No one really says it out loud, but this is kinda what it feels like to work in advertising at the moment. Updating the tomato sauce idea deck in-between having serious conversations about a 6-second ad for toilet paper while the world falls apart around us. Brings back eery memories of the COVID-era.

But while our ‘leaders’ stick more to Nero’s interpretation of ‘fiddling while Rome burns’, something that I would encourage creatives to do is their own more positive version. Keep making stuff, keep playing, keep finding curiosity in things. I know it’s hard, and at times it can feel stupid and futile to the soul, but creation always has and will remain the opposing force to destruction.

And there’s a lot of it right now. Not just in terms of the societal institutions and global structures we once sought stability in, but the industry and our way of working itself. It feels like everything is being blown to smithereens by forces outside of our control. But personally, I find the only way to jar against the sense of paralysis is to go and make something. Anything.

We’ve really leant into the fun at SICKDOG lately, with our last few pieces of work being a dude turning into a cookie, an oddball pair of Norwegian fishermen, and a skin-peeling infomercial. Comparatively trivial? Sure. But incredibly fun? Absolutely. Things worth putting into the world, even if only ads.

But it’s not just ads and work, I would try to keep channeling things into the world that you enjoy in any regard. Side projects are always important, but I think even more so during these kind of moments. Re-connect with something you used to love, or start that one project that’s been bouncing around your brain for years but never started, or challenge yourself with something entirely new.

During COVID, I felt the need to counter the feeling of being physically trapped in my house and digitally trapped in my phone by picking up some kind of analog hobby. I was working with an art director that painted miniatures. So I decided to do that. I never played the tabletop game they’re designed for, just painted them, but it was a very different outlet. You have to learn to paint in 3D. Shadows, light sources, colour gradation. It was a serious challenge, but over time I got somewhat good at it.

The debate over whether ‘NFTs were art’ was raging on the internet, so I made a series of NFTs that said that they weren’t and put them up for sale - and people bought them. Did it answer the question? I dunno. Maybe made things more confusing. And I made a bunch of memes that ended up being purchased by a museum.

Some of this stuff was just fucking around, some of it helped my career, some of it taught me new skills. But all of it helped channel negative energy, nervousness, uncertainty, fear, into something else. Take the pressure off the outcome. It doesn’t have to make money, or get likes, or win an award. It just has to be something you can channel your attention and energy into. (And, funnily enough, it may just turn into those things anyway.)

Come up with an excuse to learn how the latest AI tool works. Or do the complete opposite and do something analog with your hands.

I’m doing both. I’m getting my head around weavy, and also working on an art project on the theme of ‘impermanence’.

I’ve always had an interest in anything post-apocalyptic or cyberpunk, and I’ve always pondered the impermanence of not only our time here, but the volume of human creativity under capitalism that gets funnelled into things that will very quickly be forgotten. Ironic, I know. But I’ve decided to turn the reflection of that into something that might exist a little longer. I haven’t painted miniatures in a long time, but funnily enough, I took what I learnt from that process and applied it here via use of airbrush, acrylics, and weathering with oils and enamels. (Although I wasn’t quite prepared for the shift in scale and almost knocked myself out with enamel fumes, even with a mask….)

I suppose the point of this post was to maybe reach out to anyone who currently feels like it’s ‘wrong’ or ‘stupid’ to be making things that feel frivolous in comparison to what is going on all around us, and what other people are sadly being put through. I get it. And I feel it too. But back to where I started, destruction is only negated by creation. And fear, by curiosity. So it’s ok to find something to pour yourself into that brings something new and interesting into the world. In fact, it’s probably an imperative that you do.

Keep creating things. It’s what’ll keep you going.

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