Reddit reviews Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking

Obligatory Ira Glass quote if you haven't seen it

I'm gonna keep this as short as possible, but I know your struggle. In all likelihood if you're like me you have this spark or inspiration inside of you. But it's like being an infant that can't talk. It's frustrating because you want to create this vision of a beautiful piece of work that's in your head, but you feel like you don't how to proceed. You have to keep that spark alive, but also realize you may not have the skills or experience to actualize it. That's completely ok.

My biggest piece of advice is to let go of perfection. Look to your favorite artists for inspiration, but try to not to compare. What you hear from them is hours and hours of experience and it's unfair to compare yourself to that. I've been down that road, it leads to nothing but anxiety and procrastination. Instead here's what you should focus on. Just finish everything you start. No matter how shitty or imperfect. Let go of the idea of writing something good and just practice creating.

Also here's a book that you might like Also this one is pretty good too Though I'd recommend the mastering creative anxiety book first, it gives little lessons in the form of short stories and is more light hearted. Art and Fear gets a bit heavy at some points.

This is super common.

I'm going to paste an extract from a book called Art and Fear:

> The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality", however, needed to produce only one pot -- albeit a perfect one -- to get an "A". Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes -- the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.

TL;DR: Just fucking write.

Yes. FWIW, it's a reasonably common thing for creators to feel. A couple book recommendations:

• Art & Fear
  
• The War of Art

I read a great book called Art & Fear.

There's a section where they talk about the teacher of a pottery class. At the beginning of the semester he divides the class in two. Half of the students will be graded on the quality of their work. The other half will be graded on the quantity of their work. I think he actually graded that second group's work by weight.

The crazy thing is, the students who were judged by the sheer volume of the work they produced also happened to produce the highest quality work.

I always thought that was an enlightening story. Great book by the way; short and sweet. Here it is on Amazon.

I think every artist has those days. Some more than others, but all of us struggle with doubt. It's part of the process. It weeds out a lot of bad shit. Embrace it or let it win. You have two solutions I'm aware of.

One, walk away. Maybe you need a breather. Read something. Watch something. Do something. Recharge your batteries. Sometimes a block is your brain's way of saying it's got nothing to give anymore. When a campfire goes out you don't curse at it expecting it to flare up. You feed it more wood.

Two, keep pushing. Start writing fast. I mean really fast. Don't stop for air. Stop reading what you wrote. Stop it. Set a timer if you have to and don't let yourself stop typing. It's exciting. You need to be excited.

> I'll spend hours rewriting a phrase or a scene

Stop that. You're making it worse. Just thinking about that. No.

If you want to be reassured that you're not alone in feeling this way, read a book called Art & Fear. If you want to save yourself time and money, just know that someone wrote a book called Art & Fear.

I just got done reading The Art of Fear for the umpteenth time and every single time it gives me a reason to continue doing what I am doing and to never compare yourself with those around you and realize that every other artist out there has the same anxieties that I do in creating content. It is a wonderful book and I immediately recommend it for artists of all levels.

In the entire world, there is no one who can write exactly like me. Yes, there will be ideas, plots, and story ideas similar to mine, but I am my own unique voice that not even artificial intelligence can appropriately analyze and replicate properly yet. And we all only have limited time here to put our voice somewhere the rest of the universe can hear.

Oh, eventually, as you write more, you find out what intrinsically motivates you to push through all the blocks and BS. This motivator will be different from person to person. It won't necessarily come when you're writing, either. It can come very randomly, whether that be in other creative pursuits (reading other stories, drawing, music, etc), or just when you're standing in the shower, blah blah blah.

And if what I'm saying doesn't mean anything (no offense taken)...there's a lot of psychology behind the creative process and fear/anxiety, this book is an interesting primer onto that train of thought, often pops up on books for illustrators or designers to read.

Oh man! There's a bunch of options, depending on your goals.

If you want to get started simply and quickly, work through Loomis' Fun with a Pencil (the pdf is still free online, but might be gone soon as the books go back into print). If you enjoy that, the other Loomis books are excellent as well.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is a classic that, from what I understand, teaches you how to see things like an artist and draw accurately.

When you start out and find yourself overwhelmed by doubt about your work, read Art & Fear. When you finish that, work your way through the rest of this list (I'm doing the same right now).

Best of luck! And keep drawing :)

I've heard of this book, has it helped you a lot? I have Art and Fear Same idea. Actually never finished that one. Can't even finish my books haha.