Fears of Artists | Alexandra Novik-Khamis

Are artists actually scared? Very often I heard that artists are egocentrics and the main point for them is express themselves and that's it. How people will understand their art and so on it is not that important. But in fact real artists are care for people around. And sometimes even too much to express their feelings fully.

Artists are constantly scared. What other people and critics would say about new collection? Maybe new artwork will not be good enough. Fear of judgement is very strong. And it does not happen out of vanity or pride, most of the times it’s happens because artists are sensitive. And each of artwork is like a child which was born, not made or appeared. So when suddenly hard work is judged it’s hurting harder than we all expecting.

What else artists are scared of? Museness? Its so called “writer's’ block”. When your muse is gone and fear of failure is real. In this moments artists are scared of white canvases. Because there is no muse which can help.

But of course each artist's searching their own ways to overcome it.

And one of the most common fear is not being so good painting something difficult. Its very hard to tell yourself “I cant finish this art piece because it’s more difficult and challenging than I thought”. It’s scary to understand the fact that you're not as good artist as you feel or everyone thinks.

Fear of being disappointing for critics or others is very strong. And again sometimes it's coming out of vanity, but most of the time out of sensitivity.

We shouldn’t be afraid to fail because, honestly and truly, failing isn’t all that bad. If you fail, there’s usually a clear-cut reason (or several reasons) why you failed. . . and once you know why you failed, it’s much easier to do better the next time.

Unfortunately critics and people will even point out why you failed for you. So it’s almost impossible not to learn from your mistakes.

If we’re so afraid of failing that we don’t even try to achieve our dreams (such as becoming a professional artist) then we’ve forgotten something very integral to the basic human condition and that failure brings growth! That we must fail in order to learn.

Basically artists are ment to worry more than other people. We are designed that way. Artists minds and souls are complex and it's okay to be scared sometimes.

But it's very important to overcome your fears in order to paint and create beautiful worlds on canvas.

Overcome fear is healthy and this process is keeping your mind clear and your personality strong.

It’s difficult but there are several ideas which can help overcome fears for artists such as:

• Start by risking small, not large
• Identify your ideal working conditions
• Write down your successes
• Establish a regular painting routine
• Replenish your emotional resources
• If you fail, write down WHY
• Pick up a brush and start