Jobs: Anton Gudim, illustrator and comic book writer who gains thousands of likes on Instagram

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

How ideas are born, is it possible to combine creativity and office work, and what difficulties await those who decide to organize their first exhibition.

"I see rest purely as an investment in my future state" - about productivity

You draw life comics, they are very cool. Do you do it just for yourself or also to order?

- My priority is always drawings "for myself", but it happens that I draw to order. This is a little different: there are strict restrictions, edits. But I am interested in developing and trying myself in a commercial direction, in advertising. But I repeat: if I choose between my own creativity and work only to order, I will choose the former.

Besides that, you still work in IT?

- I would not like to focus on the technical specialty, this is an ordinary work in the office with its pluses and minuses.

Okay, but how do you manage to combine both?

- It is possible to combine, completely excluding walks, entertainment and meeting with someone from life. I can allocate a day a week for this, and I try to rest on holidays and a little on weekends.

It turns out that there is almost no free time left?

- I see rest purely as an investment in my future state: without rest I will just feel unwell. And when you don't feel well, you can't concentrate and come up with something worthwhile.

Have you tried any time management techniques?

- No, but it just so happened that I was just always obligatory enough. Also, unfortunately or fortunately, I do not know how to work at night, because sleepless nights leave an imprint on further productivity.

"I have been drawing all my life" - about the creative path and technical education

What's your education? Is it related to at least one of your areas of activity?

- Yes, I graduated from a technical university, I am an engineer by profession. I had a good secondary education (a strong physics and mathematics lyceum), but it didn't work out to develop it to a more serious level. The university, unfortunately, gave me almost no knowledge (at the lyceum I received more of them) and did not arouse interest in my specialty, but I had a good time there and made a few friends.

At what point did you realize that you want to be creative?

- In general, my dream was to write music. As a student, my friends and I had a rock band, and I really enjoyed the songwriting process. Of course, in the end it didn't get anywhere. But I decided for myself that I need to do creative work alone. People from the team can take the case less seriously than you, let down. And solo creativity is complete control over the situation.

To be honest, I didn't have much of a taste for music. I loved her, but she loved me "as a friend." And I understood that this relationship would not lead to anything. Well, I've been drawing all my life. During the period of study and musical activity, I did it less often, and then somehow it turned out by itself that this process carried me away.

“It was interesting for me to see what the reaction of living people outside the Internet would be to my work” - about the first exhibition, difficulties and work process

How do you come up with ideas for comics? Does it happen that you drag out a picture? Or more often everyday situations give you ideas on their own?

- It's not always the same. Moreover, the end result does not depend on the approach. You can grind out a great idea, or you can catch something useless on the fly, and vice versa. Whole books are devoted to the birth of ideas, so this is a long conversation. In short: if you do everything right, then maybe you will come up with something worthwhile, and maybe not.

How do you feel about the fact that comics are scattered across different publics on social networks?

- There are pluses and minuses in this. Pros: your style becomes recognizable. Cons: You're a free content producer for those who make money from it. But the most unacceptable for me is the use of my ideas or images in advertising something.

You have almost half a million followers on Instagram. Can you call yourself a popular artist?

- No, I can't call myself popular.

Do you draw only digitally? Or do you create paintings on canvases?

- I draw with a mouse. I had even forgotten that it might be considered strange. I use Adobe Illustrator and some Photoshop.

I also write on canvases. If you are reading this interview in December 2018, then come to my exhibition in Moscow at the Mars gallery, there will be my famous works on the Internet, painted with acrylics on canvases.

The first exhibition is a serious step for the artist. How did you decide on it?

- I wanted the exhibition for a long time, it was a fairly long-standing ambitious goal. This year my creative activity on the Internet turned five years old, and I decided to try to get out of the Internet into the real world. It was interesting for me to draw several of my works with acrylic on canvases, to see how it will look in the gallery space and what will be the reaction of living people outside the Internet to my work.

Tell us how you prepared? What parting words would you give to those who also want to hold their own exhibition?

- I began to draw somewhere in May: I just collected material without much haste. Having collected half of the desired number of paintings (I aimed at 30 pieces), I began to look for sites in parallel. I am an absolute newcomer to the world of artists, exhibitions and art, so there were people from Moscow and St. Petersburg who were ready to help in finding sites.

An exhibition is difficult and often very expensive. If you are not in certain circles, you will not be able to come from the street and make it.

Expect that finding a suitable place may take, for example, six months. Also, do not forget that your work may simply not fit the gallery format. But I cannot give any other advice yet: my exhibition is still ahead. I just hope that the expectations are met.

What can you call your main achievement in creativity?

- Probably when people write that my work somehow helps them in life.

What difficulties prevent you from growing in creativity? How do you deal with them?

- The only problem can be that you do not know where to go. I have not yet had such ambitious projects that there was not enough time for them. I solve the problem of money by working in the office. I treat a creative crisis with understanding: nothing lasts forever.

The main difficulty for me is doubt.

What does your workplace look like?

- My workplace is just a table, a laptop and all sorts of things scattered on the table (optional). And I like to bring the degree of chaos on the table to the maximum, in order to enhance the contrast from putting things in order.

Now I have on my desk: a laptop, a large monitor connected to it, a bunch of black markers, wires, a palette, a pile of A4 sheets, notepads, sketchbooks.

I don’t come up with ideas at the table, so I don’t really care what my workplace looks like. The main thing is that nothing interferes with moving the mouse on the table.

Life hacking from Anton Gudim

Recently, I have read only Japanese fairy tales from fiction books. In general, I love classic fairy tales. Ah, there was also Kharms, but I think most readers are already familiar with his work.

Of those works that influenced me, I can name "All About Life" by Mikhail Weller.

Professionally:

• “Creativity as an exact science. Theory of Inventive Problem Solving”, Heinrich Altshuller.
• “The muse will not come. Truth and myths about how brilliant ideas are born”, David Burkus.
• “Games for the mind. Training for creative thinking ", Michael Mikalko.
• The Birth of a New Idea by Edward de Bono.

I cannot recommend any particular one, because in almost every one I found some interesting thoughts, but there were also tedious or obvious moments. I would put it this way: these are books that you can try to familiarize yourself with.

I don't watch TV shows as it takes a long time. But I watch YouTube. I can recommend:

• Artifex is an art channel.
• PMTV Channel is a channel about music.

Now I rarely watch films either. But I like people like these, they motivate:

• "Obsession" (Whiplash).
• Disaster Artist.

Anton's comics can be viewed on his Instagram page and in the VK community.