How to create art every day while staying motivated AND confident.
I spent many years of my life hating my own art and taking long breaks. Periods of sometimes years where I made no art at all.
I would perhaps make something I thought was amazing and it would get no recognition. Or I would publicly post a piece I love and watch it get torn apart virtually. Or maybe I tried to execute something and failed miserably. This stuff can be emotionally exhausting and sometimes it can even make you want to give up. But I am hoping I can motivate you to keep going. I now create art every day and the more I create art the more established I find myself becoming as an artist.
Don't compare yourself to other artists.
Now, I don't mean not to learn from great artists. Do that, for sure. But if you find yourself thinking things like "I will never be that good so why should I bother?" I suggest you remind yourself that becoming a great artist takes years, and YEARS of practice, patience, and dedication. You won't be as good as that artist overnight and you won't be if you dwell on how "bad" you feel now about your art. Just keep creating and you will improve.
Lose some of your expectations.
Stop expecting so much. I have countless times poured my heart and soul into a project for days or weeks and that made me have some sort of expectation. This will be well received. This will win the contest. This will get purchased right away. You may end up building yourself up for something to ultimately let you down. Instead focus on how much you are enjoying the process of creating. Something I do now when I create paintings is I decide I am completely fine keeping them on my wall and I don't need them to sell. As of right now, I have sold all of my paintings and need to work on more but I wasn't sitting and waiting and being sad about it when they were hanging on my own wall. Easing up on your expectations may improve your overall mood and help you to keep creating rather than feeling rejected.
Try out new mediums when you feel a lack of inspiration.
I did nothing but realistic pencil portraits for years.
Such as that one. ^ But after awhile I started to feel burnt out and tired. I was bored. Also, it's hard selling black and white pencil pieces and creating NOTHING else as an artist was a sure fire way to not make my passion into my career. Everything changed when I hung out with a friend who was a sculptor and I made my first polymer clay piece.
That little guy. He made it to the front page of reddit gaming and was retweeted by "Geek &Sundry" but more importantly I had FUN while making him. I wasn't being a perfectionist and I was just enjoying the process. I then branched out more. Creating a very niche coloring book called "Sad Girl" and also started painting with acrylics. I now try to switch it up if I get bored. I don't ever do the same exact art or style day after day because that drains away my vitality and having vitality is a key component of being a successful artist.
Just do it. Even if it's just a doodle.
The main thing is to "just do it". Even if you lack energy or inspiration do SOMETHING. Even a small creation. More often than not you will find that just the act of creating something small may spark your inspiration and you will end up creating more than you planned. So get out your pencils, paint, yarn, musical instruments, pen, whatever and start creating for at least 30 minutes, every day.
Every. Single. Day.
Okay, okay, you can take a day off for some extreme circumstances but you better have a dead relative or something. Otherwise, no excuses pick up the damn utensil of your choice and make something.
Nobody becomes the master of their craft without a long, hard road before hand. Remember that.
Actually another useful tip is to start keeping a timeline of your art with dates. If you feel a lack of confidence look at some work from many months/years ago. If you are practicing EVERY day this will eventually become very motivational!
Photos:
Paint:
https://pixabay.com/en/color-acrylic-paint-oil-paint-866102/
Sad Girl:
https://pixabay.com/en/girl-sad-crying-art-illustration-638061/
Create:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/llowrain/5523800294
Art Supplies:
I absolutely love this! The art is gorgeous! I believe everything, It took me 12 years to get good at art! People always have that attitude that it will happen overnight. So they give up.
if you really want to become an artist, I feel that to a certain degree you must suffer long nights of practice. It's not all fun, and it's not meant to be fun! It's about getting better and building the skills you can more adequately express yourself through the medium you are using. Great post!!
I passed by an art school today and realized that painted in huge graffiti letters on the side of it is: "Creer, Crear." IOW, Believe and create.
You have to believe in yourself and your vision in order to create. And, curiously, you have to create on a regular basis, as you said, in order to maintain your belief, or faith.
It's a self-reinforcing cycle!
Kudos!
I cant say enough how important every single bullet point of this post is. The internet can be a wonderful source of inspiration, but it can also be the boon of "there's always someone better at your craft than you are" and it can be incredibly easy to compare yourself or beat yourself up thinking you'll never be as good as that youtuber with a million subs (at least, that's how I've felt every time I look for a tutorial on whatever I'm struggling with).
Good art and great advice.
Yeah I did that myself too. I would find the best of the best artists and tried so hard to be as good as them and it became a joyless obsession. That is why I think mixing it up is important too. Remembering to have fun with your craft. It can be hard though.
Thank you for the inspiration!
thanks inspired and heartfelt post that reminded me I´m not the only one stunted... the best one here is, lose your expectations... : ) I dont mean you´re stunted! Your drawing is deeply beautiful. I guess we all hold our beathe sometimes, I am like you, can go years between being creative and i know its never a good sign
Thank you. <3 I honestly hope to never go years between creating again. Which is why staying on track is so important to me. I have been consistently creative for about a year now with no breaks. (like 14 years total with self-hate breaks thrown in)
That little cloaked wizard guy is the best
Great art work.
Thank you. :)
Such gorgeous art! I love the diversity in it, and it's really impressive that you master so many different styles and mediums!!
I waited all my life before I started doing art, I figured it wasn't any point starting now since every good artist had been drawing since they were a child... But then I just got over that stupid thought, and last year I started drawing, and I love it!!
Seeing posts like these get me really motivated to learn more and makes me want to try out different mediums and art styles. Thank you for sharing :)
Hello my friend,
thank you for the useful advices. I will try to learn from this and become a better artist :)
Great post. Keep doing what you are doing. Like your work
Thanks a lot! :)