Being an Artist Isn't Easy.

It’s hard being an artist, of any kind. There are many factors that keep people from doing it, and those that do struggle every day.

Artists have to be creative, and not just thinking up ideas. They have to have ingenuity, be able to see ways to do things. How to work with what they have, ways to get an effect without really knowing how to do it.

It costs lots of money…lots. Most of the time they buy all their supplies and machinery out of pocket, they become hundreds or even thousands of dollars in debt. They hoard pieces of scraps just because they may be able to use it later…ten years down the road they may still have it just because it would be a shame to get rid of it and need it even later down the road.

They struggle trying to be seen at all. They’re in a flood of other artists with more experience, greater ideas, better looking products, or people with access to machines or supplies not even available to the general public. They try to keep their head above the tides and appeal to people, but sometimes they can’t compete at all, they want to share their soul but it’s not as pretty as someone else’s work or it’s too weird.

And most people don’t appreciate the work they put into products, whether it’s not as pretty or weird or doesn’t speak to them personally.

For hours on end most artists brainstorm, they spend days thinking up ideas and talking themselves out of things or beating themselves up over what they can’t do. They create something and it doesn’t turn out the way they want it so they throw it all away, days or weeks, maybe years of work. And the suffering of destroying something they thought they knew how to do or thought was coming out so prefect breaks their soul and their heart but the very thought of looking at something that ISN’T what they wanted hurts worse.

Then most just give up, they appeal to the masses by simply copying what is already done or straight up stealing work and they become famous. Or rich. And those that have integrity are yet again under the water of those that don’t care about being an individual artist, or don’t care about creating their own special work.

And those that keep to their own work and try their damndest to create their own visions and their own work get told by others that don’t make anything that their work looks weird or doesn’t look like anything at all or is way overpriced or they could do that themselves. Without a single thought of what that artist might have gone through just to make that piece.

That is why most artists are depressed, have anxiety, are tortured and feel like giving up every day. What they love is ground into the dirt and the days or weeks of work they put into something can be dismissed by a simple, "that’s overpriced."

Please appreciate artists…even if it doesn’t look nice, even if it’s overpriced, and even if others could do it better. That artists isn’t them and won’t be. That artist probably took twice as long or longer to make the item and it didn’t turn out as nice but they still took the time. They still had a vision and tried to share it. They still wanted to create.

Creating something with their own time should be acknowledged. They could be another person just sitting on the couch entertaining themselves. Instead, they’re trying to contribute a piece of their time and heart for others to see and maybe own. If anything, please appreciate that.