This Artist Mindset Helps You Improve Faster - Instantly View Your Art Differently

Tap into this profound way of thinking to immediately improve your art making abilities!

If you’re an artist who’s constantly trying to improve—studying anatomy, doing drawing exercises, watching tutorials, practicing daily—but still feels mentally blocked, frustrated, or unsure of your work, then chances are the problem isn’t your skill level.

It’s how you view your art while you’re creating it.

Most artists focus entirely on what they’re drawing. Very few think about how they’re thinking when they draw. And yet, mindset is often the single biggest factor that determines whether you grow smoothly or stay stuck for years.

This article isn’t about a technique, a challenge, or a step-by-step system. It’s about a shift in perspective—a mindset for artists that calms your mind, removes pressure, and allows your creativity to flow naturally onto the page or screen.

This way of thinking completely changed how I create. And once you understand it, you’ll realize how much unnecessary resistance you’ve been carrying this whole time.

This Artist Mindset Changed How I Create

For the past six years, I’ve been using this mindset every time I draw. It didn’t come from a book, a course, or a guru. It came from years of trial and error, frustration, breakthroughs, and quiet realizations that only happen after thousands of hours of drawing.

What’s funny is that this mindset isn’t complicated at all. There’s no ritual. No rules. No structure.

It’s simply a way of thinking that removes mental friction.

When your mind is calm, your body follows. When your body is relaxed, your lines flow. When your lines flow, confidence builds. And when confidence builds, improvement happens automatically.

Before I explain the mindset itself, it’s important to understand how I arrived here, because context matters—especially for artists who feel stuck or overwhelmed.

What I Learned from The Master Artists About Mindset

I’ve always been obsessed with improving my art.

Not casually improving—intentionally improving. I wanted to draw faster, more accurately, more confidently. I wanted my ideas to translate cleanly onto paper without hesitation or second-guessing.

One of my biggest inspirations was Kim Jung Gi, a master of spontaneous drawing. Watching him draw was unreal. He wasn’t sketching lightly or planning things out. He was drawing confidently, accurately, and decisively—often using only a pen.

No erasing. No outlines. No visible hesitation.

That alone told me something important: confidence in art doesn’t come after perfection. It comes before it.

Inspired by this, I started practicing freestyle drawing with pen only. No rough drafts. No planning. Just straight off the dome with ink and paper.

This alone improved my drawing abilities nearly tenfold. It forced me to commit to every line, accept every outcome, and move forward regardless of mistakes. I still do this practice to this day, and I highly recommend it to any artist looking to loosen up and trust themselves more.

But as powerful as that was, it still wasn’t the full picture.

There was something else holding me back—something more subtle, more psychological.

How Social Media Anxiety Hurts Your Art

For a long time, I was constantly drawing, improving, and posting my art on social media. On the surface, it seemed like progress. I was consistent. I was visible. I was improving.

But internally, something started to feel off.

Drawing began to feel heavy.

I found myself overthinking what to draw. I wasn’t drawing because I wanted to anymore—I was drawing because I felt like I had to. To stay relevant. To stay visible. To keep up.

Questions started creeping in:

• What should I draw today?

• Will this be good enough?

• Will people like this?

• Will this go viral?

• Is this worth posting?

At some point, I had to stop and ask myself a hard question: Why am I even drawing?

If my sole motivation was to feed an algorithm or chase validation, then something had gone terribly wrong.

Why I Stepped Away from Social Media (And What It Taught Me)

That realization led me to make a drastic decision.

I deleted all of my social media.

This was about ten years ago, and to this day, it remains one of the best decisions I’ve ever made as an artist.

Without social media:

• There was no pressure to perform

• No comparison

• No expectations

• No audience in my head

I was free.

For three years, I lived and drew without social media. During that time, I filled multiple sketchbooks, experimented freely, and made the biggest leap in skill I’ve ever experienced. I even started laying the foundation for my animated series, GAMINAMI.

My confidence grew—not because my art suddenly became perfect, but because my art belonged to me again.

Why I Eventually Returned (And What Changed)

One night during a late drawing session, I had another realization.

“I do want people to see my art.”

And that’s not wrong. Wanting your work to be seen is natural. Artists are communicators.

Art is meant to be shared.

So eventually, I returned to social media—but this time, something was different.

I noticed that the moment I became aware that a drawing might be posted, my focus shifted. Anxiety crept in. Confidence dropped. My lines became hesitant.

That’s when it hit me: Creating art and thinking about being seen cannot exist at the same time.

The moment validation enters the room, creativity leaves.

How to Stop Overthinking Your Art

This is where the mindset shift happens.

If you want to create freely, confidently, and consistently, you have to mentally separate:

• Creating art

• Sharing art

They are two completely different modes.

When you create with the desire for approval, you introduce fear. When fear enters, hesitation follows. When hesitation takes over, your true ability is locked away.

To move past this, you must accept your art exactly where it is, without conditions.

Not later. Not after improvement. Now.

How Appreciating Your Art Improves Confidence

This mindset takes practice. Your brain is a muscle, and like any muscle, it needs repetition.

Here’s how you apply it in real life:

Whenever you sit down to draw, remove all thoughts of:

• Posting

• Sharing

• Likes

• Comments

• Opinions

Draw only for yourself.

Fill the page. Or two pages. Or an entire sketchbook if you want.

When you’re done, take time to look at what you’ve created and appreciate it without judgment.

Do not:

• Critique it

• Compare it

• Mentally “fix” it

Accept it exactly as it is.

This trains your mind to associate art with satisfaction instead of anxiety.

This mindset helps you:

• Stop comparing your art to others

• Create without fear of mistakes

• Build confidence naturally

• Improve faster without burnout

Why Viewing Your Art as Perfect Helps You Improve

Here’s the core idea, distilled into one sentence:

Your art is perfect. There are no mistakes.

When your art is perfect by definition, mistakes cease to exist. And when mistakes disappear, fear loses its power.

This realization came from my pen-only drawing practice. When you can’t erase, everything becomes part of the drawing. There is no “wrong”—only continuation.

The same applies mentally.

When you view your art as perfect in its current state, stagnation dissolves. Comparison loses its grip. Growth becomes a natural side effect of consistency, not a stressful goal you chase.

You might think: “If my art is perfect, then there’s no need to improve.” Exactly!

You are already a complete artist. Improvement happens automatically when you create consistently with joy and appreciation. You don’t need to force it. You don’t need to worry about it.

How to Apply This Artist Mindset Today

1. Draw without thinking about posting

2. Finish the page no matter how it looks

3. Appreciate the work exactly as it is

4. Repeat daily

That’s it.

No pressure. No fear. No comparison.

Just creation.

Final Thoughts

I’m not saying you shouldn’t share your art. Share it if you want.

Just don’t let the desire to be seen enter your mind while you’re creating.

If you can train yourself to appreciate your current abilities—no matter what level you’re at—you’ll unlock a level of freedom that most artists never experience.

Remember this one phrase: Your art is perfect. There are no mistakes.

Create from that place, and improvement will take care of itself.