drives you then no, I dont think you are nuts.

If having diabetes worries you, then I guess you are not looking after your blood sugar levels properly. And yes....I do know....as I have it too. Letting your blood sugars soar into the highs will result in loss of teeth and eye sight. Yes blindness!!! Not very good if you want to be an artist.

Is this what you meant? I'm unsure, but i wrote it anyway.

Blind artists...

Has anyone else noticed that many historical artists went blind?

I think it was Pizzarro who once said "I am more afraid of the dark than of death", and went blind in the last few years of his life.

Van Gogh ended up in a mental asylum, another famous artist got arthritis in his hands...

We're not a particularly lucky bunch.

But insane?

I think you have to be a little insane to be an artist, to put pencil to paper in the pursuit of showing what your mind's eye is showing you, or immortalising something or someone.

We're all a little eccentric, call it insanity if you want.

;)

[Twelve]

Blind artists...

Has anyone else noticed that many historical artists went blind?

I think it was Pizzarro who once said "I am more afraid of the dark than of death", and went blind in the last few years of his life.

Van Gogh ended up in a mental asylum, another famous artist got arthritis in his hands...

We're not a particularly lucky bunch.

But insane?

I think you have to be a little insane to be an artist, to put pencil to paper in the pursuit of showing what your mind's eye is showing you, or immortalising something or someone.

We're all a little eccentric, call it insanity if you want.

;)

Yes I agree, That is true. I also believe that Degas went blind too. He couldn't paint so he started sculpting. If blindness was the case, that would drive me insane because of the fact I couldn't view other people's superb eye candy right here on CA :yayca:

[Black Spot]

I have posterior uveitis, it’s chronic so hopefully it won’t affect me too much, but there is always the possibility of blindness. Then I’d learn sculpture.

[Lhune]

Since there is no true standard for sanity, I guess that yes, we are all insane :).



I don't think you should be giving this too much thought anyway. If you do what you love doing, and persue your goals and achieve them, in other words, if you do your best to live a happy and succesful life, what's there to worry about? We're all dying, there's no telling what will come after this life (if anything), so what's the use in spending our given time in worrying and fear? I may be young and naive still, but it works for me.

[KarylGilbertson]

I believe it was Rembrandt who got arthritis in his hands. And he continued to paint, by strapping a brush to the back of his hand. He is my fuckin' hero and that's what I'm going to do if I ever get arthritis (good possibility in my case)

[Leonor]

I was reading some Dr Hurd to therapise myself and I found this (http://doctorhurd.com/index.php/Daily-Dose-of-Reason/Psychology-Self-Improvement/wasting-time.html):

If you honestly believe you can accomplish something, and you seriously endeavor to do it, then you are not wasting time. You are honestly pursuing values, and that’s what life is about.

Spot on.

I disagree with his next paragraph, though. As long as I chose to live, I'll mooch if it's what I can do to save my life. Eff you kids who think you earned to be born rich.

[Nateman742]

Incidentally, I had a big ol' tumor awhile back, and am still going through treatment to make sure it doesn't come back. At least all the hospital stays give me time to draw! Not to mention the mind-expanding drugs are great for the imagination, maaaan.

It's only caused me to push forward doing what I love, rather than what I think I should be doing because everyone told me so, or because I was scared I wouldn't be good enough to "make it". I have seen death and it didn't contain many opportunities. Life, on the other hand, is nothing but.

[VulgarDragon]

You know, I could die tomorrow in a car wreck or I could die 40 years later from heart attack while having fun with some hot blonde. And perhaps the world as we know will end soon, as the global economy collapses or engulf itself into a world war, or the environmental woes put an end to the human race. But do I stop doing art and believing that I will be successful? NO! Same for you, if you are gonna die in a few years, why worry? You could die tomorrow from something else or maybe you will live for another 20 or 40 years.

Let's face it...we all will die eventually. So stop worrying about when you will die, and worry about living and making the best of what you have while you can.

[hunchback]

interesting topic.

i too am diabetic, and this is also a curious thing though i have never imagined dying, but losing my sight from it. that for me would be truly dying .

Are oyou fearful that you will not rise to a level of greatness and understanding with art because you will perish before it can be achieved?

if such then it is not folly to wonder only to fear, cuz then we never get anything done, but im assuming this was not out fear but mere speculation at what might be. Thinking and questioning puts yo ahead of so many people out there and thats good just dont let it hinder your decisions to the point were you cant get anything done :D

[OmenSpirits]

Damn.

Interesting interps of the topic. :)

Pick up Dave Stevens' book. When you read towards the end, and see how he started to paint, is was..beautiful. I just felt bad and that question (see thread title) popped into my head.

Besides, I've gotten close to death at least 3 times in the past 2 1/2 years to 3 years. Not afraid of it, but reading and seeing Stevens' book..made me say damn.

:D

[Gerulaitis]

Insane?.. Seriously - you fantasy poets should pay a visit to a real-world insane asylum some time.

Hopefully afterwards you'd use that term a bit more carefully, rather than indulging in the neverending game of "let's make more romantic stereotypes about arteests!"

As for the side-topic - we all die... and we're never 100% sure when - we may die today, we may live for many many more years. Simetimes life is full of irony - nature isn't cruel, just indifferent. Life is ridiculously fragile, no matter how exceptionally strong a being may be. You do realise the notion of sitting there doing nothing, striving for nothing, just sitting there waiting for death, out of fear for loosing what you gain, and because "it's not worth it", is "slightly" absurd? Striving for something is what people do. More precisely - all of Life does. Sitting there beating your head against the wall for no apparent reason is more like what i'd call insane.

[blueknightfox]

Your asking us "What's the point? Were all going to die anyway?

My answer is "I need something to do while I wait.

[NanoBlack]

I believe it was Rembrandt who got arthritis in his hands. And he continued to paint, by strapping a brush to the back of his hand. He is my fuckin' hero and that's what I'm going to do if I ever get arthritis (good possibility in my case)

*cue UT announcer* HOLY SHIIIIIIIT!!!!

THAT IS AWESOME!!!!!!!

[OmenSpirits]

Insane?.. Seriously - you fantasy poets should pay a visit to a real-world insane asylum some time.

Hopefully afterwards you'd use that term a bit more carefully, rather than indulging in the neverending game of "let's make more romantic stereotypes about arteests!"


My uncle worked in one.

YOU do NOT want to KNOW the shit that went ON between the patients and the WORKERS. Seriously.

He wasn't any better...

I'll leave that open for you to know what I mean.

I use the term in it's lesser definition, NOT the way you mean.

[Strela]

"What if I told you 'insane' was working fifty hours a week in some office for fifty years at the end of which they tell you to piss off; ending up in some retirement village hoping to die before suffering the indignity of trying to make it to the toilet on time?"
This. The true insanity is corporate employment. How the hell did they get people to do meaningless paperwork in gray 6x6 cells ALL DAY for subsistence wages?

I'm going to make it as an artist or die trying.