Perfect Art Doesn’t Exist

The Beauty in Doing Something Just for Pleasure

It sounds harsh, but perfect art doesn’t exist. There is a lot of art out there that is amazing, fantastic, really, really, REALLYgood. But perfect? No. And I’m not being super critical. Just logical. And it would seem to me to be incredibly arrogant for any artist to claim to have reached the status of perfection.

I think we can all agree (narcissists aside) that none of us are perfect. Logically, imperfect beings cannot create perfect things. Think of humans like cake pans. Each of the cake pans has little dents and dings in them. Because of those imperfections, none of the cake pans will ever produce a perfect cake. It’s as simple as that.

And that’s fine! There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s what makes this world interesting. And, it’s what makes our art interesting. It’s what keeps us aiming for perfection…or as close to it as we can get.

When did human beings become so controlled by our egos that we think that whatever we do has to be perfect? And for most of the planet, if there are any doubts or fears of making mistakes, then we don’t even try at all.

How many experiences do we miss out on because we’re so worried about being perfect?

As really young kids, we didn’t pay much attention to what we created. We colored without worrying about staying in the lines or using the right colors. Perfect art wasn’t the goal. Having fun was!

But what is it about the ego, that as we get older, we don’t allow ourselves the luxury of a learning curve? Studies have shown that around nine years old we become acutely aware of peer pressure. Nobody likes being made fun of. The overriding thought or fear becomes, “What if I can’t do it right? What if I make a mistake?”

So what if you can’t do it right the first, second, or third time out?

And, yes. You will make mistakes. Who cares?

Photo Credit: 123RF.com Copyright : Ion Chiosea

News flash…Nobody was born an expert at anything!

Chances are pretty high that you won’t do it right and you will make mistakes. In fact, probably lots and lots of mistakes! Do you honestly think that Kobe was an instant NBA star from the moment he first stepped foot on a basketball court or that Tiger Woods was a champion golfer the moment he picked up his very first golf club? Do you think Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were techie geniuses from day one? Or that Slash from Guns n Roses could rock the guitar like he does from the moment he first held one in his hands? How about Michelangelo or DaVinci? What about any of the artists over at Disney, Warner Bros., or Pixar?

Or do you think that chances are more than likely that they went through the learning curve, met a gazillion obstacles, and made a gazillion mistakes on their journey to expert status?

They became experts because they didn’t expect perfection from the get go. They allowed for the process of learning. The difference between people who succeed and those who fail is that those who succeed not only allow themselves to be human and make mistakes, they fully expect to make mistakes. In fact, I’m pretty sure they welcome the mistakes. All successful people in the world know that there are valuable lessons to be learned in the mistakes. They expect them and they learn from them. And they never give up.

Art doesn’t have to be perfect. Art is a form of expression. It’s a process of experimentation. Even when you become more experienced, you’ll come across an artistic problem that needs solving. The only way to solve it is to try out different things based on your experience. Sometimes, that means trying different things with materials you’re familiar with. Other times it means trying new materials that you have no experience with.

You can hardly expect perfect art when you’re trying something new even if you are an experienced artist.

The truth is, for many of us, we find a niche or a specialty. It may be the one thing we become exceptionally good at. But just because we excel at that one thing, doesn’t mean we excel across the board.

I’ll use myself as an example. My area of expertise is animal portraits in pencil or charcoal. My portraits are incredibly detailed and realistic. You would think that I’d have no problem doing human portraits. You’d be wrong. They might still be above average, but they’re nowhere near my animal portraits. My animal portraits are photorealistic. The human portraits, not at all. I’m also not 100% comfortable with color. So anything outside of black and white animal portraits is experimental for me and often a struggle.

I don’t expect perfect art, but I do shoot for as close to it as possible. I might get frustrated when I fall short, but I try to step back and understand where I fell short. That’s how we learn and improve. I also don’t expect perfect art if I’m learning something new. That would just be an unreasonable expectation that sets you up for disappointment.

All that being said, what is your purpose with your art?

Do you want to make a career out of it? Do you wish your work could hang in galleries? Or are you trying to learn for the fun of it?

Personally, I think it should all be fun!

If you’re trying to make a career out of it, then there are avenues you can take to get there. Getting an art degree is one of them. But if you want to learn just for the fun of it, then why don’t you? I hear so many people say that they don’t because they ‘can’t even draw stick people.’

So what?

Who says it has to be perfect? That’s a preconceived notion that your ego keeps whispering in your brain. If you want to draw or paint, then draw or paint!

People hold themselves back for the silliest reasons. But not being able to create perfect art shouldn’t be one of them because perfect is beyond everyone’s reach.

And who says you have to show anyone unless you want to? Why can’t it be an activity you do for the pure enjoyment of creating? It doesn’t have to be perfect. It can be silly, whimsical, childlike, or abstract for that matter. You can choose to have it publicly displayed via social media or it can remain entirely personal and private.

Several years ago I did a post entitled, Modern Art vs Kid Art. I freely admit that I basically failed at trying to tell the difference between true modern art (some valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars) versus art done by young children. It just goes to show that not all art has to look like work done by the classical masters.

And who cares? Perfection is relative.

Perfection is relative to each individual. You’ll never be able to satisfy everyone. (Image by Tumisu from Pixabay)

There’s no rule that says art has to be perfect or it’s not worth creating. There would be no way to define what perfect art is anyway, since art is completely relative to the creator and to the viewer.

Case in point…you might be a huge fan of modern art and tell me that an abstract piece is absolutely perfect. Personally I don’t agree because I don’t like abstract art at all.

So if you create a whimsical stick figure comic strip, who am I to say anything about it? I might have an opinion about it, but that’s all it is. An opinion. What I think doesn’t devalue what you do any more than it devalues those modern art works hanging in museums worth hundreds of thousands.

Guess what? No matter what I think about them…they’re still worth hundreds of thousands (or millions) of dollars!

When it comes to the work you do, the important thing is…did you have fun creating it? Did you learn anything from the process?

I realize some of you might be so hung up on the idea of creating perfect art, that having fun with art may be almost impossible. How do you put your ego on pause so that you can enjoy the process?

Getting your ego to forget about perfect art.

One good way is to create silly exercises. They might be silly and might seem pointless. But they really do help to improve your skills without the ego getting involved.

• Try drawing something upside down. (Your reference photo or the object, not you.)
• Attempt a drawing by looking at your paper in a mirror as you draw instead of looking directly at your paper.
• Try not looking at the paper at all while you draw. (Blind contour drawing)
• Challenge yourself to draw your subject in fifteen seconds.

These are all really great exercises to get your ego to relax. It’s impossible to do these exercises perfectly. They’re silly (but effective) exercises and your mind should grasp right off the bat that the results will be just as silly and far from perfect. These are exercises that will basically help you to loosen up and not take yourself too seriously. And despite what the outcome looks like, subtle things like eye-hand coordination start to improve.

Get the idea of perfect art out your head. It’s not going to be perfect. For example, I can take any one of my fully rendered animal portraits and pick it apart. I can be totally proud of a piece and happy with it, but if I look hard enough, I can still find “mistakes.” And I’ve been at this for 30+ years! One thing I’ve learned is that we are all our own worst critics.

And so I’ll say it again, there never will be perfect art. But there is always better. And most of the time we’re happy enough to see progress. You must learn to either silence the critic within (ego) or learn to live with its incessant chatter.

Approach art with an open mind. If you want to take classes, then take classes. If you want to watch free videos then do your research and watch free videos. But if you’re having fun at whatever level you’re at, then continue! I say that because I’ve known certain individuals who have taken classes and found that the fun was sucked right out by the fundamentals. Fair warning. Classes will always teach the fundamental rules of art. Learn them and then, down the road, if you chose to, break them. Breaking the rules is fine as long as you know what you’re doing.

One rule to rule them all.

I think that’s part of what I love about art. Yes, there are fundamental basics that are good to know. But in this day and age, there are no rules that say you have to follow them! In my humble opinion, there is only one hard and fast rule about art, and it is this…you absolutely must have fun doing it, or why do it at all?

.

.

.