I was reminded of the merits of working hard and trying again while watching
this youtube vid of a 4 year old gymnast.
Yeah, I know normally kid prodigies are not the people to watch when you want to encourage yourself. It is a bit frustrating to see someone a quarter of your age doing better than you at something you've been doing longer than they've been alive. But this video is different. Really! (The trick, I think, is to watch kids who are prodigies at something you would be terrible at-- in my case, I know I couldn't learn gymnastics in a million years, so this video is totally nonthreatening, hahah.)
Anyway, this girl is a) adorable and b) obviously talented, and c) on the high beam unsupervised at age *4* which is kind of scary to watch. (Where are the adults??) But my favorite thing about this video is her attitude: when she tries something and it doesn't work, she just stands up and patiently does it again. And again. And again. And gets a little bit better with each try. She looks like she's having a blast learning.
For the past couple years, I've been so stressed out trying to turn myself into someone employable that it was refreshing to remember how much fun drawing
can be. I got especially overwhelmed by that pressure last year at school, to the point where I started mentally yelling at myself for not doing well enough (you know, the usual thoughts: 'I don't deserve to be in school' and 'I'll never do anything with my life' and 'everyone who is going to do well is already doing well, you're just pretending to be an artist, so just give up'.) And that made it really, really tough to keep on trying and to finish projects. Not finishing projects, in turn, totally butchered my self esteem and confidence. I know a lot of my friends have been in this place, and it tends to hit you like a downward spiral, getting worse the longer you're stuck in it.
That's why I love this video, though. It reminds me, in a non-theoretical way, that I don't need to be talented to be an artist. I just need to keep trying, and trying, not getting discouraged at 'failure' but enjoying it for the valuable experience it gives.
I am confident again that anyone who can draw can, given the time and effort, become a good artist. Even myself, haha. I really want to try harder this year and get better at art as much as I can and to enjoy the process, and I want to encourage other people to do their best too. (If you're on winter break from school-- join me in drawing horrible pictures! I bet if we draw every day we will see improvement by the end of the break. Unless you have, like, a two day break. That might be rushing it just a bit.
)
Happy holidays to everyone!
PS: Deus Ex Deus Ex Deus Ex