Real Artists Don’t Starve – The 12 Differences Between Starving Artists vs Thriving Artists

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Real Artists Don’t Starve – The 12 Differences Between Starving Artists vs Thriving Artists

May 20, 2018 Leave a commentUncategorizedBy JoeMetcalfe

Real Artists Don’t Starve by Jeff Goins.

It’s an excellent book. If you are an artist or a writer, it’s an essential. Even if you are not an artist or writer, you can easily substitute artist with entrepreneur, manager or employee who wants to develop creativity within their company or through a side endeavor.

Goins expounds on many examples of artists and entrepreneurs who changed the game and played by their own rules. He sites George Lucas, Jim Hanson, Dr. Dre, John Lasseter (Chief Creative Officer of Pixar), Michelangelo (who was much more than an artist), and William Shakespeare (and his business venture to build a Playhouse) to name a few.

What’s important is how he sites the different perspectives these artists had not only to art, but in the path they carved to produce and share more of what they loved. This path involved a mindset to think different and not conform to what their cultures of the time dictated.

Here’s an excerpt from his book outlining the difference between starving artists and thriving artists:

The starving artist believes you must be born an artist. The thriving artist knows you must become one.
The starving artist strives to be original. The thriving artist steals from her influences.
The starving artist believes she has enough talent. The thriving artist apprentices under a master.
The starving artist is stubborn about everything. The thriving artist is stubborn about the RIGHT THINGS.
The starving artist waits to be noticed. The thriving artist cultivates patrons.
The starving artist believes she can be creative anywhere. The thriving artist goes where creative work is already happening.
The starving artist always works alone. The thriving artist collaborates with others.
The starving artist does her work in private. The thriving artist practices in public.
The starving artist works for free. The thriving artist always works for something.
The starving artist sells out too soon. The thriving artist owns her work.
The starving artist masters one craft. The thriving artist masters many.
The starving artist despises the need for money. The thriving artist makes money to make art.