Is it fate or simply arrogance? Is it really our destiny to succeed, or is it just our over-developed creative ego talking? When do we know if we’re really the creative artist that we think/hope we are? When exactly does perseverance turn into foolishness, and when does self-confidence become delusions of grandeur?
How do we know if we are really as good as we think we are? How long do we commit ourselves to finding out? How much time should we spend traveling down a certain path before we discover we are simply wasting our time? And how will we know when we reach that point?
If you are looking for answers, I don’t have them. I only have the questions…
“Destiny is a feeling you have that you know something about yourself nobody else does.
The picture you have in your own mind of what you’re about will come true.”
~Bob Dylan
4 comments
That is a good question, and it’s something I ask myself all the time, especially being someone who is always trying different ideas and mediums. I already draw characters, attempt comics and I have a strong interest in making video games (though that seems to have amounted to not much more than just building characters over and over and trying to animate them so far). I want to be great at everything I enjoy even though I know that’s impossible for me. But at the same time, nothing is perhaps more painful than accepting the reality that “I’m not good enough to do ______ and I should just give it up to focus on _____ instead.” No one wants to be a quitter, but you can’t have it all, at least not all at once. I’ve got no answers either…
Do it because you LOVE it, because you have the natural urge to. Not because you need the approval of others/the art world/whatever world. If they like it too, its icing on the cake. Being good or bad is irrelevant as its fundamentally subjective and dualistic in thinking. If you’re making honest human creative work.. the world is a big place… there will be some other humans who relate. I think we each have our own versions of what success is.
Nah, I avoid these questions, fair as they may be. I paint and I will never stop painting. I’ll die knowing I tried, followed that feeling, that drive, that need to leave something awesome behind. I am 30 years old and have not achieved what I thought I would at this age, but I don’t let that stop me. Simply because I do not want to. And I can’t imagine living a life where I do not get to create. The heading at the top ‘When to give up’ is a load. I’d wear the title of a delusional, arrogant egotistical ass with a smile any day… as long as I can still paint.
You’re right Dennis, sometimes ignorance is bliss my friend 😉 Just keep doing what you’re doing and don’t worry about the questions!