Stop making art
I, like most people, want to be a better artist. And it can be easy to fall into the trap of just getting the reps in. “If I just do gesture drawing for 15 minutes a day, I’ll become a world class artist.” This seems reasonable and actionable. I go to my favorite gesture website, hit go, rinse and repeat.
Therein lies the rub: Unless you are intentionally working on a skill and pushing your limits, the same exercise everyday at best will make you stand still. No jacked guy at the gym has ever attributed his success to doing the same set x reps x weight for 6 months without at least improving technique. It doesn’t make sense in the gym, and it doesn’t make sense for art.
If you are just spinning your wheels, stop what you are doing. Take some time off if you need to. I’ve played guitar for almost 25 years. As a beginner the only thing I wanted to do was to be able to play solos like Slash off the top of my head. The advice I heard was to learn the pentatonic and blues scales and do figure exercises. And that’s what I did for years. Can you guess what happened? I got reasonably good at going up and down the scale. No solos, no blues. I become okay at playing scales.
As my interest in playing guitar came and went, I would take breaks. And as if by magic, when I came to guitar in college after a year or two off, something magical happened. I could improvise and play a passable solo! Not from playing every day. Not from exercises and drills. But from taking time off and coming back to the guitar with fresh eyes. You won’t catch me playing Madison Square Garden anytime soon, but progress is progress.
Day 1 - Rocks looking like random scribbles
The second most important thing in art is to have fun, not the first. The most important thing in art is to get better. This could be technique, narrative, composition, or anything that materially improves your art. Conveniently, watching yourself get better at art makes it fun.
Day 2 - Rocks starting to look like rocks
Don’t stress, pick something small, and move the needle. Most importantly, look for you victories.
Ryan
