My last post was about my experience the past month on Merch by Amazon. I had alot of response from the article. I received several comments about people wanting to put shirts out there but were hesitant due to lack of confidence in their designs/art.
Listen up fellow artists: )
You just gotta go for it. Don't wait until perfection arrives, because it's not going to. Life is short, you have cool crap to make.
I recently listened to a great lecture by Brian Flynn from Super7. He talked about taking chances, and how early on when weighing options and risk, he would always ask himself 2 questions:
1. What's the worst that could happen?
2. What do I have to lose?
So, ever since I listened to his lecture I've been implementing this into my art philosophy, especially when moving into new frontiers, like blogging, making little instagram videos, signing up for amazon merch, doing a podcast, and producing a course.
In most cases you'll find that all the fears that are rattling you are dumb and won't ever come true.
Let's practice. So, pretend that you are considering the option of signing up for an Amazon Merch account but aren't sure you have the skills to make it work.
1. What's the worst that could happen?
Maybe some people I don't know and will never meet see my design and make fun of it. I don't sell any shirts and don't make money.
2. What do I have to lose?
Some time. Some internal caution (A good thing in this case)
Now let's add a third question:
3. What do I have to gain?
I could make some money. I could gain some experience. I could learn some new things about art/design and market demand. I could learn what styles of my art are more marketable and profitable. I could encourage other artists to take action as well.
If you want to make money off your art, you need to get used to putting your stuff out there.
Brian Flynn did, and now he runs one of the coolest toy companies EVER!
Remember, on some level almost everyone struggles with lack of confidence and insecurity over their work. I do! The simple trick is, you just have to learn to ignore that, decide to press through it, take action and make some rad stuff for people to enjoy.
Now go do it.