The first time I read "Art & Fear" by David Bayles and Ted Orland was in 2019. I took a drawing class, and the teacher suggested the book. It completely changed my perception of art, especially art-making. Since then, I have read it a few more times and recommended it to every person who wishes to understand art a little better. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Art

Making art is a challenge. Often, people do not care about what you create. Most of the time, there is no audience or reward for your efforts. Uncertainty and fear are always present, hindering art creation. Making art is about putting all that aside and pushing forward to create what you want. Look at your work, and you will see what to do next. It is necessary to find nourishment in the work itself rather than from external sources.

While most people believe they can learn crafts, the word 'art' is surrounded by mysticism, seen as a talent that you're born with, and if you don't have it, you're doomed. However, art is a skill that can be learned, just like any other skill.

Artists learn how to accept themselves and follow their own voice, which makes their work personal and distinctive. In the long run, talent becomes indistinguishable when comparing seasoned artists. Making art is a constant refinement of skills and is done by ordinary people. Some of the frustrations about the art you create stem from the gap between what you imagined and what you produced.

Why

Creating art and consuming art are two distinct experiences. As an artist, the process of shaping your ideas is what matters most. However, for the audience, their focus is solely on the final product. Regardless of their reasons for consuming art, it's not your concern. What matters to you is learning how to develop your work. It is a solitary endeavour, and you may spend a lot, if not all, of your time creating work that few people care about.

The primary reason to create art is to learn and improve your skills, so you can make more art. Every artwork, including the failures, is essential because you learn through the process of creating. During this journey, many of your artworks may not be completed or stand out. The audience's role is not to learn about how to make your work.

There is no compelling reason why others should care about your work. Typically, the people who do care about your work are those who already care about you as a person.

Artists who continue to create are those who have learned not to quit, as many people who start ultimately give up. When artists convince themselves that there is no point in making art, they often never return to it. Artists stop when they lose sight of their creative destination. You can stop and go back to creating art—it happens all the time—but quitting only happens once.

After an artist spent 20 years aspiring to have a solo show at a major local museum and finally achieved it, they never created art again.

It is very taxing for artists when their work has no relevance, no audience, and no feedback. What undermines artists is the absence of a support system. Try to connect with other artists, share your work with them, and avoid putting too much pressure on yourself to be recognized by prestigious institutions like MOMA. Focus on creating meaningful connections and developing your work, and perhaps MOMA will come to you.

The line that separates artists from their art is very thin. Creating art can challenge one's sense of self, as artists grapple with fears of inadequacy, the inability to perform well, the fear of losing their abilities, or feeling like they have nothing meaningful to express. For many artists, there is no clear distinction between themselves and their art. Those who persevere are the ones who confront and challenge their fears.

Expression

In recent years, art has become synonymous with self-expression. The distinction between craft and art emerged after the Renaissance era. If art is seen as a reflection of the self, then flawed art may be perceived as indicative of a flawed person or that what you are making is no art.

Our vision often exceeds our capacity to execute. The initial stage of creating art is particularly challenging because of the multitude of possibilities, and once choices are made and actions taken, other options disappear. Arriving at your final vision is a process of progressively narrowing down the possibilities until there are none left.

Making art involves carrying an idea forward through materials. Artwork is intrinsically connected to its materials, which both offer potential and impose limitations on what can be achieved. Materials are one of the few elements that artists have control over. While conditions may never be ideal and artists may always be busy, they can choose which materials to use.

Art happens when you and something (an idea, technique, or subject) have the freedom to move.

Fear

Artists are often confronted with two types of fear: fear about themselves and fear about how their work will be received by others. When you fear yourself, you hinder your ability to create your best work. When you fear reception, you prevent yourself from truly expressing your own artistic vision.

Doubting whether you are an artist, or feeling like you are pretending to do art, often stems from doubting your artistic credentials, which can lead to undervaluing your work. If the rules of chess were unclear, you might feel uneasy playing it. Art definitions are vague and constantly evolving, which can sometimes make you feel less like an artist. However, it's impossible to pretend to be an artist while you are actively engaged in creating art. Pretending to paint while painting is not possible. The outcome of your art may not meet the expectations of curators or audiences, but that is a separate issue.

Creating good artwork results from making lots of bad artworks.

Talent

You have the necessary talent and skills to create your best artwork at this moment. It is a waste of energy to question how much talent you have. You can improve by refining your skills and learning new ones through consistent art-making and practice. What other people have is not relevant to you and will not necessarily work for you.

When a teacher divides a pottery class into two groups and decides to grade the first half based on the quantity of pots made and the second half based on the perfection of a single pot made, the first group will always achieve better grades. By making lots of art, they improve their skills, whereas the other group wastes time discussing how to make the perfect pot.

Imperfections are a common and often essential ingredient in making art. Seeking perfection will invite paralysis. Believing that artwork should be perfect can convince yourself that you are unable to create it. The seeds for your next work are embedded in the imperfections of your current piece.

Expectations

Expectations can de dangerous

But they can also help you. What you need to work on is contained in your last piece. The best way to learn about materials is by using them to make your art. Your work will inform your methods, your routine, and discipline, your strengths, and weaknesses. The lessons you are meant to learn come from your own work. However, you must strip yourself of judgment, fear, hope, or wishes.

Do not confuse your own priorities with those of others. It is your responsibility to make each artwork unique and distinct yet connected to what you have created before. Your job is to make your art personal. For most of your own art, there are no audience, so do not hold back and be authentic. However, keep in mind that being authentic will expose you, and any criticism may feel personal.

The audience is not obligated to understand your meaning. Older works are often more attractive and better understood. By exposing yourself, you give the audience the power of judgment rather than understanding. Also, you are not obligated to share your work. Sometimes, you may need a gap between the time of creation and the time of exhibition which makes their comments and criticisms less threatening.

The desire to be understood can lead to dependence on the audience. The power for acceptance and approval is held by others, but this does not dictate the value of your art. Often, truly new ideas are dismissed as bad art or not art at all, and this requires time to change. If you create work that resembles conventional art, it is more likely to be accepted automatically. The dilemma of whether to explore new ideas or follow well-trodden paths is a constant challenge.

Wanting you work to be accepted is to be recognizes as art, whereas approval is about people liking it. In both cases, it can take a have toll on the artist motivation. A solution for that is to find a please where art is appreciated and encouraged.

Artwork

The art you make is a reflection of you; if you hold back or are lazy, that will show. It resonates deeply within, even if it goes unnoticed by the rest of the world.

The capacity to consume art is much greater than creating art. You can connect with something made hundreds of years ago. On the other hand, the art you create is bound by the time and place of its creation. It is a snapshot that cannot be recreated. Art is about what you have done.

New ideas are in short supply. What counts the most are the practical ideas that can be reused in many different ways. These will lead to a complete body of work rather than a single piece. When you are stuck, think about what changed since it was working before.

Don't forget that the art you create is a result of the tools you have available. They offer both potential and limitations. Therefore, the history of art is also intertwined with the history of technology. In the 1870s, for the first time, artists could paint outside due to the manufacturing of oil colours in metal-foil tubes. Those who painted outdoors became known as the Impressionists.

At the beginning, artists tend to experiment with different materials and techniques. With time, experimentation gives way to expression. The chosen methods, techniques, and materials become more refined and limited; they become an extension of the artist.

As we practice art-making, we develop habits that ease us into the process of creating more art. These habits help reduce the need to constantly reinvent ourselves. An artwork is the result of a series of habits and routines. With experience, these habits build confidence, allowing us to embrace uncertainty and the unknown.

Problems

Art is not only about art-making. Art has been created long before people decided to classify and collect it. Finding a place in the art world is challenging and perhaps not for everyone.

The temptation to rate artists based on the recognition they have achieved is high, but it is very flawed. This competition is not about the work; instead, it is about collecting symbols of acceptance and approval. Not having those symbols can lead to feelings of anger and bitterness, and if you feel you are not enough, that can lead to depression. Defeat is almost inevitable if you are seeking to collect approvals and acceptance. To make this even worse, there is no consensus on what constitutes good art.

What matters about every piece of art you create is how it is similar to or different from the previous one. Many productive artists who can manage self-imposed discipline have a hard time adhering to constraints imposed by others.

Higher education tends to lure new artists very easily but fails to support them adequately. It is common for individuals to make more money teaching art than creating it. These are two full-time careers. As a result, teachers are often former artists who help create new artists, who may eventually become teachers themselves.

Many of these artists stop making art as soon as they graduate. University is a sheltered environment where people are paid to give students attention and feedback, but that support disappears once the students graduate.

Learning

Most books about art or artists leave out the most important part: how the artist learned to create what matters to them. Beyond learning techniques, what most artists gain from each other is courage through association. It is common to analyze art as a foreign object, disconnected from culture, politics, and history. Typically, art is placed into categories of movements, styles, or periods.

None of the above will help you learn how to make your own art or convey the challenges and hardships of artmaking. For the working artist, the best source material is autobiographical.

Three questions about art by writer Henry James:

1. What was the artist trying to achieve?
2. Did they succeed?
3. Was it worth doing?

These questions will help you understand the perspective of the artist rather than categorizing their work under labels such as Behaviorism, Feminism, or Postmodernism.

Different from other professions, artists don't know exactly what they are going to do. They must reinvent the rules and present their vulnerable selves to the public gaze. Artists who follow the rules do not tend to be remembered; however, those who make the rules follow their work are the ones who transcend their lifetimes.

Generally, the audience has no emotional investment in the artwork. They are looking for a display of technical excellence and beauty, but often find it empty. On the other hand, to the artist, who is emotionally invested, the question is not about the final product but about which direction they want to explore. Mastering a technique, while requiring lots of practice, is the easiest part; the hard part is giving form to a new idea. Art that is only about technique is less interesting than art that deals with ideas.

Everyone sees the Mona Lisa as a piece of art. But how about a perfect copy of it? Art is about the gap between pieces, not the artwork itself. Craft deals with perfection; each new piece is similar but more polished than the previous one, whereas art is less polished but more innovative.

Craft is usually made to fit into a model and sometimes requires years to be perfected. Only a piece made through craft can achieve perfection. As artists gain more experience, they tend to shift from art to craft. The difference between art and craft is not the tools but the mindset that guides them.

Artists may feel embarrassed by their older work because it does not match their current skill level. These pieces are snapshots of the past that highlight what the artist was focusing on at that time. New work serves as a commentary on the past, pointing out what they were not focusing on before.

Art-making

Habits are important because they provide the foundation for addressing other issues. They are generated by various factors such as genes, upbringing, education, religion, employment, and relationships; collectively known as character traits. However, habits learned from other artists can sometimes be labeled as derivation, plagiarism, or forgery. Yet, it's worth noting that many ideas and techniques that captivate you have likely already been explored and mastered by others. Your journey as an artist involves filtering through all that interests you and combining it to create something uniquely your own. This amalgamation becomes your own style. Having a style is merely a consequence of the art-making process.

While science is preoccupied with describing how things work, artists are more interested in focusing on a single experience and its possibilities. Whereas science aims to eliminate adversity to achieve consistent results, art welcomes adversity, making replication of an artwork impossible. Once a piece is created, both the artist and the world are changed. It is impossible to write Hamlet again.

Art is formed through a relationship between the artist and something else. The engagement with this "something else" may be the sole motivation for some artists to create. The art you create declares what you believe is important. To create art, an artist needs to observe things about themselves, their methods, their lives, and so on.

Having answers may provide stability and reassurance, but if you want something useful, look for questions. Interesting questions lead to interesting answers.

• Do artists have anything in common with each other?
• How do artists become artists?
• How do artists learn to work on their work?
• How can I make work that will satisfy me?
• Why do so many who start, quit?

There is no book or curriculum that describes how to become an artist. We have a language that teaches us how to paint, but we don't have one that teaches us how to paint our own paintings.

Just like anyone else, we experience life simply by existing. Whatever we are interested in will continue to grab our attention. The things that move us will continue to do so. We just have to keep telling the stories we want to tell and doing the work that we care about. The only thing you need to make art, you already possess. Just find a way to keep creating art, and that recipe is unique to you.