(Hello, I hope wherever you are in the world, you’ve been having a lovely morning, evening, or night. And if you weren’t, then I hope reading this will bring your mood to a better state. Because you are worth it, and deserve happiness. 🙂
Before I start today’s post, I would like to address the little issue that came up when I had published my post last time. There seemed to be a some technical difficulties. You may have received multiple emails/notifications indicating that I had posted. Which was NOT intended. The bug has been fixed so hopefully it won’t happen again. Sorry if this caused any trouble.)
Recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time drawing, writing, and animating. It’s been a continuous process of coloring, shading, distorting, filming, and frame calculations. All while figuring out if what I made looks good or if I should throw it into the garbage.
As you can see, I handle failure very badly.
You see, as soon as I get really hooked on a project, I don’t rest until it’s reached the point of perfection. And when it isn’t, I get really frustrated and try again and again to make it look the way I want it to. Sometimes it’s really difficult to reach that point.
Creating things is fun of course, but it also can be mentally draining.
As an artist, you will be subjected to praise and criticism; just like anyone else. And in many cases, most of the criticism comes from the artist themselves. Someone else may say that it looks good, but there is always something that you may find to be wrong in whatever you’ve created. You might think:
“Why didn’t I ink this better.”
“Why did I use this marker?”
“Why did I only use this many frames per second?”
“Why is my voice so out of pitch?”
You might look at another person’s pieces and wonder, “Why can’t I do it like they do? Why is theirs so much better?” But in hindsight, thinking like that won’t make you feel any better. It’s going to discourage you from doing what you do best. Which is being the person you were born as. And that also means doing what you want to do in life. Don’t constantly criticize yourself harshly. Constructive criticism is good, example:
“This part looks good, but maybe I could use a different medium next time.”
“I’m proud of this! But what could I do to make it slightly better?”
( I use the term “artist” very loosely. Art itself manifests into a countless number of forms. Not just traditional painting and drawing. I’m talking music, film making, photography, sculpture, writing, fabrics, and so much other amazing things that I don’t have enough space to list. Everyone is(and can)be an artist in any way. )
Art is not a weak subject, far from it actually. It can move you to tears, or make you happier then you were moments before. And the process of creating something is euphoric and is kind of like a meditation for the mind. No matter what medium. When you are creating art, you are taking a piece of yourself and letting it reside in what you’ve created. You’re trying to convey a message through something else, so the person who will eventually view it can feel something from it.
But it can be a frustrating process to figure out how to do that.
Painting?
Words?
Drawing?
Sculpture?
Photograph?
Film?
Fabric?
Music?
Etc. Etc.
There are endless options when it comes to expressing yourself and what you would like to convey. But you also have to think about how your going to find the following things:
Tools.
Materials.
TIME.
The first two can be acquired physically or digitally, and there are many materials that you may already have at home. But if you’re a pretty busy person, it can be hard to fit in a certain recreational activity or hobby. But then again, you shouldn’t spend all of your time working. You’re going to stress yourself out and I don’t think you will even be able to function properly if you just work all the time. You’re only human right?
Anyway, I think that part of the reason why art is so important, is because it gives you the freedom of creation and versatility. There are no guidelines or rules for art that strictly say what it should look, feel, or sound like. That’s why it’s can be so calming and atmospheric.
Atmospheric?
At-mos-pher-ic.
Is that the right word for this?
Right, back to art.
I strongly suggest that you take the time to do something artistic in your free time. It could just be coloring for 5 minutes, or playing around with a music app. Whatever it is, you don’t need super-amazing-extra-fantastic-beautiful-gorgeous-complicated skill. As long as you’re having fun and relaxed, that’s all that matters.
The reason why I went on a whole rant about not criticizing your art and just flowing with it and yada yada, is mainly because we as humans can sometimes have the tendency to overthink things. And with all the chaos our world is in right now, all of us could do well with some calm I’m sure.
Don’t think too much about what you’re doing and just flow with it. You’re a leaf that has fallen off a tree and you have now fallen into a slow running river. Trust it. Let the water flood around you and guide you along a peaceful journey that leaves you breathing steadily and your mind free of thought.
When your doing art in order to relax… DON’T STRESS OUT OVER LITTLE THINGS. It’ll only make you feel even more mentally drained. So try to forget about everything that’s going on in your life and just make art. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it doesn’t have to be shown to anyone. You’re doing this to make yourself happy and at peace. And that’s all that matters for now.
I hope all of you artists out there found comfort in today’s post, and even if you aren’t an artist, you don’t have to be one in order to pick up a brush or start some wicked story just on your phone. You don’t need special skills to make yourself happy.
Stay safe, stay happy, and make some art you beautiful people!