I have always been attracted to particular personalities, genuinely artistic , often unrestrained in adolescence or even for a lifetime, some have not even concluded their studies, but have dedicated themselves entirely to their forms of expression and have managed to leave a mark, with the heart, sometimes humbly and distractedly.
They have chosen to be themselves at all costs, risking everything, without ever really "undergoing" the judgment of someone.

Characters, I fall in love with unusual characters, stubborn, funny, irreverent, brilliant.

There are many characters that left an indelible mark in the history and in my mind, the moment I discovered them distractedly, deepening a film or a reference to chance, to trace the history of these brilliant artists that could not have been anything else but shining genius.

The first one I would like to talk about has captured me with a comic and a speech, he's called: Neil Gaiman.

A few words about Neil Gaiman:

Neil Richard MacKinnon Gaiman is a british writer, screenwriter, cartoonist and journalist.
He is the author of novels, children's stories, television series, radio dramas, concept albums and much more. A natural talent.
From the information available on the web (because unfortunately I still haven't got the luck to know him personally), we read that he began his career as a comic strip artist at DC Comics, working on the comic Black Orchid, but his career was consecrated by a very successful series of comics entitled Sandman .

My interest for this character derives from a point of reflection:

In his famous, long-lived comic Sandman, the protagonists are deities , both positive and destructive, whose power is proportional to how many people believe that those gods have. They are not omnipotent deities, their power weakens if no one believes in them.

True power is not in the divine, but in those who believe in something.

An interesting concept, which is also instructive if you think that in life, the only things we believe in, are those for which we spend our time and make efforts, divert our path and change us as people, they form us as we are today.
If we had not believed in that path, whatever it is, we would not be here today and above all we would not be as we are.

Perhaps many have seen, in the recent animated movie Rise of the Guardians , a candidly adapted version of Sandman who is fighting the villains along with Santa, the Easter rabbit, the Tooth Fairy and Jack Frost.

It must be said that Neil Gaiman's Sandman instead has no doubt another aspect and another attitude.

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Moving from the interest for Neil Gaiman to emotion was a short step, moved by this fantastic speech at the University of the Arts graduating class of 2012 Philadelphia.
If you have not seen it yet, it will undoubtedly make you fall in love too with Neil Gaiman.
It is a lovely appeal to all those who really have art in their hearts and look for ways to bring out their own form of expression. It is an encouragement. It should be a mantra for everyone, especially on a social like Steemit.

My intention today is not to paraphrase his words, but to bring them to your attention.

Let yourself be inspired, let yourself be excited and most of all:

make good art.