I’m fighting artist’s fraud and it’s harder than fighting writer’s block. All I can think of is “Man, this is shit. I’m shitting. I’m cooking shit. Nobody’s going to like this shit I’m making.” I’m an artist and I feel like a fraud.
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Well, at least I can say, you’re not alone in that boat! :}
People rarely understand the things I make. Very rarely does anyone ever even see what I make, and they virtually never care about it.
What keeps me going is the knowledge that I was put on this earth for some reason, and I know there must be a light at the end of the tunnel at some point, because this is the case for every human being. Your skills and passion are not an accident.
My only advice is to just keep on making the stuff that you want to make. Write about what interests you. Don’t waste any time thinking about whether it’s good enough or not if it’s good enough for you. No one ever made a masterpiece by deliberately trying to make a masterpiece. Make the thing only you can make, and make it the best that you can make it.
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Before you worry about whether other people like what you cook, make sure its something you like
The path to becoming a good cook is paved in getting washed and having wack days
But before you can be clean with it, you gotta get washed
If 100,000,000 people like something I cooked, i’m one of them. If 100 people liked what I cooked, i’m still one of them, if 1 person liked what I cooked, that’s me baby. if 0 people liked what I cooked then reality has finally shit itself because I’m everlasting
Really the main take away is that you shouldn’t gauge your skill with how people like what you make, I would suggest focusing on a goal and work towards that. Whether that goal is to improve on something in particular or to finish something you’ve wanted to do for a long time. Besides, it’s not fair to yourself to assume people around you don’t appreciate the work and effort you put into the art you make, like counts and comments aren’t everything and alot of the times a piece of art we love we might not even say anything (I’m mostly speaking for myself here because there’s lots of really great stuff but I rarely say anything beyond going “sheeesh” in my head")
Just keep on keeping on, picking up the pencil was the first step to becoming an artist, now you just gotta get on the grind to get to where you want to be.
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There’s a handful of things and thoughts that helped me get past that feeling of “my art is shit”:
- Fun: Reminder to have fun whilst making art! Like Reggie once said: “If it isn’t fun, why bother?” If you feel frustrated and you’re not having fun, park or discard it and come back later.
- Compare yourself to your yesterday self, not to others: Most of the time when I think my art is shit, it’s because I compare my stuff to others. Don’t do this and instead compare the art you made now to the art you made a year ago.
- Nothing has to be perfect: Reminde yourself that it’s okay to do something a little sloppy or drop the bar of quality on a few parts. You’re not making something that your life depends on! (I hope at least, because that is a pretty stressfull situation otherwise)
- Work in increments: You get to decide when your piece is finished. Keep in mind that as long as you throw yourself at it, you will one day and up with something you’re satisfied with. Plus, you can take little breaks every now and then to refresh and look back at your piece.
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Create for yourself. If you like what you make, that’s key. Likes on social media will get old pretty quickly.
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