a while earlier while watching guitar videos on youtube i heard the quote "guitar isn't about playing the hardest riffs or the most challenging licks, it's about creating an appealing piece of music"

a lot of the times i think about how i can apply that mindset to art too

every artist knows the feeling of disappointment when something you've worked on for days, even weeks, gets less attention than something you scribbled in an afternoon

but rather than get frustrated, it makes me think... what did the small piece have that the big one didn't?

i think a lot of people operate under the mindset of "if my art looks amazing enough and i put enough skill and effort into it, it'll get attention no matter what"

but nobody's really lining up to watch rock shows where the guitarist just does really difficult hand exercises yk

a lot of the debate about Good Artist vs. Bad Artist on this site tends to lean heavily on the concept of "skill" as what makes art good, enjoyable, and appealing. i mean, it does, but i feel like...

what you choose to depict in your art, what subject matter or theme or style you want to put into your illustrations... also makes a difference. something about not just putting your whole hand into your art, but your whole heart, too. what you want to convey through pictures, yk

maybe all those shitty scribbles that go viral go viral because they're hilarious, or heartwarming, or touching, or emotional, or captivating, or charming, or... i can go on. and maybe that big, rendered piece is just like... "oh, it's nice, i guess"

art that conveys a story, or an emotion, or art that makes you see something in a new perspective... that kind of art tends to leave an impact on people, i think.

it's not everything, but it's more than a lot of social media artists tend to consciously recognize. myself included

but i think it's still something that everyone knows on some level

it's worth reminding yourself of if you choose to pursue the nebulous goal of "getting better at art" so you don't end up burning out and forgetting what inspired you to become an artist in the first place