Beeple for the people

Today’s writing is about Beeple.

Yesterday I discovered and investigated Beeple. He recently sold a piece of digital NFT art for $2.5 million and seemed entirely unfiltered when I read his Twitter feed.

As I explored his universe through his website my favorite thing I learned about him is his creative process of building something every day. I watched parts of this absurd and inspiring talk of his where he describes a project he calls Everydays where he just makes art every day for a few hours.

He says there often isn’t deep conceptual meaning, but more exploration of tools, techniques and whatever is on the surface of his mind. Each day takes you a tiny bit forward on some minor aspect of a tool, and over the years those all add up to a great toolkit. I have that same sort of insane creativity he has, but don’t dedicate and structure myself to upgrade a little each day. This is a very inspiring idea, especially as someone recently laid off with some financial security and ambivalence about another full time job now.

I also loved this slide he made on time management.

Every time you say yes to something, you’re saying no to something else. And vice versa, he explains around 39 minutes into the video. If you can become a master in something you want if you just put in a few hours each day for years, why not give that a go? I’d like to say no to more things based on this silly but inspiring slide and point.

Said no to anything good lately? Let me know.

Random other thoughts about Beeple

Thought 1: Cool Worms.

There’s a part in the talk where the other guy on stage asks him about this worm art and why he made it. He said, I’m just exploring worms. The guy clearly wanted something frothier and more conceptual. He said fuck you to Beeple. Then they moved on. But look at these worms, they do look cool!

Thought 2: Lose the violence?

Finally, I do want to say there are things I don’t like about Beeple from my experience today and yesterday. He seems obsessed with violence towards himself and in his art. It is hard to tell what he’s doing out of love vs. anger.

Ok, just wanted to make sure to add that note before shipping this!