The Numbers Game

Before I was a branding guy, I was a fine artist.
I actually have a masters degree in painting - not graphic design. Graphic design I picked up along the way. But that’s a story for another day.

What I really want to tell you about is one of my favorite artists of all time, Pablo Picasso.

In his lifetime Picasso created over 150,000 works of art. Drawings, sculptures, prints, engravings, murals, ceramic sand paintings.

It could be argued that he was one of the most prolific artists in history.

He banged stuff out right and left. Boom, there’s another drawing.

His studio was literally littered with...well, Picasso’s.

Boom, here’s another one...

He didn’t get caught up in perfection.

Now, let me ask you a question:

How many of these 150k works of art are considered to be masterpieces today?

Probably less than 100.

I know there is some curator out there turning red in the face right now thinking...”But every Picasso is a masterpiece!”

The fact is, less than .5% of the artistic content he produced ever mattered in the long run.

So if you’re creatively stuck and are being a perfectionist about that one piece of content you have had on your marketing ‘to do’ list for weeks...

Bang it out.

Because creating masterpieces is a numbers game.

You just have to start.