Rejection is one of the most common struggles artists face. Rejection is never easy to handle. It can make you feel sad, disappointed, and not good enough. In consequence, many creatives lose their inspiration to create art. How do artists get over rejection? Here are 6 techniques to help you deal with rejection and get your artistic inspiration back as fast as possible. Let’s get into it!
How do artists get over rejection?
Rejection is something that all artists will face at some point in time. Most likely at multiple points during their career. Rejection can come in many forms.
A gallery doesn’t reply to your application, an exhibition doesn’t want to display your works, an art magazine doesn’t want to publish your images, a residency is not being granted to you… This is just to name a few examples.
Rejection is never easy to deal with and most of the time it is pretty painful. No one wants to be rejected, no matter in what area of life.
As artists, it is important for us to realize that we will have to deal with rejection, sooner or later. Being prepared will make it easier for you not to crumble when rejection strikes, but to use it as an experience for you to grow.
If you have never given rejection a thought, then it is way harder to get over it once it comes along your way. Being rejected can be a demoralizing experience. If you don’t manage to deal with rejection in a positive way, alone the fear of being rejected again can lead to you being scared to make art.
What struggles do artists face, apart from rejection?
Don’t let rejection make you think that your art is not good enough and that you will never make it as an artist.
Rejection is inevitable. One thing you can be sure of is that rejection will knock on your door every now and then as you pursue your calling as an artist.
That’s why I am writing this post. I want to help artists get over rejection.
Because I know there will always be people criticizing and rejecting your art. But in order to be a successful artist, it is important to not let rejection prevent you from creating more art and showcasing and selling your work.
If you know how to deal with it, rejection can be a great tool to build your creative confidence, learn more about yourself as an artist, and better understand your audience.
In other words, rejection can serve as a powerful motivator for your artistic and personal growth.
So let’s get into it!
Here are six techniques for artists to get over rejection:
6 Techniques for artists to get over rejection
1. Be proud of yourself.
If you face rejection, be proud of yourself. What?! Yes, let me repeat: if you are being rejected, it means you had the courage to put your art out there to the world to be seen.
Art takes courage. You need courage to create the art you genuinely love. You need courage to upload your art in the public space for everyone to potentially judge and criticize it. You need courage to apply for an art contest.
This is why facing rejection is first and foremost something you can be proud of. Take a moment to give yourself the proper recognition for your creative confidence. But then move forward and continue doing what you love to do. Don’t dwell on the experience and tell yourself that it only happened because you are not a good enough artist.
In most cases, you may never know the real reason why your work got rejected. So don’t waste your energy and time overthinking something you may never understand. Instead, continue making art, nurture your inner artist, and focus on developing your creative skills.
2. Don’t let your art define you.
When you face rejection, you should remind yourself that it is not about you as a person. Even though your art reflects your personality and identity as an artist, your art is not you.
As artists, we often put our soul and innermost feelings into our art, and that’s definitely a good thing. This is what defines the true value of your art and your ‘tribe’ will appreciate your art for that.
However, if you feel like your art defines you as a person, take a step back and re-evaluate your perspective. From an objective point of view, do you really think that someone not liking your art means you are a bad artist? Or even a not good enough human being? Surely not.
If the rejection of your art makes you feel bad about yourself as a person, it’s time to draw clear boundaries between yourself and your artistic work.
3. Accept rejection and the pain that comes with it.
When rejection comes, it is usually comes with pain. To be honest, none of us will be unconcerned when we experience rejection and get the impression that no one likes our art.
Pretending that rejection doesn’t hurt while feeling totally wretched won’t help artists get over rejection. On the contrary. It will only make the pain worse and prolong your suffering.
Negative emotions make us feel uncomfortable and naturally we want to move away from them as fast as possible. But accepting rejection and acknowledging the pain is actually the first step for artists to get over rejection.
You are not the only artist facing rejection. Like any other business, the art business is a competitive place and putting your art out there will always attract both admirers and critics.
As much as it might feel that you are the only one experiencing rejection, remember that there many artists going through the same struggles as you.
4. Don’t try to avoid rejection.
Even though rejection is painful, don’t try to avoid it. Why am I saying that? Because once you try to avoid rejection, you are trying to create art that pleases everyone. Everyone but yourself.
It is a fact that there are millions of people in this world with millions of different tastes in art. Some people will love your art, and others will hate it.
If you try to cater your art to please what you think is the majority of people in your environment, you will not be able to develop a unique art style and find your artistic voice.
Your job as an artist is not to create art that doesn’t get rejected. Your job is to create the art you love. And that is the most fulfilling part of being an artist.
If you’ve created an artwork you genuinely wanted to create and it gets rejected, it only means you’ve stayed true to yourself. And that’s the best thing you can do as an artist – and as a person!
Breathe. More.
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5. Don’t let rejection kill your creativity.
Facing rejection can be a very paralyzing experience. You might feel so disappointed that you don’t want to continue making art.
It is important to deal with rejection in a way that doesn’t kill your creativity. That’s why the best thing you can do is to keep going.
Remind yourself why you started making art in the first place. Look back at all the beautiful artwork you’ve already created. Remember how much fun you have when you can be creative.
Talk with other artists about your experience with rejection. As we said above, rejection is a common thing in the art world and many artists are dealing with it. If you can support and encourage each other, then rejection can be a powerful motivator.
How to get your artistic inspiration back?
6. Silence your inner critic and voice out your anger.
Rejection can make us feel both intimidated and angry. If you already have perfectionist tendencies, then rejection can bring out your art perfectionist even more.
This little inner voice will tell that your art is just not good enough; of course it gets rejected. You might start comparing yourself to other artists and your inner critic will tell you that they are all better than you. They deserve to get the artist grant, to be admitted to the exhibition, etc. You don’t.
In fact, your inner critic will keep rattling on, if you don’t call a halt.
If you have such an inner critic, it is important to give yourself time to relax. We all need time to rewind from a negative experience we had.
Be kind to yourself. Do something you love. Take a hot bubble bath, go for a long walk in the forest, listen to your favorite music.
Facing rejection can also cause feelings like anger and irritation. If you are feeling angry, it is important to voice out that anger. By voicing out I don’t mean that you should pick the phone and shout at the gallery owner who didn’t want to exhibit your art or write a furious email to an art magazine that rejected your work. No.
Release your anger and frustration in a way that doesn’t harm anybody. For example, write down your emotions in a journal, write a letter that you never send, go out to nature and scream out all your anger. Exercise is also a good way to release your anger.
Or, you can channel your negative emotions into your next artwork. There are many ways to express yourself through your art, so use these means. That’s also a great way to take care of your mental health. One thing you should never do, however, is keep your emotions bottled up inside of you.
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It is not easy for artists to get over rejection and sometimes we may lose sight of why we started to make art in the first place. If rejection makes you feel angry, disappointed, or sad, take a step back and remember why you love making art. Most likely, that’s also the reason why you should keep going.
That being said, I hope that these six techniques help you get over rejection quickly and enjoy your creative process again soon!
What strategies do you use when you struggle with rejection? Please leave comments and questions below or reach out to me directly. I’d love to hear from you! Make sure to sign up for my email list below so you don’t miss out on new blog posts and other cool stuff. ♥
