In order to tackle this project, I need to establish a few things about myself as an artist. I have not practiced sculpting or art properly before, not really. However, I have consumed a lot of art in the time I could’ve been practicing. As a result my standards are higher than what my current skill level allows me to execute. So how can I improve when I know my best kinda sucks?
The Dunning-Kruger Effect
Everyone knows what this is, right? In short, people who are beginners at a certain skill tend to overrate their skills in said skill. The inverse is also part of the Dunning-Kruger effect; people who are actually good tend to underrate their skill. I won't go in depth on this as I'm sure more people have a cursory understanding of it, instead i want to talk about what lies beyond 'Mount Stupid'... the 'Valley of Despair!
Valley of Despair
Most of the time, when someone picks up a creative hobby, it’s because they were already a big fan of that kind of art or craft. I started wanting to develop games after years of playing them, for example. As a result, my tastes and standards are way more developed than my art skill and it serves as a huge hurdle for me. Looking online you'll come across a few 'solutions' to this problem. The main one being 'Just make stuff!' but is it that easy? Just churn out projects your inner critic hates?
Completion Over Quality
I recently saw a YouTube video called Loneliness Kills Art and felt validated in so many ways, but mostly felt called out by internet strangers. I have not completed projects or uploaded any progress because my taste let me know the project was bad. So what is the answer? Should you we churn out shitty projects until a good one pops out? No, we need to shift how we feel fulfilled from quality to completion.
Going forward, I’ll be publishing my projects not just here (because let’s be honest, who uses Blogger?), but also with some friends or an accountability buddy.
So, what projects will i be tackling? The first one is the Fortiche style character bust from my last post. The second one is a board game which I'll go more into detail in my next post.
Anyways! If you're someone who is trying to get a creative project off the ground, I encourage you to seek out some accountability buddies. Someone you can bounce ideas off of and receive feedback.
So yea...