E7: Is Your Art Improving...? (3 Ways to Tell)

One of the biggest challenges as an artist is figuring out whether or not improvement is actually happening. There are many reasons why artists specifically struggle with telling whether they are getting better. We tend to be critical of our own work, and the process of creation often colors our appreciation of it. If we really struggled to create something, or had to abandon an original vision partway through, that experience can taint our judgment of the finished piece even when others respond positively.

The risk here is real. If improvement is actually happening but cannot be recognized, it becomes easy to feel stuck and discouraged. Conversely, not knowing where progress stands makes it difficult to plan the next steps. The more control over this part of the artistic journey, the more likely a positive relationship with art develops - feeling good not just about current work, but about the entire trajectory.

The first way to assess improvement is through the external work itself - does it look better over time? This seems obvious, but it is tricky to judge because internal dialogue colors perception of each piece. What helps most here is tracking progress through a timeline rather than judging individual pieces in isolation.

Creating a record of work over time - whether a blog, an ArtStation account, or simply a folder on the computer - allows stepping back to see progression. Students often feel they have not improved after a year of study, but when forced to arrange their work chronologically, they are shocked at the visible difference. This sent folder approach, saving every finished piece that gets shared, creates a timeline stretching back years. Separated from the struggle of creation, work from years ago often looks better than it felt at the time.

A useful technique when judging current work: create a goal folder of aspirational images, then drop the finished piece among them. Flipping between the work and the reference reveals whether the contrast, color vibrancy, or composition reaches the intended level.

The second dimension of improvement is internal - how does the feeling of creating work change over time? This is separate from whether the external output looks different. Skills move from conscious effort to subconscious competence. Drawing an ear might once have required following tutorial steps, but eventually happens without thinking.

This represents real improvement even when the output appears identical. What previously required struggle and multiple attempts now flows more easily. Professional work spanning decades often shows the external results staying similar while the internal experience transforms. Figures that once needed redrawing five times now come out correctly on the first attempt.

The more this internal ease gets recognized and appreciated, the better the overall relationship with art becomes. Everyone imagines professionals creating effortlessly, but that is not how it works. Some level of struggle remains the default. What changes is that previously difficult things become easier - and noticing this matters.

The third area is process improvement - how the actual creation workflow becomes smoother and more reliable. This combines internal and external factors. The key indicator is whether the idea in mind gets better represented by the finished work, and whether there is confidence in how to get from start to finish.

A reliable process means knowing where a painting stands when paused halfway, and knowing exactly what steps come next. Even highly skilled artists have ugly phases in their process - moments where if paused, the work looks unsalvageable. Only their deep understanding of where things are headed carries them through.

Looking back at failed images and abandoned projects reveals process improvement. Ideas that seemed impossible to execute years ago might now be achievable. This represents progress even when current work does not look dramatically different. The confidence that stories in the head can reliably reach the page improves the entire experience of being an artist.