Taking Big Risks in Your Creativity and Life

那一刻我特别清醒，就是知道自己必须去试一试。

I had this moment of absolute clarity where I I just knew, like, I needed to try.

我梦想这个机会，事业上的大转变，已经很久了，大概有三四年了吧。

I had been dreaming about this opportunity, this big shift in my career for a very long time at this point, probably three years, four years.

我不能只是做梦、说说或者祈祷。

I can't just dream about this and talk about it or praying about it.

我得做点什么，不然就闭嘴。

Like, I need to do something about this or or just shut up.

我得下定决心，要么就别再提了。

I need to make up my mind or just stop talking about it.

你好。

Hello.

我是汤姆·弗罗斯，这些是我对插画的一些想法。

My name is mister Tom Froese, and these are my thoughts on illustration.

所以今天这期节目，我要做点跟这季计划不太一样的事。

So in today's episode, I'm gonna do something a little bit different than my program schedule for this season.

这期节目对所有听众都是免费的，不管你是Patreon上的付费支持者，还是通过Spotify、iTunes等平台免费收听的朋友。

This is going to be a free monologue episode for all listeners, whether you're a paid supporter on Patreon or you know someone who just listens for free over Spotify, iTunes, etc.

欢迎大家，今天我很高兴能分享这期免费的独白节目。

All are welcome here and I'm happy to share this free monologue today.

通常独白节目是只对付费支持者开放的。

Monologues are usually behind the paywall for supporters.

这也是我这一季，也就是第四季，一直在尝试的做法，主要是想看看这样在内容变现方面效果会不会更好。

Just as a way, I've been doing that for this season, season four, just as a trial really to see if that works better in terms of monetization for the content I'm providing here.

和往常一样，访谈节目对所有付费和免费听众都是开放的。

As always, the interviews are always available to all paid and free listeners.

今天是第73期，是个奇数期数，按理说应该是访谈节目，但说实话，我没来得及安排好嘉宾，没能及时准备好这期的内容。

So today is an odd number episode, 73, and that means it should have been an interview, but I just didn't get my stuff together, frankly, to line up an interview, to line up a guest, and get that out in time for today's episode.

不过我还是想给大家带来点什么。

And I just wanted to show up anyway with something for you all.

今天之所以拖延，没能准备好访谈，是因为春假期间我出去度假了一个星期。

Now I'll just say that the reason for the big hold up today, the reason that I didn't get my stuff together and get you an interview was that over spring break, I went on vacation for a week.

这完全不是问题。

And that's not a problem whatsoever.

这其实是件好事，但有时候事情就会变成一种追赶。

That's actually a lovely thing to do, but these things just sometimes become a catch up.

不是追赶，不是那种你放在热狗、汉堡上，或者蘸薯条吃的红色调味酱，而是说，你为假期付出了代价。

Not catch up, not the red condiment that you put on hot dogs and hamburgers and dip your french fries into, but it becomes, what I'm saying is you pay for your vacation.

如果你休息太多时间，而且你还是一个身兼数职的插画师、教育者、播客主持人，具体来说的话。

If you take too too much time off and you're also a multi hyphenate illustrator, educator, podcaster, to be very specific.

提前提醒一下，今天接下来的内容音频质量不太好。

Just a fair warning, today's audio quality in the actual content that's coming up is not great.

我是在车里用语音备忘录或录音机录的，一边开车一边录。

I recorded it using voice memos or voice recorder in my car while driving.

我全程都盯着路，注意了良好的道路和驾驶安全，如果你担心这个的话。

I had my eyes on the road at all times and practiced good road and driving safety in case you were worried about that.

但我……

But I...

我就是想告诉你为什么音频质量不太好，你偶尔会听到转向灯的声音之类的。

I'm just letting you know why the audio quality is not so great, and you'll sometimes hear little blinker sounds and stuff like that.

我已经尽力清理音频，让它听起来能接受。

I did my best to clean up the audio and make it palatable.

我坚持其中的内容，而且我因为开车分心，反而能把想法说出来，所以我不太在意自己，也不太纠结今天想告诉你们的事情。

I stand by the message in it, and I was able to sort of get my thoughts out because I was distracted by driving, and so I I was less self conscious and less in my head about the thing that was in my heart to tell you guys today.

所以这一期，感情很足，可能音频质量就不太行了。

So this one is, a lot of heart, maybe just not a lot of audio quality.

这是对音频质量的一个很长的道歉……

This is a very long apology for the audio call...

音频质量。

Audio equality.

而且，我今天也真的很累。

And, I'm I'm also really tired today.

生活在我身上以各种不同的层面发生着，有时候更多是出现而不是闪耀，现在就是这样。

Life is happening in various various different levels to me, and sometimes it's a lot more showing up than shining up, and that's what's happening here.

好的。

Alright.

先分享一个让人兴奋的小消息。

Just a quick little bit of exciting news.

这期播客发布的那天是4月7号，正好也是我的新书《画画很重要：如何开启终身每日绘画练习》的上市日、出版日。

The day this podcast episode launches is April 7, which also happens to be a launch day, publication day for my brand new book Drawing Is Important How to Start a Lifelong Daily Drawing Practice.

这本书已经预售了几个月，现在预售期结束了，你可以直接去下单购买。

So it has been on pre order for a few months now, that pre order campaign is now over, and you can just go and order the book.

你可以去tomfroese.com/book，那里有购买链接，或者直接搜索一下。

You can head over to tomfroese.com/book where you'll find a link to purchase it from there, or you can just look it up.

画画很重要，如果你需要的话，可以在Barnes & Noble、Indigo、亚马逊这些卖好书的地方加上我的名字Tom Froese。

Drawing is important and you can add my name Tom Froese if you need to on a site like Barnes and Noble, Indigo, Amazon, wherever fine books are sold.

你也可以去独立书店，让他们帮你订购，如果你想支持小商家的话，我完全支持你支持小书店。

You can also go to your independent bookseller and request that they order it for you if you want to support the small guy, and I fully support you supporting small bookshops.

所以，是的，这是个好消息，我真的很兴奋，这是我人生中的一个重要里程碑。我希望自己能成为成千上万创意人士开启每日绘画练习的一部分，这让我很激动。

So yeah, good news for that and I'm just so excited for this huge milestone in my life, I'm excited to hopefully be a part of thousands of newly inspired daily drawing practices by thousands of creative people out there.

所以在那天，我会办一个小型的发布活动。

So on the day of, I'm doing a little launch event.

等你听到这期节目的时候，可能已经没机会报名了。

By the time you hear this episode you're probably not going to have a chance to sign up.

这主要是为了纪念这个时刻，万一你在活动之前就收到这期节目，我会在节目笔记里放一个注册和参加的链接，不然的话，支持者可以在Patreon上以3美元及以上的价格观看回放，而且我可能会在四月底或者五月的某个时候办三场本地的图书发布活动。

This was just a way of marking the occasion just in case there's a chance you get this episode before the event happens, I'll put a link to register and attend in the show notes, otherwise it will be available as a replay to supporters on Patreon from $3 and up as a replay, and I will be doing possibly three local book launch events, either later this April or sometime in May.

其中一场会在我的家乡，不列颠哥伦比亚省的奇利瓦克举办。

So one is going to be very local to me here in Chilliwack, British Columbia.

所以如果你住在菲沙河谷、三联市、霍普那边，基本上就是这一带，想参加这种超本地化的新书发布活动，会有这个机会的。

So if you are kind of in the Fraser Valley, Tri Cities, out in Hope, basically somewhere out this way and you want to attend the kind of hyper local book launch event, there will be that.

之后我会在温哥华办一场规模大一点的活动，还有一场更私密的活动。

And then I'm gonna do a larger event and then a more intimate event in Vancouver sometime after that.

如果你想随时知道这些活动的时间，我会在Instagram的故事里公布，但你也可以在Patreon或Substack上报名。

And so if you wanna be kept in the loop of when these events are happening, I will be announcing them in stories on Instagram, but you can sign up on Patreon or Substack.

所有链接都在节目笔记里，而且我肯定会在这些地方都宣布的。

Links are all in the show notes, and I'll be definitely announcing it on all those places.

对，就这些。

So, yeah, that's it.

我觉得我们可以进入正题了。

I think we can get into the main content here.

希望你喜欢，我们回头见。

I hope you enjoy, and I'll see you on the other side.

昨天，我和一个人聊了聊他的插画作品集，他在纠结要不要回学校深造。

So yesterday, I was talking to someone about their illustration portfolio, and they were trying to figure out whether they need to go back to school or not.

他离开艺术学校已经很久了，但一直没找到和艺术相关的工作，也就是插画方面的工作。

They've been out of art school for quite a long time at this point, and they haven't had much success getting an art related job, I e, an illustration career.

所以我们聊了聊，我看了他的作品集，看看我有什么印象。

And so we talked about that, and we looked into, you know, what impressions do I have of their portfolio?

有什么印象……

What impressions...

或者说，从这些印象里，我能给他什么建议。

Or from those impressions, what can I tell him?

我能给他什么建议呢？

What advice can I give him?

他最大的问题就是……

His big question that he...

他一直在自己琢磨的是，我到底要不要回学校，还是有别的办法可以调整我的作品集？

He's working through on his own is do I need to go back to school, or is there a way of approaching my portfolio in some way?

如果做了这些调整，也许就不用回学校了，还能省下时间和金钱。

And and maybe if I make those changes, I won't have to go back to school, save the time and and money and all that.

但那是他自己的决定。

But that's his decision.

我不能替他做这个决定。

I can't I can't make that decision for him.

所以我们做的是，我仔细看了他的……

So what we did is I I I went through the...

作品集。

His portfolio.

我跟他讲了我的看法，就像我说的，然后我们尽量聊了一些关于他该怎么做的想法。

I gave him my impressions, like I said, and then we kinda moved on to, as best as I could, you know, some thoughts about how we would...

他该怎么去权衡这个决定。

You know, how how how could he work through that decision.

所以我已经聊过作品集里的常见错误了。

So I've already talked about portfolio mistakes.

这个我在上一集，第72集里已经讲过了。

I talked about that in the previous episode, episode 72.

也许从错误的角度看是一个方式，但我也想说的是，这些其实是初级或早期插画师的盲点，归根结底就是这四件事：目的、观点、内容深度和技艺。

Maybe mistakes is one way of looking at it, but I would also say, like, these are blind spots of beginning or early career illustrators, and they really come down to these four things, purpose, point of view, substance, and craft.

如果你对这些感兴趣，可以去听听第72集。

And so if you're interested in those, go ahead and listen to episode 72.

我最近也在Instagram上发了一个教学小贴士。

I also posted, very recently on Instagram, teaching tip.

那些就像是……

Those are like...

那是一个以蓝色为主的帖子，应该说深海军蓝，还有我做的那些小手滑卡片。

It's like a mostly blue post, like dark navy blue, I should say, and it's my little hand scroll, little carousels that I make.

我讲的只是，你唯一需要的那件事……

And I talk about just, the one thing that you...

我观察到几乎每个初学者都会犯的那个错误。

The one mistake that I observe is almost every beginner making.

这其实归结到第一个盲点，就是他们的目标感。

It really comes out to that first thing, that first blind spot, the the sense of purpose that they are.

比如，它是用来做什么的？

Like, what is it doing?

它应该做什么？

What is it meant to be doing?

当然，这也是昨天和我谈话的那位朋友的主要问题。

And, of course, this was the primary issue for the the fellow that I spoke with yesterday.

我们每个人都会在某个盲点上比其他方面更挣扎。

So all of us will struggle in one of these blind spots more than another.

我们都有一些盲区，或者还没完全到位的地方，但可能在其他方面我们更领先一些。

We'll have areas in which we're blind or or not quite there, but maybe we're further ahead in some other ways.

所以这个人呢，他能够……

And so this particular person was able to...

他们有一个很清晰的观点。

They had a clear point of view.

他们在工作中带来了很多实质性的内容。

They had a lot of substance that they brought to their work.

他们甚至有一种手艺感。

They even had a a sense of craft.

比如，他们能做出非常好的插画。

Like, they they could build really good illustrations.

他们的技术很好。

They had good skills.

他们只是需要稍微调整一下自己的风格，弄清楚他们插画的主要目的是什么。

They just needed to kinda tighten up their style and figure out what what is the, like, main purpose of their illustration.

我想到的一个词就是主流。

And I think the word that came up for me was mainstream.

我觉得这个人的作品集太偏了，太晦涩，太沉浸在那类角色扮演游戏、奇幻、哥特式的世界里。

I felt that this person's portfolio was too ish, too obscure, too too down in the sort of role playing game, fantasy, like, kind of like that kind of more gothy world.

在这样一个特色鲜明的领域里追求艺术事业，绝对没有错。

And and there's absolutely nothing wrong with pursuing an art career within a strong niche like that.

但当你刚开始的时候，你需要建立更广泛的联系。

But when you're just beginning, you need to make broader connections.

你需要有一些创作经验，让作品更具商业适用性。

You need to kind of have experience making work that is, more commercially applicable.

这样你才能获得创作经验，以及人们对你的信任，相信你能完成一个项目——

That's how you're gonna get that experience making work and that that that trust from people that you can create a...

从头到尾完成一项工作。

Finish a job from start to finish.

所以我们用这个……

And so we use this...

我用了“主流”这个词。

I use this word mainstream.

我觉得他需要做一个更主流的作品集。

I felt that he needed to create a more mainstream portfolio.

我故意用这个词，是因为我觉得，考虑到他的作品里透露出那种亚文化、小众、偏暗黑的兴趣，他可能不喜欢这个词。

And I kinda used that word on purpose because I I felt like given that they had this very subcultural, niche, more dark kind of interest that showed through in their work, they probably didn't like that.

他可能不喜欢成为主流艺术家的想法。

They probably didn't like the idea of being a mainstream artist.

我想挑战这个人，因为如果你不愿意妥协，不愿意为别人创作，不愿意把自己的才华投入到最终能被别人使用的作品里，那我觉得靠这个建立事业会非常难。

And I wanted to challenge this person because, you know, if you're not willing to compromise and make work for other people, somehow channeling your talents into work that ultimately other people could use, then I don't think it's gonna be very easy at all to build a career out of it.

我觉得你会一直停留在艺术圈里。

I think you'll remain kind of more in the artistic realm.

如果那是你想做的，如果你想保持纯粹，不妥协，不出卖自己，那这是你需要做的选择。

And if that's what you wanna do, if you wanna stay pure pure and not compromise and sell out, then then that's a choice you need to make.

但你需要接受一个事实，那就是你……

But you need to be okay with the fact that, you know, you're you're...

这就是行业的运作方式。

It's just how the the industry works.

如果你在音乐行业，是个音乐人，你可以是个艺术家，但有时候你得把艺术性放一放，为了……

If you're in the music industry and you're a musician, you can be an artist, but you sometimes have to set aside your artistry for some some...

某种程度上妥协，好让专辑卖得出去。

In some way compromise so that you sell albums.

总得在某些方面做出点让步。

There's always something that you need to sell out on a little bit.

有得必有失，每个人……

There's a there's a give and take, and every...

每个人都会找到那个平衡点，觉得自己没有妥协太多。

Everyone finds kind of, like, that that balance where they feel like they're not selling out too much.

我希望这不会让你太意外，但如果真的意外，我欢迎你反驳我。

I hope that's not too surprising, but if it is, I I challenge you, you know, push back on that.

如果你觉得我说错了，告诉我。

Let me know if you think I'm wrong.

但我会挑战你去找找看，有没有哪个艺术家能进入这个行业，同时保持艺术的纯粹，不做任何妥协，还能至少维持生计，付得起房租，养活自己和家人。

But I I would challenge you to, you know, try and find examples of artists who are who are able to break into the industry and stay pure to their art without making any compromises and also become, you know, at least earn a living, something you could you could, pay rent with and feed yourself and your family with.

我甚至不是在说那些超级巨星。

I'm not even talking about superstars.

所以，说到底，这个人的兴趣一开始就处在一个很难进入的小众领域，也就是娱乐设计。

So, yeah, ultimately, this person's interests were already in a very hard to get in niche in the first place, which is more an entertainment design.

我们说的是游戏设计。

We're talking about game design.

我们说的是加入动画工作室，比如吉卜力工作室，还是该叫吉卜力？

We're talking about, being part of an animation studio, like, maybe even, like, Studio Ghibli or is it Ghibli?

吉卜力工作室？

Studio Ghibli?

你懂我的意思吧？

You know what I'm saying?

我觉得，想象一下从插画师或者设计师做起，为房地产公司工作，虽然做出来的东西不怎么样，但至少你有用，这样容易得多。

Like, I think it's a lot easier to imagine starting out as an illustrator or even a designer working for a real estate company, churning out stuff that's crap, but at least you're useful.

然后慢慢地，你会更进一步，得到更多信任，去做你想做的事情。

And and eventually, you get a little bit more further ahead and more trusted to do something that you wanna do.

这可能会带来越来越多有趣的工作，但最终会走向那种艺术片或者大型动画工作室之类的职业道路。

That can lead into more and more interesting work, but it's really gonna lead to, like, these more, like, art house or even major animation studio type careers.

这些是不同的方向，我其实不得不……

These are different streams, and I I I actually had to...

我在辅导中经常这样做。

I I do this often in my in my coaching.

我会非常明确地说明我的专长在哪里，不在哪里。

I I make it very clear, like, where my area of expertise is and isn't.

在辅导开始的时候，我就很直接地跟这个人说，比如，我……

And I was very upfront with this person up, at the beginning of our session saying, like, you know, like, I...

我在你的领域里完全是个门外汉。

I'm just a a total outsider in your world.

我对奇幻或者角色扮演游戏了解不多。

I don't know a lot about fantasy or RPG, you know, role playing games.

我本来想说RPG游戏，这正好证明了我根本不知道自己在说什么。

I was gonna call RPG games, which is proof that I don't I don't know what I'm talking about.

我通常辅导的是人。

You know, I typically coach people.

我教的是那些更倾向于主流商业插画领域的人，因为那是我熟悉的领域。

I teach people who are more bound for that main street commercial illustration world because that's what I know.

总之，我们聊了很多关于如何让他的工作更有意义。

Anyway, we talked a lot about, you know, getting...

我一直在推动他，让他找到更多主流产品的感觉，在他的作品里找到能面向主流市场、在主流商业世界更有用的东西，这样他最终才能真正靠艺术谋生。

Building in more purpose in his work, and and I was pushing him a little bit on finding more of a sense of a mainstream product, finding something in what he does that can target the mainstream, be useful more in the mainstream commercial world so that, ultimately, he can actually make the living making art.

如果那是目标，我们就得这么做。

If that's the goal, that's what we gotta do.

然后我们聊了他去上学的决定。

Then we talked about his decision to go to school.

我能做的只是分享我自己的一个故事，或者至少是我认为从中得到的启示。

And all I could do was give him an anecdote of myself or at least the the thing that I think the takeaway from...

我希望他能明白的是，怎么判断什么才是真正重要的，然后做出一个无论结果如何都能坦然接受的决定。

That I wanted him to come away with was maybe how to know what's important enough and, therefore, how to make a decision that you can live with no matter what happens.

所以当我刚开始的时候……

So when I started out...

或者说，我很喜欢这个。

Or I love it.

咱们把时间倒回到艺术学校那会儿吧。

Let's, like, back up all the way to art school.

我申请艺术学校的时候，已经在另一个行业里了，做的是计算机工程技术，搞网络相关的，完全是不同的职业。

When I applied to art school, I was already in a different career in computer engineering technology, in in kinda networking, and, you know, it was totally different career.

而且我当时拿的薪水，以我的水平来说已经相当不错了，而且……

And I was making a really good salary for my level and...

说实话，以我的经验和年龄来说，算是很好了。

Of experience and for my age, quite frankly.

但那时候我已经高中毕业好几年了。

But I was already, like, years out of high school.

我当时大概二十四、二十五岁的样子。

I was twenty twenty four, 25 ish.

那时候，我就是特别想去上艺术学校，然后进入设计行业。

And at this point, I just really wanted to go to art school, get a...

我知道自己想拿一个设计学士学位，跟着真正的艺术学校里那些有经验的老师学习，身边还有一群同样热爱设计、对学习充满热情的同学和同伴。

Get into a career in design, and I knew I wanted to get a bachelor of design and learn from teachers who are in it at a real art school alongside other people who are passionate, other students, fellow students, peers who are passionate about learning about design as passionate as I was, as passionately as I was.

但对我来说，这真的是一个巨大的冒险，我一直在犹豫不决，反复纠结。

But it was a huge risk for me, and I really hummed hummed and hawed, hemmed and hawed about it.

我该不该这么做？

Should I do it?

这样做对吗？

Is it the right thing?

我是不是要把这些好的东西都扔掉？

Am I throwing, like, all this good stuff away?

这是不是...

Is this...

我是不是在自找麻烦？

Like, am I shooting myself in the foot?

我是不是完全在犯傻？

Am I being totally a fool here?

最后，我有了一个非常清晰的时刻，就是我知道我必须去试试。

And, ultimately, I I had this moment of absolute clarity where I I just knew, like, I needed to try.

我梦想这个机会，这个职业上的大转变，已经很久了，大概有三四年了，基本上从我刚开始为现在做的事情去上学的时候就开始梦想了。

I I had been dreaming about this opportunity, this big shift in my career for a very long time at this point, probably three years, four years, basically, ever since I'd started going to school for the thing that I was already doing at that point.

我就知道，我不能只是梦想，不能只是谈论，不能只是写博客。

And I I just knew, like, I can't just I can't just dream about this and talk about it and blog about it.

那时候我写了很多博客。

I was blogging about it a lot at the time.

或者祈祷。

Or praying about it.

我需要做点什么，否则就闭嘴。

Like, I need to I need to, like, do something about this or or just shut up.

我得做个决定，下定决心，或者干脆别再提这事儿了。

I need to make a decision, make up my mind, or just stop talking about it.

所以我就这么做了。

And so that's what I did.

我决定申请艺术学校。

I decided I would apply to art school.

我准备了入学作品集，递交了申请。

I built up an entrance portfolio, and I made the application.

而且我只申请了一所学校。

And I only applied to one school.

我把事情简化了。

I made it very simple.

我决定，如果这所学校录取我，我就去。

I decided that if this school accepted me, I would go.

如果没录取，那就说明缘分未到。

And if they didn't, then it wasn't meant to be.

这有点玄乎，但我就是这样的人。

That's a little bit woo woo, but that's the way I am.

长话短说，我最后去了艺术学校，现在作为插画师在这里和你聊天。

So long story short, I ended up going to art school, and here I am talking to you as an illustrator.

中间经历了很多事情。

There's a lot in between there.

如果你听过这个播客的大部分节目，尤其是早期的节目，你可能会了解到很多这段经历。

And if you've listened to most of the episodes of this podcast, you'll have picked up a lot of that story, especially in the early episodes.

但归根结底，我之所以能做出那个决定，尽管那么艰难，就是因为我清楚，冒险去尝试，我不会后悔。

But, ultimately, the reason I was able to make that decision as hard as it was was simply that I knew that I wouldn't regret taking the risk.

我问自己，如果我没有冒险去追求上艺术学校这个梦想，五年、十年、二十年、六十年后，我会是什么感受？

I asked myself, how would I feel in five, ten, twenty, sixty years from now if I didn't risk everything to go to art school, my dream?

我会不会……

Would I re...

我会不会后悔？

Would I regret it?

我当然不会知道可能会发生什么，或者本来会发生什么。

I certainly wouldn't know what could have happened or would have happened.

所以我知道，我不想因为恐惧而做出任何决定，或者不做任何决定。

So I I knew that I didn't want to make any decision or nondecision out of fear.

比起害怕失败，我更害怕将来后悔没有去做自己真正想做的事。

I feared future regret of doing what I really wanted to do more than I feared failure.

你明白我的意思吗？

Does that make sense?

我觉得这其实不完全是害怕后悔。

And I think it isn't really a fear of regret.

我想，这两种都是恐惧吧。

I mean, they're both fears, I guess.

害怕后悔，还有害怕……

Fearing regret and fear...

害怕冒险。

Fearing risk.

但我觉得后悔是更苦涩的事情。

But I think regret is a much more bitter thing.

你有没有后悔过自己做的决定，想回到过去重新开始？

Have you ever regretted a decision you made and you wanted to turn the clock back and have a fresh start.

这种后悔的经历能教会我们的是，如果下次再做决定，不管有多难，我们都应该选择自己知道是正确的那个。

What any experience of regret like that can teach us is that if there was a next time to make a decision, no matter how hard it would be, we should make the decision that we know is right.

所以我在24、25岁这个年纪就已经经历了很多后悔，我厌倦了后悔。

And and so I had already at this younger age of 24, 25 years old, experienced a lot of regret, and I was tired of regretting things.

我也厌倦了谈论上艺术学校的梦想，所以我干脆去做了。

I was also tired of talking about my dream to go to art school, So I went ahead and did it.

所以我昨天跟那个人讲这个故事，不是要让他去上艺术学校，那是他自己的决定，而只是想帮他权衡一下：你到底想要什么？

So I told this person I was speaking to yesterday this story, not to tell them to go to art school, that's his decision to make, But simply to weigh out the the question is, what do you really want?

你有多想要？

How badly do you want it?

如果你不去尝试，你会有什么感觉？

And how would you feel if you didn't try?

即使风险很大，也值得去尝试，哪怕可能会失败吗？

Is it worth failing and trying for even if it's a huge risk?

你会更后悔哪一个？

What would you regret more?

是后悔失败，还是后悔从未尝试？

The failure or never trying?

所以我们的对话就停在了那里，现在我也把这个问题留给你。

And so that's where we ended off with that conversation, and that's kind of where I'm leaving off with you right now.

你正面临什么重大决定吗？

Are you facing some big decision?

要不要去上艺术学校？

Should you go to art school or not?

要不要辞职？

Should you quit your job or not?

没有标准答案，而且很多情况可能让你不得不暂时搁置这个决定，这也没关系。

There's no right answer, and there are so many circumstances that might make you have to put off that decision for now, which is fine.

而且现在有太多不确定因素了，我做决定的时候，世界跟今天完全不一样。

And there's so many uncertainties, and the world in which I made my decision was a very different world than we're living in today.

但我仍然相信，搞清楚自己真正想要什么很重要，它能给你指引方向。而且，被对美好事物的渴望驱动，总比被恐惧驱动要好，尤其是对风险和失败的恐惧。

But I still believe that understanding what you really want is important and can guide you, and it's always better to be driven by desire towards something beautiful and something good than to be motivated only by fear, especially fear of risk and failure.

所以我想在这期节目里再补充一点，我观察到有些人特别沉迷于上课、参加研讨会、拿学位和证书，一个接一个，沿着学术道路一直走到最高学位。

And so I'm just gonna add on one more point to this episode, which is an observation that there are some people who are addicted to taking classes, workshops, getting degree and certificate after degree and certificate, following the academic path all the way to a terminal degree.

对有些人来说，这看起来像是先读硕士，再读博士。

It looks like getting your master's and then your doctorate for some people.

对另一些人来说，这看起来像是不断在网上报课。

And for other people, it looks like constantly taking courses online.

但如果你真正的梦想是去实际做那件事，比如当插画师，或者拥有一个创意事业，那总有一个时刻，你得停止上课，停止拿更多的学位和证书，然后试着去真正做那件事。

But if your dream is to actually go and do the thing, in this case, be an illustrator or have a creative career, there has to come a point where you stop taking the classes and you stop getting more degrees and certificates and try and go and do the thing.

这就像一只鸟，想飞，梦想着飞，却从不离开巢穴，也许是因为太害怕掉下去。

It's like a bird who wants to fly and dreams about flying but never leaves the nest because they're maybe too afraid of falling.

或者也许它们试过一下，结果从巢里掉了下来，那太疼了，所以它们就待在巢里不出来了。

Or maybe they tried a little bit and fell and fell out of the nest, and that hurt too much, and so they stayed in the nest.

结果现在它变成了一只不会飞的大鸟。

And now they're a big bird who doesn't fly.

这意味着这只鸟并没有真正成为一只完整的鸟，因为鸟儿，大多数鸟儿，没有冒犯企鹅和几维鸟的意思。

And that means the bird hasn't become a a full bird because birds, most birds, no offense to penguins or kiwi birds.

我觉得几维鸟不会飞。

I don't think kiwi birds fly.

鸟儿生来就是要飞的。

Birds are meant to fly.

所以最后我再留给你一个问题：这些学位、工作坊和课程，到底有没有帮你走到能离开巢穴的那一步？

And so another final question I'll just leave with you is, like, how are all these degrees and workshops and classes helping you get to that point where you can leave the nest?

你有没有觉得，也许你待在巢里更舒服，而这些课程只是让你觉得自己还在做点什么？

Do you think maybe you're more comfortable in the nest and and the classes are helping you kind of still feel like you're doing something anyway?

是不是该再试试飞一次了？

Is it time to try flying again?

失败也没关系。

It's okay to fail.

摔下来也没关系。

It's all okay to fall out.

从窝里迈出一小步而不是一大步，或者扇动一下翅膀，或者鸟儿们做的其他事情，都没关系。

It's okay to take a a little step instead of a big step out of the nest or a wing flap or whatever birds do.

但是，是的，我觉得在艺术行业里有一件事永远是真的，那就是需要冒险。

But, yeah, I I I think that is one thing that is always gonna be true of a career in the arts is it takes risk.

你必须把自己推出去。

You have to put yourself out there.

你必须推销自己，联系潜在客户、艺术总监、设计师、工作室等等，即使可能被拒绝。

You have to market yourself, reach out to potential clients, art directors, designers, studios, whoever, with the risk of rejection.

唯一错误的是，在失败或被拒绝之后，不把那些当作学习的机会。

The only thing that's wrong to do is after failing, getting rejection, whatever, is not letting that be a learning experience.

失败是老师。

Failure is a teacher.

被拒绝也是老师。

Rejection is a teacher.

我们最终能做好这件事，靠的是大量的学习和失败。

It takes a lot of teaching and failure to to, you know, do what we do ultimately.

所以我就说到这里吧。

So I'm gonna leave you with that.

想给这个话题收个尾还真不容易，不然就容易越说越抽象，或者变成漫无边际的闲聊。

It's hard to wrap a bow on this without it getting more abstract or devolving into a ramble.

就这样吧。

So that's it.

我是mrtomfroese。

My name is mrtomfroese.

以上就是我对插画的一些想法。

And those were my thoughts on illustration.

所以今天，关于插画我没有什么具体的行动建议，只有一个提示吧，就是不断思考你真正想要的是什么，并且确保你没有因为害怕失败而受到过多影响。

So today, don't have actions on illustration specifically other than just a prompt, I guess, to continually be thinking about what you want, what you really, really want, and to make sure that you're not being overly influenced by the fear of failure.

我觉得我们都应该对冒险保持一种健康的恐惧。

I think there's a healthy fear of taking risks that we should all consider.

但创意职业总是伴随着风险。

But a creative career is always a risk.

作为创意工作者，我们工作中的很多部分都带有风险。

And as creative people, so much of what we do in our work is a risk.

他们会喜欢吗？

Will they love it?

还是不会？

Will they not?

会成功吗？

Will it work?

还是不会？

Will it not?

人们能理解吗？

Will people understand it?

还是不能？

Will they not?

我会喜欢吗？

Will I like it?

不会吗？

Will it not?

我会满意这个结果，还是会讨厌它？

Will I be happy with this or will I hate it?

我们做创意工作的，做的每件事都有风险。

Everything we do as creative people is a risk.

所以，我们得愿意冒险，而且一定要能问问自己：如果长期来看，我们不冒这个险，我们会怎么想？

So we need to be willing to take risks and certainly be able to ask ourselves, how would we feel if we didn't take this risk in the longer term?

所以，如果你正面临一个特别重大、让人犹豫不决的决定，比如要不要去上艺术学校，或者要不要投一个大公司的申请，或者要不要把你的作品集发布出去。

So if you're facing a really big daunting decision such as going to art school or not, or sending out an application to a big job, or hitting publish on your portfolio.

如果一年后、五年后、十年后，甚至五十年后，你回想起来，发现自己从来没冒过这个险，你会是什么感觉？

You know, how would you feel if you never took that risk in a year from now, in five years, ten years, or even way down the road, fifty years?

我的经验法则是，不要基于恐惧做决定，甚至不要基于害怕后悔做决定，而是要根据我真正想要的东西来做决定。

My rule of thumb is not to make decisions based on fear, and maybe not even fear of regret, but to make decisions based on what I really want.

而且不只是那种自我陶醉的感觉，而是那种我知道真正在召唤我向上的东西。

And not just in this sort of self indulgent sense, but like something that I know was really calling me upward.

我们都有这样的时刻，心里真正想要什么变得特别清楚，当我们……

We have these moments where it becomes so clear where our heart is when we...

就像一道闪光，就像……

It's like a glimmering moment, just like a...

有点像C.

It's something like what C.

S.

S.

刘易斯在谈到喜悦时说的那样。

Lewis talks about when he he talks about joy.

就像那种转瞬即逝的瞬间，带着所有那些……

Like, it's this fleeting moment that has all these...

就像一瞬间里包含了一个完整的梦境，他描述的是，比如，隔着海看到爱尔兰的山，越过英吉利海峡那样的感觉。

It's like a whole dream state in a moment that he describes as something about, like, something across the ocean where he sees the mountains of Ireland across the English Sea or something like that.

而且他……

And he's...

他就有这种渴望的感觉。

It's like this this feeling of longing that he has.

这几乎像是一种怀旧或者深深的渴望，我觉得我们人类都有某种联系。

It's almost like a nostalgia or deep longing, and I think we humans have some connection.

我接下来要说的话可能有点玄乎。

I'm gonna be super woo woo here.

我觉得我们内心深处都和一个知道我们真正是谁的声音有着深刻的联系。

I think we have a deep connection to some voice that knows who we are truly deep down inside.

当我们身体经历某个想法或时刻，或者看到真正激励我们的事物，或者听到一首歌，或者听说一个鼓舞人心的人，或者读到一个故事，它就会在我们内心点燃某种东西。

And when our our physical bodies experience a thought or a moment or we see something that truly inspires us or we hear a song or we we hear about an inspiring person or we read a story, it it sparks something in us.

这不只是说“我喜欢那个”或“我想要那个”，而是“我就是那个”或“我需要那个”。

And it's not just like, I like that or I want that, but it's like, I am that or I need that.

我需要去做那件事。

I need to do that.

那是在召唤我。

That's calling me up.

否则，我们只是在逃避自己的使命。

And otherwise, we're just hiding from our mission.

就像一只鸟，不离开巢穴，就永远无法真正长大。

It's like the bird who doesn't leave its nest, who doesn't become a full bird until they leave.

所以，不管怎么说，这就是我……

So for what it's worth, that's what I'm...

这就是那个提示。

That's the prompt.

倾听你的内心，保持内心的眼睛睁开，去留意那些让你强烈向往的时刻。

Tap into your heart and and keep the eyes of your heart open to those moments where you feel a very strong pull towards something.

也许你不需要立刻采取行动，但可以写下来，或者做个标记，收藏起来，记在某个地方，然后积累起来。

And maybe you don't need to do something with it right away, but write it down or just paper clip it, bookmark it, make a note of it somewhere, and collect them.

这些就是你人生中重大决策的线索。

And those are the the clues to bigger decisions you make in life.

我们不会一下子做出这些重大决定。

We we don't make these big decisions in one fell swoop.

我们是在所有那些微小的时刻慢慢积累之后才做出的。

We make them when all the little tiny moments over time add up.

而且我们……

And we're...

我们已经看到它出现的次数够多了，所以可以说，是的，这值得冒险。

We've we've we've seen it come up enough that we can say, yes, this is gonna be worth the risk.

这会是个冒险，但值得。

It's gonna be a risk, but it's gonna be worth it.

好了。

Alright.

就这样。

That's it.

感谢你一直听到最后。

Thank you for listening all the way to the end.

别忘了点赞、订阅、评论、关注，或者无论你在哪里收听，做你平时会做的那些事，还有那些可爱的小操作。

Don't forget to like, subscribe, review, follow, comment, or whatever things that you do are, wherever you happen to be listening from, and all that lovely stuff.

我们下期再见。

I'll see you in the next one.

本期播客的音乐由马克·艾伦·福克创作并演奏。

The music for this podcast was written and performed by Mark Allen Folk.

你可以在 linktree/semiathletic 找到他所有美妙的音乐。

You can find all his lovely music at linktree/semiathletic.