Is Creative Insecurity Holding You Back?

It Happens to the Best of Us

Creative insecurity can prevent us from fully taking part in the creative process.

(Photo credit: 123RF.com Image ID: 35554360 Copyright: sifotography)

Nearly every artist I know has experienced this to some degree. This insecurity can take shape in two ways.

1. Creative insecurity prevents us from trying to create at all.
2. It prevents us from sharing our work with the public.

I’ve experienced both of these. In the beginning, despite everyone’s praises, I was apprehensive about trying new art skills. I was also very apprehensive about publicly showing my work.

Let me try to explain.

From the time I could hold a writing instrument, it seemed I always had one in hand. A pencil, a crayon…it didn’t matter. It was something I enjoyed doing and something I seemed to have a knack for.

As I got older, my skills went from decent to proficient. Beyond showing my work to a few close friends and family, I never considered posting my work online.

Elaine from Seinfeld dancing. © Columbia Pictures

What if my work was just okay and not really as good as I thought? Maybe my friends and family were just being nice when they told me they liked my work. What if I was really like that person who thinks they have a really good singing voice, but in reality it’s like nails on a chalkboard? Or the person who thinks they can dance really well, but actually resembles Elaine from Seinfeld?

We are all our own worst critics.

We don’t need anyone else’s criticism. Artists already do a pretty good job at wallowing in their own creative insecurity. Fortunately for me, 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.

Despite the number of favorable comments I’ve gotten over the years, the insecurities remained. Comments like, “Why aren’t you doing this full time?” or “You should apply to work at Disney or Pixar!” Those are fantastic comments, but my brain was telling me that they were just being nice.

And somewhere along the line, social media came onto the scene.

It never occurred to me to post my work until I saw other artists doing it. And even then, despite the anonymity of posting online, I hesitated. Even though I would be safe behind my computer, who knows how many people would see my work?

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)

And so, with much trepidation, I put my creative insecurities aside 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 that gave me the courage to create my Instagram page.

I became accustomed to the routine of creating and posting. It doesn’t really bother me anymore. But I realized that the insecurity hadn’t completely left me. Part of the insecurity was still there. This was the part that had kept me from expanding my skills by preventing me from trying anything new. This same insecurity that prevents most people from even attempting to draw had locked me in one spot. Despite my years of perfecting my craft, it prevented me from expanding my skills.

I had literally been doing the same type of artwork for thirty years.

Three decades!

Sure, I was good at what I did. But by not trying anything new for fear of not doing it well or excelling right out of the gate was ridiculous. And because I wasn’t trying anything new, I wasn’t growing and neither was my art.

So I started taking online courses so I could go at my own pace. I signed up for anything and everything that piqued my interest. To date, I have literally dozens of classes that I’ve purchased that are waiting for me to work my way through them. When I finish one course, I start the next one. I have acrylic painting, gouache, and watercolor courses lined up. There are digital painting courses and character design courses in my queue. I am also looking forward to a course on creating your own comic book. I even have a few courses on human figure drawing.

At first, it took me awhile to start the classes. That creative insecurity still had a grip on me. But then I had to ask myself, who the heck was going to see me fumbling through these classes? I am not in a classroom. I’m in the privacy of my own home. I could make all the mistakes I want and nobody would know.

Creative insecurities can be a monster, but you can overcome them.

Social media makes it much easier to share your work. In fact, it is one of the 5 tips I gave in my post Not Good Enough Mentality about getting over the fear of posting your work. Yes, your work is open for comment, but you don’t have to face your audience in person. There is a wide range of artists out there who are posting their work. And I’ve found that even very amateur artists who post their work are getting favorable comments or plenty of likes.

Whether you’re a brand new artist or a seasoned one, if your insecurities are preventing you from learning and trying new things, consider your situation. Will you be learning in a very public setting? If so, everyone else in class is at the same level as you are. If that’s still too much for you, there are a gazillion online classes you can take from the comfort of your own very private home. Expand your skillset and your confidence.

So if you’re currently struggling with creative insecurities, take a chance and post your work. Or take a class and then post what you’ve learned. I’d be willing to bet that you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Further Reading:

Not Good Enough Mentality