Introduction
We’ve all been there: Sitting there, full of self-doubt and anxiety at the mere thought of creating a new piece that intimidates us, perhaps even intimidated by arting altogether. Maybe somehow our confidence got shook, maybe we’ve taken a too long a break from arting and we feel rusty, maybe we think we’ve bitten off more than we can chew, maybe other artists seem to have raised the bar beyond our assumed capabilities, maybe we’re trying a new medium or process…any number of reasons can put us here. The hard truth is though that self-doubt is part of the arting process because we’re human after all. It’s just something we have to live with and work through, time and again. Yet it can interfere with our inspirations and motivations, raising its ugly head sometimes in unpredictable ways, and so we must be ready to fight for our creativity to prevail. And your arting is worth the fight! Your art is singular in all of space and time, always novel and always fresh. Conformity may be a real social pressure, assembly lines crank out homogeneity, and fast food specializes in uniformity, but your art is absolutely unique in all existence from the beginning to the end of time. Think about that for a second, how important and special that is. Don’t knock it and never forget it!
In the spirit of salvaging that specialness inside of you then, let’s explore some ways to convert that intimidation into inspiration, into a driving motivation that railroads right over that roadblock, with energizing joy and unstoppable enthusiasm. So let’s just get right into it!…
The Strategies
It’s often recommended that you study the work of others to gain some insights and inspiration from the challenges met in other works. And that’s very good advice, granted. However, indulge this too much or in the wrong frame of mind and instead you’ll find yourself intimidated and feeling like you come up short. “Comparison is the death of joy,” said Mark Twain, and he was absolutely right. So be sure to spend more time creating your own art rather than looking at the work of other artists. Stop doom scrolling through studios! Your energy is best spent immersed in your own studio, cranking out your unique vision rather than punishing yourself. Remember that you have your own unique magic — you don’t need the magic of anyone else! Your magic is just as legit and wondrous, so embrace it and never take it for granted. Root yourself there and you’ll provide a rich, nurturing bed for your inspiration to grow and flourish.
Break the process down into baby steps, into achievable, realistic goals. Our art form is pretty demanding, and so many of our methods are complicated and quite labored, and therefore rather intimidating, even mystifying, especially for beginners. But if we simplify things in a step-by-step way rather than having to take it in all at once, we can really make the whole kit n’ kaboodle a lot more logistically accessible. Also try this visualization trick — imagine yourself completing the task three steps ahead. That sorta gives you a pre-loaded reward for a job well done and can really help to keep your motivation fueled forwards.
Are you struggling with a fear of failure? Worried the outcome won’t match your expectations? Crippled by perfectionism? Welcome to life as an artist. The vision in our head is almost always better than the finished product — that’s just how visions work. Plus, we aren’t Nature so we can't create absolute technical authenticity, a perfect horse, no matter how hard we try. Only DNA can do that. Then we have our blindspots and knowledge gaps because that’s a function of our perception, plus there's our insecurities, biases, and quirks because we’re fallible human beings. It all stacks up into this truth: "Perfection" is a moving goalpost so ease up chasing it. Give yourself permission to be you. And that’s what makes art so fascinating, vibrant, beautiful, and human, doesn’t it? The truth is, too, no artist ever is truly fully satisfied with their work. It’s that “divine dissatisfaction” that Martha Graham spoke of. It’s simply the nature of arting. Plus, at some point down the road, growth will happen and we’ll look back on our previous works and inevitably see areas that could have been done better or differently. There's no getting around that. "It's an inevitability, Mr. Anderson." So rather than letting that fear of failure stop us, just jump in and create art anyway! Darn the torpedoes and just dive in, head first, embracing the uncertainty in the spirit of exploration, creative joy, and learning. So rather than fixate on perfection and all the anticipated flaws in our work, fixate instead on discovery and curiosity. Because — yeah — we’re going to make mistakes. That’s simply the nature of creating art, making mistakes. It’s how we learn, it’s how we improve, it’s how we grow and stretch. In this light then, mistakes are really our best pathways to progress, aren’t they? So just make them and fix them as you go! That’s the beauty of art and mistakes — you’re the creator, right? You can un-create and re-make anything you concoct! You always have re-dos at your disposal! "The most valuable thing you can make is a mistake — you can't learn anything from being perfect," said Adam Osborne, and he's spot on. "And when you get over that fear of making a mistake, then it becomes fun," revealed Bob Ross. Right on the money! So never be afraid of making a mistake or of pulling up short because if you allow all that to take over, you won’t art at all, will you? “Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will,” said Suzy Kassem, and she’s absolutely right. So work through that discomfort to find that moxie inside of you and just go full bore — you owe it to yourself. And even more, you owe it to your art. Your art is depending on you to make it real, waiting patiently inside of you, eager. So go forth and create the awesome! Worry about everything else later.
Recommended reading:
Vision Conniptions: Managing Our Mind's Eye In Art
Fear of criticism is a real art-stopper, no doubt. I actually know some would-be artists who don’t art simply because of their fear of negative feedback, of public opinion. “There is nothing more vulnerable than creativity,” said Brené Brown. She goes onto also share, "Vulnerability is the birthplace of creativity. To create is to make something that has never existed before. There is nothing more vulnerable than that." So laying ourselves bare is literally a prerequisite. And that makes arting a precious yet precarious proposition, doesn’t it? Really, every day all artists wrestle with this phenomenon in some way, especially when they debut new work or post in-progress images. Truly, the visceral reaction the public has to our work can truly kick us in the gut in a literal way. It can be devastating. It can be art-ending for some. “Creativity takes courage,” said Henri Matisse. Indeed. A lot of it. Brené further reveals, “There's no such thing as creative people and non-creative people. There are only people who use their creativity and people who don't. Unused creativity doesn't just disappear. It lives within us until it's expressed, neglected to death, or suffocated by resentment and fear.” Don’t let this happen to you — be brave. It’s hard, and make no mistake, it never gets easier. The public is the public and there’s no taming that shrew. But you can still construct a creative life that’s joyful and fulfilling regardless, so focus on your fishbowl, on your bubble, and nevermind the rest. As Georgia O’Keeffe wisely said, “I have already settled it for myself so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free.” That’s the creative headspace we need to dwell in, that detached centerpoint where our own opinion of our work is really the only thing that matters. If we love it, if we love creating it, if it brings us joy and satisfaction, who cares about the rest, right? It’s just noise. And never forget this: For every malcontent out there, there are many others who like your work so focus on them instead. Honestly, those dissing your work are probably not even your collectors anyway, are they? So why waste energy on paying attention to them when that energy is better spent on your actual collectors. So hold this quote from Brené Brown close to heart: “If you aren’t in the arena also getting your ass kicked, I’m not interested in your opinion.” Bingo! Create for yourself first. As Rick Rubin wisely advises, "The audience comes last." So reframe affirmation away from what people think about it and towards what satisfaction you derived from creating it and you’ll have an unstoppable surge of inspiration and motivation sweep over your efforts. You are more talented than you know and more capable than you think, so find your courage not only for your sake, but the sake of your art. Never let someone’s ugliness tarnish your shine—glow bright! And really, that’s the best rebuttal to any criticism isn’t it? Simply living your best creative life to the fullest, so toss those curls and art on!
Recommended reading:
The Critic in the Creative Space
Arting In A Bubble: An Empowering Way To Create Art
Recommended listening:
The Power Of Vulnerability - Brené Brown
Why Your Critics Aren't The Ones Who Count - Brené Brown
Your Elusive Creative Genius - Elizabeth Gilbert
Success, Failure And The Drive To Keep Creating - Elizabeth Gilbert
On the other hand, for some it’s a very real fear of success and the insidious imposter syndrome. Was the success a fluke? Can you keep up that standard that made you famous in the first place? Or are you just a one-hit wonder? Anticipating disappointment is a powerful brew of trepidation and insecurity, yet even the most confident artists can wrestle with it from time to time. It’s a very human condition, indeed. But it’s also what keeps us hungry and stretching, doesn’t it? Spin it in that light and instead it becomes useful fuel, a mechanism of progress, exploration, and innovation. Honestly, it’s good to not be completely confident and comfortable in what we’re doing. It’s good to have a dose of uncertainty and doubt. It inspires us forwards as only it can, seeking exploration and the limitless edges of our potential. So rather than worry if you’re a one-hit wonder, if what you accomplished was only an accident — really, who cares? Does arting bring you joy? Does it fulfill essential parts of you? If so, that’s all that matters, isn’t it? Again, just darn those torpedoes and forge ahead, full steam! Everything else really is useless noise. And wabi-sabi, baby! Truly then, when we create from this position of power, we’ll find a new kind of detachment that ushers in a new confidence, authority, authenticity, and freedom that engages us with our arting even more. Honestly, when we no longer care whether we “succeed” or “fail,” whatever that means, and just do art, new and better gears are engaged that actually improve our entire experience and sometimes even our outcomes. "Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art," said Andy Warhol. Yes...just make your art! That's always the right answer.
Recommend reading:
Redefining Success: Some Thoughts On True Accomplishment
If you’re stuck, rather than take on some grandiose project with a lot of stops and starts, instead make arting a creative routine, even if just for 30 minutes a day in small bites. By creating a deliberate habit, by purposely setting aside time for it, that forces you to engage with your art to get those gears gearing. And that’s the important bit because the truth is inspiration has to find you working! If you simply wait for inspiration to strike, you’ll probably be waiting a long time. Because that’s not really how it works. See, the big secret with inspiration is that working generates inspiration, not the other way around so much. Sure, that Muse can strike us out of nowhere, but the thing is, it’s the work itself, the act of arting, that causes a lot more unlimited inspirations to well up inside of us. One idea feeds on the next and if we’re really feeding that mechanism, it can spin out of control into an inspirational clusterbomb of new ideas that fill up our sketchbooks as we try to capture them all. So if you’re feeling uninspired — do art. If you’re feeling stuck in your creativity — do art. Creating your art is always — always — the correct answer to the problem.
Feeling a little burned out? A bit uninspired? Tired of what you’re doing? Well, try something new! Feed your curiosity! Absolutely, trying a new medium or process, exploring a new body type or breed, delving into novel new compositions and concepts, or playing around with any number of experimental approaches can reignite that inspiration patiently waiting inside of you. In that spirit then, think about taking classes and workshops, or go on an artist retreat or art-based trip. There are few things that are more rejuvenating for art than exploring new creative territory! It’s often just the ticket to firing up that artistic bonfire, full ablaze! And the new thing doesn't have to be obvious either...anything creative will do! So, for instance, if making enameled jewelry has piqued your interest lately — do it! The point is to just get those creative gears going in any direction! And remember, any form of creativity counts! Beading, photography, wheel clay throwing, journaling, sewing, flatwork, writing, bookmaking, cosplay, gardening, cooking, creative writing, music, jewelry making, candle making, soap making, scrapbooking, stained-glass — all of it counts. And don't worry about it! Everything else will come later, but in this moment, "follow your bliss" as Joseph Campbell would say.
Establish new goals with your art insofar as let your art create and develop new connections, experiences, achievements and such rather than always focusing on just getting better at the craft. When we make art also about what art can do for us and for others, it becomes bigger and more engaging, doesn’t it? In that light then, think about writing informative articles or blog posts to help others along in their artistic explorations. Consider hosting a class or workshop or demo. Create educational videos or podcasts. Make your art about more than simply the process of arting, make it about the experience of living an artistic life, too, in the spirit of helping others with their creative experiences. And honestly, there are few things that’ll expose a gap in your knowledge base than having to teach or write about it! What a tremendous opportunity to delve into continued learning which can certainly reenergize your inspiration, huh? Likewise, think about answering a question with your art, like “what if…?” or “Why would…?” or “Maybe if that…?” When we reframe our motivations away from “it has to be perfect” and more towards an exploratory answer to a pointed question, when we design our work based on curiosity rather than carping, our paradigm shifts into something a bit less draconian and pressurized which can really help quell intimidation. Reorienting our efforts towards being a learner also asks us to be more forgiving of ourselves and our efforts and therein lies the license to stretch more in any direction, accelerating this effect.
Indulge in a no-pressure, all-fun fresh creative outlet, even one wildly different than our demanding and unforgiving art form. For instance, I regularly visit a paint-and-sip place for two low-key hours of super fun, no pressure creative play. With no real expectations other than enjoyably smearing pigment on a canvas, this sort of thing is wonderful escapism, like an engaging artistic mini-vacation that allows me to surprise myself once and a while. Likewise, I approach my NaReViMo horses much the same way. They’re pure creative escapism with very little pressure for perfectionism placed on myself, resulting in a lighter, more low-key experience that’s nice to indulge every August. They're really kinda like customized doodling, that level of casual, exploratory fun in 3D. And here's the thing: Doodling has been proven to be highly beneficial in many ways, including revving up the creative drive and sustaining it. Because not everything you create has to be a masterpiece! Quit putting that kind of pressure on your creativity! Sometimes it just wants to mess around rather than run an F1 race every time out. Give your creativity room to breathe, to play, and relax. Let it futz around and find out. Because, absolutely, doodling is still art, art that's full of a unique energy and novelty that makes it so immediate, revealing, exploratory. And doodling can do a lot to inspire new concepts and directions — so doodle to jumpstart new compositions! Why? Because you’ll find that once that energy of arting takes over, even in the simplest terms, it regenerates itself and primes the pump, melting away many intimidations or hesitations you may be suffering. Arting simply inspires more arting like a perpetual motion machine and if those gears are humming along again with no-pressure creativity, we remember what that feels like, don’t we? We experience those wonderful feelings again of simply playing around with our creativity, and what sort of fear stands a chance against that? And when we learn to surprise ourselves again, our confidence grows, our moxie increases, and our boldness bursts forth to bash right through any intimidations that were holding us back. Even better, this inspires our curiosity which then ignites our imaginations, and new inspirations aren't far behind in that triggered mechanism!
When you start to feel intimidated or fearful in your arting, also just remember that nothing is precious. In other words, everything is often changeable in your artwork and anything about your process and therefore your outcome can be altered. You don’t have to be married to any decision most of the time. You can indeed change your mind and you can alter any aspect of your piece in most cases. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts,” said Winston Churchill. Always leave yourself open to changing your mind — it’s okay.
On that note, if you feel weighted down by negativity stopping your creativity, understand the negative bias hardwired in our brains. It may be persistent, yes, but it doesn’t tell you the truth. What is this? It’s the feedback system that forces us to fixate on those negative experiences that may have impacted our survival in our distant past. But while it may have served us well previously in evolution, today when it comes to art—wow—is it a burden. How so? Well, it compels us to focus on the few nasty comments that invariably pop up to the exclusion of all all else, even amidst all the kudos and congratulations we earn. Then it replays those negative comments in our heads on repeating loop, louder than the positivity. So even if our public response is 99% praise, that 1% will stick with us stronger, creating a seriously skewed sense of achievement. In short, the negative bias gives us a mistaken idea of where we stand, and gosh, that can be crippling! As such, it’s often just a better idea to ignore comments all together, if possible, or find a way to process that 1% out of your life with coping mechanisms. Being so, pruning haters or other problematic people from your social media with blocking or filters is a smart move, too. Point being, the amplification of negative feedback in your head is simply an automated system not aligned with creativity. It’s meant for bare bones survival, not for something like subjective, sensitive, and mercurial arting. Keep it in perspective then so focus on all the kudos instead, all the positivity coming your way. It’s not only more worthy of your attention, but it’s healthier for you and your art as well. And never forget, critics don't hold some secret knowledge! They aren't exclusively more "in the know." They simply have their opinion which is as disposable in the grand scheme of things as yesterday's garbage. They don't know your Truth and they have their own knowledge gaps, blindspots, and biases, and so they aren't infallible. So never get lulled into the notion that they know The Right Way. See here's the thing: In art, there are many Right Ways, including yours, which is actually more valid and legitimate than anyone else's....because you're the artist. Your Vision simply overrides that of everyone else when it comes to the nature of your own work. This is your art, your rules, so don't hand anyone power who has no business in that equation. Because only you know the Truth of your experience and your Vision so stay true to it and yourself, and you're well on your way to re-finding your creative joy!
We all know we’re our own worst critic, right? No one is more brutal than we are on ourselves most times. So always be very careful with the pressures you put on yourself because if you aren’t, you can soon find yourself trembling in a proverbial corner, all trepidation and little motivation. Ease up on yourself, you're doing better than you think. To that end, never forget that every artist has bad days and good days, bad weeks and good weeks, bad months and good months. Things can ebb and flow so give yourself room for grace. See, when you loosen up and allow yourself to engage your art in a more low-key, less pressured way, too, the fun will start to peek out — grab it and go with it. Creating art should first be fun, not created in a pressure pot! So if you start to feel intimidated by your own expectations, find the fun parts of your process and focus on those more and reward yourself for every little triumph. And don't forget, there's no such thing as "perfection," that's an illusion. All there truly is is your best effort but only you have the autonomy to decide how far that goes, so make sure you exercise that judgment call in a healthy and compassionate manner with yourself.
Embrace the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi, the acceptance of imperfection and impermanence. Here we find more emphasis on experiencing the process of making our art, of living in the creative moment, rather than being so focused on the perfect outcome. We also give ourselves room to be fallible human beings once more, accepting the imperfections in our work as simply part of the magic of making art. Now yes, we work in equine realism where things have to be as technically correct as possible, but there's still room for grace for ourselves, isn't there? No one is creating perfect equines! Only Nature can do that. So go ahead and stretch for that brass ring, but don't fall off your proverbial carousel horse doing so. Hold on tight to those things about arting that bring your joy and enjoy the process of making your art just as much as your successful outcomes. The journey is just as important as the destination!
Recommended reading:
Wabi-Sabi and Realism: Strange Bedfellows
On that note, our art form entails a lot of long hours of hard work and that can be immensely daunting. So learn to embrace the process and revel in the doing, find peace in the methods and techniques. Even the tedium of sanding or ticking can be turned into a meditation rather than a chore. Also remember that creating art is a never-ending learning process and though it may not feel like it, you’re growing artistically right now. Every minute you're arting isn't just an opportunity to grow — you're automatically growing. Just study your art from years past to see your growth and improvement to see how that's happening, steady and sure, and find satisfaction in that. Really, things aren’t so dire when you can see that you are actually making some headway. You see, enlightenment and improvement don't just happen in big, flashy moments of epiphany, but also in lots of little imperceptible moments that pass right under your nose. So as you work, find satisfaction in the knowing that — yes — you are improving even though you may not see it today.
And lastly, when intimidation and fear seem to pummel you into the ground despite it all, always “find your way home” as Elizabeth Gilbert would put it. Really, if you love arting so much, dip into that innate love as a reservoir of compulsion. Like when you start to feel down about your creativity, pinpoint what motivates you with it in your guts and emphasize those aspects to the nth degree. Is it because you love your creations? Do you find the act of creativity calming? Do you do it for amusement and delight? Are you driven by an artistic compulsion? Are you interested in discovery and innovation? Does creativity fulfill you in a way no other outlet can? All of the above? Something more? Whatever it is, grab it by the tail and don’t let go! That fire of creativity within you needs stoking from time to time and often rediscovering our core drives can re-fuel our efforts in ways no other approach can. When we rekindle those core motivations then, there’s really no form or amount of artistic intimidation that can stand up to that essential power within us!
Conclusion
See, there are lots of strategies to bump us out of our doldrums or equip us to conquer our fears! We can conquer intimidation in a positive, empowering way. But the point to remember is this: It's all pro-active. It won’t just come to you. You have to put in the effort to knock yourself loose, to jostle yourself from being jammed up in your creativity. So put your shoulder into it! Really kick that proverbial door down! Being paralyzed by fear isn’t a fun place to be, especially for an artist otherwise eager to get to work. It can be a frightening, confusing, and frustrating place. But it’s not a place we need to be stuck in! We can find our way out with some of these targeted strategies like a map to a big, complicated maze.
Because being intimidated in our creativity can be a complicated thing because being human is a complicated thing. Emotions, psychology, skills, pressures, physical limits, expectations, standards, public opinion, and all the rest congeal into a big weighty wad that can just sit on our shoulders and crush us into an inertial stupor. Honestly, something can seem so dreadful, we’re simply intimidated into inaction. But just remember to babystep, break everything down into chewable bites and chew, one bite at a time. When you’re wrestling with intimidation, the name of the game is creating a more friendly, creatively accessible process that makes things more doable, finish-able, and less-scary. Like if starting that custom just seems so unreachable, simply grab some sandpaper and sand some seams. Or if beginning that medallion feels beyond your abilities, just start warming up some clay and smooshing it around. Keep things super simple and achievable in tiny steps, and then you got this! Or, hey, maybe the perfection of that pristine OF finish or smooth untouched clay prevents you from "messing it up." Sometimes simply getting started can be the intimidating step! If that's the case...do something small to "mess it up," like take some sandpaper to that OF or squish that clay's surface. Deliberately make a mess of it. It can't be denied that arting is messy business and messier still is being human. So things are already a mess! Out of all that chaos and mayhem and exploration then can come something wonderful — that's the very nature of art in a nutshell.
Because is creative intimidation really such a bad thing? Think about it...look at all the good that can come out of it. Really, smoosh it all together and it can spur our progress and push us more, can't it? Like if we can morph daunting intimidations into pro-active challenges, we've just made ourselves one heckuva mechanism for progress! But perhaps best of all, intimidation asks us to always remember what best motivates us at our core; it reminds us of who we are as artists which is forever a great reflection to keep us centered and plowing forwards. The truth is then, when we always remember to “come home,” when we get really good at that, there’s absolutely no way intimidation can take up residence in that creative headspace and, as a result, we'll remain joyful and engaged despite anything scary that pops up. With that new view then, what better way to stay inspired than that? Something seemingly insurmountable can actually really just be an invitation, can't it? So get into your studio and morph intimidation into motivation! Transform it into something that fuels you rather than frightens you. It can be done, and all successful artists have found a way to do this with each new piece they undertake. The truth is, intimidation is simply as much a part as creativity as technique — it's normal and natural, even if you've been at this for decades. Undeniably, you'll always feel daunted, unsure, and self-doubting on some level with every new piece you start so learn to make it work for you. You owe it to yourself and mostly, you owe it to your art. There are pieces orbiting in your inspiration, desperate to come out, aren't there? They're begging you to find your moxie so they can manifest into this world, right? Well, here's the thing: What’s been brewing inside of you is some of your best work yet so take a big breath, buckle up, and let it all out! Yes, you can do it! And the irony is this: It's actually through the pathway of intimidation that we do this because every piece you ever create will be harrowing in some way if you're doing it right. Really, if you aren't periodically creating on the edge of your potential, where you literally feel like you're going to faceplant any moment, you just aren't stretching far enough. As such, it's through embracing our creative intimidations that we become those learner explorers again, the new view that fires up a fresh kind of fascination that compels tangible progress and revved up inspirations! Then how in the world can our self-doubt ever flourish in that blazing creative landscape?
“Intimidation is a prerequisite to growth as an artist.”
— Cicely Tyson
