Illustrated by Caitlin Rogers

By Caitlin Rogers

Artistic ability and artistic tastes are entirely two different things, but they influence each other greatly. It seems like when you finally get better tastes, your work doesn't improve as rapidly. You find so many new artists that have fantastic styles and you wonder about their execution and are at awe with their craftsmanship. You understand that their skill, technique, and efficiency is what creates the results that they, the creator enjoy. 

Because, as we know, the tool does not create for the artist. It's skill. That flavor of skill is absolutely what gains a creator’s audience. But it's not the skill that makes the artist, it's their own tastes. And taste is such a fascinating concept when discussing a creative adventure, no matter the medium.

You'd be surprised what actually starts a creator's artistic family tree and how that truly shapes their own respective art style. Because if we break it down, the creator’s family tree is what influences their art and it's that taste that showcases the art style that we see. 

Now, the artistic ability. 

If we look at it from a graph standpoint, that's where it seems to always go slower. And when tastes and ability have too much of a gap in between them, that's where you find artistic discouragement. You feel like you could never catch up and you're not getting better as fast as you would like. And this is where sometimes the creative’s journey can halt. 

This isn't to say you're a bad artist, it's just far easier to train the eye. It's easier to train the eye to certain details, technical problems, and genuine errors to pick up on than craftsmanship, technique, or efficiency specific to you and your way of execution; especially when the solution can be as simple as somebody telling you [the answer].

But when it comes to actual skill and training skill, it doesn't matter what the tech bros try to get you to purchase. No amount of computing or artificial artistic ability can get you ahead, skill training cannot be skipped. That's something I had to unlearn in my own artistic journey; skill training and discipline absolutely can't be skipped. And if you want to get better, you have to put aside the time to figure out your own learning style and nurture it in that way accordingly.  This is where it seems like everything is “go, go, go” like I mentioned in my own last dew discussion, there doesn't seem to ever be enough time. But at the end of the day, future you will be grateful if you at least get started today. 

Or try to. 

It's going to take a while and it's completely normal to take a while. Just like how everyone is obsessed with a glow up era after leaving their ugly era, which I think entirely wording wise is completely awful and degrading; you're going to have an ugly art era. You're going to have ugly sketches that look a little grotesque, maybe even boring, but in the long run, you're going to be so grateful to see those cringey drawings. It's going to remind you how far you've come. It's going to remind you how you eventually got and gained the skill to what your current level of [creating] is. 

I say things in drawing tense as I'm always an illustrator first, but this can apply to anyone, whether that be photography, illustration, comics, comic writing, script writing, etc. All of us are going to have an embarrassing era and that's completely fine,. But so long as that gap between the artistic taste and the artistic ability does not intimidate you so much as to put the craft down. You can take a break, but if it’s truly what your heart wants, then you can't quit. 

It doesn't matter how long that break is, you're still a creative. And I will still root for you.

Anyway you, until another morning. 

~Caitlin

Illustrated by Caitlin Rogers