Hi! I wanna ask for your advice about art recognition. The thing is I like the way my drawings turn out, I think it's decent. But i think others don't think the same because almost nobody likes it, Ive tried art communities, drawing for popular people but i'm swept aside with other cool artists. I want to be fine with that really but what if I was doing it wrong? What if I was too boring? Or my style is ugly? How would I know if something was wrong with me if no one said anything?
I am the least helpful person to ask about art recognition, because frankly I don’t care and never have. I’m grateful for the appreciation, but if I was never recognized it wouldn’t stop me either. It hasn’t stopped me before, it won’t in the future either.
Anyway, it’s the running joke of the artist world that what you put your heart into will largely be unappreciated, and what you put little effort in will somehow be a hit. I don’t really care why that is, even if 1 person likes it or 5,000, what I appreciate isn’t that I’m recognized, it’s that someone (or people) came along that went “this means something to me” and I think that’s a pretty beautiful way to connect to people whom you may not know exist, that at a certain point of time my work connected to someone, and took it with them, and they’re passing on their voice through that consumption. But, that’s only a byproduct of connecting to myself first and foremost. If I’m not satisfied with what I do, it doesn’t matter how many people say they love it, because I’m the only audience I try to succeed by, and if I fail with myself then I failed in what I was trying to accomplish with my work.
I take a lot of comfort from the fact that when I picked up a pencil and drew, I just drew. For me. Because I wanted to. Because I just liked it. Those are still my current reasons, even in the complications of adult living. I see no reason why the existence of other people should get in the way of my need to create. I also see no reason why I should take other people’s feelings about my work personally, because in my eyes it seems very little to do with me. Their feelings about what they digest are their own, and entirely different from mine. They have as little ownership over my intent and feelings about what I draw as I do with ownership of their feelings about what my drawings mean to them – which is to say, my art is not owed recognition. My art is simply my art. It will exist before, present, and after, because I choose to create it and to leave it for others to consume, and what they take from that consumption is frankly none of my business, and vice versa it’s none of their business what I get out of it either.
So, with this understanding, how can my art be wrong? How can my style be ugly? How can my art be boring? My art is interesting to me. It’s right to me. It’s beautiful to me. I don’t need the validation or opposition of others to change my mind on that. If I’m dissatisfied with my work, it’s on my own merits and only my own, and it is up to me to change things to get to a place of satisfaction.
Incidentally, this mindset frees you from the jealousy and competition of “other cool artists.” They have their own feelings about their work, and other people have feelings about their work, that is also none of my business, so there’s no threat in being “swept aside.”
Basically just figure out what YOU want out of your work, and where you want to be, and what you want to grow into, and keep your nose in your own sketchbook. Time spent chasing validation is time wasted on figuring out your mission.
germansingergirl
titsay
kaledo-art
romaincrisis
annaxmalina
dailybridgerton
prguitarman
origamiaround
