The Easiest Way to be the Best.

The Easiest Way to be the Best.

Get the best tools, create the best piece, share it with the world, and wait for the success (money and adoration) to roll in.

Ha!

If only that were the case.

After 10 years illustrating and 40 years on this planet, there is one thing I can tell you without hesitation…there is NO easy way to do anything.

It takes time. And patience. And determination.

Now there are things you can do that will help but each person’s experience is going to be different.

But finding the best brush, the perfect color palette, the best X, Y, Z will not do it.

I used to think that having the best brush would make the art better. NOPE!

I have downloaded so many brushes for Photoshop and Procreate it is unreal!

Now for my work I probably use a handful of brushes to complete my pieces. And that’s only because I’ve spent some time with them and I like the look and feel of what they give me.

I have SO many others but for what?

Having the best pencil doesn’t make you a better artist.

There are people that use sand to create art. SAND!!

So if there are no magic pencils, brushes, etc. then what will work?

Being comfortable with where you are right now, no matter what stage of the game you’re in and not being satisfied with where you are.

Yes, there is a difference.

Also, I’m an artist, a mom, a wife, and a human. My professional experience is from an artist stand-point. Hopefully some of these points will help lots of people but I’m speaking from an artist perspective so bear with me.

Ok, so how do you become the best?

Be okay with the fact that your work sucks. Because if you’re reading this, then you’re frustrated and trying to figure out how to make what you see in your head appear in the real world.

Believe me I’ve been there.

So. Many. Times!

And it stinks. Because you create a piece and it’s decent. The next thing you make is crap. And the cycle continues which discourages you.

What’s worse is adding in social media to the mix.

The curse of comparison is a dream killer. Hands down.

You see your work and then you see the work of one of your idols, or a peer that’s pretty close to where you are skill wise but they’re banging out work like a crazy person.

They’re doing fan art. You do fan art.

They’re doing food art. You do food art.

They’re doing…whatever. You do whatever.

Where is the joy? Why do you create art in the first place?

No seriously. Why?

Do you even know?

If not, start there.

I started drawing when I was a kid because my home life sucked. So I would draw and color to get away.

But art wasn’t considered a way to make money back then so a career wasn’t in the cards for me.

In college, I was in a video class and I decided to make a cartoon.

It was a hot dog cartoon about a hot dog who finds his friends on the way to his favorite restaurant. It was cheesy and corny, and SO much fun.

I decided I wanted to draw more and thought maybe I could make money at it. So I started researching and found that being an illustrator REALLY IS a career choice.

Now drawing has become a way of life and a way to deal with life.

I draw and paint my illustrations because sometimes life is tough. I’ve been dealt a pretty tough hand and I use my art to ‘escape’ in a healthy manner vs drugs, alcohol, or something else that won’t do me any good in the long run.

I also like to work out too but that scares people and you’re not here for a work out speech.

My art has developed and changed a lot over the years.

I’m definitely no expert unless you want to talk about what it means to be me and I’ve got expert level experience in that.

So what does it mean to be the best?

Well first you have to be okay with being the best version of YOU.

Stop comparing where you are right now to where someone else is.

Even if you started the exact same day, your experiences, your attitudes, and your tastes are going to be a lot different than someone else’s.

Which means the art you create is going to be different.

And you need to be okay with that.

If you’ve spent any amount of time on this planet, you know that nothing in life worth having is going to be easy. And it’s not supposed to be.

If something is hard and you have to work for it, you’ll appreciate it so much more than if it were just given to you.

You might not ever reach the vision that you think the ‘best’ is but you’re already the best version of who you are and nobody can take that away.

So stop trying to be like everyone else.

The next step is realizing you need to work on things to get better. And as an artist, that means working!

As artists, our vision of seeing beautiful work is on a peak but where we are is on a much lower peak.

And just be happy with where you are right now and realize that where you are is not where you’re meant to stay. As long as you keep working on making you a better version of you, the possibilities are endless.