Creative Work is Hard and Worth Every Penny

Photo by Ryan McGuire

Creative work is hard work. It is not always valued work and this is true no matter what medium you happen to work in. Be it writing, paint, or textiles there’s a serious lack of value placed on it and we as creatives may be fueling that issue by devaluing our own work when we tell people that it is easy. We should stop saying that and instead let people know that it’s only easy after you get the hang of it and getting the hang of it can take a lot of time.

We don’t want to discourage people, we don’t want young artists to give up simply because it doesn’t come to them right away. So we tell them that it’s easy, that anyone can do it. But this isn’t true. Because art, no matter what you do, is hard. Anyone cannot do it.

Not because they lack the ability to string words into a sentence or perform the basic stitches needed to make a scarf but because not everyone has the talent for making a sentence compelling or the patience to repeat the same set of stitches a hundred times to make a scarf. Not everyone has the time or desire.

So as artists, regardless of what your medium is, we have to find a way to balance encouragement and honesty. Yes, you can learn to paint, knit, or write but your first projects will likely not be masterworks. It will take years of practice to learn all of the tricks of whatever trade you’re entering into.

Creative work is hard work. We’ve devoted years of our lives to learning something and that is why handmade goods and custom work is expensive. Sure everyone can do it but not everyone can do it well because not everyone has put in the time in order to do it well.

That is what you are paying for when you hire a writer, a graphic designer, or a photographer. That is what you are paying for when you order a custom baby blanket, a one of a kind necklace, or a piece of art for your wall.

You are not paying for the time they necessarily took to do the job; you are paying for the time they took to learn how to do the job so they could do it well.

So anyone CAN do creative work but not everyone can do it well because it takes time and it is hard and it is worth every. Single. Penny.


The Problem With “Make Your Own”

Robots on wall



However, support is the second issue.






