Don’t let people tell you whether you are good or not at what you want to do. There are many reasons why this is not only unnecessary, but also detrimental. No one has your best interests at heart, no matter what they say, who they are, or how much they love you. They are looking out for their number one (them) and you need to do the same (you). People who have no vested interest in you have exactly that, and may as well be talking from their foot (or some other part of the body), because they have no clue about you, your talent, your interest, your viability at whatever it is you do, will do, want to do, can do, or dream of.
Stand on your own two feet. Be your own person; be willing to make a difference. Then and only then will you know if you are good at what you do or not.
Don’t let the fear of failure cause you to fail. Those who can’t find the courage to take even a baby step will never know the happiness, joy, and freedom it can provide. True failure is caused by inaction. Anything else is a learning experience, a trial run, an attempt, but never a failure. You cannot fail if you at least try.
All of us have mountains we have to summit. Think about how you want to feel when you take your last breath. Do you want to feel accomplished, strong, confident, determined, and unique? Do you want to feel weak, timid, scared, and tied to the grindstone of life, just taking whatever gets handed to you whether it is on a silver platter or a rock covered in moss? I want the former, and I think you do too. So regardless of what may come down the road, find an inspiration, chart a path to get there, and go. Just put one foot in front of the other, and keep moving in the same direction. If something happens to throw you off track, pick yourself up, re-orient, and keep on moving. Otherwise you can’t get back on that track that you want.This applies to everyone, regardless of what your goal.
If you want to be a wealthy business person, an artist, an accountant, a bum, a college graduate, a high school graduate, anything, you must chart a path, and stick to it, and not be thrown off by the hiccups along the road. It isn’t always paved in asphalt and smooth as glass. There are areas, sometimes pothole riddled, gravel, dirt, or even barely a trail that keep it from being easy. Maybe you are going to be the trailblazer. Just keep your eyes on the compass, keep your head about you, and keep moving. Once you stand still, your dead (metaphorically speaking) because if you are on a smooth sheet of asphalt there are a lot of high speed vehicles coming your way, and if you are a trailblazer "there are predators in them there woods".
This is not to say constructive criticisms should be ignored. We all have things we can learn and assimilate, but if something isn’t your style, don’t be bothered by it. Speak in your own voice, but you don’t ALWAYS have to reinvent the wheel.
I have a painting I did which I named Miss Interpretation. You can see it to the left. You will notice there are a lot of strong garish colors. This piece was some while I was earning my Bachelor of Art degree in Visual Arts from TWU. This piece was done as a color study, and teaching myself to do figure integrated landscapes. (Can you see the woman lying on her back making the hills behind the three women in red?)
I then wanted to do a piece that was of a woman dancing, and I wanted it to be rising out of a campfire flame. Well at this stage in my education I was subjected to the requirement of having my professor approve everything I wanted to paint before I was able to paint it. I showed her a sketch of the piece, which didn't really do it justice as it was more of shorthand for myself and she refused to let me paint it. She said it looked like a "pre-pubescent male's wet dream". She hauled me down to the West Gallery where this piece was hanging for judging in the Voertman's Juried Art Show, and said I needed to do paintings like this that made statements. I corrected her saying that piece was nothing more than a color study and trying to work out problems with making figure integrated landscapes. She said I should never tell anyone that, and I should say instead that this is a piece that makes a comment about women and their rise to power in society. How they were treated like property (the horse), then seen as background props (the landscape, and have to live hiding themselves from the world (the woman wrapped up in the strange burke looking thing), and now have their own property, their own space, their own existence (the woman in the front with the pot).
I wasn't as strong then as I am now. If I had been I would have painted the painting anyway. Instead, I just renamed the piece to the name it has today "Miss Interpretation" which carries with it ALL the history in the piece.
I will paint my painting one-day, maybe soon. It may be the best seller I have. It may not. I may end up with women angry with me. I may end up with men angry with me. I don't care. I want to paint it, and I will paint it.
You have to learn to tell the difference between constructive helpful words and negative hateful words (no matter how sweet and innocent they may sound). Every time someone says you should or shouldn't do what you want, or should change what you have, will, or want to do think about what they are saying. Examine it closely. If it doesn't fit your plans, throw it aside. If it is something that you want help with, have questions about, or are not happy with, take it with a grain of salt. If you know your hands are not right for the proportions of your figures and you want to get better, and someone points out that they are too small, or you have too many joints, or what ever, take it and learn from it. If the way your hands are drawn, sculpted, painted, or designed are done that way for a reason, and you WANT them that way - screw the rest of the world and their opinions. No one is exactly like another, and we all have the right to artistic license.
Ignore the ignorance lest you become ignorant!
