My Friend Is Creating Their IP.

Okay, so your friend is creating their IP. Very cool!

Now, how are they doing?

If they just started, and they’re happy, cool. Stay close. A few weeks later, they might be coming to you saying, “I stopped. It was too hard.”

It’s one thing when we’re in 3rd grade, and we tried it, and we tell our friend at recess our ugly secret.

It’s one thing if we’re adults, which most of us are, and we know a thing or two about how hard it is to finish an IP, because well? We, too, have quit before!

IP creation is hard.

As a friend, you are tasked with the hard discernment of…figuring out when you should tell them, “that’s okay, don’t worry about it. Good try!” or “Hey, you stinker, get back in the ring and fight! Finish.”

It’s very hard.

If you have a friend who has gotten very far, like at least half way, then pull for ’em and say, “hey, you can’t quit now. It’s almost done!”

If you feel like you don’t have the talent or the knowledge or even the authority to tell your friend how to improve or how to keep going, that’s okay. You can still say, “keep going.” It matters to have friends who encourage us along the way.

If you do know how to help them, just remember to ask if they want the help first, because sometimes the fun of it is in the struggle, and we fight alone, and we almost give up, but then we figure out our own way home.

If they are begging you for help? By golly. Help!

They will be very thankful for you in the end.

My Family Member Is Creating Their IP.

Okay, so by the time we get to family, it’s different.

If you are the parent watching, well, you know a lot more than your kid at this time. But…if you’re the kid wanting to help your parent? It’s different, definitely. Siblings have a bit of a challenge, and… Partners? Spouses? Completely different game for you too.

So by the time we get to family, we have to remember that people can be super sensitive to whatever our loved ones say about our work.

“Hey, that looks like a funny shaped pumpkin,” can be harmless to us, but to the artist in the family, it’s like, “Funny shaped? But…why?”

If you have analytical family members, then sometimes you have the other issue. “I love the way that looks, Honey!” And you get, “that’s it?” And all you can think of is, “What do you mean that’s it? I love it!”

For family members, all I can say is you are working off of your individual relationships with each other. We do not get 100% support all the time on our creative or passion pursuits necessarily. If you do, great! Keep it there. If you don’t? See how much support your family member needs or wants.

If they respond better to, “Good! That looks really cool,” then stay in the realm of compliments and general encouragement. If they actually like it when you say, “The pumpkin will look smoother if you straighten out this one curve here,” then you can give your family member a bit of technical support!

Everyone is different, but we kind of know the gig after a while. “Don’t bother Dad when he’s working! Okay, got it!” Or “Mom is always in a huff if I don’t give this a lookover. Better look at it now!”

It’s hard to generalize, because every family is different too. If you feel like your Family Member could use other means of support, whether you buy a painting or a print or you say, “hey, let’s get ice cream today while it’s still hot outside,” then those are all good support lines too.

If you are fortunate enough to have someone who has artistic knowledge and skill to guide your Family Member along, take a look and see how conducive your Family Member is to getting art helps. Sometimes people are happy where they are, figuring things out alone, but other times they can secretly wish for a little tip or two. It is on you to discern gently and lovingly, and remember, relationships do not always take time to change if they are not on the best of terms.

One kind gesture can turn any family member around, so even if your Family Member is a bit distant to you, reach out and give them a compliment or ask them about their art or IP. They’ll warm up to you.