Art for Humans – Always Improving, Even If it Stings

Art for Humans – Always Improving, Even If it Stings, by Alexander Cardinal.

When it comes to illustrative artwork there’s this clear path you need to journey on, that path of course being the one of improvement. The darndest thing about this little hero’s journey we all must take is its winding roads, its steep inclines, and especially its massive expansive plateaus. The worst part is, you’re always on that path and you can never get off it.

This sentiment may sound a little silly to people who don’t do what we do. Of course, we have to improve and of course, it’s an uphill battle but when it comes to art it’s just a little different. Unlike other skills, art, especially illustrative art is a skill that not only can be seen in the moment but long thereafter as well. We can see our skills improve in every piece of artwork and that’s where the complex experience of the path of improvement comes from. We can look at all the steps we took before on our path and it can be embarrassing, to say the least.

“Why did I make that choice?”, “How did I ever think this anatomy was correct?”, “This shading doesn’t even make sense!?”, are most certainly thoughts that run through every artist’s head when looking at their older work. We can visualize every misstep and fumble on our path and while it can sting to see our mistakes it can also be very valuable to look back once in a while. Sure you can not only learn what not to do from your past self but more than that you can use it as some effective motivation if you’re ever feeling bad about your skill level.

A few years ago I drew a character, not for anyone or any event, just a piece of fanart for a series I like. When I drew that piece, if you had asked me in the moment I would have told you I was a master at what I do, I thought this work was the best thing I could put out ever. If you had asked me at the time I would have said I’m ready to go pro, I’m ready to take hundreds of dollars worth of commissions. I drew that same character less than a year later and I went back and looked at the previous one to compare and to my astonishment, suddenly my old master piece was nowhere near as good as I remembered. What I considered my best work for a time was suddenly almost embarrassing looking.

That’s the funny thing like I said before, we can see the missteps but luckily looking back at those missteps makes you realize just how much better you’ve gotten without even noticing it. Trust me, that wasn’t the first time that happened to me and it definitely won’t be the last. This kind of work on this path of improvement is just an endless series of being humbled, at the time I wondered why I got so few commissions for art. Now I know it was because I wasn’t the illustrative genius I thought I was when I realized that it stung a lot but looking back now it was just another step on the path to improvement.

So if you’re ever feeling like your skills aren’t as good as you wished they were, maybe backtrack a bit on your part of the path and see what you were drawing last year, trust me it will heal your wounded ego nicely to see just how far you’ve come since then.

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