So, the question is, “Are you good? “ Simple, easy, and sure way to find out is you. No one can answer this question but yourself. If you aren’t sure if your work is good, then probably your work is not good enough. Don’t ask somebody else. Instead, hang your work and live with it. If it makes you feel good and proud that you made it, your work is good.

–Hiroshi Watanabe

via Two Way Lens.

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13 Comments

  1. If you don’t have confidence in your own work who will?

  2. I know my wok is good… my work on the other hand ;-) Don’t worry APE, spell check wouldn’t get that one.

    I don’t know if I completely agree with this. I know that nobody is harder on myself and my work than I am and often times I think I’m a complete hack (which could very well be the case). But I’ve found often “creatives” think they suck even though everyone else thinks they’re great.

    Even though I’m supposed to do it (and do do it), I usually have a hard time telling people how great I am… or even taking a compliment on my work.

    Of course, maybe Hiroshi’s right and I’m just not that good.

    Jeff

    • @Jeff Singer, Good points Jeff. Selling your own work is not easy for most artists or creatives since it often feels like you’re bragging or being pompous and egotistical.

      It would be nice to find the magical formula to achieve a fine balance between always striving to do better and knowing that you’re good without looking or feeling pretentious.

      Too often it’s those with less talent and more self confidence who succeed.

    • @Jeff Singer, I agree completely Jeff. This reminds me of listening to (British Artist) Grayson Perry talking on a radio show about creativity earlier this week where he stated that he’s often unhappy with the way his work turns out and it takes other people to convince him of its worth.

    • @Jeff Singer, I think I have to agree with you Jeff. There are days that I think everything I do sucks and some days when it pleases me. I think artists DO need to feel that they have something to contribute.

  3. I think the key point in all this is that being satisfied with our work is fleeting. The moment we create something that we think is great, we also realise that we can make something even better. So we can never be utterly satisfied with our work and we continually strive to improve. Isn’t that the reason why we grow as artists and keep growing until the day we die? Which, I suppose, makes Hiroshi’s comment slightly complicated.

    • @Nick, I whole heartedly agree. You may like what you did, but you think back on what you did to create the work and you realize almost instantly that you would have done a lot of things differently.

  4. This may be a question of attitude more than the actual quality of your work. If you believe in your work, it reflects in how you present yourself. If you project a “my work is crap” attitude, people will probably think your work is crap.

    We all have those “my work is crap” days. The challenge is being able to overcome that feeling and present yourself as a winner. There have been millions of books written on that topic, but doing it in real life is hard work.

  5. I think there is a balance of not coming across like a used car salesman, nor a real estate agent. There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance.

  6. Actually, the more you ask yourself if you’re good, the better you get.


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