"TEN MYTHS ABOUT ARTISTS THAT WILL KEEP YOU FROM BEING A SUCCESSFUL ARTIST"
MYTH #2: Only the best artists are successful artists.
FACT: It helps if you're good. But just being good won't ensure your success. And conversely, you can be highly successful even if you're not the best.
THE BEST AT WHAT?
I've seen many talented people derail themselves from their dreams of a life in the creative or performing arts, just because they felt they would never be "the best". We all have in our head who might be "the best". But best at what? Best at being critically acclaimed? We all know that often what excites a critic doesn't translate into popular appeal. Best in popular appeal? Vice versa. Your public adores you, but critics turn up their noses. The most successful financially? That would be Thomas Kinkade, Painter of Light. The most famous? You could slice off an ear... The best for a decade, but then lost to obscurity? The best simply because you outlived your competition?
Being "the best" is not quantifiable. The only kind of success we can ultimately achieve is, did we make the most of the gifts we're given? Even that is extremely suggestive. People may have to accept the creation of just one spectacular work that achieves acclaim (one-hit wonders in the music world, one book authors, actors known for one amazine role, artists who are die before they can even realize their potential). Others, even after a lifetime of achievement, can still only think of the work they've left undone, the opportunities they didn't follow. Which brings me to a new mantra:
ARE YOU "GOOD ENOUGH"?
Are you good enough to get where you want to go? If not, are you willing to keep at your art, to practice it and hone it til it is? I heard a great anecdote last week. A ceramics teacher told a new class, "I'm dividing the class in half. This group will be graded on quantity. The more pots you throw, the higher your grade. The other group will be graded on quality. Create one perfect pot for your best grade." They all set to work. At the end of the semester, you guessed it: The group that focused on process--production--simply worked constantly, throwing pot after pot, ended up with excellent work. The group that focused on throwing one perfect pot--the end result--ended up with ambitious pots that weren't very good.
So simply doing the work will make you better at doing it.
My second take on this myth is what a mentor told a fellow artist about success:
BEING GOOD HELPS...
...but it isn't everything. Success also takes doing the other work. First, creating enough work to sell or show; creating consistantly. Constantly keeping the work fresh, yet identifiable as your work. Finding, developing and growing an audience for your work. Constantly marketing and promoting your work. Recognizing, and being ready for opportunity when it crosses your path. Following through--delivering work on time, keeping commitments you've made (or relinquishing them in a timely fashion if you can't, so the other party has time to make other arrangements); saying thank you. And understanding what your professional goals are, so you don't dilute your efforts pursuing goals that aren't your core mission.
THE MOUSETRAP MYTH
In other words, we shouldn't take to heart the saying, "Build a better mousetrap, and the world will build a path to your door." In today's modern world, we need to go tell the world about our wonderful new mousetrap. Or we may find ourselves with an attic full of great mousetraps nobody knows about.
Working at the other half of our artistic success--getting the work out there--may not come easily to us artistic types at first. But it's crucial to achieving success. And, just between you and me--when you do it for yourself, it's a lot more fun than doing it for someone else.
