— Developing confidence as an artist takes time. But that’s OK. Confidence is supposed to take time. You develop confidence as you stack up successes.
As an artist, you shouldn’t be worrying about feeling “confident.”
Forget all that.
Because here’s the thing:
Declaring yourself an artist is not about confidence at all.
It’s about COURAGE.
In the beginning (or really at any major transition in your creative life), it’s all about courage — and mostly it’s about that special breed of courage it takes to step out there with your work, set it before the world (even set it against the world) and just not give a damn what others think about it.
Because ultimately, courage is what it takes to step forth boldly … for no other reason than that you have something to say in this world, and by god you’re going to get busy saying it.
To obtain that kind of courage, you must stop waiting around to feel “confident,” and instead simply decide to go forward with your work and put it out into the world — whether you’re confident yet or not.
Trust me. Confidence eventually takes care of itself. And if you’re waiting around for it to show up, you might be waiting around along time.
The past couple years, it’s been incredible to see our advanced AWAKE artists creating their portfolios, getting their work published, attracting galleries, staging exhibitions, and lining up commercial clients … The sheer guts they exhibit in living their artistic lives at this level is exciting to behold.
It’s invigorating.
It’s amazing.
And ya know what? That kind of courage is a CHOICE.
So don’t wait to feel confident.
Decide to be courageous instead.
Forget about whether it’s scary or not. It’s gonna be scary. Just decide to go forth with your work and put it out into the world anyhow.
Because the truth is, confidence is nothing more than where you eventually end up.
Courage is what sets it all in motion.
Courage is what gets you there.
– Sebastian