Why am I an Artist?

So I find myself wanting to answer this eternal question…..Why? There are a lot of why questions in life. So here is the one that I want to answer today. Why am I an Artist?  I could give the basic response to this and say, "Because I like to draw pictures!" But of course that would be the quick response.  I would assume most people like or have liked to draw pictures at one time or another.  The answer to this question goes a bit deeper.  Allow me to elaborate!

Like many artist I found myself scribbling on everything I could get my grubby little hands on.  Whenever I was board ( Which was quite often. ) I would begin to draw.  It intrigued me at a very young age.  Not only was drawing fun, it was a challenge.  My goal was to constantly try to take the images from my mind and put them on paper.  Every day getting a little closer and enjoying this imaginative journey.  

I also noticed something else about myself.  I was scared to let anyone see the work until I was finished.  I wasn't confident as an artist yet.  I would often times even draw things then hide them so no one would see how bad they were.  But, I hardly ever threw them away.  Why?  If it wasn't good enough to put on the wall for every passer by to see then why keep it?  Why?  Then it occurred to me.  I didn't want to throw them away because they were part of me.  No matter how bad that drawing was and how embarrassed I might be if it didn't win the approval of my peers, I couldn't simply dispatch of it.  It was a part of my journey.  A mental map of where I had been at that stage of my life.

I have accumulated boxes of these so called mental maps now.  And each one carries me to a moment in time instantly.  I can literally here the music that I was listening to while drawing the image.  Not always, but sometimes.  And that is better than a Polaroid picture any day! 

So back onto the focus of why? Why do we choose to be artist. What is the compelling factor to express ourselves by creating images?  I think it goes past the idea of choice.  I believe that it is a part of us.  I think that we are all artist in the beginning of our lives but something about the percentage of us that continue to do it are almost consumed by it.  In a good way of course.  ( My girlfriend wouldn't agree. )  I don't think I have a choice and I don't really want one.  I am passionate about creating art.  I am in a competitive race with myself.  Before my time is done on this hunk of rock, how good can I truly get?  One thing is for sure.  I will never tire of it.  I will never create something and then say, "That is it! That is my very best! I can quit now."  

I wouldn't quit anyways because the other reason I am an artist is that it relaxes me.  It gives me an outlet.  Without art I probably would have ended up on the streets way too often and the end result would have been a lot less positive than my life has turned out.  So in closing, I thank God for the gift of being an artist.  And to answer the question why?……….Why not?  ;)

Thanks for reading!

Robert A. Marzullo

Ram Studios Comics

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