Rufus is a LIAR

His name is “Rufus”.

Rufus is the art critic that lives inside every artist’s mind. Rufus is a product of our “logical brain.” Rufus is all about survival and thinks in a neat, linear fashion only perceiving the world according to known circumstances. Rufus is a naysayer when it comes to artistic ability.

The brain of an artist is in almost direct opposition to Rufus. The artist’s brain is much more childlike, impulsive, creative, with a particular panache for disregarding rules, experimenting, and combining the oddest things with surprising success. The artist’s brain thinks in terms of pattern, value, line, color, and form without ever considering known circumstances.

Teaching Rufus to stand aside and let the artist’s brain take over is a battle — and one that every artist must fight daily. When we’re having a problem mastering a skill Rufus says...

“See? I told you — you can’t do this!”

In the fledgling artist’s mind, this lie becomes, “I don’t have the talent for this.” Rufus planted that thought, and it has absolutely zero basis in fact. What we percieve as “talent” is nothing more than a pursued interest. If you can follow simple directions and you’re willing to practice, you can learn to paint in Photoshop!

In some regards, having Rufus go on the attack as our skills increase should be considered normal, but we must always strive to isolate his lies and understand them for what they are.

LIES.

Only then can we be sure they will never stop our artistic advancement.