I like to call it the Photoshop effect.

Today, everyone is a designer. Yep, a bunch of people have pirated Photoshop and have magically deemed themselves “designers”. And they’re determined to let the whole world know it. When I inquire about hiring a designer via twitter, everyone and their cat claims to be qualified simply because they have a copy of Photoshop.

The same problem can be said about blogging: I have a blog, therefore I’m a blogger; I have a digital camera, therefore I am a photographer; I have a twitter account, therefore I have friends.

Personally, I’m sick of it.

I have a fair bit of design sense. I own Pixelmator, and it does the job for me. But by no means do I call myself a designer. No, that’s someone else’s job. And so when I ask for a designer, I’m not looking for those with design tools, I’m looking for designers. Real designers. But often, the people that approach me have less design sense than I do.

We’ve become disillusioned, and have grown to think that by simply following a set of rules, we can become an artist. That if we preform a simple 1, 2, 3 process, we too can make something inspiring and wonderful.

That’s the problem. Creativity is not a math or a science. It’s not something with rules that you can break. It’s an art. It’s when a person has a story burning on the inside of them, and they use every medium available to tell that story.

Whither the Story?

Here’s my petition to every artist out there:

Stop it. Stop thinking about the tools. Stop taking pictures of things just because they’re there. Stop writing unoriginal content. With the amount of stuff out there on the Internet, your stuff better stand out among the overload of media being shoved down your audience’s throats.

But first, you have to have a story to tell.

The problem we’ve come up against are people have started to take art too seriously. A whole cottage industry has come up around digital photography and blogging and design—telling artists what they should and should not do to be successful. People making money off telling other people how they make money. And people actually believe this nonsense:

If I only follow these 53 and a half rules, then I will be successful. If I only had the money, then I could make it. If I only had the connections, the friends, the support, the equipment, the whatever… THEN I could create something beautiful.

Jack Shedd details the only requirements necessary for publishing a successful weblog, and I dare to say that they apply to every aspect of being an artist:

There are only three requirements I’ve ever sussed out from reading excellent sites. Write well, write often, and write with passion. It seems if you can manage that, you’ll find an audience.

It’s time for the true artists to begin breaking the rules again.

Real Artists Create

I’ve never been really good at art. I was taught that art was the thing you drew in sketchbooks, and because I never felt creative around sketchbooks, concluded I wasn’t an artist.

But there’s more to being an artist than that. So I’ve assembled my own definition:

A person who can communicate their imagination in a physical form, using whatever medium available to capture and portray their passions, thoughts, and emotions—reaching across language and culture barriers to connect to a viewer’s heart.

An artist is the master of their tools, and will use whatever tools necessary to tell the story he or she wants to tell. They know their equipment inside out—every knob, button, and switch—so their equipment simply become an extension of their mind, never getting in the way. They are free to focus on creating, and not on the tools themselves.

Artist are passionate and deeply attached to their work. Usually, true artists simply create for a hobby. Most artists give up creating things they love in exchange for a living. That said, the artists that are free to create things they love for a living are often the happiest. And most productive

Artists foster creativity. They are constantly thinking and meditating on how they can communicate a story. Because after all, artists are simply storytellers.

Better

When I take a photo; when I publish a blog post—when I create something—there’s a certain level of dissatisfaction. Not dissatisfaction in my work, but a dissatisfaction in my current state.

It’s hard to describe. It’s an insatiable desire to do things better. And better. In my mind, I see the metaphorical image of the perfect artist. And everything I create is one step closer. Be content with what you create, but never let that stop you from becoming better.

The key is growth. As an artist, you thrive on growth. You thrive on knowing that your latest creation is a little bit better than the creation before it. All you’re looking for is a sign—one new subscriber per month—that proves that you’re growing. That you have not hit your peak; that you still have room to grow.

An artist isn’t concerned with how good they may or may not be at the moment. They know that if they have a story worth telling and continue to grow it, one little bit at a time, they will create with more drive, more talent, and more passion than anyone else.