The esteemed founder of Creative Boom, and general champion of the creative industries, Katy Cowan recently tweeted this:
…And it got me thinking. Thinking enough to write a little blog post about it.
I replied to the tweet about how the pressures of social media, and ‘likes’ as currency, is exhausting. But while I stand by that, I think I missed the point slightly. I think it’s more about the pressure to appear amazing, all of the time. The number of ‘likes’ and the positive/negative effects of them is embedded in that pressure too, but it’s also, I think, about the bombardment of other’s success and/or the yearning to ‘get’ somewhere - where you perceive your creative heroes to be. Our feeds are filled with the success of others. Not just in terms of high-profile jobs or accolades, but in terms of the standard of work. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I can feel equal parts inspired and disheartened when I browse the work of artists I admire.
In fact, when I see work I like online I get the same thought, nearly every time - I want to delete my entire portfolio and start again. In those moments, it doesn’t matter how any of that old work looked, or what it achieved - it’s just not as good as I think I can be. And that ‘better me’ (work-wise) I’m striving for is, in fact, a ghost I can’t grasp or ever catch. It’s a hologram - a projection with no actual substance.
Except…
It’s not all bad, that striving to be better. It’s what drives your work forward. You need goals, you need hunger, you need wind in your sails and land ahoy. But what’s the finish line? I ask myself that a lot - what am I actually striving to achieve? A steady living for my family while doing something I love is the simple answer. But it’s not the whole answer, because there is a standard of work I’m chasing too.
Is it a dream client? Awards? Praise from other artists? A perfect composition? What happens after you get there? What comes next?
I think, if I’m totally honest, my goal is to arrive at a mystical place where I have no pressure and I can just create whatever my brain wants. In any medium. So, a lottery win is required then. Easy.
The truth of it is, you don’t need to be awesome all the time. It’s actually the mistakes that push you forward. Looking back on old work and not liking it is natural (because you’re more skilful now than you were then) and helps you see what you’d do now to make it better. And I think I’m learning that you don’t have to appear ‘awesome’ (meaning successful) all the time. Social media is my marketing tool, so I tend to put my best foot forward. But then I don’t show much evidence of me being a normal person who makes crap art sometimes. And I do - but it’s how I learn. I said in a twitter thread recently:
…and I think those artist heroes, whose work is perfect and who get the big jobs and have 20k followers, would say exactly the same thing, because sometimes they make mistakes too.
The only pressure we should feel is to stay true to our own vision, and to encourage ourselves, and to realise that mistakes are good, and human.