Your Value in Art

Should you work at being good at a lot of things or great at one thing? Bobby and the Little Plant People tackle the topic of Specialist vs. Jack of All Trades.

[PurpleFlush]

First, and I missed the plant people. I’m happy to see them again

[raph]

OMG!! At first, I was so scared that it was gonna be another video about "If you don't specialize, you're not worth anything", but then, I'm glad I continued to watch. I'm growing so sick of the pro-specialists because all I hear is people calling me a lunatic and telling me I'm wasting my talent... cause I'm a (proud) jack-of-all-trades. I guess people sometimes overlook the talent of some people to connect the dots in creative ways that are often very much needed. As you so-well described it in your video, the world needs both, in all kind of fields. Thanks for pointing that out so clearly! ;)

[LindaUrsin]

I'm a multi-passionate. I could never just do one thing. I've tried and it felt horrible. In some ways, I still narrow the field because of my chosen imagery and who I am.

[aaronrutten]

I see value in both aspects as well. Personally, being able to create a variety of art and perform a variety of skills has been very helpful for my own career. For example, it makes it easier to make a living as an artist because I can promote my art in YouTube videos, design my own promo graphics with Adobe CC, create my own website, etc. Without these skills, I'd have to pay others to help me achieve those goals. Plus, I just get bored doing just one thing all the time. Even if I'm not the best at any one thing, I enjoy having some variety.

Thanks for the video, Bobby.

[dathan]

Artists, both young and old, just need to focus on their own creative journey and stop trying to imitate someone else’s success. The desire to have our artwork validated can be so all-consuming, that we forget everyone is unique and has their own life story to navigate. The vast majority of artist’s success stories are filled with lucky coincidences that landed them in the positions they’re in today. Just do you - do what you love and focus on being the best version of your whole self you can be. If success comes great, but maybe it doesn’t. Will you be happy with the person you’ve become either way?

[eilieastara]

Yessss! First off, so happy this series is back. These Little Plant Dudes are a ray of sunshine in my life.

I completely agree. I was like "Oh no! Is Bobby gonna tell me to stop being a jack of all trades?" because I feel like that is the general consensus, but once again you hit the nail on the head! I like doing a lot of different things, because it's fun and I feel like my path is going to be slower and take longer because of my energy being dispersed in different directions...but it's what I enjoy and isn't that what the journey is about? Plus things from the past that I have learned have served me in the future without me realizing they would. I love your conclusion that it's all about refining your craft so do whatever you want however you want to as long as you continue to build and refine to become awesome at what you do!

[danieljamiesonillustrates]

Yup it is totally true. just got to keep learning.

[vince-]

yeah feel like freestyle with my art, one day i do character, then fine art then a landscape, can't stick at one theme, it's cool for diversity but hard for focus..

[robertpowell]

Or you could be a jack of all trades in your specialty...







whatever that means :/

[Neimykanani]

Thank you Bobby for making this video and thanks for the comments for sharing your insight! It made me realize some stuff that I have been confused about :)

[kittysterranart]

Bobby, i found your channel by accident and I'm thrilled i did. I like listening to this channel.

[stephaniewozny]

Say, if you want to try and be a jack of all trades, but you find yourself struggling with a certain subject ( let's use, uh, robots and mechanical stuff for an example), should you try and persevere to master that, or should you take that as a sign to focus on what you have a knack for and specialize?

[jonathanjoestar]

I think it matters a lot when it comes to where artists decide to work and their level, because you are more likely to be valued at smaller more independent studios as a jack-of-all trades since they need well rounded artists, also as a result of their likely smaller team. These same smaller studios also being more likely to hire entry-level and fresh artists, so starting out and getting your foot in the door of the industry will probably be easier if you can do a little of everything. But once you begin to grow and develop, you can focus on specializing your art where you can branch off higher up into larger big-name studios who value specialized artists who are the best at one thing, also as a result of having a higher budget, larger team, and demand for higher skill.

[leordonez]

Thanks man, just, THANKS. I'm a student and this advice is great!

[heidigfx]

how about you dedicate enough time to be good at a lot of things THEN choose something to be great at?

[danielaguirre]

Any serious artist out there needs to get their ass out of and start being the artist THEY want to be, not the one the mediocre/amateur "critics" want them to be, for God knows the masses are way too easy to please. You need only draw something that kind of looks 3D and they go "Duuddde, you're like a magician or something!!!"...

Hey, you know it's true. Seriously, be more strict with yourself.

[hanifroihan]

thank's for the video mr Bobby!. I'm totally agree. In the end, just ask yourself what it's better for you.

[harveymartinez]

What happened to the interview with karla ortiz when that coming up?

[garyespitia]

Is as Seth Godin said in the book "The Dip", you extract value from being the head of the mouse mouse rather than the tail of the lion and be, in which case you'd be "The best of your universe", it being the only digital artist in Uganda or the only cardiologist who speaks spanish and french in your area.

[JTMC]

See I think one should specialize then generalize as long as you don't sacrifice your specialization. So you start and get really good at something then use those skills to expand what you can do.

Like you start with character design then expand into 3d Modelling to expand the options you have for expressing your characters or maybe you learn about creating environments and such to create better illustrations.

I guess an easy way to explain/describe it would be that when you understand both character design and environmental design, even if you aren't that good at environments, then your characters will fit their environments better.