Why you need to make bad art to become a great artist

The ability to check your ego at the door, let go of your perfectionism, and make bad art is an ESSENTIAL skill you need to thrive as an artist, regardless of whether you'd like to make it your career or no.

Accepting the fact that you won't be great at art or YouTube or marketing or ANY skill when you first start out is an essential part of life. It can be cringey to be a beginner, but if you let that stop you from pursuing your passions, you're likely never going to become the artist you've always dreamed of.

You NEED to make bad art to become a great artist. That act of repetition and practice and experimentation is the only way to achieve mastery.

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[Blick_Art]

This is good advice for any artist hesitant to use their materials, intimidated by the blank canvas or afraid to generously load a brush. If you love using your materials- the process as much as the results- you have already succeeded! We love the gouache painting footage, too- such a satisfying and challenging medium!

[prexytheartist]

I truly believe on my saying that "Perfectionism kills art" because it is like Leonardo Da Vinci's quote, "Art is never finished, only abandoned." The act of letting a beautiful sketchbook rot on the shelves is common for artists because we wait for the "right time" to use it, but the right time is now. The sketchbook is only wasted when it is not used. Thank you for this insightful video, Kelsey. 💓

[yvonnemakesart]

YES to having a "bad art sketchbook"! I have this smaller one I got for like $5 and typically use it for just rough pencil sketches of things I might later use for full pieces. But the whole point of the sketchbook is to just throw down ideas in the moment, not to complete anything fancy. Also, I feel that some artists may feel the need to share every single piece of art with the world, and truth is you don't have to show everything every time. Removing that expectation can really put the blinders on in a good way, like you're only creating a piece for yourself today and not social media or whatever, so there's more of a sense of freedom. Better to have 1000 bad pieces of art than no art at all!

[WillowRoseArlen]

"The essential skill that all successful artists have is being willing to make bad art" - what a perfect and powerful intro! 😍

[arioctober]

PREACH!!! "Make Bad Art" is literally my motto, and it's become a tradition for me to dedicate the first page in my sketchbook to writing out "MAKE BAD ART!" It invites me to come in, get cozy, and make a giant mess.

My "messy sketchbook" and "pretty sketchbook" are the same book, I let whatever flows from my hand just exist where it lands.

I honestly think the whole "pretty sketchbook" thing that started (I think?) Because of YouTube and other social media is kinda toxic. Sketchbooks should always feel like a safe place to explore, make mistakes, and have fun.

I was genuinely stunted by the beautiful sketchbook tours I used to watch because I didn't realize those artists didn't only make good art and were simply hiding their bad art in other places.

"Sketchbooks" filled only with finished pieces aren't really "sketch"books, they're collections of finished pieces. There's nothing inherently wrong with that but honestly I think everyone would benefit if we chose a different name for those.

I'm just so incredibly grateful for this video because it really encapsulates everything I've been saying and stand for, it feels good to hear other people saying the same thing. If only we could get everyone saying it 💖

[glr_creations]

Takeaways:
- Keep showing up for yourself as an artist
- Keep the 'low stakes' parts of creating in your regular routine in order to take risks, learn and grow (we're not born knowing how to make a masterpiece)
- Come out of your comfort zone; because while pushing out 'quantity' over and over, it will lead to improvement in 'quality' over time
- Don't be afraid to make bad art

Thank you for this inspiring reminder! Love the art piece!

And, creative greetings everyone!! 🎨🦋✳️
Someone once said, "procrastination is slow death, "... so if you're passionate about art and creating, make time to do it. Keep doing it. Enjoy exploring and discovering! 💛💛💛

[coffeecreateconnect]

“ Lower the barrier to create”. I love that!

[yohaizilber]

There's nothing more humbling than creating something terrible. The act of failure keeps our ego in check and, if we're lucky, motivates us in the direction needed to better own our craft and, in essence, reveal our truth.

[Meraxes]

Yes! The moment I stopped worrying about making “good” paintings, the quality of my work went way up. I let go of a lot of fear and judgment that was blocking me up, making me stiff and reluctant to experiment.

Experimentation and making “bad art” leads to so many happy accidents 🙂 it’s definitely how I found my style.. doing weird dumb shit is how you discover new things

[TmHudsonArt]

I'm glad that i started my art journey as a child when I wasn't overthinking everything and wasn't expecting perfection and wasn't catering to social media audiences because the internet itself didn't exist. I see people now wanting to be a master after producing only several drawings. People asking me why they aren't at my level even though they produced three pieces of work. I have to explain that it takes years and thousands of pieces and that they'll never be totally happy just as I am not lol..

[Waaaaaaha]

I needed this. Really felt like I was going to give up on art due to the constant “perfectionism” thoughts I have, or if something doesn’t do well enough on social media, I feel like “it’s because I’m trash and people hate me” - a huge reach, but it’s hard not to think that way for me. Thank you 🥺 for your kindness

[peterxyz]

“It’s hard to be bad at something you do everyday”

[MaikoSeikaRIN]

Been struggling with severe art block for months now, and have been really doubting my ability to improve at all when it comes to making art and working on my sketchbook, when all of a sudden I've found this video and your advice really hit home here. Maybe I do need to do a step back and lose the fear of creating bad art. Nothing is ever perfect and we're always constantly learning with our surroundings and by ourselves and from others. I guess I've been lost with wanting to improve when I've been stuck on the same state of mind. The art block isn't what's stopping me, I am the one sabotaging myself in the process with my endless doubts and worries... Thanks for making this video, really encouraging to hear advices like this while on the path of self-improvement. 💗💗💗

[magnum]

I saw this video awhile ago on a similar topic. The guy's suggestion was to stop working on a piece when you feel it's about 70% complete. And by doing this you "finish" more projects and start getting that feedback loop to motivate yourself to keep doing it.

What REALLY helped me in this department was doing online life drawing and posting work from those sessions. Your time's limited with each pose, so you have to find the most fluid way of doing things, no time to think. And by going out of my way to post, regardless of what the drawings looked like, I became much less self conscious the more I did it

[katy-x]

such a beautiful message. thank you dearly, i needed this. i’m a perfectionist too and i struggled with this for so long and sometimes it still sneaks up on me. not even starting to create something because you’re afraid that it won’t be able to keep up with the expectations and ideas in your mind - is really frustrating. thinking about this, in the last period of time i’ve started to care less about small details, like worrying if i will use too much paint or to not set any expectations is extremely helpful. just intuitively start and create. in the beginning, nobody knows what comes out in the end. so don’t ever be afraid to try something that you are really longing for. our system has a really wrong perception or point of view, we get pressured and set up on so many demands and expectations that we’re not able to handle. don’t let yourself get down and love - no matter what! be grateful for everything there is in the world 🧡💫✨ have a beautiful day, whoever’s reading this 🥰 thank you, through your video i got to think about this even deeper and this helps me to work on myself 🌞🙏🏼

[Amethly]

With all the different art challenges we should start a bad art challenge. Get people to practice more and may be even share more of their bad art to help others feel better about their journey.

[boink]

this is my mantra for drawing/painting/ creating art: "you are not painting the Sistine Chapel" I put so much pressure on myself sometimes that I have to remind myself this.

[ravenheart]

oh man i needed this rn, i’m in art school and i feel so bad about not drawing much so far this summer even though (in theory) i should now that i’m on break and have the free time to draw whatever i want instead of strictly assignments. like i literally spend more time buying supplies and saving references than actually making art 😶

[clxirebell]

as someone who is extremely hard on themselves, i ALWAYS stress myself out and always critique every single thing i did even if it was only just a sketch, it always needed to be perfect. and that caused me to have the worst art block to the point i didn’t pick up a paint brush or a pen for almost a year. but this one simple 15 minute video has completely transformed my thinking process towards art and my harshness towards myself. i cannot thank you enough for this video. you have saved my motivation and my ability to create <3

[yakobtesfaye]

Sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something

-Jake The Dog