Achieving Creative Success

Written for: PURVEYR, Issue 4: Success, 2017
Art by: Bryan Sochayseng

Growing up, a lot of us are presented a textbook blueprint on how to live a successful life. Often it involves going to school, getting good grades, and graduating off to university into a course that will dictate the direction of the rest of your (hopefully financially comfortable) life.

Perhaps you were told to go into corporate banking or engineering – forks in the road with paths so linear, you can almost see your entire career laid out into an incremental ladder with a straightforward skills set and predictable growth. However, for those of us who chose to take a creative career on the road less traveled, it usually means a hazier field of vision and turbulent travels.

Achieving creative success can seem like a complicated recipe that involves a mix of meeting the right people, being in the right places, and catching the right time. In other words, luck – a rare ingredient raffled off into the genetic or cosmic lottery. It’s no wonder pursuing fine arts or classical piano as careers are ill-advised endeavors.

Why balance on the creative highwire when you can have the luxury of a well-trodden path with a job in finance? But while there’s never going to be a no-fail road map to achieving success in the creative industry, it’s certainly no mission impossible either. We spoke with three creatives across various fields to know their own personal, tried- and-tested formulas for “making it.”

“Gawa lang nang gawa.”

(Just keep creating.)

According to Cebu-based graphic designer and illustrator Chad Manzo, the key to success lies in the constant reinvention of your work. “My creative philosophy is rooted in Kintsugi,” he shares. Kintsugi, which is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer dust mixed with powdered gold, is what he likens to breaking down any design barriers to achievement. “Any problem can be broken down to its essence,” Manzo says, referencing Kintsugi’s breaking of pottery. “Pulling in or adding different influences and concepts can create a unique visual solution, the same way you use the addition of gold lacquer to repair the broken pottery.”

In addition, he also notes influences from the Zen Buddhist teachings of Wabi- Sabi, which emphasizes the significance of imperfection, on his work ethic. “Simply put, it’s all in the remix, or gawa lang nang gawa (just keep creating).” It is this allowance for mistakes that pushed his personal growth and enabled him to develop his own style, which has since garnered him global nods from the likes of Highsnobiety and Hypebeast, and partnerships with Commonwealth, Toyota, and Nike. “In order to stand out, I had to find my own voice – it didn’t have to be loud; it just had to be different,” Manzo stated.

“Keep learning.”

We’ve seen it all too often – brilliant minds and prodigies hitting their peak or burning out too early. More often than not, it can be blamed on a lack of growth from thinking there is nothing left more to learn. To acclaimed photographer Shaira Luna, success comes with a constant thirst for imagination, creation, and learning. While some artists will hit a wall when faced with a lack of inspiration, Luna knows to look elsewhere. “I always allow the curious child in me to thrive,” she quips. “It took a couple of years for me to realize this, but as I developed more skills, taste, and styles of shooting, I found that a lot of my ideas and influences echo the things I loved when I was younger. Instead of moving on and ‘growing up’, these juvenile interests contributed to the perspective and feelings I put into my work.”

Instead of waiting for motivation to come to you via ray of light or catalytic vision, Luna advises to build your own inspiration. “I have reached a chapter in my career where I can create most of the imagery I want to make, having slowly collected the material and non-material resources I need over the years,” she claimed. “Perhaps being prolific is the happiest way I can define success.”

“You are only as good as your last work.”

For renowned fashion designer Sassa Jimenez, excelling in a cutthroat industry entails the ability to forge criticism into progress and improvement. “Earlier in my career, I experienced getting bad reviews. As a young designer, I didn’t know the value of criticism until I let the negative comments propel me into doing a better job,” she revealed. “Now, I try not to let bad judgment get the best of me, but I also never let myself hang onto compliments. You are only as good as your last work.” However, while the capability to filter critique from ego-fluffer and degradation is a helpful asset, it is also but a by-product of one’s mindset – another crucial obstacle to creative success.

“If you start a project with the wrong mindset, then you’re already headed in the wrong direction,” Jimenez cautions. “Luckily, life usually gives you opportunities to step back and rethink your process so you can achieve these goals more efficiently.” With that, it also shows the importance of taking a breather and assessing the bigger picture, because sometimes all you need is to look at things a little differently to find what you need, instead of looking elsewhere altogether.