a lesson ~

[lookingland]

from gaping void's "how to be creative"

19. Sing in your own voice.

Piccasso was a terrible colorist. Turner couldn't paint human beings worth a damn. Saul Steinberg's formal drafting skills were appalling. TS Eliot had a full-time day job. Henry Miller was a wildly uneven writer. Bob Dylan can't sing or play guitar.

But that didn't stop them, right?

So I guess the next question is, "Why not?"

I have no idea. Why should it?

last night i was doing a long self-assessment about the morass that is my inability to follow through with stuff for idiotic reasons (like badly drawn cows or my own failure to turn a phrase like styron or something equally derf). and today i thought it would be nice to revisit gapingvoid and remind myself of a handful of basic premises. this one in particular struck me because it addresses exactly what holds me back 99.9% of the time: total lack of confidence and a self-critic who hates everything i have ever touched.

and the glaring truth is: so what? so what if i can't draw, can't paint, can't write? has it ever stopped me from trying? no. then why do i let it stop me from finishing?

a-ha!

that'll larn me.

Comments

[la-vita-nuova.livejournal.com]

Thanks for posting that article - it was interesting and inspiring. I dig your work - and remember, most of the time you're your own worst critic. hey, you have a published graphic novel, right? That bodes well. Just keep working and get your work out there when the opportunities arise.