3 Things Holding Artists Back
Written by Dave Coleman
I don’t mean to be all woe is me, but as an artist, you experience a lot of roadblocks that are unique to your career path, that people outside of your creative circle may not fully understand. I’m here to share with you all what I think are the three biggest things that will hold you back as an artist. This is really just my opinion, and at the end of the day, what do I know, but if you don’t have a creative friend to chat to about these things, then consider me that guy.
Not taking feedback well.
I’ve gotten to a point where I’m very keen on feedback. It’s one of the parts of the process that I absolutely love, but it took me a while to get to this point. If you don’t know how to take feedback, it’s only going to sour your relationship with the client and make the process less enjoyable for them as well as yourself. The main thing you need to remember when going into a project is that the project is for the client, not you. As long as you keep that perspective, you’ll be able to take any feedback you need to make the project the best it can be for the client.
Constantly thinking you’re not ready for the next step.
This is something that I still struggle with currently, so I don’t have the perfect solution for it. But what I can tell you is that if you perpetually tell yourself that your skills aren’t at the level they need to be, or that you need to have X amount of experience before you can do X, then you’re just going to keep raising that bar, and you’ll never get to do the things you truly want to do.
Doubting your usefulness.
Something that ties back to the feedback thing, but that is also really powerful on it’s own, is knowing just how useful you are to the client. Oftentimes, clients are coming to you because they have an idea in their head, but they don’t know how to execute it and turn it into a real thing. If you can realize that your skills are incredibly useful, and take pride in being the tool someone needs to accomplish what they desire, then you’re golden.
About Dave Coleman:
Dave is an animator and illustrator from Sydney, Australia. He loves drawing characters and letterforms in a quirky, playful style. He has enjoyed collaborations with New York Magazine, Disney, Lollapalooza, Coachella, Dolby, Buck, Women’s Health, Jamie Mag, and City of Sydney.
