Agreed. I also hate the “niche down” advice. I like the tittle “multidisciplinary artist” and when someone asks me what my favorite medium is I usually just say “all of them” or “mixed media” or “they each have their goods and bads”
I'm pretty sure any time I heard the advice to specialize, I accidentally picked up a new skill. How can anyone ignore the sheer joy of learning how to make stuff? Idk.
the funniest thing is that the specialize thing doesnt work that much because they will also ask you to be flexible asf and draw backgrounds, humans and monsters, weapons and vehicles... 😂 they judt want you to be god at everything
I tend to lose interest in creators who do the same things over and over. Also makes me wonder if they're a one trick pony or just feel obligated to repeat what worked before.
Same!! That’s why my resume looks like a jumbled up job search.
“What do you mean you’ve been a character designer, puppet fabricator, seamstress, game designer, art director, marine mammal caretaker, writer, theme park employee, and editor??” 🤣🤣🤣
Took an art business course and I keep having my professor have to explain to me that I shouldn't include examples from every medium I work in since it's "hard to sell" being a multimedia artist.
It’s highkey embarrassing compiling commission info & listing like 20 mediums & styles & options overall and I kind of just want to write “whatever u want i do” instead of a fucking bible sized menu
yeah it never made much sense to me hearing that as a young artist tbh, i’ve also found that learning different skills actually helps you be a better artist all around in any case 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
One of the best way to be proficient is to try different mediums. For me painting miniatures (warhammer) boosted my coloring by a mile. Sculpting also help with form understanding. Specializing is stupid and “own style” is nonsense.
I also aspire to become a swiss army knife but right now I'm more of a swiss cheese.
Do you ever deal with anxiety that you don't really get the fundamentals down because your brain keeps jumping form task to task because everything is interesting and you want to learn it all at once?
never, i fill the holes that need filling as i notice them and as long as it’s interesting, i usually come out well rounded in the end, and if i don’t, it wasn’t meant to be, i’ll revisit in the future if i feel like it 💪💪💪
I feel it can lead to burnout. As with everything, it is the dose that makes the poison. You can push yourself extremely hard to get good at something, only to hate it completely if you push yourself too hard.
I've made a fair living for the past 25 years as a generalist. It is fun to mix things up, and one does't run out of gigs. Just keep your passion project as a side hustle.
Absolutely agree. Don't let yourself put into one box. You will find your audience who actually likes diversity in a person and not looking for an everyday affirmation that the world is still the same like always and you don't even need to think just eat up what they algorythms put in front of you.
i feel like everyone that gives that sort of advice is living in a capitalist world that doesn’t exist anymore ngl, i will not elaborate, the girls that get it get it
I feel like that kind of advice is also not very ADHD friendly. Like the ADHD community tends towards Jack of all trades, master of none.
I know I am not able to focus on one thing long enough to master it.
Comments
“What do you mean you’ve been a character designer, puppet fabricator, seamstress, game designer, art director, marine mammal caretaker, writer, theme park employee, and editor??” 🤣🤣🤣
aside from the joy of it it's literally super beneficial to be able to do a bit of everything
It's really just a sandbox
my inner child loves.
sincerely lol fine what you love, don't do everything urself hun ❤️
Do you ever deal with anxiety that you don't really get the fundamentals down because your brain keeps jumping form task to task because everything is interesting and you want to learn it all at once?
I know I am not able to focus on one thing long enough to master it.