Don’t be afraid to make shitty art.
I am surprised that more people don’t stress this. We don’t have to show our crappy work, (I do, to make everyone feel more confident), but we have to make a ton of garbage pieces in order to get better. Practice and patience and not giving up is the only way. No one is good right away, and if they are it’s because they’re a total freak of nature. Even the best of the best fail sometimes. Some giant a-hole will point out the minuscule flaws and make an artist feel bad about their piece. Sometimes the a-hole is themselves and sometimes it’s their spouses, or their children. Stop caring. Just keep working. Because we’re always striving to be better, we plateau often. I look back at phases of art I went through and want to burn everything. But I made those ugly pieces to learn. I worked through personal blocks to better my understanding. Our standards of taste and style are continuously being elevated, but our bodies and minds aren’t as quick to catch up. Quit comparing your work to anyone else's. The wonderful thing about art is that it is individual. We all do things in different ways. Enjoy the act of creating, even if you're just making a blobby, too saturated dookie watercolor. If you are getting better, you will “level up” just by continuing through that “blocker.” Teaching your eyes and brain to communicate properly and being inspired to create something that is magickal takes time. Be patient. And keep working. I found this article that relates, and thought I’d pass it on. How to overcome the fear of failing Overcoming the Fear of Failure: A Guide for ArtistsBy Dan in Art Business Advice > Motivation 1. Start by risking small, not large. But even if it’s small, start risking something today. Risk anything; it doesn’t matter what—the point is, get used to that fear. What you risk may have nothing to do with your art. You might try a new food, a new sport, a new group of friends. Try karaoke for heaven’s sake, if you’re scared of it. Get used to the fear, and get used to the failure. Then proceed to steps 2 and 3. 2. Write down your successes Depending on how innately talented you are, you might find yourself more successful than you thought you’d be. Write those successes down, and keep that list somewhere you can refer to when you start to feel the fear of failure creeping back in. Reminding yourself of past successes is a very real way to bolster your courage. You can also use this list to think up more difficult challenges you’d like to overcome. 3. If you fail, write down WHY We fail for a reason, remember? So when you fail (and you will) start a new list that focuses on WHY you failed. The point of this list is to help you succeed in the future—to show you what you shouldn’t do next time, or show you that certain circumstances were out of your control. Sometimes failure has very little to do with our own abilities and skills, and everything to do with timing, location, and the whims or abilities of others. We can still learn from those failures, of course. . . we just learn something different. 4. Diversify your risk Like stocks in the stock market, we should be risking our artistic talent in as many different venues as we can. You never know where you’ll find customers for your work—or the type of work that will find customers. I still believe that focusing on one niche target market is the best way to create a solid “brand” and increase your return customers, but there are always ways to diversify within your niche. Note cards, art cards, t-shirts, custom work, on-location art, collaborative events, and so on. . . there are many ways to market your art, and many types of art to sell. Try some or all of them until you get a feel for what works best for you. THEN you can focus whatever brings in the biggest returns. 5. Lock yourself into attempting your goals No matter how hard you work at overcoming your fear, it can still sneak up on you when you least expect it. I’ve found that the best way to overcome this is to commit to a course of action so that your only way out is to succeed. This is the “fear as a motivator” approach, and I absolutely love it. I like diving into something and feeling that fear, knowing that I’m committed—sometimes financially, sometimes just by a promise that I’ve made to someone else. Once you’re truly committed, you’ll find new energy to research, experiment, and flex your creative muscles far more than if you’d just kept sitting on the fence. Take a look at yourself. Are you holding back from a fear of failure? If so, don’t wait any longer: start risking, start committing, and start making your goals a reality.
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Well, I’m glad you’re not dead.
I just have a mental health issue. I imagine your death in so many ways. It’s not that I want you dead, It’s just that my fear takes over. Every minute a different And more horrific Way that you died. I see it. Car accident. Road Rage. A drunk driver hits you. You are the drunk driver. You found your boy, He’s the one that crashed and you found his car Or came upon the police scene. Now he’s also lying there, dead. You’re screaming in agony, Because now I killed him too. I imagine how the officers pulled up, then told you. I wonder what their response time will be And how long it takes them to find me. To tell me you’re dead. But then you walk in. Like nothing happened. Usually you were out drinking and chose not to call. Because you knew I’d be annoyed. But sometimes it’s because you washed your phone. But you still could have called when you left work. It would have been nice to know you weren’t dead. For that hour That I imagined it. |
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July 2023
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