Artists, don’t be a victim of your passion. Wait what?
In the world of creative arts, all too often I encounter people who are extremely passionate about what they do and what they are creating. Is this a bad thing? Absolutely not, it’s a great thing! But what happens when that passion turns on you?
If you are a professional artist, by definition your main occupation is your art (meaning you make money doing it and it is not just a hobby). So if you fit into that definition, that means you exist in a world of deadlines. Yes, artists still have to meet deadlines. Despite what so many artists want to believe, we are not entitled to endless amounts of time for our projects. We don’t always get to climb to the top of a mountain and wait for nature to inspire us. Most times we have to sit down at our desks, create the best art we possibly can and deliver it to our clients within the timeline that we are given. If our clients hire us to create a piece of art for them, we must be respectful of the agreed upon deadlines and deliver the end product to them in a timely manner. Otherwise, you won’t get paid at which point, you cease being a professional artist and you are back to being an amateur artist.
I say all of this to say, don’t become a victim of your own passion. As an artist, you have to care about your projects. If you don’t, they will suck. But you need to know where the line between passion and obsession is. Have you ever known an artist who has wept endlessly over their work and they have revised and revised and revised that work? That process can go on for years! And I hate to be the one to say it (because some of you who are reading this probably fit into that category), but it is completely unnecessary and in most cases it is extremely counterproductive.
In every creative process, there is a point where your revisions aren’t better, they’re just different. Sometimes “different” can seem “better” but the truth is, every project eventually reaches the point where “different” is simply “different”. And this is a huge problem for artists. We can have so much passion for our project that we want every single detail to be perfect. Being a perfectionist isn’t a bad thing, but you have to be in control of it and not let it consume you and your work! When we endlessly revise our pieces of art, we get sucked into our own little world where time stands still and everything has to be just right. Unfortunately when we get sucked into this world, we don’t let anyone else in. At some point, you have to let everyone else into your world and let them see your art, even if you don’t think it’s ready quite yet. Have you ever heard the term “paralysis by analysis”? Unfortunately, it is the death of so many artists in the world.
What does it mean to become a victim of your passion? It means that you care so much about your work of art that you get too emotionally invested in it. You end up revising it to a fault, you miss your deadlines and in the end, the world never gets to see your art in its true potential. Don’t be a victim. Know when to put away the red pens and call your project done. Have a trusted person in your life who can speak truth to you when you start overanalyzing your work. Most importantly, become very aware of the difference between “better” and “different”. I hope this helps an artist somewhere out there climb the wall and have the courage to finally let the world see what they’ve created.