I'm going to respectfully disagree with her. And…I have strong feelings about this so be forewarned!
I am a graphic design student and a huge perfectionist. I have a good sense of design and can look at my current work and be very dissatisfied with it. However, I am not going to let that hold me back. I started a 365 project this year to force myself to produce work constantly and share it. If I did not have the project I would probably not be doing the work, to be honest. It's very motivating for me.
I don't see the internet as unforgiving as Barbara says. I have not received criticism for my work, but rather encouragement. If anything my own self criticism is more than anything other people can throw at me. I'd say that imperfect work is still art and can be more interesting than perfect calligraphy to the average eye. Actually, I find imperfections beautiful.
Great artists like Picasso had early work too as everyone has to start somewhere. And it is still celebrated. I went to the Picasso museum in Barcelona and it focused on his early work…it had drawings from when he was 12 and showed his development. Nobody looked at his early sketches and said, "No no, this is not museum worthy, this is nothing!" because everyone knows who he grew to become. Seeing his process was amazing, something I will never forget. The idea that we should start in dark caves keeping everything to ourselves and not emerge until we have completed a masterpiece is so…backwards.
I think that in this fast-paced world, it's important to start building a platform as soon as possible! Austin Kleon talks about this in his book "Show Your Work" (which I have not read because it's not out yet, but I have read interviews about, ha). He basically says to share your process because people love seeing the juicy messy details of creative work.
So, my two cents.
Kathleen
