10 Ways You’re Sabotaging Yourself as an Artist

Illustration by Casey Webb

Stop being stubborn and learning the hard way. Trust us, you don’t want to makes these 10 artist mistakes.

1. Overwhelming yourself
Sure, positive thinking and overachieving are good things, but be sure you don’t bite off more than you can chew otherwise, you may end up filled with anxiety, not being able to focus enough to get anything done.

2. Not being true to your artistic vision
For your niche, make what you want to make and try to keep it consistent. Don’t make only what you think will sell. There’s enough generic in the world, and generic isn’t a very good niche for a few reasons: there’s a lot of competition (because it’s easy to do) and the ones who win the competition are the ones who have been mass-producing a lot of goods and selling them cheap for a long time. There’s not a lot of room for new people in that market, so just be you and do your thing!

3. Not saying no
If a project is not your cup of tea, say no. You don’t need to be known for doing art that’s not your style. What good does that do? Let someone whose skills are better suited for the project do the job. Wouldn’t you be annoyed if a job that you were perfect for was being given to someone whose skills weren’t perfect for it? It’s a lose-lose situation for everyone.

4. Being a perfectionist
All those extra hours of the tiniest touch-ups on details will only make your piece the smallest amount better. Your time is best spent elsewhere, like getting more work done. Don’t worry so much about things no one else will even notice, and stop staring at your work so much in search of flaws, you’ll simply end up disliking it in the end.

5. Being insecure
It’s silly, but I know it’s hard to help. No matter how good or bad your art is there will always be people who like it and people who don’t, and that’s okay. Stop focusing your energy on making everyone happy and trying to prevent criticism, and instead focus your energy on learning to ignore unwanted comments and advice.

6. Being nowhere to be found
Update your social media from time to time and interact with others. How do you expect people to find you if you’re not there? Growing a following is an important tool to making a living as an artist.

7. Not looking for new inspiration or trying anything new
Without new inspiration, your work can grow stagnate. It’s important to try to new things so your fans don’t get tired of your work, and so you won’t either. You don’t have to completely reinvent your style, just put a new twist on things from time to time.

8. Having distractions on hand
Put your phone away and get off the computer. Lock yourself away with your supplies and just start on something already!

9. Not being organized
Be on top of things like time management and keeping track of projects on a to-do list. Even an artist needs a well-thought-out plan to reach their goals.

10. Not writing down ideas
You think you’ll remember it, but give it an hour and it’ll be forgotten and lost forever. Great ideas are priceless, don’t lose them because you’re too lazy to write them down. You don’t have to create every idea right away, but you can create a valuable resource to look at when you can’t think of anything to do.

Can you relate to any of these? Learn anything new? Have any to add? Leave a comment. Also, share it and save a starving artist today.