“You don’t gain confidence by winning. You gain confidence by losing. You gain insecurity by winning, cause then you have a streak that you don’t want to screw up.
… When people post their sketches online, they’re not posting the fifty pages of stuff that just looks like nothing.”
— Chris Oatley, 4 Keys To A Long and Healthy Illustration Career
It’s a Catch 22: we need self-confidence to pick ourselves up after failing (whatever form this takes), yet doing so does help our self-confidence. The fallacy is believing that winning (whatever form this takes) removes all doubts. Some doubts don’t change, others get replaced with new ones you didn’t previously know existed.
Aim to get better at embracing the uncertainty, and recognising that what you see of an artist’s work is but the tip of the iceberg. Learn to fail better.
