#notinthemood

II YouTube II Instagram II Print Shop II

Snow apocalypse! 😩 All my daffodils and hyacinth are covered in snow and lying face down in the garden. Why, why whyyyyy? All my poor babies, crushed 😢 Nothing to do but IGNORE the nasty snow and hope it goes away.

Ok, let’s start off by saying there’s no way I can tell you whether your work is at the level to be considered, because I don’t have any way of seeing your work, and you’re not telling me where you’re applying. Which I assume you realize, so you’re not asking me an actual concrete question about your chances. 

You’re screaming into the void, hoping the void will give you the encouragement you need to get back to work. But only you can do that. Not any outside force.

You are, for some reason, frozen, and reaching out to the internet for help, or explanation, or permission, or more likely, all three. Unfortunately the internet is not going to save you, because the person you most need to be talking to is yourself. Artistic blocks have nothing to do with art, or creativity, or imagination. They almost always have to do with fear. And honestly, I’ve been answering these posts long enough to feel the fear coming off you in waves.

It sounds like you’re stuck in that rut between “I love to make art” and “Everyone tells me it’s impossible to be a successful artist and I should do something else” and the longer you stay in that place the more likely it is that you are going to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. You’re scared they’re right. But you’re also scared to give up your dream and be a non-artist. You have to get out of that place, and the only way to do it is to lighten up the pressure.

So stop putting the weight of dreams, success, money, etc on top of your pencil. No one can draw a straight line under that kind of pressure. Stop making every line you draw have to be worthy of your idea of what A PROFESSIONAL ARTIST would draw. You are putting entirely too much pressure on your art. Go get a job. Any job. Something to buy you some time to make art without pressure. Give yourself 6 months. Say right now I’m going to find a way to keep myself afloat and I’m only going to make art for myself, and I’m not going to worry about whether it’s good or not for 6 whole months. Then go make art! Don’t judge. You are taking a judging vacation for 6 months.

And at the end of that 6 months, look at what you’ve made. If you haven’t made anything then seriously, this is not the career for you. Keep art a hobby. You’re not the kind of person that can be creative on demand. That doesn’t mean you aren’t a REAL ARTIST. There’s no such thing. You can still do creative things for work, but maybe it’s not 100% of the time. 

If you HAVE done work you’re proud of, then keep going. Add pressure a little bit at a time. Try to build a portfolio of 10 good pieces. Apply for that internship! Do a few freelance commissions. Keep building. If you can work under X amount of pressure, then up it to the next level. Keep going.

All our lives we hear that it’s impossible to make it as an artist. Most people who say that mean it’s hard to earn money. It’s hard to earn money in any career. No one is giving out free money. People mean it’s very competitive. SO are a lot of other fields. The real reason it IS hard to support yourself just on your art because it’s very very very hard to be creative when you don’t want to be. And that’s the difference between a full-time artist and an artist who makes work on the side. Full-time means WHEN YOU DON’T WANT TO, WHEN YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE IT, and WHEN YOU’RE NOT IN THE MOOD. If you can be creative under those conditions, under the pressure of having to be an artist even when you don’t want to, then you can build a successful career. If you can’t, then it’s better to change your path now. There’s no shame in being a part-time artist, let it bring you joy and make your life better. Not everyone’s creativity is meant to carry their full weight.

—Agent Negative Space

Mornings, amirite?

@4theloveofkj 🔋