I’ve spent my entire career obsessively trying to “learn how to draw” when I should’ve just been drawing. Always thinking “I just need to get a little better… and then I’ll start working on (insert any of a hundred personal projects)”

The fact is that i’ve been good enough since my teens- and would’ve improved so much more rapidly had my study been in the service of any of those projects- and not in the dozens of sketchbooks pilled in my closet.

Lesson: Don’t use “learning” as an excuse to avoid “doing”.

“Your personality is not set in stone. […] You can change what you want about yourself at any time. You see yourself as someone who can’t write or play an instrument, who gives in to temptation or makes bad decisions, but that’s really not you. It’s not ingrained. It’s not your personality. Your personality is something else, something deeper.

If it is useful to do so, you must abandon your identity and start again. Sometimes it’s the only way.

Set fire to your old self. It’s not needed here. It’s too busy shopping, gossiping about others, watching days go by, and asking why you haven’t gotten as far as you’d like. This old self will die and be forgotten by all but family, and replaced by someone who makes a difference.

Your new self is not like that. Your new self is the Great Chicago Fire — overwhelming, overpowering, and destroying everything that isn’t necessary.”

Don’t take anything personally. Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

(via silenceofthesoul)

chibird:

Everybody is different and has something awesome to offer the world, including you. :D

(via lacigreen)

artist-confessions:

Picasso is sketching at a park. A woman walks by, recognizes him, and begs for her portrait. Somehow, he agrees. A few minutes later, he hands her the sketch. She is elated, excited about how wonderfully it captures the very essence of her character, what beautiful work it is, and asks how much she owes him. “5000 francs, madam,” says Picasso. The woman is incredulous, outraged, and asks how that’s even possible given it only took him 5 minutes. Picasso looks up and, without missing a beat, says: “No, madam, it took me my whole life.”

Every time I see someone complain that a person’s commissions on DA are way to expensive, I think to myself how silly they are for saying that. Artist’s have put their time and effort into their style, anatomy, and art in general. Yet people think the years an artist has practiced their skills don’t really matter. It takes years to improve and perfect artist’s styles, don’t go and judge when you have no idea how much it took them to get to that place.

All art @ Picasso

submitted by -Anonymous

(via troize)

burekevan:

Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson on the defunding of NASA.

(via rcmclachlan)

When nobody else celebrates you, learn to celebrate yourself. When nobody else compliments you, then compliment yourself. It’s not up to other people to keep you encouraged. It’s up to you. Encouragement should come from the inside.

If it would destroy [a 12-year-old boy] to be called a girl, what are we then teaching him about girls?