Saltz Inspiration

Senior art critic for New York magazine Jerry Saltz received the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2018, so he knows what he's talking about when it comes to art. On November 27th of that year, he had a list of rules to help other people become artists published. The rules are separated by five steps, with the first one being "You Are a Total Amateur".

I think that this step resonates with me the most because sometimes I feel like some of my hand made art looks somewhat amateurish. During last semesters' midterm, I had painted some cartoonish figures for a mural. The art faculty liked my cartoonish art style, but I still want my art style to look more polished and professional. But the lessons underneath his first step for becoming an artist relate to how I work sometimes. I told my own story during last year's Art Tutorial midterms, I sometimes base my work off of other work, or I use photos that I've taken as a template, sometimes I have to do what every artist does at some point and make some unimpressive versions of the final product first, and I don't have much of an analytical eye, much to my irritation.

The total amateur step towards being a great artist resonates with me because sometimes, despite my years of experience, I worry that I might not be able to improve the quality of my art. But I still try to improve my art style and my work overall.