It's a Sad Dog That Can't Wag It's Own Tale!
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I was reviewing my notes from a podcast with Will Terry and Tyrus Goshay and found this saying. It made me laugh and then I started thinking about it. I have a very hard time wagging my own tale and one reason is that I knwo there are so many artists that are much more talented than I am. At the same time, there are a lot that are less. I haven't figured out hwo to respond to that conundrum. Any thoughts? Can you wag your own tale when you feel like throwing up when you present your work to someone because you don't know if it's good enough? Last time I did a painting for someone-as a class assignment. I could see all kinds of problems with it, and it was a painting of her granddaughter. I didn't even get payed but...as I was on my way to bring it to her, I was so anxiety ridden it was crazy. She ended up loving it.
Anyway, here's a little doodle.
I'm not going to say it's bad but I know it's not perfect...see, I shouldn't say that. Should I?
Marsha Ottum Owen
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I think we all feel inadequate sometimes, no matter how long we've been drawing or what our skill level. So on a certain level all I can say is--you're normal. I know what you're feeling isn't really comfortable or pleasant, but I'm pretty sure we've all been there at one time or another... or probably many times.
One of the hard things about being an artist is we have a vision in our head of what we want to create, and the real thing can never live up to that perfect version that we have in our heads and we judge it against that. However, other people don't know what we meant it to be or how it might be falling short of that, they just see what we've made and appreciate it for what it is. We don't want to "wag our own tail" because it can be hard to let go of our imagined image and love a piece for what it ended up as.
On the other hand, not being quite satisfied is what drives us to continually work and improve, so it isn't all bad. It's definitely a matter of finding balance--being proud of the progress you've made while still working to move forward.
I feel like I'm just rambling.
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@marsha-kay-ottum-owen What does "perfect" even mean for a drawing like this? It's stylized, so it isn't supposed to look like a photo real dog (and I would like it less if it did). There is a ton of very successful and well known work out there that isn't "perfect"--it may be highly stylized or drawn in a very simple style. In many cases, I find that pieces would be LESS successful if they were more "perfect." It's charming and adorable. You know? It is successful because it conveys what you wanted to convey. So I guess that's another way to look at it.
