A Little Punk, A lot of Perserverance

Standing in front of students as this year’s Goodman Banks Visiting Artist, illustrator, designer, and YouTuber, Chris Piascik delivered an assembly that was as funny as it was disarming. Self-deprecating, tattooed, and refreshingly honest, he walked through a career that by his own admission was never part of a grand plan.

“I didn’t try to do either of these things,” he said of becoming both an illustrator and a YouTuber.

Instead, his path was built on what he calls “accidental perseverance.” He showed the students a page from his notebook as a child with hundreds of cartoon figures, which verged on the obsessive, he admitted. Little did he realize at the time he could make a successful career from his doodles.

The screen behind Piascik pulsed with color, bold lettering, offbeat characters, and looping animations that felt equal parts punk, playful, and slightly unhinged in the best way. The room followed along, laughing and leaning in. Littered between his drawings were animated phrases: It’s Okay to Be Weird, Play is Research You Don’t Know You’re Doing, You Don’t Have to Have It Figured Out.

Piascik’s work, seen by millions through clients like Nike, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network, might suggest a straight line of creative success. But his story tells a very different story. At the center of it all is a simple rule. Draw something. Every day.  What began as a way to “trick” himself into creating became a 14-year daily drawing project, one that ultimately launched his career. Piascik’s drawing-a-day has been compiled into a book entitled 1000 Days of Drawing. His message to students was clear: talent isn’t the point, persisting is.

“Every career-changing moment came from my daily drawing project, not from being especially good at drawing,” he explained.

One of the most memorable moments came early in his talk, a story that felt instantly relatable. In his high school art class, the teacher instructed the students to draw an apple. How hard could it be, thought Piasek.  He looked around the room and saw classmates doing it better, and it rattled him. If he couldn’t draw the best apple in his class, how could he ever do this professionally? He nearly quit, but his teacher said that the aim isn’t perfection or realism, but expression. That pep talk gave him the courage to continue.

Some of those “side experiments, the ones he thought were a waste of time, ended up being the most valuable work he ever did. They led to major clients, new opportunities, and creative freedom.

As soon as the assembly wrapped up, a crowd, especially among middle school boys, gathered around Piascik with rapid-fire questions regarding frames per second, animation tricks, and software

During his time at KO, Piasek worked with several art classes. In one portfolio prep class, each student had tablets with small “blobs” on the screen. Piascek demonstrated to the class how to shape those blobs into characters – elephants, frogs, or dinosaurs. He showed his own work in real time, projected at the front of the class. He would change the page orientation, flipping it sideways or upside down, to sketch on top of the blobs and get different views and new ideas. “Play around,” he said, “explore different ideas. Once you have a direction, you can iterate on it.”

Much the same could be said for life.