A Difference Between Amateurs and Professionals

There's a quote in the art world (though it could apply to many more fields) that says, "Amateurs look for inspiration - the rest of us just show up and get to work."  (Chuck Close)  
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Any artist can tell you how intimidating a blank page or canvas can be. We have all been there, staring at endless possibilities, sweating because we don't know where to start. I've spent hours of my life frozen in fear that what I put down won't be good enough. My sketchbooks are full of incomplete pages because the art just wasn't “flowing.”

Creative work can be so fickle!

But now that I've been drawing regularly for so many years, I've honed my skills to a point (pun intended) where I can sit down and create without divine inspiration.  How? Having a sketchbook helps. The videos of artists flipping thru pages of fully rendered images in their sketchbooks are so cool, but like many things on the internet those videos are for entertainment. Most sketchbooks don't look like that. I throw scribbles, words and phrases, song titles, notes, and whatever else I come across into mine to be used for future reference. I record my inspiration in my sketchbook to tap into later on. 
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Then when it comes time to work, I can look at my sketches and let my technical skills take over. I don't know exactly when I got to this level, it's been a long and extremely gradual road to get here. And I'm not done yet, either. There's so much more to learn and many more years of practice left for me to do. So I guess I'd better get back to work, because this art isn’t going to create itself!

I used to joke that only myself and 3-year-olds could understand my sketches.

This doesn’t just apply to drawing and painting, though. When I was in college earning my photography degree, I’d take hundreds of photographs in a few hours. I remember one afternoon I took around 1,000 photographs in about four hours. I was aiming for quantity over quality, and relying on my editing skills (which I developed years before I learned how to take a good photo) to “make” the photos good later on. Hey, as long as it’s in focus I can make something of it, right? In reality, all it did was separate me from the event I was at (I was watching it all through a tiny screen, instead of experiencing it firsthand) and causing me hours of extra work later on.

Ugh, it was exhausting! Sorting through thousands of photos followed by spending hours cropping and editing, it was overwhelming! I’ll also admit here that my photography got exponentially better AFTER I graduated when I finally started putting those skills into practice. When I see a subject now, I work out the framing, lighting, and focus all before clicking the button. My post-production editing consists of minor touchups, maybe a slight crop, removing some powerlines, adjusting the white balance… It’s so much easier once you just know the correct steps to take.

So how do you get to that point in your own artistic journey? Friends, the answer is simple (not to be confused with easy!) It’s practice! I’ve said it before, but my man Bob Ross hit the nail on the head. Anybody can be an artist. All it takes is dedication and practice. Here’s a whole post I wrote about it, called Being an Artist: A Pep Talk!
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There are many differences between amateurs and professional artists, and I’m sure I’ll be writing more posts about it in the future (like the struggle of pricing/valuing your own work.) But in this case, waiting for a lightning bolt of inspiration to strike in order to create is a waste of time! You could be creating so much artwork in the meantime – and yes, even making bad art is something to celebrate! Why? Because making bad art is all part of the learning process. Asking yourself what works in a good piece and doesn’t work in a bad piece is essential research and evaluation. Plus, with many mediums you can rework a “bad” piece. Ugly painting? Paint over it! Hot mess of a collage? Tear it apart and remake it better! But don’t give up. Even if the inspiration isn’t striking you just right, roll up your sleeves and get to work. Put in the time and practice. That’s how amateurs become professionals. 😉