One of the
fun (here, fun means “horrible”) things about being an artist – no matter the
medium – is an inability to judge the quality of your own work. Or, rather, we
can judge our own work, but we do so on a scale of Dreadful to I Guess It’s
Kinda Okay.
When I was
just out of high school, and still fairly new to making chainmaille, I made a
project that was my then-crowning achievement. It was a chainmaille vest made
using a pattern known as elf-weave – one of the most complicated chainmaille
weaves in existence. The shirt has over 100 hours of work in it, and looks
great. But it has a flaw in it. Somehow, while I was making it, I managed to
combine two rows into one, losing half a row.
Even though
the flaw isn’t visible to anyone not looking for it – and someone without
excellent pattern recognition skills is unlikely to spot it – it is very hard
to see. But to me, the creator, that tiny flaw is a horrible oversight, all but
ruining the shirt.
Talk to any
artist and they’ll tell you similar tales. Ask them about a specific project
and they’ll be able to tell you every flaw in minute detail. This line is out
of place, that note was performed slightly off, and that part that goes in
should have gone out but it couldn’t be fixed without destroying the whole
thing.
Each new
created piece of artwork that manages to meet the artist’s approval is the best
piece they’ve made to date – in fact, it’s so good, it makes all the previous
pieces rubbish. Not that it’s any good....
I think
that this harsh self-judgement is part of what pushes artists forward,
encouraging them to strive to improve their craft and make more projects. But,
at the same time it’s disheartening, because nothing is ever good enough.
People may shower our work with praise, but can’t they see that flaw right
there? They must be lying.
What is it
that makes a creator so hard on their work? Seeing all the minute details that
they had to be aware of in order to create it. An outside observer – even other
artists – didn’t painstakingly draw each line, write each word, or link each
ring together. As such, they look at the whole – the completed project. They
don’t see the mistakes, because they have no idea that they are mistakes. They’re too busy being
distracted by everything that was done right to notice what was done wrong.
A valuable
lesson that all artists should learn is how to step back from the project and
observe it without their artistic lens. It is true that we must always strive
to better our art, but sometimes we need to step back, look at the whole, and
appreciate what we’ve accomplished. Otherwise we may forget how well we’re
doing and give up.
Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.
If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.
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