5 Tips for the Discouraged Artist

It's so easy to fall into the thought processes of "I know I'll never be that good," "I'm not talented enough" or "It's too hard for me." All of which can and do lead to the eventual belief, "I might as well give up." I've been there too! Discouragement and fear are real problems which can cripple both beginners and advanced artists alike. If this sounds familiar, then this is the article for you. Here are my top 5 tips I want every discouraged artist to know:

1: JUST START. So many times I've heard the story of someone who has the supplies, is watching tutorials, reading books and magazines, but ultimately paralyzed when it comes to putting pencil to paper. If this is you, then know this: it's okay! Yes, your first attempts at art will be awful. But who is expecting it to be otherwise? Why are you holding yourself to such an impossible standard? All that is required is to show up. Begin. Try. Every single thing you do after that is improvement. You will fail sometimes, but you will also succeed! "The fellow who never makes any failures, never makes any successes either." -Anonymous

2: THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A BAD DRAWING. Even if you hate it so much that you crumple it up and throw it away, the time was not wasted because you gained experience. I guarantee you, next time you will do better. And the next will be better still. In the end, it's often through our mistakes that we learn what works and what doesn't. When you allow yourself the grace to make "bad" art, even to "fail," you also allow yourself to grow. As I tell my students often: "The only line you cannot fix, is the one you never draw."

3: IT DOESN'T MATTER IF IT LOOKS GOOD, AS LONG AS YOU'RE FINDING JOY. Yes, there will be frustration and bad days. In the end, it doesn't matter if you're talented, become famous, or achieve any particular goals with your art. As long as you're enjoying the process of creating, you're already a success! No one else has to like what you've made, their opinion is irrelevant. Do it because YOU like it! "Real joy comes not from ease or riches or from the praise of men, but from doing something worthwhile." -Wilfred Grenfell

4: I DON'T BELIEVE IN TALENT. Yep, you read that correctly. In my years of experience teaching both children and adults, I've seen both incredibly talented students flounder and students with "no natural abilities" succeed because of one single difference: Practice! "Talent" should only be used as a measure by which one student learns something new more quickly than another student does, not as the ability to learn at all. Each one of us learns at a different pace, and learning slowly is still learning.

I love to show Image 1, my first known colored pencil self portrait at age 2, to my students when they compare their work to mine with dissatisfaction. As you can see, I wasn't born knowing what I know now! In fact, it looks no different to any other 2 year old's scribbles. In Image 2, you can see a colored pencil fantasy woman I created at 13. Better than the first image of course, but also nothing extraordinary. Image 3, a colored pencil drawing of Rapunzel, shows my very first attempt to use "realistic" shading with colored pencils at 15. Image 4 is my very first portrait commission at age 20. Image 5, "The Korean Princess and the Frog," is a fantasy portrait completed earlier this year at age 29, using colored pencils and PanPastel. As you can see, I didn't begin with any super powers, improvement came instead because of consistent practice and applying myself to learn from various sources as much as possible. As a teacher, it’s easy to tell which of my students go home and practice each week and which ones do not.

Don't worry, you don't have to take hours out of every day if you don't have the time for it! Even if it's 10 minutes after work or a half hour on the weekend, or moments of doodling snatched here or there, consistent effort is going to pay off over time. And remember, no matter how much practice you do, everyone learns at their own pace! "It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop." -Confucius

5: DON'T COMPARE YOURSELF TO WHERE YOU WANT TO BE, COMPARE YOURSELF TO WHERE YOU WERE. Even to this day, I am often daunted when I see the work of more successful artists out there. But it's important to reel yourself back from comparisons to other people, remembering that their journey and yours have not been the same. They may have practiced longer, taken more classes, read more books, started younger, had better supplies, better teachers, more supportive family, watched more YouTube tutorials, etc. And as stated above, we all progress at our own pace and in our own way. And yet, even these rockstar artists were beginners at one point too, who have made many mistakes and who will be making many more. Bottom line, there will always be someone "better." However, this doesn't have to be a discouragement!

Keep your old art and, every once in a while, pull it out and compare it to the work you're doing now. It's far more encouraging to see your own progress than to compare yourself to someone who didn't walk the same journey. Don't forget to congratulate yourself now and then, pat yourself on the back for your successes. Be kind to yourself, and give yourself grace for the mistakes you make. You're learning, you're progressing. Maybe it's slow and difficult, or maybe it's coming easily to you, but speed is irrelevant as long as you're enjoying the process. Remember to have fun and enjoy the process! "It's not the destination, it's the journey." -Ralph Waldo Emerson.

I hope this article has been of use to someone! If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or contact me via my social media. If you enjoyed this article, please consider leaving a tip to help me continue offering advice to the artist community. I appreciate it so much! Thank you for reading!

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Shelby Lynne is a professional artist and art instructor. Her favorite artistic disciplines are portraiture and fantasy illustration, and she enjoys challenging herself to capture the colors and details of nature as vividly and realistically as possible. She is inspired by the natural scenery and wildlife around her home near the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Her great passion is to share her knowledge of the art world with others and to promote a culture of curiosity, enjoyment and kindness through creativity.