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Writer's pictureAslan Ruby

A Recent Realisation & My Latest Piece: Golden Girl II

The past few weeks have been challenging for me as an artist, but the epiphany that came at the end of a day when my brain was beating itself up was worth it.


As artists, we find that sometimes the market LOVES our work. And sometimes it doesn't.


At my core, I've always believed in not changing your style/content to suit the market but in keeping strong to your artistic integrity. This does 2 things:


First - it makes you a leader rather than a follower. If you tack on a trend, soon enough, that trend will end. Then what? You have to change to fit the bill for the next trend.


This will be never-ending, and you'll most likely feel empty and a little bit dirty. I'm not saying don't explore other styles. By all means, exploration is key to growth.


BUT do it in a way that aligns with your interests.


It's also great to find something of yours that does sell well so you can find what is your "bread and butter" as an artist.


BUT again, do this on your own terms. If your passion is landscape art and suddenly you're drawing leopard-clad TitsNAss in a plea to sell work. Don't.


If Leopard-clad Tits N Ass is your passion, then hells bells, by all means, celebrate that. But if the market is smiling on landscapes suddenly? Keep doing you, boo. It'll come on back.


Second - It gives you downtime to progress in your area of inspiration and passion. Use this time to master it. So when the bright eye of the market is looking at you, you're ready to show it what you've got.


What does this have to do with Golden Girl II?


I realised I wasn't progressing myself as an artist on my own terms. I was focused on the market. My first version of the piece was inspired by the beautiful First Nations model Cindy Rostron (look her up, support her). She is a total babe that deserves to have every artwork inspired by her. (My artwork Golden God from my Wonder Country collection is also inspired by Cindy).


BUT something wasn't sitting right.

Drawing beautiful people in model poses isn't me. It's not my personal practice. I 100% love many artworks with this as their focus, but like any artwork, I love it because I can feel as the viewer when it's the passion of the artist.


But it's not mine. It's not why I became an artist. And for this piece, my interpretation of Cindy wasn't doing her or the artwork justice.


I realised part of me was catering to the market by saying, "Yes, do Aslan Ruby... but make it sexy".


So I changed it. I drew a girl that wasn't from a magazine. That was just from me. And for me, that's all that matters.


Whether or not Golden Girl II sells is not an issue right now. What IS an issue for me is making sure that I am progressing as an artist.


I just want to finish by saying how amazed I am every day at the support of my collectors and those of you who engage with artists daily. I've never encountered a community like the one I've found on NFT twitter, and goddamn, I'm grateful for each and every one of you.


That's it, my loves! Golden Girl II will forever remind me to stay true to my own journey. My road is unique and bumpy at times, but my gosh, the view is beautiful.


*This article was adapted from a Twitter thread by Aslan Ruby*

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