[Re] Competition and Creativity

I believe all aspiring young artists have faced this dilemma that Leslie R. describes in her post about creativity and the struggles she faced in the pursuit of becoming an artist. 

"Seeing people who drew better then me use to upset me. It made me feel unconfident so that whenever I drew something I gave up on my work, so I gave up on art.

I felt empty. My dream was always to become an artist and I felt as through I wasn't good enough to be one. I didn't know what to do with myself now. Drawing was my hobbie and it was crushed. I had nights where I layed there on my bed pondering of what I could do. I started to loose interest in art. it became something that just didn't matter to me."

I also think many of us have looked up to someone or has had an influential figure in their life.  We may envy each other others skills or achievements, but that should definitely not stop you from following your dreams.  When I see another person's admirable artwork, I tend to see it as an incentive to keep practicing and improving my own.  Rather than saying: "Wow, my artwork sucks compared to this person." that person should be more of an inspiration to learn from them than to just quit a profession completely.  That kind of negative attitude will never allow you to succeed in life.  In the art world or for any creative field, there is ALWAYS going to be someone better than you.  You can see this as a good thing because without those people, who would we have to learn from?   

Artists continuously strive to prove themselves as individuals, producing art that is unique and intricate to their own aesthetic.  We persevere and improve our own style to create the best artwork that we can.

Competitive nature can be seen either as if the glass is half full or half empty.  Competition can be something feared and discouraging because essentially we must fight for our place in the art industry.  While in retrospect, a competitive environment can bring out the best in humans.  By constantly trying to improve and outdo each other, we can produce some of the best work and amazing advancements in human life this world as ever seen!

In reality, we live in a capitalist government where there are people who are aggressively ambitious and those who are reluctant to compete.  We compete for the best education, the best jobs, and even the best opportunities.  Those who aren't willing to compete will most likely fail while those who do will be able to succeed.  Our world is rapidly changing, in a way that everyone must contribute their best to improve their country.  Since we live in the U.S., which is undergoing an economy crisis, we must do our best in a dog eat dog world.