Between a recent tweet from my brother and a conversation with my friend Stephanie, I came to the realization that we put pressure on ourselves to be more creative because of the internet. People are willing to share their creative projects across social media sites, message boards, and the rest. As a viewer, perhaps we think that they started and completed it on the same day. Pictures without captions of their progress is one reason.
If the hobbyist has made a video to watch, even the clip itself seems is a completed task if edited in a professional quality. I’ve seen clips of speeded up montages where a prefabricated second level of a house was attached to the existing first level. Hours become minutes, and the only viewable passage of time is the sun moving overhead.
Before apps that turned your smartphone’s camera into a dark room, it was done by hand. I enjoy taking pictures with my digital camera, but rarely do I edit them to look artistic. Kids and young adults will take a picture of their brunch, change it to black & white, apply a filter, and once posted online it looks like professional artwork.
When my brother was posting pictures of his completed drawings and paintings with regular frequency, I was envious of his talent and progression. It did motivate me to draw more, but I didn’t stress myself on the quality. Drawing takes practice and we shouldn’t give up if we haven’t made the progress we’d like.
We’ll only get better the more we do.
