Most of us, tend to avoid uncomfortable situations, confrontation, or upsetting someone. Criticism is a hard topic to discuss since there are many variables. I am only going to talk as it would relate to creative aspects of your life to keep things simple, and after all I don’t have an opinion on anything else without having experience to back it up.
When I was young teenager, I started to learn how to play guitar. I messed around, used some books, and finally started to get into a groove with it. After maybe a year or so I spent Christmas money on a Fostex four-track cassette recorder. I recorded a midi loop from a Casio keyboard and started to improvise guitar parts on top of it. Hours later I had this song that I thought was pretty awesome. I took my cassette and played it for my mom, she listened, and told me it was cool…but it was a little off beat.
She was right. That song was so far out of time.
My mom may not have known it, but that moment stayed with me, and I think it helped me become the critical person I am today. I recorded that song and many others over and over, until they were actually the correct tempo and in sync with other instruments. Criticism brought out my aspirations that were suppressed by compromise.
“We are all failures- at least the best of us are.”
My personal critiques may have started with music, but as a college student, these traits were very beneficial to me. I would constantly tweak kerning, line widths, anchor points, clipping masks, and alignments until they were as good as they could be. When I would go easy on myself, my professors would catch it, and I learned that you have to stay the course, and not take the easy route.
I think I am starting to ramble on here. Let’s fast forward.
Every time you complete a design project, many people will tell you it looks good, few will tell you what is wrong with it. Be hard on yourself. By putting yourself under a microscope of criticism you will learn from your mistakes, learn new techniques, or create new strategies for recurring problems. Accept praise when given, be humble, and discard it at the door.
No one desires to be where you desire to be. If you want to create artwork that rivals industry standards, then that achievement is on you. Dedicate yourself to your craft, and you will succeed. Family, friends, and colleagues will be there with you, but their silence should resonate more than their proclamations.
You are either your own worst enemy or your greatest ally. Who’s side are you on?