These artists are unlikely to have movies made of them to inspire young people by the grand sweep of their emotional experiences, which is a shame. We are all being fed a very skewed vision of the creative life. The vision may be true of a few individuals, but is not a pre-requisite to becoming an enduring artistic figure. I would like to help shatter the myths of artists as victims and figures of tragedy. Having lived through some personal tragedy myself I can assure you that there is no nobility or romance in real misfortune, only in the courage of going on with our lives.
Great artists are meticulous rather than perfectionist.
A meticulous artist still knows when it is time to stop and move onto a new project. Great artists are focused rather than obsessed. Obsessed artists can lose perspective on their work. Focused artists see the process of completing a work through because they care, because they get a sense of fulfillment from it, not b ecause of a neurotic compulsion. Until they have experienced it for themselves, many people have a hard time imagining anyone making a self-motivated longterm commitment to anything, and yet upon occasion it does happen.