I want to write a letter to my fellow artists, designers and creators; a letter to all those who are scared to pursue their dreams, who are holding themselves back, have a lot of self-doubt or simply hide away out of fear for being criticised or disliked. Here is a letter to all those that are like me, and those that will keep creating after me.
I want to tell you that you are good enough, that your art is more special than you think, and once shared your talent will be more appreciated than you realise. I want to tell you that it is okay to put your dreams first, even if you’re unusre of how to reach them or how many people have told you otherwise. It is also okay if this is not what you imagined your career to be like, if your plans change. Every journey is different. I want you to know that it is okay not to listen to people who do not support your dreams and do what you want anyway. I want you to know that it is okay to put your own dreams before your parents’ or friends’ ideas of what you should be doing.
Is okay not to be the best, or even good at what you do. It is okay to fail, be bad, and learn from your mistakes. It is okay if it takes more than a few tries, days, or years. It is okay to look for inspiration and admire other artists’ work, but not subsequently feeling worse about your own. Someone else being good at what they do does not make you bad at it. We all have our own experiences and approaches.
Being an artist may sound easy to others, but I know putting your work out there for others to criticise isn’t - I have been there for mny years now. Many times the negative somments cut through a plethora of positive ones and bring me down. But it’s all about how I see them. I learned to see comments as feedback, areas for improvement, and opportunity for growth. I am far from perfect, I still sometimes hide my work from loved ones or delete my accounts online. But let me tell you that no matter what, there will always be someone who will see something special in your art, something unique, beautiful or useful. There have been multiple occasions where people shyly showed me their work after a couple of moments of persuasion, only for me to be blown away by how unaware they are of their talents.
I think we are all tired of seeing perfection online anyways, I also want to see the struggles and realities that come with any profession, I want us as a community to show the world how much work, time and commitment goes into our work and why it is so valuable. I’ve had clients ask me as a hired illlustrator whether I drew that. I want people to know what our work means, why it is valuable and where it is used.Take product design for example. Absolutely everything you see around you, considering you are indoors, was designed by someone. Almost every product you hold in your hands has hundreds of hours of design work behind it. But people tend to only notice design when it is bad, when something doesn’t work properly or hurts them. That only shows how valuable good design really is.
So please, hold your head up high and keep creating. Keep doing what you love, love what you do and soon enough other people will show love for it as well. And do not ever hesitate to be yourself.
Thank you for reading
Ida Ramic
Website: idaramic.com
Contact: idaramic@outlook.com
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