What's Your Advice for Beginning Artists?

I get this question a lot when someone takes an interest in my artwork or sees me working on something and wants to talk to me. Sometimes it will be a variation of this question like, "What's something you wish you new when you were starting out?" or "How to I get better as at __________?" or "How did you get to be so skilled?" All of them good questions in their own right, but the general idea is still there.

How do I get better at art, like you?

There's a plethora of answers I could give, like tips on how to practice, a hack that will make acquiring a certain skill easier, how to educate yourself on what you are specifically interested in, a recommendation on resources like books, podcasts, tutorials, other artists, etc. The most common answer I hear other artists give for this question is usually short and to the point: Practice, practice, practice.

This is good advice in the sense of its truthfulness. Constant and frequent practice is essential for mastering any kind of skill and you will never get better without it. No one is ever born with the ability to do something right away, we all start somewhere. Just like a musician playing an instrument, an athlete kicking a soccer ball into the goal, a surgeon performing open heart surgery, or a gamer completing the final boss battle, they all have to practice the same thing over and over again until they are successful more often than not. Without the consistent cycle of trial, error, and success, nothing will change and improvement is impossible. It's good advice, and as an artist I stick to it.

That doesn't mean this advice doesn't have its down sides, though. While this advice is helpful, it's also incredibly vague. Practicing over and over is one thing, but if you don't know how to practice, then you could be stuck making the same errors over and over and slowing down your improvement. If a sculptor asks how to practice, then a painter's advice to constantly draw circles isn't very helpful. The same goes for a landscape photographer who asks a portrait photographer on how to practice and getting something like make sure the person lines up with the rule of 3 in the photo, not very helpful to someone who only does landscapes. Unless you have something specific in mind on what you want to improve on, then just the word "practice" is not as helpful as it initially sounds. If you ask me for a specific kind of advice, like how to correctly place the proportions of the face on a drawing, then I can narrow down to an answer you are looking for, like placing the eyes in the center of the head.

For most beginning artists, when they ask me this question, I don't have a response that will trump anything else I could say to them. I can only speak from my personal experience, but when I asked this question to artists I looked up to, I wasn't really looking for anything they could say that was practical to me at the time. Yes, I would have been happy with an answer like, "draw every day in your sketchbook." or "Make sure to add wrinkles to the clothes so it makes the fabric look more believable." But I was young, and had no concept of what looked good and what didn't, at least not like I do now. However, I also wouldn't be satisfied by a cop-out answer such as, "Just keep practicing, kid" or "look how other artists do it so you can do it like them."

I always knew that I would be an artist one day and I kept doing the best I could to get better, listening to my teachers, watching other artists, mimicking their techniques and putting my own personality into what I did. It wasn't until after a particularly grueling critique day in one of my collage art classes that my professor reaffirmed something that I was slowly realizing until then, "Make for an audience of one, yourself."

Kind of odd to be hearing this piece of advice when I was already knee deep into my choice of becoming an artist, but wow did that really open my eyes. While I benefitted from the praise and encouragement I got from others when it came to my art, and how I was stunted by the not so nice things others said about my art, one truth that always stuck with me was that I liked the things I made. In a way, I've always been following this advice, but I didn't notice it until someone else said it out loud to me.

It felt like a weight of expectations was lifted off my shoulders. I eventually came to realize that it didn't matter what other people thought of my art. I didn't care if people liked it, didn't like it or felt nothing towards it. Only I have a say on whether or not something I made was good and if other people didn't agree, then that was their problem.

The point my professor was trying to make was that even though we all just spent 3 long hours critiquing each other's art, in the end, it's up to the artist to decide on what to do with the feedback. Since my professors and peers usually gave me helpful and constructive feedback, I often listened to their advice on what to change or keep about my art, but there were some days that I would disagree with the critique and decided that if I followed it, then it would hinder the vision I had for my art. If I followed every bit of advice, then the artwork would no longer be mine and I would end up hating it (which has happened to a few unfortunate works of art in the past). If I ended up not liking everything I made, then what even was the point?

Needless to say that making things for myself was the most liberating piece of advice I ever got and I wish it was at the forefront of my mind when I was starting out. I don't have to care if people thought I was skilled enough for their liking, whether or not if what I made was objectionable to them, what I should or shouldn't do, whether or not people understood anything about what I made, anything. It didn't matter. If I like what I do, then I can do what I like and not be bothered to listen to others if I didn't want to.

This is not to say that you shouldn't ignore the critique offered when needed. Occasionally I would get some feedback that I didn't like hearing, but if it made sense and I agreed with it, then I would heed the advice, even if I didn't want to. It's always good to have a second pair of eyes on your work, but ultimately you as the artist have the executive decision of the final product. Other people's opinions matter only if you want them to.

It does not matter if other people like, hate or are indifferent about your art. It doesn't matter if only you understand some obscure reference in your work or if the whole world knows about it. You can be as self-indulging as you want and no one can stop you. If you enjoy the process and the end product, then you'll be much happier with the outcome than you would be otherwise. Most of the time beginning artists start because they are curious to see what they can do, how far they can go to get better, and because they liked it at one point. Holding onto the joy and excitement of making things will carry you through a 3 hour long critique when you feel like nothing said about your art was encouraging or useful.

So for beginning artists, my go to piece of advice that has always held true:

Make for an audience of one, you.