I got a chance recently to sit down with Nikki, we had been Facebook friends for quite some time, another one of those people I had an appreciation for for a while just never really connected
She would post these really cool Fallout 4 world creations, and she seemed to be into cool music and all sorts of other things too.
So needless to say, we eventually got together, and Nikki sat for me for about three hours.
Great time. Great conversation.
It just makes me think there are beautiful people everywhere and wonderful conversations to be had all the time. Maybe thats obvious
But to be a little redundant with my last portrait, I also want to champion something I’m currently working through as an artist: learning to trust the process.
With this kind of work, at least for me, the portrait doesn’t look good for probably 98% of the time. I’m slowly building a foundation the entire time, and then somehow, right at the very end, it all starts to come together. What looked like a mess suddenly takes shape in the last few moments.
You really have to trust that what you’re doing is going to get you somewhere.
Interestingly, Nikki told me that she used to draw as well, but she struggled with the same kind of uncertainty. She might do one really good portrait, but then the next one wouldn’t turn out the way she wanted. She didn’t feel like she could reliably reproduce the result.
That really resonated with me.
I used to have the same experience. I’d make one really good portrait, feel like I’d figured something out, and then the next one would kind of suck. I’d get discouraged, feel bad about myself as an artist, and eventually give up.
But I think there are actually two lessons in that.
The first is that being able to produce one good result isn’t the same thing as having developed a reliable skill.
The second is that sometimes I simply didn’t stick with the process long enough for the idea to fully mature. I would judge the work while it was still becoming itself.
Both of those feel like pretty mature takeaways to me.
So yes, as an artist, I’d like to be able to make a really good portrait.
But more importantly, I want to develop the skills and the patience to make a good portrait again. And again. And again.
I want to be able to trust that I can reproduce that quality level, not because every portrait will be perfect, but because I’ve built a foundation strong enough to give myself a real chance of getting there.
That’s something I’m keeping in mind as I continue these studies.
