chrisgoodwin posted some really great advice for visual artists on his most recent journal update. He offered two rules, and the first rule, posted below, goes for any sort of art you can practice: music, writing, animating, puppet making, whatever. This is the best advice anyone can give you toward improving your craft.

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RULE 0: The only thing that matters is that you complete your work, turn the page, and start again. That's it. No caveats, no exceptions. There are no exceptions. This is the only necessary thing you need to concern yourself with. Anything else is optional. Everything else is optional. Anybody who tells you differently is trying to sell you something you do not need. BUT CHRIS WHAT ABOUT ANATOMY AND TECHNIQU- No; fuck all that. BUT CHRIS I CAN'T DO IT AND I GET FRUSTRATED BECAUSE I WANT TO DRAW LIKE MY ART HERO- No; fuck that too. If you want to set up the most arbitrary of standards for criticism and comparison, and then attach some completely artificial importance to them so that you willingly invite disappointment, discouragement, and petulance into your creative life, then you are free to be deluded - and this advice is not for you. The only thing that matters is that you fearlessly, heedlessly, and heroically make - and then without hesitation, proceed to make again. This is the only thing that will possibly improve you as an artist.

That is because the alternative is to Not Make. And though it should be obvious: this will get you nowhere. Doubt. Laziness. Habit. Insecurity. Stubborness. Envy. Despair. Distraction. Materialism. Perfectionism. Mannerism. Reactionary flailing. Isolationism. Negativity. and Fear. These things are poisons and will undermine your will to make. Do not yield to them one inch into your creative life. They have no necessary basis in your artistic development. If you invite them into your life and find yourself Not Making Art, then stamp that shit out. People who passively cause you to Not Make Art should be avoided. People who actively seek to stop you from Making Art should be additionally distrusted - their opinions are meaningless and will only harm your ability to adhere to RULE 0. This includes people like you, and your own opinion on the subject. If you find yourself discrediting your own work, you need to set that inner voice aside and proceed with vigor. I cannot stress this enough: It is the only way to improve. Not one of many ways. Not the best way. The only way. You have to make art, and you have to do it urgently.

The good news is that: of course you can.

And as you do, you will improve. If you don't see it, and find yourself getting frustrated, then okay, feel blind and frustrated - welcome to the human condition. Now set that aside and start again. There is no short cut. Even things masquerading as short cuts or sensible instruction are simply variations of this same mandate: Make Something. Whatever form they take is clutter and optional baggage you willingly choose to swallow. If you want to listen to Chris's Advice, okay fine. If you want to pay attention to Bob Ross, awesome. If you aspire to photorealism, or random scribblings, it's all the same. Just like whatever is preventing you from Making Art has no necessary importance and should be ignored - whatever is encouraging you to create is effective precisely because you are Making Art, not because of anything else. Art is wholly subjective, so how you go about making it is of no actual consequence. None.

Don't get caught up in the particulars of how to go about it, that shit is vanity and/or distraction; you won't get better because I said so, or because you're imitating Bugs Bunny cartoons, or because you're using a high brow Renaissance technique or because Adventure Time fanart means avoiding drawing elbows which are hard: that stuff isn't helping you improve, and it doesn't make you an improved artist just because you've mastered it. It's just there to help you feel better about swallowing the hard and only real lesson you need: go make stuff.

This is meaningful because you can give an importance to these additional caveats that does not fundamentally exist. And that can lead to disappointment and distraction and difficulty adhering to RULE 0. Your education/exposure/marketing/audience/expectations/tools/attitude/talent/desire/anger will not improve your abilities: using your abilities will improve your abilities: this is how we work - this is the only way we work. Not using your abilities allows them to decay, undermining your progress.

If you must start tacking on additional rules and arbitrary notions (and to some degree we all do) then do so knowingly and be ready to set aside these needless particulars if you find them not serving the main goal of improving by Making the Art.
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