11-03-2021, 06:30 PM
Read through the latest replies and decided to add my 5 cents to the topic. It's considered right to have a goal and work hard and try and do your best, but from my experience this may not be an answer or a recipe for something worthwhile. Working hard can drain you and leave you without ever achieving the goals you've set for yourself. The most fun and the best results i had from drawing or painting was when i didn't care much about these results in the first place, it was like toying around, exploring but with excitement. And for me excitement doesn't equal hard work. Maybe if it's a scientific research or you're chasing some achievements in sports, hard work is the thing.
Nowadays, when people get into art, they get so overwhelmed by the quality and industry standards they think it's all hard work. Not at all, i guess there's loads of fun, exploration and lightness so to say, behind any good drawing or painting. At the end of the day, i don't see much point to grind through drawing and painting as if you're coal mining, inflicting endless criticism upon yourself. You said you want to be superb. And how will you know when you're superb? Maybe you''re right now, it's all based on comparison. Be better, do your best, you're not good enough. Sometimes these work-hard mindsets seem vague and super shallow. And also drive people nuts and lead them to burnouts sooner or later because you only have a certain amount of energy, you get tired and objectively can't produce the best possible work like a factory line 24/7. It just doesn't work that way.
I think this happened because our economy has messed up the art world. It has become one big market and social platforms like instagram, facebook e.t.c. are only accelerating this process. And we are becoming more and more result-oriented in every sphere of life. Do more, do better, otherwise you're not achieving, not getting likes or that job at ILM and so on. And even when you get superb, get the "dream" job, or thousand likes or whatever it is, then what? I'm not trying to demotivate you from achieving your goals or anything but i understood that goals don't work for me. It's the process, the excitement about lines, shapes, values and forms. That's what keeps it going for me.
Nowadays, when people get into art, they get so overwhelmed by the quality and industry standards they think it's all hard work. Not at all, i guess there's loads of fun, exploration and lightness so to say, behind any good drawing or painting. At the end of the day, i don't see much point to grind through drawing and painting as if you're coal mining, inflicting endless criticism upon yourself. You said you want to be superb. And how will you know when you're superb? Maybe you''re right now, it's all based on comparison. Be better, do your best, you're not good enough. Sometimes these work-hard mindsets seem vague and super shallow. And also drive people nuts and lead them to burnouts sooner or later because you only have a certain amount of energy, you get tired and objectively can't produce the best possible work like a factory line 24/7. It just doesn't work that way.
I think this happened because our economy has messed up the art world. It has become one big market and social platforms like instagram, facebook e.t.c. are only accelerating this process. And we are becoming more and more result-oriented in every sphere of life. Do more, do better, otherwise you're not achieving, not getting likes or that job at ILM and so on. And even when you get superb, get the "dream" job, or thousand likes or whatever it is, then what? I'm not trying to demotivate you from achieving your goals or anything but i understood that goals don't work for me. It's the process, the excitement about lines, shapes, values and forms. That's what keeps it going for me.