When I was in elementary and middle school, my two favorite subjects were art and English. I loved the stories that these subjects could tell, and I loved creating something that was entirely my own in the middle of a school day. Yet, when I hit early high school, I became devastatingly aware of how talented my artsy friends were. It felt like their talent was my failure, and the beautiful things other people created meant that mine were always lacking. Enveloped in young insecurity, feeling like everything I did was not good enough, I did the worst possible thing a young artist could do: I stopped. And what an unfortunate l thing that was to do!
During winter break, I decided to try and shift this internalized doubt into love again. I’m sharing my journey in the hopes that it can guide someone else, but remember that everybody’s steps toward art are different, valid, and amazing!
Start small.
I started creating again by doodling while watching Netflix, silly sketches of things going on in the shows. I made lists of article ideas for Her Campus (this one included!) and drafted plots for stories. I painted the ceramic pots of plants in my bedroom while listening to an audiobook. These low-pressure activities warm up your creative brain, so you feel less overwhelmed when you think of bigger projects you want to tackle. One day at a time!
Remember that art doesn’t have to be “good.”
What does being good even mean? The act of creating isn’t about being good, anyway. When I started creating, it was to express thoughts and feelings and to feel a sense of peace, joy, or catharsis. Throw your words or paint onto the page with reckless abandon. Try to be brave, and remember that nobody is seeing this but you. What you’re creating? It is only for you. It can be a little scary to see yourself reflected back to you through art, but as author Neil Gaiman says in his famous work Coraline, “When you’re scared but you still do it anyway, that’s brave.”
Pay attention to everyday moments for inspiration.
Sketch your morning cup of coffee; use an interesting piece of conversation you overhear to scrawl out a poem or begin a story. To strike while the iron is hot, must first heat up the iron! Allow yourself to be inspired by the beauty and toil of daily life. Many wonderful works can begin to live in your everyday experiences. If you journal, go through your own words and pick out a sentence you particularly like as a starter for a new story. Pick a doodle from a class notebook and redo it elsewhere in a more detailed manner.
Go back to the beginning! Return to your favorite works.
Fall in love with your hobby again through those who introduced it to you in the first place. What works have you interacted with that made you feel like you feel something again and again? What works made you feel seen? Ask yourself, how did the creator give you that feeling, and how can you use your own unique talent to express those concepts that make your own heart (and perhaps, someday, someone else’s) sing and dance?
Start.
No pretenses; no more waiting until you get better. You have everything you need to create within you already. Take a deep breath, and allow yourself to begin.
Confidence in one’s own art is a forever process. For me, that nagging feeling of doubt still lives inside my head, but as I bring these concepts into the practice of my own creative process, that negative voice gets a little quieter. And when I do think that I’m not good enough, I try to remember: the only way to get better is to keep going, even when it’s hard. That’s brave.