Practice Makes Progress

The downfalls of chasing "perfect."

Years ago, I pulled a tiny message out of a fortune cookie that read Practice Makes Perfect. It struck a chord with me. I took the fortune and tucked it in my clear phone case as an encouraging daily reminder. At the time, I was working like crazy to learn how to write and illustrate picture books. I needed all the encouragement I could get.

It turns out that illustrating an entire book is waaaaay different than creating a one-off piece of art. There is much more discipline and consistency required. I couldn’t draw arms, my ideas were mostly terrible, and I generally had no idea what I was doing. For a long time, my skill was so far away from where I wanted it to be. I went into hard-core practice mode, and I tried to get as close to perfect as I could.

I joined a critique group, took workshops, went to conferences, taught myself how to use digital tools for illustrating and designing books. I sent out pitch after pitch after pitch, desperately hoping to get published by a “real” publisher.

I didn’t achieve perfection, but I did gradually improve my skills to the point where I was able to finish and publish a children’s book that I’m very proud of—Hide & Go Seek-A-Saurus. It’s one of the most challenging projects I’ve ever completed, and as soon as it was done, I jumped into illustrating another picture book that never saw the light of day. The indie publisher I was working with closed down, and I had been spending nights and weekends working to the point that I was totally burned out. Illustrating books—the thing I thought I loved—was making me miserable.

Then, just days before the entire country shut down for COVID, I managed to finish a huge freelance project. Everything came to a grinding halt. It forced me to take a much needed break. Eventually I started drawing again for fun (and, you know, to cope with the strange fear and dread of a global pandemic and being stuck in your house most of the time).

I discovered mini zines, and a spirit of play returned to my creative practice. Suddenly the fortune I tucked in my phone case didn’t quite resonate with me anymore. I crossed out perfect and wrote “progress.” Then I returned it to my phone case as a daily reminder.

My burnout wasn’t the result of the hard work that goes into learning and practicing a new craft. I made myself miserable because I was seeking a version of “perfect”—a version of success—that was defined by someone else. I was convinced that I wasn’t a real artist unless I was paying my bills with my art. That I wasn’t a real artist unless I had a certain title. That I wasn’t a real artist until I was recognized by a third-party gatekeeper who said, “YES! You are an artist. YES! We will publish your book. YES! You are good enough.”

Chasing this type of validation was an exhausting and painful journey, and a lesson that I keep learning over and over again. I have much more to learn, but here are a few things I try to remind myself of regularly:

1. Say “Yes” to yourself first

2. Make space for play

3. Keep showing up

Lately, one way I’ve been making space for play is with wood burning! I shared some of my first attempts last week in my post Cultivate Your Inner 8-Year-Old. It’s been a lot of fun, and I can tell I’m getting a little better each time! Each piece of wood is a little different, and I love the feeling of discovery as test out different mark making techniques. Here are a few of my experiments.

Today’s download for paid subscribers is a print called Practice Makes Progress. I used another one of my watercolor backgrounds from my March watercolor experiments. I scanned it in and added the words digitally. Print it out and put it wherever you need a reminder to focus on progress over perfection.

Thanks for reading!

Thanks for being here! It truly means the world to me to connect with you every week. In case you missed it, last week I shared a post about the benefits of play in Cultivate Your Inner 8-Year-Old.

Paid subscribers, keep scrolling for a printable version of today’s art print Practice Makes Progress!