Pete Sanfaçon : Illustrator

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April 2003
April 2003
May 2003
August 2003
September 2003
Corvette Prince Drooling Gene with Bass Gene with Tongue in Shirt Paul with Mic
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
January 2004
Ace in T-Shirt Old Man of the Mountain Cottage Peter in Leather Vest Early KISS in Black
March 2004
May 2004
June 2004
September 2004
December 2004
Nomar with Bat Steven Tyler Paul with Arm Raised Gene Sticking Tongue Out Whipple Mansion
January 2005
March 2005
May 2005
November 2005
March 2006
Jetty Granite Navajo Boy (from a photograph by Carl Moon circa 1905) Gene With Goatee Paul with Guitar Under Leg Wolf Robe, Southern Cheyenne
August 2006 August 2007 November 2007 December 2007 July 2008
Josh Buffy Sainte-Marie Marine Connolly Kids Baseball Glove
December 2008 April 2009 September 2009 December 2009 March 2011
Rose Family MariJo Moore Pelham Street The Pitcher Father and Son
July 2011 August 2011 May 2012 November 2012 June 2013
Black Belt Gene With Arms Out Ellie Jim Thorpe Lanoies
April 2014 March 2015 August 2015 February 2016 September 2016
George Carlin Self-portrait Eyes of the Artist Right Hand Copper & Osseo
January 2017 February 2017 October 2017 February 2018 May 2018
Ace & Sara Francy Portrait of the Artist at Work The Unblinking Man Untitled Self-portrait
August 2018 September 2018 November 2018 November 2018 December 2018
The Scar Hear Slumber Faithe Virginia Lee
December 2018 January 2019 March 2019 April 2019 April 2019
Self-portrait in 2B
					The Beard
					Looking Left One
					Looking Left Two
					Looking Left Three
June 2019 August 2019 October 2019 March 2020 May 2020
The Montanaris
					Three-Part Artist
					The Dot
					Portrait of the Artist on Dark Background
					Lockdown
August 2020 October 2020 January 2021 May 2021 May 2021
The Novelist (Part I)
					The Novelist (Part II)
					Generations
					Anniversary
					Did You Hear That
October 2021 April 2022 June 2022 November 2022 March 2023
B.B. King Sanfaçon Sans Spectacles Cheyenne My Friend Jen Doro
November 2023        
       

On March 31, 2003, I began reading The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. What I found so remarkable about this book was how the author seemed to be speaking directly to me. He identified the fundamental roadblock to creative expression and achieving success. In a word: Resistance. According to Pressfield, Resistance is that malevolent force within us all that prevents us from pursuing any creative aspiration. In fact, the goal of Resistance is to simply talk you out of ever being creative again by systematically, consistently, and repeatedly forcing you to question your worth and your talent and your ability to be who you really are.

Pressfield compares Resistance to a firebreathing dragon hellbent on our ultimate destruction. It is up to the artist to take up the sword and battle that son of a bitch every single day. By choosing not to fight, we have already lost. To help me visualize Resistance as a dragon, I have a framed illustration of a fierce dragon in my studio, along with a pewter sculpture of a knight brandishing a sword in his own battle with the Beast.

For years after college I would find myself struggling to sit down at the drawing table and do my work. I'd put it off 'til later, make excuses, and come up with new projects that would usurp my valuable drawing time. I've identified the feeling I undergo whenever I move from the couch to the drawing table. Remember the scene from The Matrix where Neo takes the red pill and his mind goes through that traumatic transformation? Well, my drawing brain is so unlike my non-drawing brain that the transformation I must undergo just to sit at my drawing table is as traumatic as that scene in The Matrix. While I'm there—and for hours afterwards—I'm on a kind of high to which nothing else can compare. To me, the computer-generated system known as The Matrix in the movie is Resistance, and the battle against Resistance is as much a constant battle as the one featured in the movie.

To date I have read The War of Art eight times. I own two copies that have been personally autographed by the author. If you have a solitary creative nerve in your being, you must read this book. I urge you to visit Steven Pressfield's website and purchase a copy.

All of the illustrations presented here were created during this "War of Art" period (since March 31, 2003).


All illustrations © Pete Sanfaçon. All Rights Reserved.

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