As a kid, validation for your art was a lot easier. It could have been as simple as your parent or guardian saying, “Great job!” They might have encouraged you to make more art. Or, maybe, they offered to put your art on the refrigerator.
In school, validation came in the form of grades. Do well, you’d get an “A”. This sort of validation came both objectively and subjectively. Art tends to be subjective more than objective.
As an adult, if you are a hobbyist the need for validation is not so dissimilar to what you needed as a kid. As a professional, however, validation tends to come in one specific, primary form.
Sales.
Selling your art is validation on multiple fronts. First and foremost, you make your living with every piece of art, book, or whatever you create that you sell. Secondly, you can point to your work as proof of your vocation.
There is, however, more to it than all that.
What makes you an artist?
Who says you are an artist? A writer? A painter? A crafter? Who makes that call?
Ultimately, you do. However, society loves to put people into boxes. They’re often arbitrary and – apart from being a vague identifier – artificial. Nationality, religion, gender, and more fall into this, as they’re all easily changeable.
The type of job you do is a box people put you into as an identifier. Office worker, doctor, mechanic, writer, and so on. These, too, are changeable. But that doesn’t lessen how they can factor into what validates you.
I’ve been writing most of my life now. For much of that time, I was an enthusiast but had dreams to make it my career. When the opportunity to do so presented itself, I did.
Since 2020, I have self-published 12 books, with a 13th coming before the end of 2024. I have 2 other finished novels awaiting editing and am working on 3 more for an existing series. If putting 13 books out in 4 years doesn’t make me a writer, I have no idea what does.
There is, however, a catch. Sales are not what I would like them to be. I know I might not be doing sufficient advertising or other promotions. That’s an ongoing work in progress. Even without spectacular sales, the books are out there, so that makes me an artist.
But does it? Here comes the wonkiness of validation.
Validation for your art is hard
One of the most disheartening experiences is when someone you care about raves about the work of a friend of theirs. A work like what you, yourself do – a novel. They are all about promoting that friend and their work.
Your work, however, is not something they talk much about. Or buy without a great deal of prompting or reminders. You know they mean well and are not being malicious. But their lack of enthusiasm for your art feels like invalidation.
Creating art is not easy. Even when you love what you do, creating a work takes thought, feeling, time, energy, and gumption. Turning that idea, that vision, into a painting, sculpture, novel, or what-have-you is a laborious work. Even if I can create a book quickly, the time it takes to world-build, plan, plot, write, edit, have edited, get cover art for, format, publish, and promote is still challenging.
One of the greatest concerns regarding Generative AI is that it can be abused to remove the heart and soul of the creative process. This, too, invalidates your art.
What it comes down to, at least externally, is recognition, acknowledgment, and ultimately respect.
Amateur or professional, you are worthy of doing your art and your art is worthy of you. Validation for your work is not just about recognition or acknowledgment. In many ways, it’s about respect.
People respect professionals of certain stripes more than others. Hence the emphasis of doctors, lawyers, and business moguls over many other career choices. Realistically, EMTs, mechanics, fast food workers, waitstaff, nurses, and every other worker in any career you care to name deserves recognition, acknowledgment, and respect.
I think, in the end, that’s the reality of validation.
The same applies to validation for your art. You desire to be recognized for the work you do, acknowledged for your effort, and respected for doing the work and being true to yourself. It should be that easy. However, it’s not.
That’s because society has a skewed perspective on validation. Pro athletes and other celebrities often receive the greatest recognition, acknowledgment, and respect. I’m not knocking them or their work. However, there is nothing that makes them more valid and worthy of respect than anyone else.
The work you do, the artwork you do, is real work. That’s the truth.
Self-validation
The most important thing about validation for your art is what it means to and for you. If you only do what you do to impress others, and only feel validated when you do, this can be deeply unhealthy. Why? Because you have zero control over anyone else and how they think, what and how they feel, and so on.
Hence, nobody can be expected to give you validation. However, you can be validated of your own accord.
I write because I am more or less compelled to. Even when sales are not where I’d like them to be, I still feel validated because the work is there. Visit Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, and many other online retailers and there I am. The work has been done.
Satisfaction is self-validation. And it is not selfish. You’re allowed to feel good and validated that you have done the work. You and your art are worthy and deserving, and you don’t need anyone else to tell you that or provide you with validation.
Easier said than done, I know. Keep creating, keep doing your work, and know validation from without is not necessary to you being validated.
Thanks for reading. As I share my creative journey with you, I conclude with this: How are you inspired to be your own creator – whatever form that takes?
Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published works, which can be found here.
It’s all about doing the work. A little over a month ago, I completed the work on a new novel. Jay and Char Save the Galaxy is a bit of a departure from my usual. It’s sci-fi comedy with a healthy dollop of absurdity. I’m working on going over edits for the Savespace trilogy. Book…
As smart as AI is, genuine artists will never be replaced. Art in its many forms is an expression of the soul. I don’t care how smart or self-aware AI (artificial intelligence) gets – it will never have a soul. Sure, it might be able to emulate people and thought processes in many ways. Eventually,…
That depends on the situation and the questions asked. Storytelling has been my passion pretty much all my life. Informally, I started telling stories when I was very, very small. I still remember – when I was probably 4 years old – sitting at the windowsill in our living room. But in my imagination –…
It’s fun to break away from the typical story tropes. For years I have wanted to write a sci-fi “space opera”. An epic along the lines of a Star Wars or a Star Trek, but as unique as I could make it. One of the problems you face with these things is that there have…
This is one of the ultimate questions about writing practices. And it varies from writer to writer. I’ve asked myself this before. Do I write enough? This is a VERY subjective question. Enough writing for me might be too much for you and not enough for someone else. I am currently reading Craig Martelle’s Become…
The Discipline to Make Art Takes Conscious Work Whatever the art, consistency is a matter of discipline. Photo by Rachel Loughman on Unsplash I’ve been writing fiction since I was 9 years old. Over time, my work has been both consistent and sporadic. For almost 2 decades, I wrote sporadically. Some of that was also…
