Lately I’ve been feeling a shift in my work and process and I’ve been reflecting on it to see what it was that changed. After sitting on it for a while, I think I’ve narrowed it down to five simple things! I’d love to share them with you in the hopes they can help you on your art journey if you struggle with the same things I do. Before I get into the lessons I’ve learned, I want to talk about something all of us creatives hold over heads.

“The Bad Artist” Trope

I don’t like to think there is such a thing as a “bad artist” or “bad art”. This doesn’t mean I don’t have days where I think I suck, that happens all the time. What I mean is, at the end of the day, if you’re making things and getting creative, you’re an artist. The quality of what you’re making doesn’t matter. Quality is subjective, so it’s a baseless measurement of value, anyway. You’re an artist if you create. And truthfully - we are all artists in some shape or form. Some of us are creative with crayons and paint, some of us with music and words, some with chemical reactions, numbers, or problem-solving. There is an art to every craft and each of us thrives on expressing it in our own ways. So right now - stop telling yourself you’re not good enough, stop saying you don’t know how to be creative. We are all born creative. Creativity is a practice, not a gift. And the more you practice it, the stronger it becomes. It’s muscle training.

Now, let’s move on to the lessons!

Slow Down

This one comes first because It’s been the most impactful. Often times I would get started on a project and become frustrated with the end result, especially if I was trying something new. I would have this final image in my head and my work didn’t match it. It’d make me frustrated, angry, and make me feel like I was a “bad artist”.

I began to watch process videos of other artists I admire and I noticed something: they move a lot slower than I do. They prep a lot more, they sketch, build a color palette, and really take each individual piece of their work on its own journey. The same can be said for books, screenplays, films, etc. When you watch the behind the scenes process of how your favorite film came to be, there were tons of rejected drafts, lines, scenes, shots, etc. Sometimes entire scripts will be rewritten and refilmed if it doesn’t seem to work. This is when I remembered that art is not about the final result. Art is about the process! I was so focused on what the final outcome would be, that I was subconsciously rushing to get there without being present in my work.

After realizing this, I started to work a little differently. I changed my process in many simple ways, from literally just moving my pencil, paintbrush, or pen a little bit slower with more intention, to creating drafts or prototypes for projects I had a big vision for. Doing this led me to the next lesson I learned.

2. Let Go of Perfection.

One of the reasons I hadn’t really given myself the space to conceptualize ideas via drafts or prototypes was because I was always striving to nail things on my first try. For some reason I had this idea that if I wasn’t creating great work on the spot - then I wasn’t a “real artist”. I think I had this because all of my favorite pieces sprung out of nowhere, just pure intuition and play (my favorite painting, my favorite cardboard sculpture, my favorite monster). I found myself trying to catch that feeling over and over again - but you can’t really force intuition or inspiration. You’ll have days where you make beautiful things without planning, but it won’t be all the time. So get into the habit of letting go of perfection.

One of my favorite pieces of advice my husband gave to me a few years ago when I was struggling with some intense art block was “Make bad art.” Again, bad art doesn’t exist, so let me clarify. This advice helped me embrace the art I was making that I wasn’t happy with, the art I personally perceived as “bad”. It helped me fall in love with just the act of doing without worrying about making something “good”. It allowed me the audacity to flip to a new sheet of paper instead of giving up altogether. Making “bad art” is what introduced the next lesson I learned.

3. It’s Okay To Start Over.

If you’re going to let go of perfection, you also have to be okay with starting over. Even if you’re neck-deep in a project, even if you’ve invested time and energy and blood and sweat and tears. If you still love the project you’re working on but run into a roadblock, take a deep breath and backtrack to the last point you felt connected with it. Or even go beyond that. Play around, explore it from every angle. None of the time you’ve spent will be wasted because somewhere along the way, you learned lessons that you can now pull guidance from. This is the creative process in a nutshell and you are no less of an artist for starting from scratch.

If you’re starting over though, that means you have to use more supplies, which takes me to my next lesson.

4. Art Supplies is Meant to Be Used.

Okay, I don’t know if this is just something I struggle with, but ever since I was little, I’ve always tried to preserve my art supplies for as long as possible. Instead of coloring in my coloring books, I would trace them on a separate sheet of paper so I could still have the original coloring book. I didn’t want to sharpen my crayons or tear off the paper because I knew that meant I’d have less crayon. I didn’t want to waste paper, paint, marker ink, etc. Having this scarcity mindset made it difficult for me to let go while I was in the zone, because in the back of my head I was always worried about using up all my good paper on crappy work, or destroying a canvas. So guess what? That nice pad of watercolor paper and giant canvas I invested in stayed blank - intimidating me as they collected dust on my shelves.

Art supplies exist for us to make art. Simple as that. So if you just bought a new sketchbook but you’re scared of that first page, just draw something on it. There’s another page after that one. And another, and another, and when that’s filled, there’s more waiting for you at the art store. (I hate the first page too, so sometimes I will just skip onto the next one and come back to it later.)

This brings us to my final lesson.

5. Make for the Sake of Making

When you have drafts, when you let go of perfection, when you test out art supplies and fill one sheet of paper after the other, that probably means you have a lot of “bad art” on your hands. And you know what? That’s okay. You don’t have to share that art with anyone if you don’t want to. You don’t have to put it on display, or even look at it again. That “bad art” exists for the sake of guiding you somewhere else. It’s a stepping stone, but it’s a never-ending pathway, so don’t expect to reach a point where you don’t have to make bad art anymore. “Good art” cannot exist without “bad art”. This is why making for the sake of making is so important. Chances are, you’ll pick up your bad art 6 months later and love it and question why you were so critical of it in the first place.

SOME TIPS:

Buy a cheap sketchbook for your “bad art” and draw in it all the time. Tell your mind chatter to step aside and let your pencil do the talking.
Dive into the water without a life vest by actually sharing your bad art with someone. They won’t think it’s as bad as you think it is, and you might feel more confident.
Skip the pencil and eraser altogether. Go straight to the paper with paint, markers, crayons, etc. Force yourself to make mistakes.
Practice! As I said before, creativity is a practice. It’s a muscle that needs training!

I hope this helps!

Be kind to yourself. Be patient. Be forgiving. Keep reminding yourself you are constantly evolving and you will only improve so long as you keep doing what you’re doing.

If you have any questions, feel free to DM me on Instagram (@jessieshungry) or shoot me an email!

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The 5 game-changing lessons I've learned as an artist