How I Got Past My Artistic Insecurities
For the Most Part Anyway…
Artistic insecurities can prevent us from fully taking part in the creative process. (Photo credit: 123RF.com Image ID: 35554360 Copyright: sifotography)
Artistic insecurities. Nearly every artist I know has them to some degree. I most certainly did and still do, a little. But despite what everyone told me, I was still very apprehensive about publicly showing my work. Let me try to explain.
I’ve always drawn. From the time I was very small, it seemed I always had a pencil in hand. It’s something I enjoyed doing and something I seemed to have a knack for. As I got older, I noticed my skills go from decent to proficient. I thought I was cranking out some really good work. A select few who saw my work confirmed what I thought. But even so, it’s what I thought.
Elaine from Seinfeld dancing. © Columbia Pictures
What if I just thought that and the people who told me I was good only told me that because they were friends and family? What if really I was like that person who thinks they have a really good singing voice, but in reality they make everyone cringe? You know, like those people who go on American Idol? Or the person who thinks they can dance really well, but actually resembles Elaine from Seinfeld?
I was told once that we are all our own worst critics, but that it’s especially true for artists. I had no choice but to agree because I knew it all too well. Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t a paralyzing fear, but I always felt a pretty intense knot of apprehension in my gut when a new pair of eyes would see my work for the first time.
I don’t know how many favorable comments I’ve gotten over the years and still that knot remained. Comments like, “Why aren’t you doing this full time?” or “You should apply to work at Disney or Pixar!” And somewhere along the line, social media came onto the scene. It still never occurred to me to post my work until I saw other artists doing it. And even then, I hesitated.
While social media is super convenient for posting your latest works of art, it can also be a huge trigger for artistic insecurities. (Photo credit: 123RF.com)
It wasn’t until I started getting tired of office work that I even considered the possibility of drawing for a living. It helped that in my social media feeds I was also getting posts for self-help groups with messages like “living true to yourself” and “live your passion”. Maybe the planets were aligning to give me the kick in the pants that I needed to get my work out there. And so, with much trepidation, I stared my artistic insecurities in the face and created my Facebook page, uploaded some work and held my breath.
One by one, the comments came in. They were favorable on all accounts and I don’t know why I was ever worried. Then I created my Instagram page and was just mystified when people from all over the world started following me. At that point, I decided to take it to the next level and do a daily sketch, knowing full well this would be anything but the quality of portraits that I meticulously work on. Not at all. These would be quick 1-2 hours sketches. Putting work out this rough made me very uncomfortable. But I was again met with very favorable comments. And when the year was over and I moved my focus to my fully rendered portraits, I received quite a number of comments saying that they missed my daily sketches.
Honestly, I don’t know why I ever worried. I’ve been told that I’m humble to a fault when it comes to my art and it’s only served to hold me back. Artistic insecurities can be a monster, but social media makes it much easier and in fact, it is one of the 5 tips I gave in my post Not Good Enough Mentality about getting over the fear of showing your work. Yes, your work is open for comment, but you don’t have to face your audience in person. And I’ve found that even very amateur artists who post their work get favorable comments or plenty of likes. So if you’re currently struggling with artistic insecurities, take a chance and post your work. I’d be willing to bet that you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
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