Is What You Are Doing Good Enough? How an Artist Finds Their Style

Do you ever wonder if what you’re doing is good enough?

A young Artist asked for my advice on how to find her style.
She wanted to know how I developed my own painting style.

My answer to her is one that we can apply to just about anything we do in life.

This is what I told her:

I painted what I wanted to paint, even when other people didn’t like it.

I didn’t try to please anyone with my paintings. Many people didn’t get what I was doing.  I thought they were nuts that they didn’t get it.  (And they thought I was nuts.)

In the beginning, I tried to get people excited about the paintings I was doing, but most didn’t respond.

There was an entire world of people who didn’t respect or understand what I was doing.  It wasn’t good enough for galleries or even surf shops at one point.  I was turned down by almost every single surfboard maker in the early years, because they didn’t understand my art.

I was constantly rejected but I didn’t stop doing it.

I felt insecure, but I didn’t let it stop me.  I put my head down and just kept going.  Creating what I was driven to create.

Then one day some people started to like what I was doing.
Eventually, more and more people liked it.

My style became popular, and now decades after all the rejection, people copy it all over the world.

My advice: Do what you want.  Paint, draw, create a lot. Every day.

Paint for yourself and see what develops.

Don’t do what other people do and don’t do what other people tell you to do, not unless you really want to.  Be stubborn.

Don’t do things just because they have always been done that way.  Do things your own way.

Do what draws you in and what keeps your interest the most. Don’t worry about other people’s opinions.

No matter what you do, someone is going to love it, and someone is going to hate it.  Find the people who love it.

Experiment with a lot of things.  Be patient. Let it develop. It may take months or years to find your style and it will constantly evolve and progress.

Just keep creating art.

I hope this helps all those people out there who aren’t sure if what they are doing is good enough.  It is.  Just keep doing it.  

Life is Good – Drew

P.S.  Are you struggling with with going against the grain?  Or doing things your own way?  Please leave a comment on this post, I’d love to hear your thoughts.