Often our artwork disappoints us, it doesn’t live up to our expectations or standards that we are looking to fulfill.
- 1 min. short (being patient)
- 2 min. video (lacking skills)
- 43 min. video
Hear concrete strategies for how to stay patient with your development as an artist and how to deal with the inevitable frustration you will have with your artwork.
Discussion by Art Prof Clara Lieu and Teaching Artist Jordan McCracken-Foster.
![Figure Sculpture, banner](jpg/img_9267.jpg)
Video Walkthrough
- Get rid of your expectations for your artwork!
- So much of the artwork we make we don’t like, and that’s normal.
- Many of us look at our artwork, and all we can see is mistakes.
- Let your art surprise you, it’s okay, and sometimes better when the artwork didn’t turn out the way you initially wanted it to.
- “Mistakes” can sometimes lead us to getting results that we really like, or give us ideas for something we didn’t anticipate.
- Don’t have a concrete picture in your head of how you want the final product to look like, you will never be able to produce that image in your head.
- Think about your goals for an artwork as being an approximation, and goals that aren’t so specific that it’s tough to fulfill them.
- Separate looking at your artistic idols from making your artwork, it can be distracting, and even discouraging.
- If looking at other artists’ work is making you feel worse about your artwork, stop following them on Instagram so you aren’t seeing their work all the time.
- Don’t base your goals on another artist’s work.
- Create your own short term and long term goals that are concrete.
- Take matters into your own hands, achieving our goals is a lot tougher when we are waiting for someone else’s approval.
- If you make an artwork you don’t like, give it another hour.
- Often times that extra hour is what makes the difference!
- If you still don’t like the artwork after another hour, nothing has changed, it’s a win-win situation.
Jordan’s Tips
![Jordan Cartoon](png/img_4092-copy.png)
It’s really hard to not want to please people as an artist. I think that’s a big part of our craft, but in reality, you need to find ways where you validate yourself and not worry about the opinions of others so much.
![Jordan McCracken-Foster](jpg/022.jpg)
Opinions are like bellybuttons, everybody has one. 🙂
Artists mentioned
As a free educational source, Art Prof uses Amazon affiliate links (found in this page) to help pay the bills. This means, Art Prof earns from qualifying purchases.