Overcoming your Fears of Getting your Art into the World

Overcoming your fears of getting your art into the world can seem like a daunting task. You may feel the timing isn’t right, don’t know what to expect or that your art’s not worthy enough. Your anxieties about showing you art to complete strangers will only hold back your art from becoming discovered. The reality is that taming your mind to look past those fears can ultimately lead to a fulfilling life.

Let’s face it! Art is highly subjective. Some people will love your work and some people will hate it. The thing is that you won’t know until try. If fears are holding you back from getting your art into the world, here are some helpful tips.

Take Small Steps

The first tip in overcoming your fears of getting your art into the word is to take small steps. You should look at your creative path as a marathon and not a sprint. Therefore, take small steps. A simple way to do this is by taking advantage of technology. This can be highly effective for those that fear in-person approaches. Social media websites like Instagram, TikTok or Twitter are perfect platforms to start. You can add descriptions of your work, get feedback, and even gain inspiration for your future work. In addition, these platforms allow you to message prospects directly for feedback or inquiries for selling or exhibiting your artwork.

Comments and likes are the best thing about social media platforms. It tells you the type of content your audience enjoys and can establish your target market. Hashtags are also a great way to reach more people. For instance, you can use the hashtag, #PlumeriaFlowers for paintings of plumeria flowers you just made. This way, when people search “Plumeria Flowers”, the picture of your painting will eventually pop up.

The key to taking small steps is to just start. Even if it’s not eye-to-eye. The more you post, the more you’ll feel comfortable showing others what you create. It will become second nature and eventually, you’ll gain the courage to showcase your talents in real life.

Learn to Embrace Rejection

The next tip on overcoming your fears of getting your art into the world is in learning to embrace rejection. This may sound like a daunting task. It actually isn’t. When we learn to embrace rejection, a little part of us inside, grows. We become resilient to people saying no and it eventually becomes easier to accept.

Remember that art is biased. Not everyone will like what you do, but there will always be a few that will think it’s incredible. The one’s that think your art’s incredible are the only ones that should matter.

A trick I learned in overcoming my fear of rejection was by thinking positively. Rejection is just a reflection of your willingness to take risks. The more No’s you accept, the closer you are to getting that one ‘Yes’ that can change your life forever. Let that sink in for a moment.

Figure out how your art can help others

Instead of always worrying about what others will think of your art, figure out a way your art can help others. It can be as simple as beautifying a dull, boring space. Or as broad as bringing awareness to a certain type of physical or mental health condition no one really knows about.

Figuring out how your art can help others will give you a sense of purpose. It will make others realize that you’re creating to help and not just there to make a profit. Having a purposeful approach can give you the much needed confidence to wake up every morning and look past your fears of getting your art into the world.

Learn from your Failures

In addition to knowing how your art can help others, learning from your failures can help tremendously in overcoming your fears of getting your art into the world.

Always try your best to stay positive! If you ever fail, you should never quit. Failing at something only means that you allowed yourself to put in effort in trying. It is NEVER a bad thing to fail. Like technology, you should use failure to advantage and learn from the mistakes you made. Instead, look at failure as a lesson in which your can learn from to improve in the future.

For example, being denied a feature in a Lifestyle Magazine after showing them your landscape images can be a lesson for you to do your research first. Know your target audience and only cater to those that you know will like your work. For me, it was visitors to the island. I only figured that out after failing to make sales at several craft fairs catered to only local residents.

Overtime, the effort you put into getting your art into the world, will present your with many learning opportunities to grow both personally and professionally as an artist. Make lists of ways you can improve after failing. Try new things out and always, always stay positive when something doesn’t work out in your favor. Most importantly, embrace failures because they’re only lessons for you to improve.

Closing words

Overall, the ability to overcome your fears of getting your art into the world is something you shouldn’t really dwell much upon. All successful artist have to start some where and even the most talented ones had to endure the pains and struggles we all face in our artistic endeavors. The key is to just start small then work your way up. Taking small steps will build your endurance, but having a purpose can build your confidence. Embrace rejections and look at everything in a positive light. Even failures will lead you to where you envision yourself to be one day. Don’t give and keep trying!

That’s pretty much it! Hope these tips on how to overcome your fears of getting your art into the world can help you in whatever stage you are as an artist. Are there any ones you feel are helpful? Inspiring? Wrong? What are your thoughts? I would love to hear them in the comments below?

Also, if you need more help, or want to reach out to me, you I am always here to help. You can contact me via email at info@raymondenriquez.com or shoot me a DM on Instagram @raymondenriquezphoto 🙂