James Victore unites the foundations of being an artist with a realistic interpretation of the artist’s work. The book is compelling and a very easy read; it just took me one sitting to go through it. If you are looking for a step-by-step guide, this is not the book for you, but it does serve a great deal of motivation to the readers. It should be useful for someone in a rut or procrastinating some work. I could separate the book into 4 main themes. First, being yourself and the importance of authenticity to do great creative work; second, motivation and how to get the work started; and third, the nuances of the work and execution of a creative piece. On being yourself, James explains how it’s our inner child and our own weirdness that needs to flourish in our work for our art to have an impact in the world. Our voice is unique; it’s what sets us apart from the rest, and of course, not everyone will resonate with it, but the ones who do will become our audience and the reason we do the work. It’s also important that our work will always be personal to us, and we can’t control how others will react. But it is when people see their own struggle reflected in ours that we create what the author calls “shared humanity”. On gaining motivation to do the work, James explains we must not fear failure, but endure it as a test of our abilities, and use its learnings to improve our work. He also mentions that we must avoid perfectionism because we will never be ready and perfect to do art, and if we wait too long for art to be perfect then we may have to wait forever. Also, ego is a big enemy of work; ego keeps us safe from making mistakes, but this blocks creativity and risk-taking on our own ideas. On doing the work, James highlights that the outcomes of the work must never be the reason why we do it. We do creative work for ourselves; the outcomes will come eventually. What we can do, however, is have a plan. A plan that structures who we are, what we are trying to convey with our work, and how we’ll get there. James also goes on talking about work etiquette for artists, and it’s quite evident that he is not a fan of hustle culture, which I appreciate. He encourages saying no when clients get hasty or bothersome, when we are asked to do things we’d rather not do, and when we are pushed to do work we don’t want to do. He also advises not to overwork ourselves, to rather seek time for replenishing our creative mind, whatever that can help us grow and expand our creative ability.