Beeple
S6 interview
At the top of your website, there is a simple phrase: “The best I can do.” Is this your life motto of sorts?
Not really, I think it’s just more a reflection of “this work is the best representation of what I can do at this very moment.” I think it sort of speaks to the mindset you have to have when doing everydays. It’s not gonna be perfect, it’s just gonna be the best you can do that day.
Vice
Creators: Did you ever think you would make it to 10 years of everydays?
Beeple: No. I was focused on trying to get better at drawing. I wasn't thinking about an end date. After the momentum of the 2nd year, I realized I could keep doing this for a while. Once you get the momentum, that's what carries you forward.
Some days, you don't have that much ambition. It's like, "I'm fucking tired, I don't want to keep going." The momentum really helps you. You think, "Am I really going to ruin my streak for this?"
How long do you spend on each entry?
From five minutes, if that's all the time I have—like the day my first daughter was born—to a couple of hours.
How do you know when you're done?
Mostly it's time. I have to go to bed or something. A lot of times there's a sense of defeat. I'm out of time and this was the best I could do?
There are numerous times throughout the past 10 years when I've had food poisoning or something, and I'm puking and shitting my ass off. I come over to my computer huddled in blankets, put down some stupid crap I didn't give a shit about, then I post it and I'm done. It only takes a couple of minutes. Those are days when you're completely carried by the momentum of the project.
The other thing is there are certain days you know are going to be weird. Plan in advance. If you going to go out drinking, do your everyday first. You're not going to do it afterward. If you're traveling, wake up early and do the picture, then go through your day.
One of the arguments that skeptics sometimes deploy when talking about Creative Commons is, “Why would someone pay for this when they can get it for free?” How would you counter that assumption? What leads you to continue to use CC? How do you balance between free/attribution models and paid models as an independent artist?
I think the topic of art valuation is a very interesting subject. I think in some ways it comes down to issues of supply and demand, but is also further complicated with digital assets that can be copied at no cost. I honestly don’t think there are really any ‘right’ answers but personally I feel that there is room for both sides. While it is obviously true that most people will not pay for something that they can get for free, there exists a large amount of counter points to that argument on sites like Patreon where people give money free to people whose work they enjoy. I think sometimes people concentrate a little too much on trying to come up with some great business model when they should be focusing a bit more on their craft.
In terms of my own work, I don’t really have a paid model for the digital assets I create. All of the paid work I do is custom (freelance) work. At the moment I like having things be a but more cut and dry like that.
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