A message to Eric or a rant about muses.

Hello everyone and especially you Eric. I don’t know if you’ll ever see this, but in all truthfulness this is as much for me as it is for you. Now onto why I’m addressing you personally here on my blog, the other day you posted on Facebook a poem, one which you deleted along with your post, so I’m not able to show it here. A momentary lapse of weakness, we all have them. It was a nice poem that spoke of a leaf blowing in the wind and you state how this illustrates how you feel and why you’re having such a hard time creating anything worth mentioning. I say bullshit, because I feel like that damn leaf all the time, all blown about beat up stomped on and without purpose, meaning, or guidance. The only difference between you and I is that I refused to give up. While you decided several years ago to put down your pens and pencils to go on and give political commentary to the masses, which you were and still are quite good at.

But you gave up on one talent to follow a passion and now you’re finding it difficult to get back into illustrating. It’s not a an amusement park ride where you jump off and then easily jump back on when you feel like it, it just doesn’t work that way. You complain that you have no drive/muse to inspire you that you have little or no feeling to create, well let me tell you something that bitch we call a muse is a fine lover when she’s around, but she’ll leave your bed at anytime like it’s a cold coffin and the only way you can ever guarantee her return is to continue your work despite her absence. You have to drive onward uncaring, and drive head long into the brick wall of creativity without her. It’s hard work, work that has to be done daily, without the thought of gratification or compensation.

You gave up on your art years ago and wonder where has it gone, where is my muse? She’s down the block inspiring another creator to greater heights, that’s where she’s at and she’s not coming back until she sees that you’ve been putting in the hard work without her, and the more work you put in the more often she’ll appear. Sometimes even unwanted she’ll drive you to do things that you may not want to do but must be done to expunge them from your soul. But long before that day ever comes you have to put in your time and build that long decrepit muscle you call your creativity.

You say you have no idea what to draw or write, tough, whoever does. You have to seek it out, hunt it down and pin the slippery thing down and get to work.

Isaac Asimov, I’m going to paraphrase here, said that whenever he ran out of ideas for his next novel he would grab any book he could get his hands on, turn to a random page, choose a random line and pick a random word on that line and that’s what his next work would be based on. He found the word Empire and that was the genesis of his Foundation series of novels.

I personally use an encyclopedia of things that never were and when I feel the need for a new story I go in there and base a tale on one of the many entrees within that fine tome, whenever I feel a little run down creatively.

In closing Eric you were a fine illustrator that gave up on himself and I was always upset about it. Truthfully sometimes for purely selfish reasons, new Oswald art is always nice, but also because I know a great artist had been taken from the fantasy art community and those that appreciate what we do. I know you felt unappreciated in certain fandoms and that was purely because you held to your convictions and wouldn’t pander to the garbage that they want all of their darlings to produce for them. Pearls before swine, Eric, you and I both know you were better than that. I had similar issues with that same fandom and I gave up on them as well but I refused to give up on myself and neither should have you, but you did. And now you want to get back on the merry go round that’s moving a thousand miles an hour and you don’t know how.

I’m going to tell you how you get back on Eric, you get on one line, one thought and one project at a time. You build and you build and if you tell me I don’t know what to do, I’ll tell you what to do; take that fine acerbic wit of yours and turn it loose on a passion of yours, politics. Think of something that makes you laugh or just pisses you off and there’s plenty of that in the world, and then write it down, write a bunch of them down, random thoughts, ideas and meanderings, no matter how small or large and once you get a few of those down pick one and illustrate it. If you find it difficult picking one or even if you find yourself being a complete chicken shit coward and say I got nothing, I suggest you discuss it with one of your cats and illustrate that conversation. Start small, keep it short, and you’ll see that once you do enough of them, that fine, fine harlot you call your muse will be back to pay you a visit again. Now like the Gump man said, that’s all I have to say about that.

And yes, the illustrations on this blog were created by Eric.

Thanks for reading and I apologize for subjecting you to my rant, but Eric really upsets me and I want nothing but the best for the guy. I want to see him get back into form as an artist. I know he can do it but it’s going to take some time but I know he can do it.

So don’t give up kids.

Next week I’ll be doing my podcast again and I’ll have a bunch of reviews and a new rating system

Thanks to one and all and please continue to vote The Oswald Chronicles on topwebcomics.com

If you have any thoughts please let me know.

Thanks and take care.

JD Calderon