neil-gaiman:

I gave my first ever commencement speech to the graduating class of 2012 at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

I think I told them everything important that I knew about going out into the world and being an artist, so I may never need to give another one.

And remember that whatever discipline you are in, whether you are a musician or a photographer, a fine artist or a cartoonist, a writer, a dancer, a designer, whatever you do you have one thing that’s unique. You have the ability to make art.

And for me, and for so many of the people I have known, that’s been a lifesaver. The ultimate lifesaver. It gets you through good times and it gets you through the other ones.

Life is sometimes hard. Things go wrong, in life and in love and in business and in friendship and in health and in all the other ways that life can go wrong. And when things get tough, this is what you should do.

Make good art.

I’m serious. Husband runs off with a politician? Make good art. Leg crushed and then eaten by mutated boa constrictor? Make good art. IRS on your trail? Make good art. Cat exploded? Make good art. Somebody on the Internet thinks what you do is stupid or evil or it’s all been done before? Make good art. Probably things will work out somehow, and eventually time will take the sting away, but that doesn’t matter. Do what only you do best. Make good art.

Make it on the good days too.

Listen.

(Source: vimeo.com)

neil-gaiman:

I was with Amanda in Denton, Texas, when she went to do a session of three songs, and an interview. Mostly I sat and wrote while a cat tried to make me stop writing and love her.  

Amanda suggested I sing Psycho as one of the three songs, so I did…

I am not going to post the third video here. That’s the one where Amanda plays “In My Mind” on the omnichord (is that what it was called?) while I attempt to distract her with a giant horse-headed sock on a stick.

(Source: violitionist.com)