Twitter, Comics and Artists

Yesterday I joined the 21^st century and set up a Twitter account.  I am not an early adapter, as you have guessed.  I did this at the behest of a business advisor who reminded me Twitter is a part of doing business these days.   I had just read the Washington Post when I signed up, so my favorite comic strip Cul de Sac was on my mind.  My first tweet:  Mental age 5, the only comic strip I read is Cul de Sac. 

Maybe not 5 yet in the photo, but this is still where I am...

What I didn’t say was why I consider my affinity with 5 year olds a great asset.  Five year olds are generally happy, adventurous souls who are perpetually exploring.  They marvel at the single leaf that has fallen in their path or the butterfly that has just landed on the flower beside them.  All of life is an adventure and they are joyfully along for the ride. Their curious minds are always asking questions. I believe this would be a better world if we could somehow keep the essence of that spirit our entire lives.

I love Richard Thompson's Cul de Sac because it puts 5 year old angst in a perspective that relates it to the adult world.  I don’t think this strip is for kids. It’s for adults to see how complex and nuanced kids lives are too. There is much to be learned from how they deal or don’t deal with their problems.  How wonderful to have a life’s ambition to build a History of Mankind in shoe boxes.

If this strip isn’t for kids, why I am bringing it up here? Many years ago I read that the vast majority of artists copied comic strips when they were kids. Let me define what I mean by an artist.  My definition goes way beyond those who make fine artist.  My definition includes all visual communicators.  That means web designers, graphic designers, typographers, animators, filmmakers and many more.  The comment resonated with me when I read it years ago because it applied to me.  I think we all like to find those common threads that tie us to our colleagues.

What does this mean for parents?  Encourage your children to copy those images that they find compelling. It’s the way we learn to do everything. Talking, walking, etc.  I have been working with older kids when they expressed the idea that copying was wrong. If something was good and it was copied, it was discredited.  It is very important for older kids to acknowledge when work is copied but for 5 year olds this is probably not an issue. Copying has been a staple in the training of artists for hundreds of years.

Everything is a Remix is a excellent documentary series available online about creativity and the idea that nothing is really original but rather a rehashing of what has already been done. Well worth the time to watch all four short segments.