warphotography
7 HN recommenders · recommended in 9 months, 2018–2026
5:21 · 146K views · Jul 11, 2009
A five-minute clip of Ira Glass on the gap between good taste and early creative work. He says beginners know their work falls short and must keep producing to close the gap.
HN commenters return to it as motivation for creators who feel their work is not good enough yet.
9 comments from Hacker News
Ira Glass's take on this is so good and I go back to it often when my creative work is less than satisfactory: this video Basically when you work on creative stuff you're drawn to it because you have good taste, but for a long time your work will disappoint you because of your good taste.
The first three minutes of this Ira Glass interview are pure gold, and I listen to them at least once a year to remind myself to keep fighting. this video
I am on the reverse journey. I went to art school, have been a designer for many years, and write software at a "not very good but I'm working on it" level. How do you learn to self-critique? Honesty, objectivity, and taste. Given your background, taste is the only one I'd worry about, but if you're shooting for photorealism, that's fine. You've got taste about what photos look like. That's easy. I'd bet that, after getting in the game, your goal won't be photorealism at the 5 year mark. But that's for later. Here's Ira Glass, of NPR, with a fairly famous set of remarks about overcoming the period of time when you know what good art looks like, and know that the art you are making is not good: this video Another anecdote I've heard that's a favorite of mine and describes the process of becoming talented very well: A pottery class is divided in two for the entire semester. One half of the class is told they have the whole 15 weeks to make one really, exceptionally great vase. The other half is told that their only goal is to produce as many vases as humanly possible, regardless of quality. At the end of the semester, the vases that were aiming for excellence pale in comparison to those created by the half that was shooting for volume. Through the course of creating many terrible vases, the students learned what makes a vase good, and how to do it in fast, repeatable ways. You don't make the mistake on vase 20 that you made on vase 1. These iterations compound and lead to signific
Good luck! We can all do this. Create and create and you will eventually catch up with your taste. I have a personal theory that unhappiness is due to too much consumption, not enough personal creation. Even if it just a sketchnote or a doodle... that is enough. > Nobody tells this to people who are beginners. I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. > We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It’s only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through. -Ira Glass Video version: this video [LINK]
I find it surprisingly difficult to lower my standards once I feel committed to an idea. I wish this article leaned a little more into ways to address that sort of dilemma. Don't get me wrong, I agree fully with the article. I put it into practice plenty well in many areas of my life. I've made great progress with my diet, self-care, and physical fitness routines by keeping my goals SMART. And yet, a few years ago, I got this idea in my head for a piece of software I wanted to create that is, if not too ambitious, then clearly asking all of me and then some. The opening paragraph of the article really resonated with me -- "The artwork that will finally make the invisible visible." And so, I've chipped away at the idea here and there, but I find myself continually put off by "the gap" - even though I know it's to be expected and is totally human. Part of me wishes I had never dared to dream so big and wishes I could let the idea go entirely. Another part of me is mad and ashamed for thinking like that about a personal dream. Anyway, don't know where I'm going with all this. Just felt like remarking on the article since it struck close to home. P.S. if you haven't seen the Ira Glass video, I'd take a look. It's pretty inspirational. Here's Part 3 which is what the article was referencing. this video