https://www.listennotes.com/e/53e1ef368af64acbb67906c5117a47b3

Good morning, afternoon, evening. No matter what time of the day it is. Welcome to another episode of the Ink Spired Life. My name is Jason Nicholas. I am an artist, teacher, creative architect, and I'm here just to share with you, spur of the moment, off the cuff, words of wisdom from my heart about art, creativity and life in general. So I hope you're having an awesome, awesome day. Today's episode is going to be something that I call the Comparison trap. That wasn't suspenseful. But anyway, let's move on. So, yeah, the comparison trap. Have you ever felt intimidated or shy to share your artwork because you feel that other artists and creatives are better or more talented than you are? I know I have, many, many times. And it's normal. And yes, it is true there are other artists and creatives out there better than you, but they are not you. And that's you with a capital Y, O, U. No one could ever have the same voice, thoughts, creative interpretation and style as you have. So, you know, you have to, we have to remember that. Put that into your brain, put that into your heart, and that will come to surface many, many, many times again. So, you know, when we find ourselves comparing our talents and skills to other creatives, that's okay. And we can actually use that as fuel and to feed the fire in our bellies, to inspire us and drive us just to become better artists. Comparing ourselves to our own art. I hope that makes sense. You know, I was often tell my students in school, especially the ones that are runners on the cross country team, I'm like, guys, when you're running, you're not comparing yourself to the other runners. You need to compare your time to your own time and make that time better and better each time you're running. So I will look at other artworks for fuel, inspiration, and say, you know what, I'm going to use that and drive me to just become better with my own skills. That's one of the ways that I kind of push past the comparison trap. The other way I kind of push past the comparison trap is it's a mindset thing and it's my reason why, you know, why am I creating artwork in the first place? That why is really the motivation for putting yourself out there for others to see. You know, am I creating this artwork to have a certain impact on the viewer? You know, maybe I'm doing a sketch of a building or maybe a location or an iconic building. And that sketch I'm putting out there because I want to have people see it and maybe remember being at this place or remember the special moment they had in time. If I'm doing an imaginary sketch, maybe like a castle or just an imaginary house I created, you know, my goal or my why for that is I want to have the viewer use their imagination, absorb themselves into that sketch, and almost create a story in their brain as to, you know, where is setting of this building, who are the people that live in this building, what events took place? So I'm trying to engage people with my artwork through my sketching. Yeah, we'll have to go back and cut some of that out. This is unrehearsed and off the cuff, but, you know, I put that out there because it's the why. Use that why to put your artwork out there to make a positive impact on those who are viewing it. If I remember that, and if I also remember that, I could use other artists as fuel and inspiration for my creative drive. Those two things really helped me to break past the comparison trap. So I hope that tip helped you today just to get your artwork out there. Don't be afraid. Don't be shy. There's a lot of positive communities out there that you can share, and people will embrace you and give you positive comments and critiques. We have that here with my Inklings Facebook group. Feel free to look that up if you like. I'll leave a link here in the show notes. And, yeah, please put your stuff out there, guys. I want to see what you're creating, but more importantly, I'm sure other people will feel a positive impact with what you're creating. All right, guys, thank you for tuning in this week. I just also want to announce that this is October. A lot of people know it as Inktober, where there are different sketching prompts every day of the week. I'm doing something new this year. I'm gonna what I call arc Tober A R C H tover. And I'm creating weekly sketching prompts to sketch either fall or spooky type of buildings. If you're interested in joining us for this creative challenge, I'll leave a link here in the show notes. Otherwise, you can also visit my website. If you go to the Inkspired Life.com/Archtober 2022, you could find it there as well. Oh, actually, here's one more example I'm gonna go on. I'm gonna rattle on a sec. You know, I'm putting this podcast out there. I've never done this. I should have it scripted. I don't. I'm just speaking from the heart. And my why in putting this out there is I just want to have a positive impact and motivate creatives out there just to be their best and help spread positivity through creativity. So guys, don't be ashamed, don't be afraid, don't be shy, put it out there. Have an awesome, awesome day. And this is Jason with the inspired life. I will see you or you will hear me next week. Take care, peace and live creatively.