Be positive. Encourage one another. Live, laugh, and love! - Elmo from Sesame Street
Art is Fun
We live in fast-paced world. There’s emails, meetings, morning routines, family obligations, exercise, trips to the grocery store (my least favorite), among many other daily responsibilities drowning any tiny bit of free time we have left in the day for creative pursuits.
But when that magical window opens, the artist must use this precious time wisely and make something beautiful, something shareable, something different, something amazing, something . . .
. . . ah forget it!
There’s too much pressure to make something good.
There’s too much worry that it will suck.
There’s not enough time.
This is when we forget why we make art in the first place.
IT’S FUN!
Forget the checklist, forget the worries, forget the outcome, and especially - forget the expectations of making something incredible.
Just remember why you love making art - it’s fun!
It’s fun to draw.
It’s fun to paint.
It’s fun to experiment.
It’s fun to cut paper in weird shapes.
Things that make Art Stressful
You’re probably thinking, “Okay, Jeremy - I get it. I need to revert to my childish ways and just enjoy making art for the sake of it, but …”
I need to post on social media every day and feed the algorithm.
I need to post amazing art to increase my followers.
I need to make incredible art to get noticed.
I will never get hired for making crappy art, even if it’s fun to make.
I’m a professional artists, dammit! There’s no room for fun!
Here’s my response.
Who cares!
I want you to look at the below drawings I made of my shoes using three (3) different types of pencils: (HB, 2H, & 8B). Just in case, I titled the page “Shoes”, for the avoidance of doubt.
You see, I was just having fun experimenting with my pencils (e.g., line thickness, shading, volume, smearing, etc.).
But . . .
Get this, the above drawing is my -most popular- post on social media, particularly Instagram!
The people loved it! Over 3,000!!!
The people shared it!
The people commented.
Heck, some people bookmarked it! I guess they like shoes.
What the hell?
I’ve spent countless hours, days even, on other drawings and paintings with just crickets on social media.
But the shoes . . .
. . . they loved the shoes.
The people have spoken.
I didn’t expect this, but it doesn’t matter anyway - because, I was just having fun!
Should I draw more shoes because that’s what people love?
Nope.
I draw what I want, regardless of what people like or don’t like.
That’s right - I draw for me.
Closing Thoughts
When making art becomes too stressful, just remember why you love it.
Remember the joy it brings to just put pencil to paper, paint to canvas, or whatever your medium of choice is.
Remember to have fun!
I challenge you to just remove all expectations and create art with no desired outcome. See what happens. Post it, or not. Who cares?
Thank you for reading JUST ONE THING!
Until next time, keep drawing, keep writing, but most importantly - keep dreaming!
