"continuity"

Back in July, I interviewed Hazel Dooney, a very successful Australian artist. Asking her about how she manages her business, she made a very lucid point, one that has really stuck with me:

But none of it works without dis­ci­pline. Early on in my career, I was told that suc­cess deman­ded one thing above all others: tur­ning up. Tur­ning up every bloody day, regard­less of everything.

Besides the famous Woody Allen quote, this reminds me of when I wash about 18, living in Edinburgh. I was talking to the cartoonist, Hugh Dodd, who was a regular in the bar I worked in at the time. I asked him what was the secret of being a successful cartoonist, in his opinion.

“Continuity,” he said. “Anyone can draw a good cartoon… ONCE. But not everyone can draw a good cartoon, every day, day-in-day-out. It’s something you have to work VERY HARD at for many years before you even get close…”

Heh. Many years later, and I still don’t feel anywhere near “close”. Does anybody? But that’s what keeps us going, I suppose…

[Backs­tory: About Hugh. E-mail Hugh. Work with Hugh. Twit­ter. Cartoon Archive. News­let­ter. Book.. Inter­view One. Inter­view Two. EVIL PLANS. Limi­ted Edi­tion Prints. Essen­tial Rea­ding: “Everything You Always Wan­ted To Know About ‘Cube Gre­na­des’ But Were Afraid To Ask.”]