Letting Go Of The Perfectionist Mindset

Letting Go Of The Perfectionist Mindset

Since I was a kid, art and creativity have been the only true ways I could express myself. From doing Hello Kitty coloring sheets as a little girl to picking out the day’s frilly skirt or patterned bow as a tween to writing full-length film scripts as an older teen, creative expression has always been an extremely present and relevant part of my identity. However, when I began to share my creativity online or tried to monetize it, this creative expression was no longer just for fun. It had an audience, watching and judging the outputs of my labor and feelings. I was suddenly aware of the quality of my art based on others’ perceptions of it, and the eyes of others became my priority. This eventually led to a mindset of perfectionism, as nitpicking turned to hating anything I created and ultimately resenting the act of creating itself. Not only was this harmful towards my expression, but it also led to art block–something that many artists have experienced in some capacity.

Perfectionism is extremely common in creative spaces, as artists’ work is always being scrutinized by social media users or peers. Personally, perfectionism kept me from creating for years; it took away a source of joy and passion–it took away something which my life had revolved around for so long. This is true for many other creatives as well, as art block is so common, and is so often caused by perfectionism.

Perfectionism is not to be confused with meticulousness; in order to improve as artists, a certain level of meticulousness is required to study anatomy and color theories, and thoroughly fix accuracy errors in one’s art. Masters of art study for years and observe their own art to grow. However, there is a certain point at which this growth mindset is not the focus anymore, and it is replaced with only negativity. This hostility towards one’s own art sets unrealistic expectations, which will only leave disappointment and resentment in its wake, and lead to the blockage of creative ideas.

While perfectionism can be avoided in some aspects, it is not preventable by one magic trick or switch. Preventing and getting over perfectionism requires a change in mindset. It requires the realization that growth is natural through time and hard work, but this growth comes through imperfection.

As easy as this mindset switch sounds, it takes a long time for the conscious and unconscious mind to fully believe and implement it into creative ideas and practices. However, this implementation can be sped up through doing different exercises which focus on idea generation and quick, imperfect working.

My journey back to fluid creativity without the major stress of perfectionism has been largely influenced by creative teachers. Back in middle school, I had an English teacher who put a heavy focus on creating original, creative ideas, having the work’s quality be a focus for later on in the process. Generating these ideas did not always come naturally or quickly to everyone, though. To work around this, he had us do an exercise where we would be given a category or general outline and try to create as many ideas surrounding it within three to five minutes. This is easily replicable at home using a random word generator and a timer. While it may sound simple, even coming up with ideas that seem ridiculous or random can help spark creativity, and the timed aspect removes the limitation of perfectionism, as the exercise is focused on quantity, not necessarily quality. Furthermore, trying to create a piece of art using one of these ideas will force you to use your creativity to come up with more details and simply make something, whether or not that creation is “good”.

Along with this, I had a professor in a screenwriting class who always said that limitation breeds creativity. This saying applies to lots of things, including writing and science and engineering. However, in fine arts spaces, it is especially true, and actually drives a majority of art social media. Art “challenges” are extremely popular online, and they vary in topic. However, a majority of them are derived from using limitations such as color palettes or character types to create new compositions. Doing challenges like these allows one to shift their focus from choosing the best colors or the best pose to simply trying to make any composition with the limited options.

Lastly, simple tricks can help to improve one’s art and help resolve their perfectionism at once. For one, simply zooming out when working on a digital piece helps shift the focus to general shapes and forms, rather than tiny details. Along with this, drawing using a time limit has a similar effect, not necessarily creating a rush, but just enough time pressure to take away the stress of perfection and put it onto making the piece recognizable. Both of these tricks build speed and accuracy, which are good skills to have, especially when doing art for school or work. Alongside this, they help to condition you to making “bad” or less accurate art, but being okay with it and accepting its role in  the growth process. The idea that staring at something for too long will distort it can be true, especially when working on an art piece–so setting time limits or stepping back from a piece helps you to see your art more clearly and in a less scrutinizing light.

To fully flourish as an artist (or as a person at all), perfection must be rid of for the sake of progress. It is only an element which holds one back and leads to art block and the resentment of a craft. To truly get rid of perfectionism and all of its effects, it’s important to remember the reason why you are creating in the first place. It is only once you realize this that you can reach your full creative potential.