Handling Self Criticism?
polycounter lvl 5
Hey guys just wondering how you all deal with self Criticism.
At the end of the day everyone is their own biggest critic, for me personally its always been something ive struggled with though i know i shouldn't, its very easy to look at my work and say "oh its not that good" or look at some one elses work and be like "wow thats so much better then mine."
A recent way ive started to help my self cope with criticism is just try to remind my self that these people are more practiced then myself, and that if i keep at it one day my work will be at that level but sometimes its just so very easy to let that inner voice bash your work.
Art and creativity is a very personal thing with each piece reflecting its creator in one way or another, So when we create something we are in a sense imprinting a part of our-selfs into our work maybe this could be why?
My Main questions are
How do you cope with self criticism?
Where do you think good/bad self criticism comes from?
(E.g Poor self image? Will a good attitude towards other aspects of your life help?)
Is self Criticism more important then other peoples criticism?
At the end of the day everyone is their own biggest critic, for me personally its always been something ive struggled with though i know i shouldn't, its very easy to look at my work and say "oh its not that good" or look at some one elses work and be like "wow thats so much better then mine."
A recent way ive started to help my self cope with criticism is just try to remind my self that these people are more practiced then myself, and that if i keep at it one day my work will be at that level but sometimes its just so very easy to let that inner voice bash your work.
Art and creativity is a very personal thing with each piece reflecting its creator in one way or another, So when we create something we are in a sense imprinting a part of our-selfs into our work maybe this could be why?
My Main questions are
How do you cope with self criticism?
Where do you think good/bad self criticism comes from?
(E.g Poor self image? Will a good attitude towards other aspects of your life help?)
Is self Criticism more important then other peoples criticism?
Replies
Personally, I just let it in. That little voice that's saying, "this is shitty", is usually right. If it wasn't telling me so, I might stop working on the piece.
There is a line though where the inner voice can be so strong that it demoralizes you from working further, and that can be detrimental. I suppose it's the difference between an internal voice that says "this is shitty and those guys are way better than you, AND you'll never be where they are", and one that says "this is shitty, and those guys are way better than you. Better keep at it."
And on the topic of seeing artists that are way better than you, I used to feel like I was playing catch-up, like I needed to run really fast to get into the front of the pack. Now that I've been doing this for a while, I feel much better having people out ahead of me, like trail-blazers. I am walking in their shoes a lot of the time, emulating them, trying to figure out what makes their art brains tick, and all the while that helps me move forward and grow. And now that I'm here, I clearly see that those people are chasing their own art gods as well, as has been done since the beginning of culture.
Is self Criticism more important then other peoples criticism?
Could be. Mine is. It might be an individual thing so I won't answer for other people. For me though, my motivation in my internal criticism, that's where I get my drive to sit with a piece for hours doing detail stuff, or to start over on a piece because I know I can do better.
But growth wise, again, for me external criticism is key. People suggesting things and pointing out things about my stuff.
Also, this:
Art and creativity is a very personal thing with each piece reflecting its creator in one way or another, So when we create something we are in a sense imprinting a part of our-selfs into our work maybe this could be why?
Eh. Art and creativity, yes, personal pieces *sigh* reflecting the individual precious snowflakes of the artists themselves and *yawn* imprinting a sense of the artist into their work, yada yada yada.
Art is 90% hard work. It takes a shit ton of time to learn a technique, and a shit ton of time to learn how to make good art decisions. In the end, each detail in your finished work of art reflects decisions you made, but it's not nearly as romantic as you put it.
In the beginning, these decisions are largely unconscious. Hot chick with big tits. Most aspiring character artists first model. Why? Uhh... because? Well, she's hot, so she gets big tits, right?
But you look at the really good artists, their work tells a story. The clothing, the physique, the skin details, everything is a decision that is made consciously by the artist to form a narrative, even if sometimes that narrative is simply "plain joe in plain clothing' they choose forms and details to drive that story in a way that really gets lost on a lot of people.
I personally feel that as artists get better, particularly in this industry, it is because they are in large part making better decisions, and the decisions they make get made in small and small increments, carefully weighing the smallest of details to support their work.
So in doing art, we learn to make decisions. Because we are all slightly different people, are decisions differ, so our art is personal, but there is a lot more to it than art 'reflecting the creator', and I guarantee it's not a feel-good one liner like "we are imprinting a piece of ourselves into our work", it is both more personal than that, and a lot less idealized.
Day after day, you SHOULD see how your work is full of errors, and if you need external advice, too bad.
I dunno that may be a bit too harsh, its taken me many years to get a good eye for colours and I still think some of my workmates make much better colour choices than I do. I might not notice my mistakes or bad choices right now but if I go back to my art I made 6 months ago I can definitely see that I have progressed a lot and could do a better job of those assets now.
So daily seeing the problems with your own work might be a struggle, you may need an art director to point out the issues, you might do well to just ask a workmate or friend whos skills you admire in the particular area you are struggling with. You might want to go online and watch some tutorials and look at reference and then look at your work again to see the errors. These are all ways to improve your skills and get a better understanding of your weaknesses and I think we all have weaknesses...ok maybe some people are like art superheros but thats very rare.
You should read [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Art-Fear-Observations-Rewards-Artmaking/dp/0961454733/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378942644&sr=8-1&keywords=art+and+fear"]Art and Fear [/ame]Its a really good book about the psychology of creating art. To Quote from the book "Art & Fear explores the way art gets made, the reasons it often doesn't get made, and the nature of the difficulties that cause so many artists to give up along the way."
This^
Theoretically, I believe it will truly never go away, it's just that the more you push that thought away and push through some art work, as shit as you make yourself believe it to be, the art work you tell yourself is shit will still be getting better regardless.
Its kind of bitter sweet, while it makes doing art so fucking hard sometimes, its always pushing you to improve, if you where vein and though all your art was made from unicorn urine, you'd become complacent. So very important indeed.
And to be honest, sometimes it gets really hard i don't make anything new for sometimes weeks, and someone posts here on PC and i honestly think a small percentage is rubbish but deep down i'm envious, they probably know its crap and have just started out but they can start something, work hard on it and finish it.
[ame="
Self criticism isn't something I cope with. Rather, it's generally other aspects of life that can hinder artistic progress. For me personally, it's important to approach art in a positive state of mind. I do this because I love it and a pessimistic attitude only hinders my progress.
Everyone is different in their approach. While I do see where Blaizer is coming from, I don't agree with his statement. Training your eyes to see mistakes takes time. No one is born good at this stuff, you get there by practicing like crazy.
One common practice I undertake is doing a visualization, I keep all of my CG work in renders in a private facebook album, so it remains dated but good or bad it remains there, it gives me scope on just how far i've come, then I can look at the work I was doing last year and see the big difference to now, then think well what about next year, this will always keep me motivated.
it also helps in moments of utter frustration to recall how some of my worst problematic models have through hard work turned into something pretty awesome, infact most stuff is going to start off bad, take box modeling for instance, it all starts off as a box, but beyond that box is a world of opportunity, spaceships, characters, anything you can dream of, the box can become a manifestation of your raw unused potential and to modify that box into something great, is to express yourself truly.