Mythbusting: Art is Easy

I wanted to take a minute to talk about a popular fallacy, the idea of which basically goes:

“Art only requires talent.  Artists have it easy, and are lucky.  Art is not as challenging as something like math or science.”

Taken from the Playdom game "Sorority Life", where apparently art is so awesome, it makes your life (like) totally better!

Because I am a game designer, I believe in checking out all kinds of games.  Yesterday, I delved into the “social games” phenomenon by starting up Sorority Life, in which your major (see above) can deliver certain benefits to you.  Psychology gives you “Confidence”- Ok, that’s somewhat understandable from a game mechanic perspective.  Pre-Med gives you “Energy”- less believable but still mechanically sound overall.  Business gives you “Money”- which makes a lot more sense.

And finally there’s Art!  Which gives you a little of EVERYTHING!

Alright, now back to the real world.

Energy

Artists have to work very, very hard. Every artist is developing, and will be constantly doing so throughout their career.  They grind away, they get better, they hit a wall, they have a breakthrough– they just never stop.  The second an artist stops working hard, they begin to stagnate.  They don’t get to sleep much.  They constantly have to be vigilant about their own time.  When they’re not working, they’re feeling guilty for not working.  Artists don’t have weekends.  Art is not (just) talent- art is hard work.

Money

Let’s face it, unless you are at the top of the totem pole in the artist’s world, you’re not making bank.  The typical fine artist’s (including illustrators) salary falls between $30,000 and $55,000.  Most MBA’s start at double that.

Confidence

Art is grueling.  Any artist worth his/her salt is constantly getting torn to shreds, scraping his/her dignity up off the floor, and trying again.  The craziest part of this is, that is the ONLY way to get better.  You have to look for critique, seek out your own failures, and ask for brutal honesty in order to become a better artist.  Artists cannot have egos, they can’t afford to or no one will want to work with them.  As an artist, you have to open yourself up to hearing all the things that are wrong about what you’re doing, and instead of saying “you don’t get it” you have to say “you are right”, and try to improve.  It’s never easy and it’s never over.  Even the greatest artists have problems in some of their work.

The Big Picture

So, why am I writing this seemingly depressing post?  Because I believe that in spite of all of this, their will to succeed is what makes artists truly unique.

Artists are extremely brave, hard-working, and passionate, and I believe they make the world better for what they put into it.