Helpful Tips for a New Maker
1. Mastering any craft takes an exorbitant amount of practice. Malcolm Gladwell says 10,000 hours, I’d argue that’s just to get to the beginning. So much of crafting your skill is just about showing up and putting the time in.
2. Art is a community effort. Ask everyone for information. Talk to everyone. But, first do your homework. Most artist’s you admire already have written about their practice and ideas in interviews, and most community spaces have guidelines for how they operate. Once you’ve read up, reach out to those you connect with. (They may be super busy, so reach out to lots of people and be generous in spirit).
3. Seek out encouraging spaces and encouraging people. Its so easy to get down on yourself and that makes the entire creative process harder. Find those things that will pick you up out of the puddle and help you continue to make.
4. That lack of satisfaction that can come on when making something isn't because the piece doesn't have admirable qualities, it’s because while making the piece, you learned more than you were able to accomplish. This feeling creates propensity to continue and keep trying, experimenting and learning. Instead of getting beat down by that feeling, learn to channel it.
5. Learn about your art ancestors. Study those who have come before, learn about movements and trends and how artists have been curators and predictors of entire eras. There is a rich wealth of information about those shifts in culture and ways artists in both their craft and ideas have directly effected their broader communities. Art is so much more than a pretty picture, don’t limit it or yourself.
6. Learn to see. There is a difference between the icon of an object in your mind, and what something actually looks like. Spend some time sitting someplace beautiful and look at the nuances between how the light hits, the variety of colors on a white wall, the estranged shape as something disappears into space. Deeply examine the world.
7. Pursue multiple interests. Learning how to draw takes years of practice, good teachers, asking lots of questions and messing up. But learning WHAT to draw, well, to answer that you have to know yourself. This means exploring your rich inner world. Follow your curiosities, do your research, explore and learn about all the things that are interesting to you. Making art about art doesn't have any real punch. Find the things you care/are curious about and investigate those.
8. It’s okay to learn by imitation, but give credit. Just because you had an aha! moment while mimicking someone’s work doesn't mean it now belongs to you. Giving credit helps build a community where people feel safe sharing and giving. Taking and claiming creates a competitive arena in which art looses accessibility and oomph power. If you’re making a piece for profit, don't take from anyone still alive. While copying other peoples drawings might help you learn how to draw, regurgitating other peoples ideas limit’s the realm of self exploration. Don't cut yourself short.
9. Don’t quit. Wherever you go there will be someone with more talent, or to whom ideas come more naturally. But just keep trucking. Art reveals itself to all of us in completely different ways, so keep working through the insecurities and keep trusting your gut. You’re going someplace different—your trajectory is your own.
xo Christina Mrozik
