Troubles of an Emerging Artist

With being in the final year of my art degree, I have been thinking a lot lately about how I will cope in the real world. I kept looking through art/illustration books and admiring all the incredibly talented illustrators out there and thinking about if and how I would become successful in a world already filled with such talent. I was comparing myself to other illustrators and wishing I could be as good as them…

Questions buzzed around my mind like: Am I a good enough artist?, Will people like my illustration style?, Why can’t I draw like other illustrators?… I was really working myself up into a tizzy and as a result my art-life did suffer because I lost a lot of motivation to draw.

After much stressing and contemplation, I stumbled upon a memory from a workshop taken by Dylan Horrocks last year. He is a really successful comic book illustrator from New Zealand, and he taught me so much about the art of illustration and what to expect from a career.The most important insight I took from the workshop was.

Never compare yourself to other illustrators. There are a vast array of different illustration styles, and no two styles are exactly the same, and there is really no such thing as a bad illustration style. Illustration doesn’t have to be completely anatomically accurate, it just has to tell a story. 

My style of illustration might not be amazing and far from perfect(for example note that I suck at drawing hands and in the illustration above, I have drawn myself sitting with a pencil in my left hand… I am in fact right handed) but I love illustration and I am doing what I think everyone dreams of doing, I am pursuing a career doing something that I love. Drawing.

I am sure I am not the only one that stresses about not being good enough. So my advice to other people out there would definitely be:

• Stop comparing yourself to others, admire them yes, but comparing and stressing about not being good enough will demotivate you.
• If you love what you do (whether it be drawing or whatever) just do it, the more you do it the better you become and the more you’ll enjoy it.
• Don’t stress about imperfections in your work, it makes your work unique and proves that you are challenging yourself. (If you’re not making mistakes you’re probably being too safe 😛 )

Cool? Awesome, thanks for reading 🙂 And keep creating!