P9 RT Frank Quitely

Watch the BBC series What Do Artists Do All Day?

1/2 What Do Artists Do All Day – Frank Quitely (2014) BBC Four, Finestripe Productions, YouTube .
2/2 What Do Artists Do All Day – Frank Quitely (2014) BBC Four, Finestripe Productions, YouTube .

There are a lot of artists out there. They all do different things. They all seem to do one thing very well though (even if it maybe at the expense of their mental health). They embody the art they make into the life they live. This can happen purposefully or accidentally.

Watching Frank Quitely go about his documentary, there is a clear parallel between the continuous framework of his life, and the graphic drawings he makes. It’s also very clever production values on the part of the film makers, but none the less the connection between him, his subject, the out put, is very strong. Even down to the comments about how there is no separation between him and the pencil, everything has just morphed into existence like a pitch for a comic story in itself.

I appreciate this brief was about observing his process, how the thumbnail sketches eventually became the finished articles.
But I got more from registering the repetitive elements that seem to exist in all the disciplines.
This is important to me because as Ive worked through the projects I have become more efficient at recognising what acts are essential to realising the work.
In the beginning these elements are like a myth. And secretly you might think that they are things that artists do to make themselves look or sound like artists. But then after a time you see that it’s not a pastiche. You do begin to live and breathe the work you make, (which is what worries me about Micheal Borremans).

Anyway, here’s a more sobering list of notes that I took from Frank Quitely’s documentary.

A decision: Are you a tribute act (to other art / artists) or are you inspired and make things independently?
Get more efficient, not faster.
Going to extraordinary lengths to make things understood. Doing a lot of thinking so the viewer doesn’t have to.
Can you grow old in the industry? You get better but do your ideas and skills remain relevant.
How productive are you? And at what time of day?
Mentally manipulating the environment to be useful.

Ive had to consider these things. Actually making art is not a flight of fancy. It’s graft and determination. It takes money and time. And unless you were a male artist living in the South of France in the 50’s you probably have another half, kids, tax returns, spin class, and another job too.
Planning is needed. And it’s interesting to see how Frank Quitely has shaped his life to fulfil the needs of manifesting his art.

I used the notes from this film to help me form a plan after making my timeline. For each idea I wanted to pursue, I needed a strategy so that the ideas don’t just stay as ideas.

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