Don't Lose Yourself

When you're dealing with the wonderful world of art a time will come where you will have to choose to stick to your ideas. Art and all that it encompasses is truly a form of self expression. Once you have discovered your talent and have made it your own you must stay true to it. There is nothing wrong with visiting an idea but going against yourself to make the idea a reality is a problem. People will not always agree with, like or even support exactly what you're doing. If its what you want then who cares.

In all areas of art there are the amazing, the great, the good, the bad and the ugly. The first two speak volumes by themselves, "the good" is simply a middle ground. The bad and the ugly can be different things. They can be bad or ugly and still have a true beauty to them OR they can be bad and ugly and have you compromising everything that you stand for. If it feels wrong and you keep questioning it, it probably is wrong and you should walk away.

With art being an expression of ones true self nothing anyone does is wrong. However, when what someone else does has the potential to make you look bad stick to YOUR art first. If you visualize your painting, your sketch, your design, your story or anything and what the artist your trying to work with is doing could taint that image, stop. Unfortunately, being an artist on any level in any genre is tough. There will most certainly be collaborations because thats what us artsy people do, we create and network so that we can create some more on an even bigger scale. The down side to that is picking and choosing what is worth it and what isn't. If you are the most amazing charcoal artist would you rather work with someone who is amazing at digital design or is bad at drawing in mud with sticks?

Sometimes art is not a choice because it just clicks in your mind for you and sometimes for you with another artist. Sometimes art is a test of wills, is yours strong enough to not bend or fold? Compromise is inevitable in life period but in art you must choose to compromise either your art or your involvement. Your art is who you are so you should never compromise that, your involvement is at your discretion. What another artist does can't affect you unless you let it. Stay true to yourself and your art and you'll always come out on top!! Don't lose yourself, lose "the bad" and "the ugly".