If I'm being really honest, art for me is a hobby. I never really got into it professionally. I don't know color theory, I don't know shading, perspectives, and all those technical aspects, but I make pretty decent sketches. This one isn't just a sketch though. As you can see, it has everything I just said I know nothing about, and if you look a little closer, you'd notice this art was made in collaboration with a professional artist (check him out on twitter @christianozoude).

Inspiration & Initial Sketch

I'm sure if you've ever compiled Rust on a potato machine, you'll have no trouble understanding this art. If we take a look at the elements in this piece, the first thing that catches your eye is the burning monitor. I'm trying to get some work done, but my machine is getting hotter than the surface of the sun.

The fan is working overtime, making sounds that would make a jet engine jealous, and the CPU temperature is climbing into territories that should require a hazmat suit. Yet here I am, refusing to admit defeat, watching my system struggle through what should be a simple compilation process.

Even with everything not entirely working as expected and processes running slower than the sloth on a slow day, there's still a smile on my face. I'm telling everyone watching me that everything is perfectly fine with my little gesture, though there's definitely a hint of embarrassment behind my eyes. You know that feeling when your demo starts failing right when someone important walks by your desk? Yeah, that's the vibe.

Don't forget the Windows machine sitting in the trash bin. Since i switched to Linux in ~2020, I've never looked back. Asides the ease you get from software development, you don't have to deal with those annoying Windows updates that always seem to happen at the worst possible moment, or those bizarre ads that somehow show up in your operating system startup menu (for real).

*Dont

Though the title says "Give Up," I hope you can see the irony and humor behind it. because even when my program takes what feels like months to compile, even when my machine sounds like it's preparing for takeoff, even when I'm pretty sure I can smell something burning that probably shouldn't be burning, everything somehow works out in the end.

The art captures that moment of stubborn optimism that every dev knows well. That moment when logic says you should probably take a break, maybe just buy an M4 mac (which i ended up doing btw), or at least close a few of those browser tabs, but instead you just give a little wave and keep pushing forward.

So please don't give up, be kind to your PC instead.