The Defeated Artist

I came across a wiki page recently which gave a name to the phenomenon we call, delusions of grandeur.
Now scientifically labelled as Dunning-Kruger.

It made me think about the opposing end of the scale. Most of my closest friends are artists, and most of them have given up on their art. Either because they couldn't get work immediately, or weren't accepted into the Uni they wanted, or just because they don't believe they will ever be "good enough" no matter how hard they try. They've instead taken on rudimentary jobs or chosen some other field that is less creative and more tedious. And when a creative person is forced into a life of tedium, it shows, and they change somewhat to accommodate for the lack of creative outlets.

This is particularly frustrating to me, since I am now quite established in the arts industry. I can see that a disturbingly large percentage of people would classify as having Dunning-Kruger syndrome, and they are sitting in seats that would be better fulled by those defeated artists. This of course is nothing new in the animal kingdom, the food goes to those that are willing to fight for it.
And even when life is at hand, such as in war times, this effect comes into play. Hence the now infamous phrase associated with the British infantry of world war 1; Lions lead by donkeys.
It's all very unfortunate and sad, and there is not much to do about it except lend support to those artists and creatives who are sitting on the fence, after that, it's really up to the individual.

Often the defeated artist will say, " Oh you are so lucky, I wish I coul do that for a living" which is both irritating and painful to hear, as they very well could be doing it if they only tried harder for longer. Though a much worse thing can happen when the defeated artist grows to resent their friends who have managed to make a life out of their passion.

About the images this week: just some random composition sketches. I always find grey scale works best for these. I have yet to learn the skills to work directly in color.