Welcome to the creative circus. Whether you’re painting, designing, animating or sculpting pixels into a video game, there’s one truth you’ll learn fast — this world will test your patience and ego, but if you play it right, it can also give you a rewarding career.
Here are 10 steps to survive (and love) the creative ride from Disney Animator Jeff Merghart. Lessons drawn from a veteran artist who’s seen it all, plus a few reminders for every creative soul trying to make their mark.
- Do you like your art?
Before you chase clients, clout or a fancy job title, check in: do you enjoy what you make?
If your art doesn’t bring you joy, that disconnect will show in your work. Start by finding what makes you excited to create. Everything else, like skill, opportunity and success, builds on that foundation.
- Make their art, not yours
Client work isn’t about you, it’s about them. And that’s okay.
“If they want crap, give them the best crap you can make,” said Merghart.
When you’re hired, you are there to solve someone else’s problem. Your job is to translate their vision into something beautiful, even if it’s not your style. When it’s your personal work, do it your way. But when you’re working for someone else, professionalism beats pride every time.
- Don’t take it personally
Criticism isn’t an attack; it’s part of the process. Learn to laugh it off, adjust and move forward.
Art is emotion, but feedback is business. Keep your humor, stay humble and remember: every correction is just another step toward the goal.
“Learn to have fun with criticism,” Merghart said.
- Step out of your box (Then out of that box’s box)
Growth lives outside your comfort zone.
Hate horror? Perfect, design monsters. Don’t like sci-fi? Try it anyway. Sometimes you’ll make something so wrong it’s right. The goal isn’t to be perfect; it’s to stretch your creative skillset until you find that weird, wonderful middle ground between what you love and what the job demands.
“I had to find my gross-happy place, and I was happy with it, and they were too,” Merghart said of a project drawing ugly monsters that he initially dreaded.
- Remember: design is acting
Every creative discipline is performance. Whether you’re animating a character, building a layout or designing a prop, you are playing a role.
Good design is empathy in action. It’s how you understand why something exists, how it feels and what story it tells. Treat every assignment like a character study, and you’ll find yourself acting through your craft.
- Build worlds, not assets
Anyone can make a thing. Professionals make meaning.
When you’re asked to design a chair, don’t just sketch the shape, imagine who built it, what materials they used and why it exists. That’s how props become lore and backgrounds become storytelling.
“I did a field guide for rocks and plants, on how they were made. It wasn’t what they asked for, but they liked it so much they changed the art style,” Merghart said.
- Find your hook
In a world full of talent, the most memorable people have a hook. It might be your story, your culture or your personality. Find what’s unique about you and practice introducing yourself with confidence and charm.
The more you practice, the more natural it feels and the easier it gets to make real connections.
- The process is the point
The secret no one tells you: great art comes from iteration, not inspiration.
Sketch. Thumbnail. Layout. Light. Revise. Repeat.
“Don’t fall in love with your first draft. The magic happens between versions three and seven,” Merghart said.
- Be nice, be curious, be everywhere
Your reputation travels faster than your portfolio.
Show up. Shake hands. Go to events like LightBox Expo in Burbank or your local IGDA game jams. Be humble and genuinely interested in other people’s work. You never know which conversation will lead to your next opportunity. When you get the chance, be ready.
- Learn the tools, don’t worship them
AI, Photoshop and Blender are all just tools. Use them to work smarter, not lazier.
Some studios ban AI outright; others use it for thumbnails or speed-paint references. Learn enough to stay relevant, but remember: creativity isn’t in the software, it’s in your perspective.
If the tech helps you express your vision, use it. If it replaces the vision entirely, step back.
Epilogue: survive, then thrive
The creative industry will test you, but it’ll also give you a cohort of like-minded individuals, a craft and a lifetime of stories. You’ll fail and laugh your way through deadlines and remember the simplest advice of all.
“Be nice. It’s how you get rehired, remembered and invited back,” Merghart said.
