We’re almost a week through and I am so stoked that so many of us have kept up with our 100 days of creating! I’m curious what things you’ve learned or struggled with since you’ve started. Anything surprising?
For me, the biggest struggle is finding time to write at night, especially when I have an event I’m hosting/attending that day. I’ve learned that by starting a bit in the morning, it’s much easier for me to follow through.
I’ve also learned that repurposing old drafts of work is a great way to get something out there while also being able to share something that I may have buried/forgotten about. It’s a gratifying feeling to take something out of the depths of despair and over the finish line.
My biggest difficulty is the same for this as it is making art in general: I’m tempted to say my lack of support, but really it’s my ego. I keep expecting to get some reaction, response, or whatever out of what I’m doing from friends/family, but it’s always the same handful of people giving me a like. I shared the photo album of what I’ve done so far on my Facebook page and got 3 comments, which is 2-3 more than usual. The people that come to me for donations or to buy girl scout cookies or scented candles or bucket of popcorn so their kid can win a prize or want me to support their new business buying some cheap thing I don’t need or want… and I do every time. But they can’t be bothered to give me a thumb’s up? Every time I upload something it brings me to my knees that they don’t respond, but they never have and it’s my problem that I keep expecting them too. It’s really hard to keep creating.
In the same respect it is the same thing that’s started driving me to push myself harder and challenge myself more. Maybe if I do 100 artworks, I won’t care about their lack of response anymore. Maybe then it will only matter what I think. That’s why this is an ego problem: it’s not about their lack of response at all, but my unreasonable expectations and my internal response to that.
I’m either struggling with time, as some days I’m just too tired from my regular work to grab a pen and draw something, or I also feel a bit of unease to post some of the things I post, like sketches or practices. They feel undone and so raw that it offers so little to my audience… (which makes me want to do the extra effort that leads to more tiredness ahah)
I’ve learned that constant uploading doesn’t mean its gonna give you good audience feedback either. It shows there needs to be a balance of good quality content + good posting schedule. But to the most part, people have been positive about what I post, even if I don’t get comments on every post.
The only good side from this challenge from me so far is that it’s pushing me to be creative and imaginative everyday. Art block is something that I don’t have for years but I do know how to create ideas easily and this challenge has shown me that greatly.
I used to feel this way a lot, but I sincerely don’t anymore. Ego or not, a challenge should be for your own purpose. So even if you’re not getting what you expect from others, you at least are learning/growing with this challenge.
It’s hard to not care about the feedback online when you post things or not look at numbers but it will help you a lot to overcome it. Depending and caring on what others do about your art will only strip you off the energy you have to create, and that energy should be spent on just doing what you love. But I do hope in future uploads you get to feel less and less this way.
Thanks so much! That is exactly my goal: to not only improve and enjoy my art, but to care less about the lack of reactions from others. I’ve been expending energy that belongs to my friends on people who clearly only want to be acquaintances. I’m going to turn my focus to being grateful for the 3-5 people who regularly respond and support me and give less of myself to people who are not trying to receive. I am really pushing myself to put something out there every day and be more objective about my own reactions and less internally defensive about theirs. I think art is such a personal thing and it’s natural to want to connect with people about something that means so much to us. It’s easy to take it too personally.
As far as thinkin’ you aren’t offering much to your audience with rough sketches: I LOVE seeing raw sketches. Sometimes I get more out of seeing someone’s sketches than I do from a pristine, finished work. There is so much energy and intent that is sometimes lost in the translation from rough to complete. Plus, I like to see the process. Your fans/patrons probably will too. You could have a big ‘which one do you want to see me finish?’ thing throughout the project or at the end and get some engagement that way. Or you might convert some fans to patrons who want to see you have more time for your art when they can see how some days you don’t have the time/energy to do what you would really like to do every day.