During the last year I had the great opportunity to create a group of study with a bunch of artists from all around the globe. Very little group yet very strong with a purpose.

This wasn't only an opportunity to learn better arts and be a better artists and better version of myself but also an opportunity to breakdown what is going on with most of people that attempt to be professional artists, but don't have what is needed.

Let's keep it simple...

Which doesn't mean that everyone should be an artist or that everyone wants to be an artist. Yet for those that aim to be a professional and elite artists but haven't started yet with their path I got few words to share with you.

What you need is pretty simple, and these are not my words but Marco Bucci ones, a great artist with a great philosophy: Hard work.

Yet by saying hard work I am not saying anything that you don't know already. Right?

Wrong.

Hard work means that you will every day get up from your bed, practice and find things that you lack and could get better at. And it doesn't end there. Actually you just got started: now it's time work on those weaknesses and become strong on them.

Some times it takes weeks to overcome a little single obstacle (as I shown you before) and this is where the hard part really starts.

The hard part means that since the day you decide to become an artists you will work hard day after day, everyday, for weeks, months, years and decades. No joke.

So this is where most of people just fail. They do work hard for a day, a week, maybe two. But then they just quit, because they cannot keep the rhythm.

Therefor if you are willing to become an artist, an elite one, you must know that this comes with a lot of sacrifice and effort. Constantly.

Another of the things I realized last year is that in my eight years in the industry of arts I have fed my ego so much that it became a gargantuan beast all over the years. And something as big and strongly rooted as this is really, really hard to fix.

But with the pass of the months and after half year of constant attacking myself and my ego system I could get rid of it.

The result was to recognize myself as a piece of crap completely non-worthy. And this is why it was so useful, because I could empty my cup to re-fill it with new concepts and knowledge. Not to say that feeling that i knew nothing allowed me to go back to the foundations of the drawing and arts in general, which is something i always missed

If you want to get to another level and face it strongly and without that much struggle, then the ego is the first thing you should get rid of.

...or The Liar.

Most of people that joined to our study group and were kicked used to find always pretty clever (and some times very stupid and non-sense) excuses. They used to often lie about what they would do and make promises that later on weren't done.

I like to think about this as the Liar Syndrome, because they are not even aware of it, but they constantly lie to others in order to lie to themselves. They don't understand how much struggle and how much frustration it takes to get to this point as an artist, so they don't make their mind or work on their habits.

My advice to all those who are struggling with self-delusion is to get a good pair of balls and eggs and face reality, because nothing will get better, it will always hurt, it will always be hard, and facing ourselves is really hard sometimes. Mostly at the beginning.

But it get's better with time, as anything you do... you, as a human, are a machine prepared for adaptation of almost any kind. Practice enough your "getting out" of your comfort zone and facing your own problems, and you will become an expert in the matter.

Thanks a lot for your support and I see you in the next one!

I apologize if I don't reply to your message. Sometimes I can't find enough time for it. But you can be sure that I will read it!

Bye!