The thing most emerging artists lack more than anything else is honest feedback. Especially by the very nature of self-publishing via social media, photographers like myself rarely obtain a professional critical evaluation beyond paid services such as portfolio reviews. We know that all artists produce work that could use a little improvement. Artists need honest criticism if they want to grow, and it's a good idea for every artist to make sure their work is critically reviewed.
Although such criticism can point out larger problems, it can only act effectively after the work at hand has reached a certain point. While most good creators value feedback from others, they recognize that the work as a whole must meet their own standards first, in order to satisfy the inner critic.
That inner critic is necessary for high quality work, guiding moment-to-moment decision making during the creative process (add this, trim that.) This critical faculty seems to be closely related to one's tastes and experiences. I continue to raise the bar for my work based on a synthetic blend between what I know I'm capable of making, what I know I want to see, and what I've liked based on what I've seen from others. But with this developing sensibility seems to come a list of boxes needing to be checked off before one of my artworks is acceptable in my eyes.
This can lead the inner critic to feel more like an inner tyrant at times. Thanks to the inner critic, I don't feel free to accept just anything I create, no matter how much toil I've put into my efforts. Other times I don't feel free to create at all, with any idea I have for an image being shot down by the critic. They fail, one after another, to meet his expectations for what should go into a solid work of art. At its worst, it has felt as though nothing I create will ever appease the critic, and my creative process would cease up entirely. I felt like my inner critic was unjustly cruel to me, harassing me for not yet having arrived to the promise land, a land that it wouldn't even allow me to take steps toward in the first place. Then came a temptation to overthrow the tyrant and liberate the creative process from its endless list of demands, to create image after image after image, without assessing nor revising any work until I'm well outside of the studio. It drove me wild.
I struggled with this inner critic during the first ten years of my practice. But as I enter my eleventh year of photography, I've found that I've grown quite fond of my inner critic. See, by developing as an artist and accepting myself for who I am, my inner critic and I have a much better relationship. My creative process had only been blocked up when I stepped down from the challenges my critic set for me, a behavior that I discovered only occurred when failing to first connect with myself. I had been holding negative expectations that my works would probably fail - a failure meaning nothing valuable (not even a learning lesson) would arise from the activity. This expectation arose entirely out of self-confidence issues and a foggy vision, results of my own self-alienation. I was disconnected.
But by working through my own self-acceptance I realized that the inner critic was not an enemy, but a very real part of me, whom I could love to my benefit. As things turned out, the critic and I happened to relate pretty well with one another. We both shared the same personal convictions, the same emotionally potent images and life themes, and the same aesthetic sensibilities. Ultimately, we both wanted to reach the same heights, and I began seeing how his nagging came from a place of longing to arrive there. So I took a step forward, laid out some ground rules for the inner critic and I to abide by, and trusted that his guidance would help lead us up the mountain.
When I began arising to the challenges he provided me, and persevered through the effort to appease his overtly high standards, I realized the personal critic had never led me the wrong way. When I cut his corners, my work suffered for it. When I revised my work to his suggestion, my work shined by it. But we also had an agreement, wherein he wouldn't preach doom and gloom if I didn't quite make the cut. And if I tried an alternative route, he promised to patiently wait for me to make my point. If I made a wrong turn, I allowed him to point it out, but only if he would point out the benefits of the learning experience as well.
Truth is, I never quite make the cut, but the inner critic acknowledges the effort and whispers, "You're one step closer, you're that much closer." This keeps me chasing the tail of the idealized work, raising the bar for each new piece, and subsequently obtaining fulfillment and greater satisfaction with each resultant piece. He always sets the bar just out of reach, so that I can come up with innovative ways to climb up and almost touch them. And I know he does this because he depends on me, just as much as I depend upon him, to ascend the mountain of our ambition. It's a climb we both want to make, and most unlikely to make without each other's cooperation.
A House Divided Cannot Stand
I outlined the self-acceptance process in an earlier post, but I want to reiterate the importance of that stage of artistic self-refinement - specifically in regard to obtaining a more balanced and personable inner critic. As the old adage goes, "Comparison is the thief of joy." We don't need to be working at the whim of an internal critic who keeps telling us how much better so-and-so's work is, asking ourselves why we can't create like they do. I sat in that place for a long time, bickering with my inner critic, neither of us able to move forward. But while learning to accept myself as I already am, letting go of any self-resentment for who I am not, I came to a place where I began objectively assessing my strengths and my weaknesses. By doing so, I was able to see which problem areas could be improved, and what I could do to improve them. By following through on those improvements, I learned to trust myself. By trusting myself, I learned to trust my inner critic.
Logic can feel cold at first, when your creative endeavors are still young and vulnerable, but after working to further develop your creative vision, your inner critic will mature as well. Mine now sounds much more like a soothing, cool-headed dude, making great suggestions and pointing out overlooked misdirections. And whenever my inner criticism seems counter productive, I simply stop and rethink the situation. I am cultivating the ability to differentiate between straight up nit-picking and truly constructive criticism. Then I reaffirm the work-enhancing value derived from truly appropriate critical analysis.
If you're struggling to find a balance between your freedom to self-expression, and the restraining assessments of your own internal criticism, remember that the authentic self is strong, and it is not dismayed by criticism. For some, the internal critic may feel like a hostile and negative force, but the internal critic is no more than a rational critical faculty within ourselves that we turn upon our work. The key is to acquire a more realistic sense of who you really are, and the actual extent of your creative capabilities. Be reassured that by developing a clear and comprehensive artistic vision, your inner critic will join you on your journey, and together you will not be rerouted by the influence of others.
Those with a foggy creative vision tend to create work that they think appeals to others, or work derivative of the efforts of other artists. This means they are not the leader in their artistic journey. The critic, always attempting to improve conditions, will then look in the direction of the leader. If that leader is the artist whose work you so deeply admire and wish you could emulate, then your critic might always be pestering you to meet their standards. But if you choose to follow a much more fulfilling path, the path you find on your own, your critic will naturally join your trail, follow your lead, and behave like the helpful trail partner you've always wanted.
Creatives of Steemit, how do you deal with your internal critic?
Best regards,
John Dykstra
Beautiful shot. Resteemed!
Thank you!!
That inner critic is annoying sometimes but i drives us to be the highest of our potential !
Exquisite work as always mate! Love it.
Good work. You're right being an artist I myself try to improve my artistic abilities based on people's criticism. But on the other hand we naturally experience our internal critic voice as a negative commentary, which is not a good thing.
Just keep encouraging yourself!
I guess the internal critic is always the hardest, since you always look to do your best work thus far, sometimes making some very awesome creations not see the light of day because it does not meet your own mínimum expectations. I think my way of dealing with internal critic is similar to yours, just get to know yourself as much as you can, and your inner critic will eventually follow your lead.
All the best in your future creations, I feel you are going to do great.
Thank you, @guayox! It took a while for me to realize that even failures can be worth exhibiting, for no other reason than to share the journey of improvement with others, and to make your masterpieces shine that much more.
I love yours words about the inner critic! I want to read it again and more carefully and respond, but for now I have a boring technical question about this wonderful image: how did you paint the perfect-perspective ellipse? Did you shine a flashlight or use a projector and then mark the edges?
Thanks, Derek! It's actually the same process as this: https://steemit.com/photofeed/@johndykstra/the-process-of-building-a-perspective-illusion
I draw it on paper first, draw a sort of graph onto the set in chalk, take a picture, upload the drawing and layer it above a photograph of a scene, see where the drawing lines up on the graph, which tells me where to draw my outline on the set!
That, sir, is ridiculous. In a good way. Massive respect for the work you put into these!
I once put my real journal on display in a coffee shop gallery.
Titled "Open Book" my journal, the journal I had kept for over 10 years, was on display for a month, free for anyone at all to read.
The project was a huge success. I had quite literally opened my deepest secrets to the public, all of my greatest triumphs and especially my most difficult failures.
My inner critic told me to back out. To give up. To rip out pages I didn't want anyone to read. But that wasn't the point of the project.
I'm glad to see you have learned to coexist with your critic. Art without sacrifice cannot exist.
Cheers, nice to meet you :)
This. Is. Awesome!! By the way, rad hair and lifestyle, Christopher a.k.a. coffeejesus. I'm following along, for sure.
Personally i wouldn't care too much by my inner critique as we constantly change as we evolve through our lifetime, we rarely stay the same if you really desire to follow your path. Your work as an artist grows and adapts to these changes as like to a child in kindergarden to adulthood and beyond.
Yep, yep; the developing never ceases.
World of Photography Beta V1.0
>Learn more here<
You have earned 5.20 XP for sharing your photo!
Daily photos: 1/2
Daily comments: 0/5
Multiplier: 1.04
Server time: 01:36:13
Total XP: 258.86/400.00
Total Photos: 16
Total comments: 7
Total contest wins: 4
Follow: @photocontests
Join the Discord channel: click!
Play and win SBD: @fairlotto
Daily Steem Statistics: @dailysteemreport
Learn how to program Steem-Python applications: @steempytutorials
Developed and sponsored by: @juliank