Building resilience as an illustrator
Thoughts and strategies to build resilience as an illustrator
Last night I dreamt that I was rummaging through my childhood house in the midst of it burning down. I was trying to gather all the things I wanted to save. The items are not important in this instance, as they weren’t very clear in the dream, but my dream self seemed to know what they were. There was a vague parent figure in my dream, but they were not in the forefront. I remember just making it out in time for the rest to burn down.
As a dream interpretation enthusiast the first thing I decided to do was consult a trusty dream interpretation AI bot. This is an excerpt of one of the part that I was significantly drawn to:
“The burning down of the rest of the house after you leave could symbolize a letting go or release of the past. It may represent a necessary transformation or a need to move forward without being weighed down by the past. This could be an indication that you are ready to leave behind certain aspects of your childhood or past experiences that no longer serve you.” - AI bot
A fitting metaphor for this time of year—a symbolic shedding of old skin as the new year dawns. Shedding the past, however, is not an easy feat, especially when it's intertwined with our daily existence.
These things can come in many forms, such as, maybe you are dealing with a difficult family member or friend. Perhaps you've been battling with a job that doesn't fulfill you anymore, and instead is leaving you feeling stagnant and unfulfilled. It could also be the struggle to break free from an addiction that has become a part of your routine, hindering your progress and well-being. Or maybe it's the weight of past mistakes that linger, making it challenging to embrace a fresh start. Maybe all the negative news in the media and the chaos outside our immediate circles is really getting to you, driving you toward feelings of anxiety and hopelessness.
Resilience in Art
In many of these cases in order to grow and move forward one needs to cultivate resilience. In my dream I was calm, contrary to what one would expect being in the midst of a blazing fire. This depiction nicely portrayed some resilience I have learned in my waking life over the last few years, albeit I still have a long road to go before I am able to face some of the bigger obstacles in my life.
As an artist/illustrator you need resilience when,
You are faced with public scrutiny of your work
You are facing criticism by people closer to you
you are In the midst of an art block
dealing with difficult Clients
you make zero sales
learning to use a new medium
learning to draw something you haven’t drawn before
Seeing someone else doing the same thing as you, but (in your opinion) better
When you want to develop your style into a different direction
When you want to just let go and create without thinking too much about it
There are probably more use cases that I didn’t mention here. More than likely you are also faced with many of these situations, sometimes more than one at a time. We have to build resilience so that we can overcome these difficulties, but what exactly is resilience and how on earth do we develop it?
What is Resilience?
“Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” - Bruce Lee
listen to the full interview here
To me, this quote by Bruce Lee, is a perfect description of how I see resilience. It is when you are able to adapt your emotions and mental state in the face of difficulty. Like water, you let the emotions that arise, flow through you. You basically have little to no emotional reaction and you are able to go forth to the next step without falling into hours of inner turmoil.
How does this look for illustrators?
It looks like this:
An illustrator opens their sketchbook. The page is blank. They just start drawing. The ideas flow.
As opposed to this:
An illustrator opens their sketchbook. The page is blank. A thousand ideas run through their head. Where to begin? What if I mess this up? What if I don’t fulfill my own expectations? They fall into a dark pit within themselves. They freeze. They leave their sketchbook. Blank.
How to build resilience as an illustrator?
In my goal to find a strategy in which I can build my own resilience I have found the following excerpt from this article:
The first step is to slowly, and repeatedly, expose yourself to the thing that scares you—in small doses. For example, people with a fear of public speaking might try talking more in meetings, then perhaps giving a toast at a small wedding. Over time, you can incrementally increase the challenge until you’re ready to nail that big speech or TV interview.
How can I, as an illustrator, expose myself to the things that scare me in small, manageable doses? Here are some suggestions to try out:
Fear of the blank page: Have a sketchbook that you decide is one for messes. Draw in it every day, even if you just made one little squiggle. It still counts!
Fear of criticism: Join an online (or in-person) crit group. I faced a lot of criticism during my studies, and I found it’s easier to face criticism when you go and look for it. Get enough of this and you might end up being immune to random people online giving you their unsolicited opinions.
Fear of using a new medium and failing: Make your aim to make ugly art first. This will help ease you into it. And the aim is to get used to the medium and see what it’s capable of. Experimentation is rarely perfect.
Conclusion
Resilience is that inner switch between diving headfirst into creativity, trusting your gut, and getting tangled in doubt that stops you from even starting. It's the difference between a page filled with ideas and one that remains blank.
I’m very interested to hear your thoughts on this topic. What are some artistic obstacles you’ve faced, and how have you or would you learn to overcome them? And did my suggestions help?
Hey Gwen
Lovely article. Thank you. Such lovely pearls of wisdom in there. I especially liked and resonate with the concept of trying something to fail. I won't harp on about this but, I've been reintroduced to the concept of Vulnerability. And your points illustrate that quite well. The essence, in my opinion, of confidence in anything, is being more and more vulnerable. That doesn't mean breaking down and crying every chance you get (although a good cry can do a person so much good) but, to expose yourself to the unknown. To challenge one's perceived shortcomings. To challenge limiting beliefs.
EVEN IF YOU FAIL. That is the key part! It's really the only way to validate whether those beliefs are true or not. Resilience and it's beautiful bi-product, confidence is developed like this. In anything one does.
Thank for sharing your thoughts on this.
We're on the same (blank) page :)