‘You’re never far from that next burst of divine creativity’

Need some inspiration? Read this letter from a Pixar animator. You may want to print it out so you can refer to it again and again.

Ragan Insider Premium Content
Ragan Insider Content

Austin Madison is here to help.

The Pixar animator’s submission to the Animator Letters Project focuses on the word “persist.” And although it’s directed at aspiring animators, it can pretty much be applied to any industry.

For those who can’t be bothered to click the link, here’s the transcription:

PIXAR

May 17, 2011

To Whom it May Inspire,

I, like many of you artists out there, constantly shift between two states. The first (and far more preferable of the two) is white-hot, “in the zone” seat-of-the-pants, firing on all cylinders creative mode. This is when you lay your pen down and the ideas pour out like wine from a royal chalice! This happens about 3 percent of the time.

The other 97 percent of the time I am in the frustrated, struggling, office-corner-full-of-crumpled-up-paper mode. The important thing is to slog diligently through this quagmire of discouragement and despair. Put on some audio commentary and listen to the stories of professionals who have been making films for decades going through the same slings and arrows of outrageous production problems.

To read the full story, log in.
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today

Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.