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johncomicI was recently talking with Barbara about a local artist [acrylic painter] I have met and conversed with a few times... and how I always find it flattering but odd when I realize that said artist talks with me [and about me] as if I am a peer. Barbara says that I am one and should certainly see myself that way, but I have trouble with this. Then she got talking about whether I realize that I am a good artist, and that my art is good.
Afterward I thought about it for a while, and realized that I do think that my work is generally Good Enough®, but I don't think of it as Good®. Since then, I've been struggling to define for myself just what the difference is, between good enough and good.
Finally I settled on something like this: if I look at a piece of mine, and I don't see things that I wish I had done differently, or parts that aren't quite what I would like.... if the flaws are not glaring, but are acceptable instead, then I can say the work is good.** Then I got thinking about which pieces of mine I can say that about.
I came up with four. Out of sixty years of arting.
Not sure where I'm going with this, I still need to mull over and hash out. Wondering if other people make a similar distinction between good-enough work and good work. I just wanted to get this down while I thought of it.
** and is this how I judge whether other people's work is good? Not sure that I do. Yet more sutff to mull over....
Afterward I thought about it for a while, and realized that I do think that my work is generally Good Enough®, but I don't think of it as Good®. Since then, I've been struggling to define for myself just what the difference is, between good enough and good.
Finally I settled on something like this: if I look at a piece of mine, and I don't see things that I wish I had done differently, or parts that aren't quite what I would like.... if the flaws are not glaring, but are acceptable instead, then I can say the work is good.** Then I got thinking about which pieces of mine I can say that about.
I came up with four. Out of sixty years of arting.
Not sure where I'm going with this, I still need to mull over and hash out. Wondering if other people make a similar distinction between good-enough work and good work. I just wanted to get this down while I thought of it.
** and is this how I judge whether other people's work is good? Not sure that I do. Yet more sutff to mull over....
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Date: 2025-07-24 04:21 am (UTC)Standards are so personal. Same with motivations. A drawing may be labeled 'bad' or 'good' by a viewer, but to me, what is really important is the experience of the artist. (Someone else might have a different, equally valid, view of this.)
Having seen some of your artwork here, I think you may be judging your work too harshly.
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Date: 2025-07-24 12:23 pm (UTC)Once I reached about thirty, I began to judge my work very harshly... but before that, I had the opposite problem. I can remember in my twenties thinking (and telling people) that my comic book art was better than about two-thirds of the comic books being published. Looking back now, I can see how woefully misguided I was! 😎 Cartoonists who are good enough to be picked up by a publisher are generally very good, and I wasn't yet.
no subject
Date: 2025-07-24 02:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-07-26 10:06 pm (UTC)