Art Is Fleeting--Gimmicks Are Careers

[@Hollow33N]

Just be a Hentai artist, the highest of all art.

[@LimeyLassen]

And the most profitable too

[@koicies998]

or be a cam girl

[@mafeuk]

Not really. Hentai mangaka earn pretty much the same as regular mangakas, sometimes even less because they don´t publish it regularly. Also, there´s the issue with hentai sites where you can see those beautiful doujins for free and the artist doesn´t receive a penny.

[@bakuhakudraws5603]

Speaking from experience, I can confirm this to be true. Specifically furries, if you want to make the most money and/or have zero dignity.

[@aarOuOn]

Kind of amazing that porn artist seem to be better than just regular artist on DA and stuff

[@adamfreese]

Are your sunglasses a gimmick, or are they art?

[@skylarspeedweed6784]

Adam Freese I don't know, is digibro?

[@KhenWolf]

Adam Freese nah he's just always hungover.

[@Krommeniedijk]

I like the way the big white dot reflected in them looks like crazy swiveling pupils.

[@TheMasteratLink]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/l3bZXpiFbKudarM

[@lorenaso1517]

Main takeaway: Have a gimmick that you like and do art on the side. I really needed that. Thanks bro

[@urinstein1864]

I think this is something that applies to all sorts of careers. A policeman's art is arresting criminals, but 80% of his job is paperwork. A scientist's art might be finding a cure for a disease, but 99% of their job is doing the same three experiments over and over again. So art is not the only thing where the glorious and proudest moments are few and far between and it is probably a privilege to have those at all. I don't think a garbage man or truck driver ever has such an experience. Some here might watch Adam Neely's channel and I think he often repeats the same principles Digibro applies to KZbin here, when he talks about his career as a musician in New York. His money comes from playing at weddings and from teaching and that's how he funds his passion for composing his own music and stuff. So I think it's a very good thing to have the same thing said out loud about KZbin careers, that seems to be a well known thing for any other career.

[@gabemewell3643]

This is easily one of Digi's best vlogs. He doesn't come off as pretentious, he just states the truth.

[@smallman9787]

This idea has kind of rolled around around in my head for a while, and you put it in such perfectly understandable terms, thank you mr. machine.

[@neuroticdev]

I'm one of those people who never leaves comments but hey, I really enjoy this type of content. I don't watch anything from your main channel but I love when you talk about art in a wider sense. Thanks for keeping shit interesting. 👍

[@neuroticdev]

Also, creativity is almost impossible to monetize, even if you have a solid gimmick. Same thing can be said for entrepreneurs, so much intelligent design may never see the light. Personally, though I can't live off of my own art, I feel that the process itself is satisfying enough.

[@Xeloph986]

"I can't describe what a first AC does" [Vic screams internally]

[@garbageburner8568]

Your gimmick, or selling point or, dayjob, whichever, is your personality and life story. People-including myself- will keep coming back for that, it's cool to see you do whatever. I love some of your "art" (gay and dead is my most played album on bandcamp), but not all of it, which is natural I think. I know you know you're doing good work and I think you'll eventually find a routine that you can fall back on, good luck bro.

[@rangergxi]

I don't think Digi would do all that well if he killed the analysis.

[@PoorFoxface]

You know, this is actually really reassuring to hear. I'd already figured some of this out, aiming to have a career that pays enough to survive and do my writing on the side. I'd arrived at that conclusion from the kinda depressing realisation that, if I'm being realistic about my chances, I'm unlikely to make it big with my first book, or to even get it published, and that many authors I know and love didn't break into the industry until their 30s and 40s. This video has helped me come to terms with things, and I sort of took the message as: if you want to make art, you'll need a gimmick (a day job) to keep you going on the day to day, and that's OK -- if that's what it takes to make art and be happy, then it's worth doing the gimmick. Thanks for this video! Also, on the subject of your gimmick, you mentioned being a Human Content Machine, and I think that's partly right, but I also think your gimmick is yourself. You could put out all the content in the world, but if you weren't interesting to listen to, producing content like you do wouldn't be a sufficient gimmick to get you by. Your gimmick is that you put a lot of stuff out and are interesting enough that people actually care enough to watch and to stick around for more.

[@enagohan]

This is a good vlog. It's like one of your unscripted videos on the main channel. It's dense, concise, and really clarified the topic for me. In spite of not being much of a music guy, I must admit that Gay and Dead was so artistically compelling it almost has me thinking that I'm a fan of an underground rapper with a vlogging side hustle.

[@gmoney6046]

I like this channel a lot more than the main one.

[@hunting4urbooty231]

HUNTERxHUNTER is an example of being both art and gimmick. Togashi comes back, does enough chapters for a volume,puts the volume out and disappears again for another 1-3 years.

[@spidyjuice]

Fav point you've made in a little while. Stay well

[@rangergxi]

Success in Art is being able to release pure garbage to critical acclaim.

[@LoudWaffle]

Reki Kawahara is the greatest artist of all time.

[@rangergxi]

The Jontron and Miura approach would also count as success in my books.

[@kyokyoniizukyo7171]

Hat21 Yeah, making great things from garbage...like making a pile of SAO charecters into a 1to1 version of Kon...

[@TheXBRGUY]

So Attack on Titan?

[@xero0015]

*Eromanga sensei*

[@catsoup9870]

To build on your point a bit, I would argue that there is somewhat of a disconnect present in KZbin. At least on some channels, the audience and the creator don't agree on which is art and which is the gimmick. A recent example would be the Angry Joe Show. To Joe, the reviews, because how long they take to produce, is his art and he wants to sustain himself on the in-between videos, but since most of his viewers are only there for the reviews, they demand that to be the gimmick.

[@RengokuGS]

This exactly. I honestly feel bad for him too.

[@szjon5528]

As a person that draws, paints and is gonna go to art uni I must say that I nor most (maybe all?) the people I know from the art community believe that art comes and goes, that it's driven by inspiration. It's exactly opposite. You've gotta sit with paper and pencil (or whatever you use) and think. Think, browse, find and make the idea not wait for them because as you've said earlier it wouldn't work as a job. So yeah, most artist don't have their best ideas come out of nowhere, it's not like we just take them out of big jaar of inspiration. We've got to work for it. Without it concipt artists and much more couldn't be a thing

[@volbla]

Szjon But are you proud of everything you make? Is everything you make what you wanted to make the most? I think there's different definitions of "art" going on here. Everything creative is artistic in one way, but it's not necessarily _the_ art that you wanted to create. It's not necessarily _your_ art.

[@szjon5528]

Volbla 1) yup, cause I did something. 2) Mostly? With exception of things like AT that are for pure fun Let's take a look at the history. Van Gogh, we all know him, most of us love him :D Anyway, you probably know his "Starry night". A lot of people apprieciate this, find this as high art etc. but actually he hated it. It was maybe just a mere exercise. But we think it is high art, right? Even though it wasn't this big spurge of inspiration for him or something, even though he wasn't proud of that

[@volbla]

Well, if coming up with neat ideas and putting them on paper is the thing you wanna do then i guess concept artist is the perfect job for you. And maybe the people with that kind of mentality become the best concept artists. But how many people working in concept art see that as "the end goal" and what makes them happy, and how many of them see it as a stepping stone or "gimmick" and would ideally want to make something "greater" (but less profitable)? I wouldn't know. And it's not to say that you can't love doing your gimmick too, but that's not the same as doing The Art. Or maybe it is the same for some people. Aaadunno ¯\(´ー`)/¯

[@szjon5528]

Well, noone wouldn't know And noone's gonna know what people are going to find as "high art". And that's why in my opinion thinking in terms of "higher and less high"(? hope you gonna get what I mean)"doesn't really work. Cause it's too subjective and you can't really define what high art and gimmick are. Coming back to concept artists. Well, it does depend on piece you are making concepts for but I think there aren't less "artsy" than the other works. Cause you can implement your own big ideas into them as well I don't know if my stream of thought is clear and understandable

[@WadWizard]

Thank you, you cant just sit around and wait for ideas you have to search for them, and if you cant find them you have to make them, it takes dicipline to keep at it and half the time you might not even know what your doing... But i suppose even for all that concept art isnt really my art in the context of the video but game design, i just have allways drawn so im closer to it than designing/making games but in the end i honestly most of the time dont enjoy the process, i just enjoy the product... i still dont have the dicipline though and i dont know how to build it, like i know how, but you have to be diciplined to build your dicipline so its hard to get started

[@BknMoonStudios]

No joke, this advice can be life changing. I used to want to be a filmmaker, only to realize I cannot get people to like my work whatsoever. I'm super good at math and sciences, so I'm currently at college studying things related to that. *_The idea isn't to abandon your passion. It's to secure your livelihood to do what you want, not what will give you cash._*

[@coldplay109]

Digi, I love you, you're so insightful, you've got killer content, keep up the awesome work!!!!

[@DefCatofficial]

I am an musician and I refuse to change my work to make it more "likeable / marketable" so i have a day job as a result. I hope one day i can just do art but it is what it is.

[@LimeyLassen]

Exclamation Point has this shit figured out.

[@HxH2011DRA]

Limey Lassen EXPLAINATION POINT! EXPLAINATION POINT! EXPLAINATION POINT! *EXPLANATION POINT!*

[@pooly5280]

Limey Lassen he'll fail eventually lol

[@watcher314159]

Point has a great gimmick in his analysis and humour, but only recently has he shown where he intends his art to lie, as hinted by A Defence of Dubs: exhaustive analysis of differences between adaptations.

[@ThatPhatGuy64]

Thank you digi. This is something I really needed to hear.

[@myforever13]

this a great video it speaks to a problem I've had where I'm constantly disappointed in my art (drawings) because I know I couldn't sell it. it's just not what people want. if I could find a gimmick that's tolerable or fun that would lift such a weight from my mind, because the art wouldn't be disappointing when it's just for me. these are the kinds of things that need to be said thanks digi

[@roykong7024]

Good to have heard you fleshed out a real life issue. I only mainly took art class in highschool just to learn hoe to better appreciate it. But everyone else were crazy devoted to it, most of them want to create visual art as their career. But the problem is it's the kind of thing that would drain them and squeeze them dry, that's what a job is unfortunately

[@OneManCast]

I was going to protest your video based on your title, but then I heard your rational argument. Well played. I got baited, and you made completely solid points.

[@keenanmccarty9925]

I might be reading too far into this... but is Endless Jess having an existential crisis or something? It seems like this vids pretty applicable to him and how he functions.

[@keenanmccarty9925]

Because every time he tries to do a gimmick his video quality drops massively and he can't do it for more than a couple videos.

[@keenanmccarty9925]

OccuredJakub12 100% agree. my fav KZbinr by far, even his gimmick stuff is brilliant in the ways it comes apart at the seams as he makes it.

[@9nidow756]

I miss Endless Jess :( #1 content creator, hope he's somewhere out there doing something awesome

[@NotSoUnitedNations]

wait did he quit yt or something? it sounds like something happened and i'm out of the loop...

[@keenanmccarty9925]

EhEmBee he hasn't made anything non-furnace room related in well over a month and Digi mentioned in an earlier video he might just fuck off and quit or something and foist pleb and weeb into Digi. He hasn't even posted on patreon, so it's pretty disconcerting.

[@JunpeiIori]

For what it's worth Digi, I think both your gimmicks and your art are pretty damn great.

[@JunpeiIori]

Also wow, that ending shot was beautiful

[@rickytripp1107]

And you should be proud of that album it is fucking great

[@houixbrun8835]

MrBtongue has been writing GoT analysis articles for like the past year on Shamus Young's blog.

[@Well_Meaning]

This is a pretty cynical view. Just because reality fucking bites doesn't mean you have to be reductive. You can make art minus a flashy gimmick for the sake of art. If you're going into a project with the sole purpose of forging a living, you must first recognize that you're essentially gambling. Additionally, "I want to make money" isn't where the great novels come from. They come from people who have something to say, and they do it by saying it in a way no one else can. Essentially what you're doing here by claiming a dichotomy between a gimmick and "higher art" is re-labeling the individuality of an artist into something defeatist and cynical. If you produce something that no one else could have, that doesn't make you a gimmick salesman, it makes you an individual. If you've got a "thing" you do that simultaneously sets you apart and lets you work on grander visions, that's still the work of an artist. You've got to sketch before you commit something crazy to canvas. If something unique-but-regular is a gimmick, then every fucking human on earth is a gimmick. So basically, whereas you see the regular "non-inspired" content of youtube creators as their "gimmick", I prefer to see their entire continuity of content as a writhing string of never-ending performance art. It has highs and lows and ups and downs and sometimes it stops completely and sometimes it explodes into a grand climax, but the smaller links of the chain are just as much "art" as the larger higher-effort parts. Once you lose the ability to continue your chain, you stop the performance art, and you bow out of the scene. I bet your view of your own content might improve if you see everything you do as a continual artistic river rather than shitting out placeholders until the "real art" comes floating downstream. I dunno.

[@Altrue]

That outro was... Artistic!

[@Klayton_Nivel]

in that Davoo audio log I heard that you got like 7 new favorites in anime after you took a 'pony break' from anime for 1,5 years. Also recently you said that you are craving for a good show. Made me think about that old saying, something along 'anime is a 2-year obsession' as in you get bored of it in that time, since you kinda get jaded to all the ideas and tropes in it. Do you think you would enjoy anime more and have more inspiration for big projects if you'd took another break from anime-related things for a while?

[@megamage911]

So, another example I guess could be the Cinema Snob, where his art is the actual Cinema Snob videoes, and the gimmicks are stuff like Brad Tries, and Midnight Screenings.

[@HidinginPublic]

Poor Gibbon.

[@DetectiveAndrey]

Your analysis videos entertain me Digi.

[@WhimsicottTCG]

"I talk endlessly" = I never shut the hell up xD congrats on your gimmick Digi

[@evna9246]

I'm not sure if I want art to be my career. I just want a stable simple living, doing art as a hobby and a job that supports my living when i'm an adult… I-...is that expecting too much out of life?

[@rangergxi]

Yes. The future is either be 110% dedicated to a stressful corporate/government job with high requirements or be replaced by a machine/african.

[@LimeyLassen]

Nope, that's perfectly normal.

[@evna9246]

Idk which to believe. Both?

[@9nidow756]

Depends on how much of a living you want and, if that living standard is high, how well connected you are.

[@theprimalfuckhead526]

Hat21 you will be replaced by the African Machine

[@sorrowfulsatchel679]

6:27 were you thinking of the word “saturate”?

[@LeifMaelstrom]

Thanks for saying this. It really helped me in my heart bro.

[@LastMinuteGuess]

My career is basically my gimmick and writing is my art. I could never imagine being an English major even when my professors said I had a clear passion and understanding for it because if I did I'd have to either labor over a bunch of stuff I wasn't interested in to get to my art and profit or be able to make a consistent art piece every other week with my writing. I'm a minimalist to begin with so I don't even want to be writing so much people get tired of my art. I just want to write the one perfect novel that encapsulates the breath of me as an artist, but that is literally impossible to be sustainable. While I do my art at night, I do my finance work during the day that I find interesting enough to not hate my life and still remain secure money-wise.

[@quimlast7180]

Fuck, I really empathise with the struggling artist now. Thanks for this vid, eye opener. Keep at it.

[@Tang-qi6zw]

There's a couple of things that I have to wonder coming from this video: 1) Is Steven King's writing an art or a gimmick? Works like "The Shining", "The Dark Tower" and "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" are Art, but the majority of his many novels not so much. Is it just a formula and he has such a good style that he can pull it off? But the novel is kind of a big thing and King only releases 1 or 2 novels a year. 2) Was it worth it for JonTron to give up the gimmick of Game Grumps to pursue his art? It seemed like he did it so he'd have more time, but time isn't as much of a problem for art as inspiration.

[@williancruz9657]

Orange Face Jon was barely even involved with his show post-season 3 anyways. He hired writers; producers, directors, etc just for his show. All he does is read a script nowadays. Time really isn't the problem.

[@Sharkiity]

I don't make ART or have a gimmick, I'm a professional compositor! So I do things like greenscreens and cg integration for movies and tv and all that kinda stuff. Am I just an outlier or am I overlooking a gimmick? (and Digi if you ever read your comments and want some professional™ greenscreens you should yell at me)

[@neferiusnexus]

Sharkiity pay attention! I also have a day-job that kind of requires thinking on your feet and not messing up or it will be trouble for a LOT of people... but that's still a gimmick.

[@Sharkiity]

Well even someone making Art can think and be held responsible, that's no reason to call it a gimmick. But ya I agree that I have a gimmick in the sense of having a job and trying to please the boss n all. But what I was trying to get at in my first comment is that my job doesn't pander to an audience to the same extent as most artsy jobs. I'm not stylizing anything just stitching parts together so they function in the sense that it looks realistic.

[@WadWizard]

From what i gathered by art he meant what you do for yourself, your passion, or maybe not even that strongly worded but just the part that is... like the climax of your day to day story, the goal, the hook. And by gimmick he meant what supports you untill you reach that point, the side you just do mostly to get paid, not that you dont find any enjoyment from it but its not as fullfiling as having done the art. I dont know if gimmick he also includes if you have an unrelated part time job to pay the bills, it seemed more like something still getting you out there towards whatever the art is but idk, theres some vagueness there. Point is its not literally tied to artyness or gimmicky things

[@animeaddictsanonymous0525]

Digi should sell his audio novel, I'd buy it.

[@cetriyasArtnComicsChannel]

It works in the reverse to in that a lot of stuff that I would like never get made or end up canceling very early

[@misterprickly]

Yahtzee also used Windows Movie Maker 'cause it's easy and free. I have a gimmick but the videos weren't going well and my comics/drawings were doing quite well! It's hard to find your gimmick, your art media, your style... But it's better than giving up and doing nothing.

[@DerettoAlexiel]

Holy shit... I needed to hear this. Thank you!

[@TheGman938]

As a musician and in college, I want to make music a career, but I realisticly can't do that. I don't have a gimmick that can be related to it, but that's why I'm in college, to get a good job.

[@holycowitsdave]

That noise at the end. A+

[@gabrielwright-dunn9355]

The way I see it, it all comes down to practicality and convenience. Free Time is practical because it allows us to do things we care about. Money is practical because is allows us access to goods and services. Art, more specifically art that appeals to our personal taste is less practical that time and money. However, art costs time and money and isn't always worth it. To convince someone to pay for art, is to convince them that the art they're paying for is just as much if not more valuable than the money they're spending on it and the time it will take to experience that art. That's why gimmicks are more profitable than art, they are much more convenient to consume. As a society right now, we value gimmicks more than art even if we have a higher respect for art. The only way for art to become more profitable and for being an artist to be viable as a career without a gimmick is for those societal values to change. Not that things as they are now are necessarily bad.

[@Voltanaut]

12:58 - who's that Mr guy?

[@bubbleyup]

HarryIsTheGamingGeek mrbtongue. he also mentions mrplinkett

[@HirohitoSyndrom]

I think the word product describes what you mean better then the word gimmick, i really like the point though it makes a ton of sense and its not as discouraging as you might think first. In the end everyone has to work to earn their living and its natural that even within the art scene the product is still what sells better and more steadily then the art on top of being "easier" to create.

[@Mythicalmage]

Inspiration is a myth. You know how you get inspired to write? You sit down in the chair and put your hands on the keyboard and keep writing until you literally can't anymore. Ideas are overrated. All of human creativity is mashing up previous ideas, all of it. This notion that oh, well, when the muse strikes, I'll just do the most wonderful art is bullshit. You'll learn to do the good art by doing lots of the bad art, not by waiting around for some mystical spark of genius.

[@justsomejojo]

That's the reason why I just can't be okay with being called an "artist". I was exactly in the position of trying to be only that and it's destroying me whenever I go on for a longer time not making money. In fact, I'm looking forward to my day job as it's less taxing on me than trying to figure out whether or not my stuff is actually worth a damn, heck if I am actually worth a damn. I hugely agree you need this "gimmick", otherwise it's gonna be your downfall most of the time. Highly refreshing to hear it from someone else with good enough reasoning behind it because, and that's the most important part, if you tell it to yourself, you'll most likely see it as cowardly. It's practically ingrained in society; art gets heavily romanticized and criticized at the same time. Look what happened when Egoraptor stopped doing animation regularly. He got heavy flak for it, getting called a cancerous sell out and whatnot, to this day even. Artists know this and thus are often willingly destroying themselves, unless they *do* realize the need for a gimmick and stop giving a fuck about the romanticization. It's also why I love reading the short bios of successful authors in the front part of books. They *all* mention "gimmicks" and day jobs. My favorite recent example is Ben Aaronovitch, the author of the Peter Grant book series. Yes, he's writing a book series now, and yes, he wrote several episodes of Doctor Who, but also, yes, he's working a day job at a book store. It's an important lesson to learn from for all aspiring artists out there, including myself. Thanks for spelling it out, Digibro.

[@Yeshua996]

THE VLOGS/RANTS ARE THE BEST DIGI VIDEOS AND THATS THE BOTTOM LINE

[@WadWizard]

Do his raps not have digiflo?

[@Zero-de6hq]

What about the Po D. Cast that's just analysis with no inherent art to it. I really like it.

[@23petals]

Digibro is one of the biggest dogs out there these days

[@incarceratedGenetici]

'If you constantly have to do analysis all the time then it's going to get boring and start repeating itself, because it has an element of art to it' Dear god, someone tell this to my english teacher

[@milesseawind]

You always always need to sacrifice your artistic integrity on some level, to appeal to anyone outside yourself.

[@everychannelnameistaken]

alright brother, when are you going to do The Official Podcast

[@TheOnceAndFutureKing]

When you mentioned Novelist and Director as romanticized career paths, you should've also mentioned Musician.

[@alielfanidi9488]

What's the word he's looking for at 6:24 ?

[@chewydonuts9478]

I have an idea for what could be your new passion. Can you make a story? I'm very curious to what you would come up with. I'm making a story for Shonen Jump's competition. Maybe you could compete in it. EDIT: I know about the light novel, but I'm talking about something more coherent lol

[@williancruz9657]

Chewy Donuts He already wrote a book. Look it up, the title is "I Wrote this light novel in like a day it sucks and I hate it". He recorded an audiobook for it, and title aside it's actually pretty good.

[@chewydonuts9478]

Willian Gabriel Sorry, I forgot about it. I edited my post. I want something more coherent.

[@jonetgames]

Waiting for Digi's self-help book.

[@insomnia_plays69]

An Artist who only works when he is inspired would be like a martial artist only trains when he is motivated. Its not the way people make a living out of it, concistency is the key for any career. Like Brandon Sanderson put it "Sometimes writing is like chopping wood" at some points in a story its just work, where you have to set smth up or explain background. I think its a big mistake that a lot of artists believe they can make a living off of it just by dropping smth whenever they feel inspired, therefore a lot of artists fail. Its the romanticised version of being an Artist.

[@millicentchuyin6763]

0:58 What about poet?? That is really hyped and fantasized.

[@spoonsfordinner1138]

I understand the benefit of this Gimmick/Art relationship if they both occupy the same field. For example, as a musician, doing jingles for commercials while working on your album. In this case the gimmick pays the bills and also lets you be a musician full time so you can hone your craft. But if you're a musician and your gimmick is unrelated to music, say being a vlogger, wouldn't you be better served having an office job? Stable source of income more than what you'd make as a blogger, practice during every waking moment of free time, retire early and pursue music full time, this seems more efficient to me. Thoughts? tldr: having a day job for a gimmick, chew on that

[@Androided]

What was that sound at the end Digi?

[@breannaw7254]

13:20 reminds me of kaptainkristian i got really into their videos but they havent made one in like a year

[@VoidStone]

I don't know about most novelists, but there are plenty of novelists out there that publish multiple books a year. Just a random aside.

[@MrDarthvader2101]

I was wondering could anyone elaborate on what Digi meant when he said he hadn't truly succeeded in making a career out of art? I mean, he's not rolling in money but I imagine he makes at least 30,000 to 40,000 a year. I may be off though, I don't know how youtube works.

[@gellybean3885]

What about Ben Saint?

[@velteenhesadore9927]

Good video.

[@Brickfrog427]

Why not do something else in the vein of the Asterik Wars thing, where you make an in-depth deconstruction of a genre? Like the Isekai genre?

[@MrSoulChives]

GaminGHD and his gaming history deserve a shout out sometime digicuck

[@ImortalZeus13]

This is the nicest that I think Digi's beard has ever looked. I think the girlfriend may have something to do with it.

[@Netirumi]

I'm not sure if Digi is creepier with his old hobo beard, or his new normal one.

[@monicaquant268]

Today I got rejected for a scholarship that would have given me a great start at an artist career and I will take it as a sign that you published this. Nice vid bro

[@theprofessor7147]

Damn it my gimmick is my regular job i hate it, i wish i was millionaire so i could do art 24/7. Great point thought i realize that i need to changes things maybe.

[@theprofessor7147]

Unless you are afraid to go broke and just work for that.

[@Ash-hx1jz]

very informative video!

[@notsnaps]

Can the gimmick be whatever you want it to be? Could someone's gimmick be to be a lawyer or doctor or engineer?

[@roadent217]

For posterity's sake, MrBTongue (Bob Case) is currently doing Game of Thrones griping on TwentySided.

[@jairoacosta8940]

keep keeping it real man

[@dragoniraflameblade]

As someone who is writing a book, comic, and animation as well as selling prints, I don't think separating gimmick (what attracts people to your work and you pump out something consistently, if I understand correctly) from ART (the "truly inspired" stuff) is good. I believe both can and are ART. Both come from a drive to create and I think separating them waters down the effort and passion put into the "gimmick". I do what I do every single day with the goal of launching things in 2018. I see every bit as art, no matter how "gimmicky" or how little attention it may get. If I separated them, I wouldn't be able to push myself every day like I do. I believe you don't have to have a "spark" to do anything. I believe it's more of a discipline, like with ballet or playing an instrument. So. Yeah. I lost my thread.

[@NotOrdinaryInGames]

Saccharine sentimentality is Steven Spielberg's gimmick.

[@stealthmissionpath]

This video suprisingly made me very depressed.

[@36inc]

ironically I like the After dark channel better than most of your other content. for anime I prefer mothers basement or best guy ever (I like best guy evers comedy and I like mothers tone) plus it helps that Im into music so his whats in an op is bread and butter for me.

[@Naygen]

I really dig this video and I think it's really true to lots of artists I know. However, is this as a response to the "what content should I make?" video? In that one, countless people were telling you to go back to AssWars Sucks and the like, and here you are saying it's not gonna be your "shtick" like Game Theory or What's in an OP. You may not be putting out high-quality content (for me) consistently, but boy is your content great when you do, even when we have differing opinions. Also, different question - how do you think this whole "art is fleeting" concept affects authors of weekly manga series? Keep em coming Digibro.

[@lizucavictoria]

As an aspiring writer, what you're saying is hard to accept, but it's very true. I guess I'd better develop some other skills.

[@Mrbluefire95]

My best takeaway from this video is that a gimmick is a tool to garner a loyal audience. A good example of this is Jake Paul (ugh). The man is putting out horrible songs, and ordinarily these horrible songs wouldn't gain any traction. However, they most certainly do, because his vlogs have created an audience that will lap up anything he creates. One thing that I'll add to Digibro's message here is to not take the gimmick for granted. Take your art seriously. Don't milk it and half ass your shit.

[@joshuajet8565]

INSPIRATION is fleeting. If an artist relies on that alone they're just doing it as a hobby, when it suits them, when they feel like it. That's not taking it seriously as a job.

[@deathgardna]

I feel like Jesse might have a problem of his gimmicks turning into art.

[@deliciousdishes4531]

I guess if you ignore commissioned art or most digital painting in general that might be true.

[@Roggoll]

So is that scream at the end going to be your new gimmick or what?

[@twelie1]

But what if you hate everything, how do you develop a gimmick then? :(

[@LimeyLassen]

I hear Walmart is hiring

[@WadWizard]

Make videos about how you hate everything

[@excs4619]

this is potentially incredibly fucking helpful

[@excs4619]

the face at the end i mean, not the rest of the video

[@rsanghi24]

Now this was interesting.

[@nintoforgi]

I really appreciate this series of videos and the discussion it continues pushing forward, but I think there's a queasy truth that keeps getting danced around here. I like you, Digi. I really do. You started me watching anime, and not just because you were in the right place at the right time. You have a passion for this medium that's infectious and the breadth of knowledge to figure out what piece of it to push in anyone's hands. But if there are a contingent of people who are consistently frustrated that you aren't able to provide these substantial analyses and both you and the Devoo are all too happy to insist that you can't provide it at the rate people demand it, then the natural conclusion you have to reach is that the audience you built when you DID have all of the ideas to have a constant flow of that analysis is not going to have a reason to all stick around. And that's a failing on both sides, if people aren't getting what they need out of your content then they don't have any right to demand you do it and should move on. But you can't demand that whatever you put out be found as compelling as your best stuff or your peak years. It's not all or nothing, I hope that you are able to keep making the way you work now your career because it's clear that you have all too much love and humility at the fact that you've even gotten the chance. But maybe the nature of your public audience is that it has peaked.

[@Spyderist]

Ray Cesmat this comment is pretty much it

[@breannaw7254]

agreed^

[@ImortalZeus13]

Very well said.

[@zetagammafigma8212]

It's kind of bizarre that you demand analysis like it's some kind of commodity.

[@Trixiethegoldenwitch]

There's always peaks and valleys. I think I'll see a resurgence as I have before when the sort of proverbial tide comes back in--whether that's the tide of my inspiration (to make something popular), or of finding audience in unexpected places.

[@neferiusnexus]

Digibro watches Zero Punctuation?! ...i KNEW there's a reason i like this man! (^^) {also, i own Mogworld. It's great}

[@McDudes]

Is it just me or does Digi start to sound like KRS-ONE?

[@m.a.g.e.]

I rly like thes video. thumbs up