For students, the school year’s end is just weeks away. It’s been a little over 22 years since I last sat in a classroom. During my time as a graphic design student, my teachers taught what they considered to be good design, what rules could be broken (and not), and that failure was not an option. However, we were required to produce work that met their standards for the class or we didn’t make the grade.
Art (and academic) courses are designed to provide students the tools to succeed in their future ventures, whether personal or professional. What is not taught, however, is by what means to maneuver obstacles that will inevitably rise up during their artistic journeys.
My art instructors did not discuss creating simply for our own edification – if you wanted to be a designer you were creating for pay and at the instruction of clients. They promoted networking professionally, but not personally. Questioning the industry as they knew it at the time (or when they worked in it) was not allowed.
Whether creating for personal enrichment or professionally, here are 10 things that artists should embrace:
1: It’s OK to have failed projects.
Very few folks produce amazing work on their first attempt. Unfortunately, in many art classes, teachers judge students’ work on their first and only attempt. They are given only the class period to produce a finalized piece. The grade given is the teacher’s final judgment of their skill, and perhaps of their future in an artistic career. Many students, regardless of age, may take this to heart, and if given a bad grade on a project, may easily give up on creativity. Not all teachers remind us that it took Michelangelo four years to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.2: Create for yourself, not others.
Too often, we let the opinion of others determine whether our work is good enough. Everyone has a different view on what is considered art. One person may like green, another may like blue. How do you create something that will satisfy both? You don’t. You produce the color that is in your heart. If we don’t create from the heart, then we are not being honest in our work.3: Read about art, artists and other creative folks.
One would think this is obvious, but in many instances teachers share only what is listed in the coursework material and/or on the syllabus. One page in our art history books is not enough to teach us the impact certain artists had on a genre or time period. With libraries, bookstores and the internet at our fingertips, you can research to your heart’s content and find out what really makes creative minds tick.4: Ask questions.
Asking questions is the simplest and most effective way of learning. We ask questions to solve immediate problems and open up pathways to myriad solutions. It never hurts to ask another creative mind for input and/or critique to help us improve or learn new methods as we travel the road of our artistic journey.5: Pay attention to your world.
Too often we go through the daily routine and pay little attention our surroundings. Sources of inspiration are everywhere and in everything if we can take a break from the mundane. Take a moment to break away, get out, and have a look around.6: Make friends and form networks.
The more, the merrier. Go to art/creative events, introduce yourself, and make new friends with a common interest. Joining online communities to share your work with or seek advice from (see Lesson 4) is beneficial as well. The more connections you can make, the more exposure you and your work get.7: Creative instructors are not always right.
Artists, writers or anyone involved with creativity working as an instructors have the ability to impact other people’s lives in meaningful ways. However, they aren’t always right – they are human, and they make mistakes. They can misjudge or see things from a biased standpoint. They may be knowledgeable, but no one is perfect.8: Failure WILL happen.
For every successful project, there are one or more failures that occurred before success could be declared. I’ve spent more time starting projects over again than producing finished pieces that I am satisfied with. Failure: it happens. It gets frustrating at times, but you have to pick up the brush again, repaint over the mistakes, and move on. Everyone has experienced failure at some point, whether artistically or in other areas in life. No one is immune to it.9: Share, but don’t give away all your secrets.
If you learn a new technique and gain value from it, why wouldn’t you want to share it with someone else? Sharing feels good, and when others learn from you they feel good, too. However, keep certain things unique to your own work secret.10: Why we need art.
Most important of all these, art improves our lives. It makes communities more beautiful and makes the spaces we work in more interesting. Our homes reflect our personalities through the art we choose to display. Art inspires and motivates. We need art to express ourselves we need to surround ourselves with the expressions of others. Living in a solely functional world would lack meaning for our existence.
The idea that artists are their own worst critics is common, and it’s true. We often have high standards for our work, or are trying to meet the standards of others. Negative criticisms may be internalized, which then feeds fear of failure and/or judgment. If we awe could embrace the points made above, we might feel more free in our creative processes.
