Patreon Ramble #15 - The Need for Constant Escalation

Keep doing you, that's what I enjoy and will continue to watch. I, personally, don't care about TV shows etc... your youtube content is just right :)

Janis Skuja

Dude you're like a creativity therapist. Every time I feel uninspired, I come here to hear another laid back pep talk.

Roman Kremianski

If you make more, we still would want even more (if it would be the same quality, which i unterstand it can not be if you are not doing what you want to be doing). Awesome to be along for the ride, also have not nearly watched all of your "old" contend, but i also go to that treasure-trove when i feel like it (or the youtube algorithm found the perfect of your videos to fit in and recommends it to me).

Glad your doing exactly want you like to do. Stay true to yourself. You genuinely have inspired me to be myself so thankyou for that. Excited for your van trip

Too Busy Sleeping

Hey Joel I totally know how you feel here. As an illustrator if the next piece I'm working on isn't testing me in some way I don't get nearly as invested in it. In response to the van trip if you ever make your way up to Maine in this trip I'd love to buy you a beer or lunch or something! Your videos always make my day and I'm glad to help out any way I can!

I also have several cats who would like you to come play with them.

Rebecca Sunshine

I 100% identify with the “need for constant escalation” both in my creative endeavors and in work stuff; it’s so stressful and discouraging, like you’re “never enough.” (You, btw, are fab just the way you are!!! I like your rambly-ness, too. Keep doing what you’re doing! I feel like you’re giving advice just for me in this ramble, too, ha.) In your travels, I hope you’ll consider visiting Athens, Ga! It’s a weirdo music-artist-theater-strange-stuff town. I love how creatives can just kind of go crazy here. (And there are loads of interesting and strange places to film here!) I’ll happily put you up and feed ya and let you use our toilets- I’m a children’s librarian and I’ve raised lots of kids, so I’m safe. ;) Safe, fun, awesome adventuresome travels to you!!

Rebecca Sunshine

I struggle with the same, I have come to some terms at least with my opinion is that you need something to be looking forward to but at the same time making time for giving yourself a pat on the back for how far you’ve come. I think it’s always important to be challenging yourself In some aspect of life. Challenging yourself is how you grow, and it’s the best thing you can do. Exactly what challenge means is up to the individual, but I find without a purpose or something to look Forward to, many people succumb to destructive behaviors and depression. Love what you do brother, keep it up

ChronoFinale

Yo Joel, if you need a place to poop in Western Maryland hit me up, got a lovely place you can park your van and a nice toilet you can poop in

This was good advice. Have you put out some way of connecting with people during your trip like you mentioned? I’d love to participate. Near San Diego. Also I think we might be related.... like third cousins or something.

Mattytime

These rants are always strangly inspiring! Thanks.

L L Smith

thank you for this ramble, it hits home in a lot of ways I needed to hear. I'm a character commission artist for a living, and people are always pushing for me to go beyond that, but I'm really justcontent where I am right now. I think its okay to be content. I also think you taking time and putting out animations is a good thing. I actually started following you for your live action stuff first. I just like seeing what you like making, I think. Keep it up, however you want to!

Bunnib

I'm really excited for you to continue doing exactly what you want to be doing for as long as you want to. It's also very cool and inspiring to know that you are able to live comfortably this way, I'm grateful for the stuff you make.

Much love Joel! Keep doing what you love! I think it's very wise of you to just keep watering your own garden instead of getting a plot on someone else's land. Authenticity is refreshing in today's world. I also have been dreaming of getting a nice van to travel.

Zack Augustus

Ha-dribben dat chow clit sawwsssse

Eric McKenzie

Yknow. When you tell the collective “me/us” to have a good day, I believe you mean it. I hope you have a great day too, Joel.

Gehrig Campbell-Dempsey

Tucker's Last Stand has to be one of my favorite videos of yours. My partner and I watch it at least 3 times a month haha. The point of mentioning this is that there is so much gold in your non animated videos. I hope people can take your suggestion to heart and check out your other work.

I enjoy these little rambles more than you might know. They speak directly to my soul as a fellow creative. All the best.

Azroix

I find calibrating inspiration from these rants. I appreciate your authenticity. You're thoughts help me a lot as I am going through a confusing time right now. I thought I had a good plan for my life and career, but in the past year have learned I don't really fit in to the professional world because I am too slow. Right now I'm just trying to figure out where I do fit in and what I will be happy doing. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. It's helping. Good video. love you.

Hunter O

(by the way, I'm casually forgetting about the actual animators involved there - but I expect you get my point)

Jaap van der Velde

It's a good point - I've wondered something similar. What if Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland just had a YouTube channel? Sure, we wouldn't have Rick & Morty in its current form, but I can only imagine the endless stream of great videos with occasional genius that would come out of that duo. I think the value in the "escalation" lies in providing access to some thing you simply cannot do without a 'budget' or a 'team'. I think not escalating is the right choice for you, if you don't crave doing the things that remain out of reach - especially because you can't have the cake and eat it. If giving up what you love doing is required to do something you want to try, is it worth it, and is there a way back if you need it?

Jaap van der Velde

I relate to this ramble a lot. The specifics are all different for me, but the broader concept really hits home. Also, I'd be lying if I said I didn't find your channel because of that first animation, but after poking around the other videos for a couple hours, I absolutely stayed for the *entirety* of your content. From the recurring bits to the one-off sketches, the one constant across all your films is the love and passion that you so clearly put into each and every one. Trying to expand to some high-output content factory would kill that. No matter how often or how slowly you're releasing new stuff, as long as you're working at a pace that feels right to you and you still love what you're doing, it'll all be solid gold. If your goal is to be making good videos, you're exactly where you need to be. You've been there for a while actually, all that's changed is that more people have started to recognize it.

Contentment is such a necessary life skill.

This makes total sense. It's absolutely inspiring to hear the joy and pride in your voice when you're talking about what you've achieved and what you're doing next with your art. Love to see it! Have fun on the road, safe travels!!

Told AdultSwim to take a hike that's big dick energy

And please don't give into the people constantly asking for more. Any creative person understands how much effort and love it takes for you to make those videos. Those greedy folks simply don't understand. They're just consumers, wanting to be fed on a conveyer belt of your "product." They're not your true fans tbh. Instead of appreciating and absorbing your content, by the time they finish the video, they've forgotten it and want the "Next" thing. It's really toxic. If they had it their way, they'd bleed you dry so they can keep being fed! Stay true to yourself!

pinkcherrytrash

you are such a lovely spirit

Jay Gent

Honestly, I hope this capitalist age of hustle culture dies a horrible death. It's made so many people suffer and feel like they're not good enough/have to constantly improve. I think you're one of the forerunners of a new way of thinking/being in terms of work. Keep doing what you do!

pinkcherrytrash

A word you might use is "grasping".. you are not doing that. I love the character ofr your stuff and the obvious fact you give a shit. Turning it into a factory might be something you choose to do at some time or it might be something that happens over tiyby accident but you are having fun (I hope) and We're loving it. And if you do industrialize the do it on your own terms and keep the quality.

I’m really sorry to hear this. Not even speaking strictly creatively, I think it’s toxic how we tell people to do one thing and that’s their thing for their whole life. I feel like life should be a playground to try everything you want to but the systems we’ve designed make it hard to branch out once you’ve found/been assigned “your thing”. I hope you can find a way to break out, little by little!

Joel Haver

Nothing better than see a good dude doing his good stuff. Much love to you JH!

Ben Cotton

I totally agree with you, I think it's beautiful that you want to still keep making your own animations with your own touch to them. If I were you I'd just take those "give him a Netflix show!" comments as compliments and nothing more. It's a cute thing to say, but we all know once things go on Netflix or on TV they're never the same as when on YouTube, and they just don't have the same feel or authenticity. You do you man, you're great at it!

Noor

Appreciate and love you dude. Excited about your adventure and always proud to support you brother. Travel safely.

Kyle A. Ouellette

I agree 100% with the idea that it’s ok to know what you want, get there, and then enjoy it. I made the leap to “full time YouTube” and the most common question is always about how much more I can make and do and grow, and I’m like, “staying the course is totally fine”.

Tom Buck

I struggle with worrying that I sound rambly or non-coherent a lot, and I will say that you do in fact make complete sense and it is easy to understand why you are saying the things youre saying. I think you being true to your artistic standards, and general self-respect and vocalizing it is something the youtube community is desperately lacking from popular creators, so I always appreciate these sentiments.

Zane Berry

Very happy to hear you are enjoying still what you do, keep doing what you like doing, you are a big inspiration to me and I bet a lot of other people as well!

Very beautiful nature spots ya got Joel, very jealous, as Arizona is a hell scape with no where to go this time of year

Zane Berry

I feel this so deeply. I'm the sort of person who is always trying different things and wanting to learn and do different stuff, but people only want to pay me for the tiny subset of my skills that happen to be very lucrative, and I'm completely burned out. I wish I could make my living working on personal projects and small things, instead I'm stuck making my living in the software industry which has been slowly killing me for my entire adult life. And all the skills I wanted to develop have fallen by the wayside as my mind and body fall apart.

fluffy

BRO! I was there for BACON WRAPPED BACON PIZZA ICE CREAM and NACHO CHEESE MILKSHAKE SALAD, no one has been there for EPIC MEAL TIME like ME! 60,000 of their current 60,000 views per video are me! I NEVER LEFT!

Joel Haver

Dude. I can't believe you are SHITTING on Epic Meal Time like that. They are the most innovative YouTubers of our time you asshat!!! Did you not see "BIG MAC DEEP FRIED FOR AN HOUR" ??? Lost all respect for you man...

Eric J Bernhagen

Absolutely, though I think looking at our work as always needing to be "better" is a slippery slope. Such a mindset can devalue your past work, often merely on grounds of technical proficiency, when in actuality whatever you made spoke to yourself at the time regardless of your technical prowess or ability to effectively communicate all your ideas. I think allowing art to just be is often the healthiest approach, you're not always gonna top yourself nor should you. Rather than saying my art is always improving, I look at it as changing with me, my childhood home movies were as valid of an expression as my current feature length films in my eyes.

Joel Haver

If by escalation, you also mean wanting to make better work and improve, that’s a good thing. But if it’s a thing of, “oh now I have to move to Hollywood and set up my own production company and start pitching,” then yeah that’s not healthy (unless it’s something you want to do). YouTube is an amazing place that lets you improve your work in a place of contentment, instead of shifting your whole lifestyle to meet some expectation. You’re doing great right now, man. My motto is that we all move at our own pace. We all could go a little easier on ourselves.