Regardless of whether you call yourself an artist, designer, propmaker, hobbyist, or dabbler, everyone with the drive to create shares at least two things:
1) The ability to DESTROY a perfectly good workspace (Oh, yes – all caps).
2) A list of past projects that just didn’t turn out right.
Both are easy to accomplish, but the second item is the one that can stall your momentum. A project that falls apart can leave you feeling as if you’ve wasted valuable time and resources that could’ve been spent with your friends or family or pursuing other endeavors (or distractions) that might have been more rewarding. If you let those feelings take hold of your progress, you’ll find it increasingly difficult to feel inspired, complete projects, and even visit the workbench.
All art is, in some fashion, an experiment. You’re either playing around with colors and shapes or you’re trying out new techniques. And just like the mad scientists that came before, not every experiment turns out like the horrible little creature you’re after. Sometimes you need a few failures to find your way through a process.
Maybe your mix was too thin the first time. Maybe you didn’t let your project dry long enough before you sealed it. Maybe you should’ve used gloves – like everyone said you should – before you grabbed that can of Great Stuff (and possibly thought through your decision to spray foam in your living room a bit longer). Figuring out where you went wrong makes the process easier the next time around.
I like to call working through a failure “dirt time.” It’s the time and energy you put into your craft to develop the skill and comfort level to work quickly and tackle bigger projects. And by the sound of it, you should be able to tell that you’re going to have to get dirty, make a few mistakes, and be willing to do it all again tomorrow.
Don’t let a failure throw you off your course. The best revenge you can take on a tough project or technique is to master it and put it to good use.
KingUnicorn is a guest blogger here at Grimvisions you can see more of his work at http://kingunicorn.blogspot.com/
Related posts:
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post. Thanks for the inspiring words. What a great idea to have a guest blogger, especially one so talented.
Musing over these words of wisdom, has brought to mind that this has happened to our crew several times over the years. Many of the props that you see in the Graveyard, that look like they appeared overnight are actually version 3 or 4 or 7
(and we have plans for versions 8, 9, 10 and beyond. )
Although a few of our crew started as perfectionist and saw mistakes as failures, watching us make things and then take them apart the next year without being precious about them has helped them move from “I just cannot see how I can do it perfectly” to “let’s try it and see how it turns out.” They get better every time, and we feel better about the prop know that through our experience we have created the best version we can.
Thanks again for sharing this thoughtful post.
Cheers!
i tell my daughter all the time 'there's no messing up in art'. cuz there's not. even if you totally blow a project, you learn something.
great post! i'll come back to it whenever i need a pep talk!
Thanks for the feedback (and the compliments)! I really appreciate Grim giving me the opportunity to share some of my experiences here and I'm pleased they appear to be making the right connections.
This is a topic that needs to be brought up from time to time. I know a few remarkably gifted artists that stopped creating because a few early failures really got under their skin. Some people are so used to things coming naturally to them that the moment they had to grit their teeth and dig in, everything unraveled. They took the hit to their ego, instead of recognizing that some things just need a little more experience to get the hang of. I think that goes back to my early post about the differences between talent and tenacity. Certainly it helps to have both, but I've seen great things rise up out of the ashes of failure because someone was willing to push through.
And thanks for sharing your personal stories. They're really what's going to drive this topic and remind people that we all have off days or challenges to overcome.
Great words of wisdom, oh Mighty Sage. It is extremely easy to get bogged down when things just don't work out. Somewhere down the line I was having trouble matching a certain color…no matter what I did I couldn't make the paints do what I wanted. The advise I recieved sounds stunningly simple…try something else….start with a different color, or mix in a different way. ( reminds me of the old joke.."doctor, doctor, it hurts when I do this"…"well then don't do that" )
Creating is like being a mad scientist sometimes, and when all the elements click it is a wonderful feeling.
Thanks for the reminder King Unicorn!
You must log in to post a comment.