The Not-So-Little Drummer Boy (my artist-in-residence for the summer) and I were talking about impostor syndrome and dealing with self-doubt. He claimed that he generally accepted that all creative types were full of B.S., and in some cases your best accepted work was that which had been an afterthought.
The NSLDB told me of the time he had drawn several sketches of where the ball went during a Foosball game that his friends were playing. He was planning to turn them into actual drawings for an advanced design class.
"Then I got lazy and decided to put them in as they were and throw up some conceptual bullshit around them. [The class] loved them. In fact, they pointed to the two drawings I had actually finished as being the weakest and undermining the entire strength of the piece."
The song written in ten minutes to finish out an album which becomes one of the most beloved rock anthems of all time.* The quick sketches you make which get you praise. The dashed-off email to the professor which ends up being published.
Maybe when you are not bogged down by your own thought-processes you can do your best work. Maybe if you are working on a deadline to finish an album you don't over think things and manage to capture the spontaneity and energy which rock music is supposed to be all about. Maybe the simple line sketches best capture the excitement of what you are watching. Maybe if you are concentrating on getting your point across to one person you don't worry about what a lot of different people will think of you.
Maybe it's all about not getting in your own way.
*That said, not beloved by me. As someone who listens to lyrics, I think it sounds like it was written in ten minutes.
My first beadwork jewelry piece that sold was godawful... I had to bite my tongue from saying "Really? You like this? You can have it for free" to the nice woman who chose it. Personal taste is just that varied...
ReplyDeletelove, the Resident Shrink