Does the World need more artists? (aka Why am I waisting my talents drawing when I could be doing something that would help make the world a better place?)

[Lensing]

I believe in something like a "calling" and everything else will make you unhappy.
Sometimes the calling can change and adjust but you have that inner voice which
tells you what you have to do.
I don´t really believe in talents, I believe in motivation and the motivation comes
from the calling

[abigaillmartin]

Awww that’s so sweet! So you see? Art and music does change lives!

[sushy00]

Interesting takes in this topic. It really is difficult answering what is necessary in this world. In my environment "philosophy" and "art" are considered totally useless.
In my country we really need more people who can work with their hands, healthcare workers, plumbers, builders, food service workers.

But I also wonder...
Do we really need so many restaurants?
Do we really need to fly everywhere in the world?
Do we really need Twitter?
Do we really need crypto stuff?
Do we really need junk food?

I studied IT, that seems like a necessary profession right? But I really hated it and I was miserable at the office. I was not effective at all. As an artist I can actually be productive and not be miserable all the time. I need less healthcare if I am not stressed out by a job like that.

Anyway my point is that it is hard to judge what is really needed in this world.

[BoomerZ]

I think you really need to put the world now in perspective. You live in literally the safest time in all of history. You live in literally the most comfortable time in all of history. Even if you are dirt poor, if you live in a first or second world country you live better than a king from 100 years ago. The average person throughout history lived on less than a $1 a day. Less people live in poverty than ever before in the history of the world. You most likely have a smartphone, which is basically witchcraft for anyone living more than 50 years ago. Don't get sucked into how "bad" the world is. It's been used to scare the young generation since the dawn of time. Do what you want to do. If that is art, do it. If it's more fulfilling to do something else, do that. The world will be just fine, and so will you.

[ar-ninetysix]

Pssst, you're allowed do both. If you make it big enough as an artist, you can earn enough to pay rent and donate some expendable income to trusted charities and organizations helping to make the world a better place. And seeing as these would probably be non-profit, they gotta get their funding somehow.. that's where people like you can make an impact.

And if you don't wanna commit to doing both, just like give it a test run for some time. 6 months or 6 years- doesn't matter how long, the point is if this is something that truly matters that much to you, you owe it to yourself to make some sort of attempt. But the way I see it, there's people are already passionate enough to do more work than what's required of themselves, and there's also other people that have given up their passions in pursuit of improving our world. What's to say progress won't still be made without you?

I can understand feeling the urge to drop everything to make a difference, but you gotta understand that you're not obligated to do so. You gotta call into question whether or not "being a better person than just an artist" is right for you.

[NickRowler]

I do agree the animation industry is a mess. While the physical animating is done out of country, most of the production (concept art, writing, music, editing, etc) is still done in state. However, there has been a lot of shading things happening when artist get exploited, which I do hope does get a positive out come for change instead of companies deciding to just kill off 2D animation. I heard that Nick Animation will have the workers be unionized so maybe that will pave the way. As for 3D animation, that is it's own nightmare, because a lot of those people are working slave labor.

As for being an artist, I do think art can help the world be a better place. This can be through talking about social issues and encouraging empathy. Or you can simply be someone who wants to tell a story that will make someone happy. I think a lot about how the show Will and Grace did a lot to fight homophobia. Or things like Blacktober where black artist freely express the fandoms they love.

I also read a comic recent about an amputee dealing with depression and going to therapy. I read reviews that people who had similar situation enjoyed reading it because they felt like someone who was talking about how they were feeling. Or I recently came across the children's book, The Black Book of Colors, which is to teach kids how people who are completely blind view the world. These are probably things that are going to make a larger impact on people than whatever big budget hollywood animated film is coming out.

[LCT_m_a_d]

Birds are always flying because they have wings strong enough for flight, rely on flight for acquiring resources, and frankly, because they seem to enjoy the gift of flight.

Whether or not "the world needs more creatures in the sky" doesn't change what a bird is best suited for anymore than it changes what a fish is best suited for. They each have their place in the ecosystem and giving themselves entirely to the best of their natural gifts is how they bring harmony and unity to the world.

Instead of anxiously worrying about solving the worlds problems through existentially philosophy,
If you want to solve problems, it's probably best to learn to be a service from where you are now with the talents and resources you've been giving now, whether that's art, writing, medicine, or sports. You never know what people "need"

I spent most of my life being told that my art is a passion and not a necessity. No-one ever asked me but that's not why I draw. Now I have the opportunity to help support the community's health/wellness and renewal initiatives through simply making art.

"Sufficient for the day is it's own trouble"

[Flug]

I dont know the programme setting your thoughts in motion. But I can assure you the editors are shifting blame for the economic decay of our society to an older generation already suffering from it since the oil crisis of 1972. They try to play generations against each other to distract from the fact, the death spasms of capitalism were established science since Engels (1884) and Lenin (1905) before ww1 even struck. An economy only viable on growth and profit is doomed to collapse like a straw fire. Thats not the fault of the last straw as it is not the fault of the baby boomers or yours. The questions are, what are you good at? What do you love to work on? What not too senseless or underpaid work is economy/society offering you? Theres so much cool work out there right now. If you like drawing, have you tried welding? Im still learning it and love it.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

People have already added a bunch of great replies, so I'll just be brief:

A) You can do both. ^^ My day job is an "essential" profession in the medical field, and I spend pretty much all the rest of my time making funny drawings and comics and animation that no one even pays for, let alone "needs". And it works for me.

B)

why does the world need another shitty artist? It needs inventors, philosophers, leaders,

And those people (assuming they aren't artists themselves, which is entirely possible) need artists.
When the inventor is in engineering school, whose music are they going to listen to while they study?
When the philosopher is writing their book, whose stories are going to inform the way they compose their thoughts and establish themes?
When the leader is trying to connect with their audience, who is going to make sure they look their best in front of the camera, and display their message in an aesthetic, informative way? Who's going to create logos and slogans for them to catch people's attention??

Art is a HUGE part of life. I'd even bet that human life as we know it has never existed without art...the problem is, nowadays we take it for granted. Logos simply exist, videos are simply posted, books are just published, music is just downloaded. No one considers where it comes from, or how much of a marvel it is that so much art is available to us 24/7.

I guarantee you, if the work of every 'unneeded' artist on the planet suddenly vanished, EVERYONE would notice. And the world would be a much duller, sadder, more depressing place than it already appears to be.

[DiegoPalacios]

An advertising teacher i had once told us that art help us distract ourselves from the fact that we are all going to die and that's why we need it so hard.

[GamerPrincessXI]

Art helps ppl who cant do art...lol

[vanduran_art]

Ask yourself what the world would be like without creative artists, and if you would like to live in it. A world without art museums, without movies, without comics, without theatre, without dance, without music, without videogames... maybe the world makes you feel that you are not necessary, but the world cannot live without us.

[VibrantFox]

echoing some sentiments here art really is an intrinsic part of everyday life because you need art skills to come up with design concepts, to sculpt product models, blueprints for architecture and so on nothing we have would exist without art in some form and even the more obvious mediums we pass by or interact with on the daily have artists involved on some level

plus art has also served as a historical marker why else would historians and archaeologists and other folks look at things like ancient pottery, hand crafted sculptures or figurines, even cave paintings

art is something that's overlooked at lot (especially as of late) but people forget just how intertwined it is with the human existence. it's literally a part of us whether we make it or observe. plus like a lot of people have said you can totally do both in terms of finding ways to help the world around you but also continue to create. a perfect example i think is something i'd seen on the local news recently where an artist is dedicating his earnings to building affordable housing for local artists that come with studios so that they can have a space to create and bring in members of the community to share in and explore craft that they maybe haven't interacted with before.

plus you haven't got to do something huge, it seems like an odd thing to reference but sometimes i think about the dollars and how one of it's core things was using small acts to uplift folks like leaving a small envelope with a couple dollars in it and a word of encouragement on the outside or picking up trash or doing volunteer work. it's easy to put things under a microscope and think "oh it's so small and meaningless" but even the tiniest things can create huge waves, you've just gotta put things into perspective

that's like on quote that comes to mind often was in a discussion between oprah winfrey and maya angelou where oprah was talking about the kind of legacy she'd like to leave to which maya responds "you have no idea what your legacy will be" which is true. in some cases a persons legacy can be all these huge impactful things they've done in their community or in the world and sometimes if not most often it's the person we made smile, the word of encouragement that motivated someone or the piece of artwork that inspired someone. but again you never really know so the best you can do is try to leave a positive impact in the ways that are accessible to you

art absolutely has a place in the world and always will so there will always always be a need for more artists in the world even if there may be oceans of voices that try to say otherwise so there's no reason to doubt the value of your pursuits. and yes no one denies that the art world is looking really really messy as of late but so long as people continue to create and continue to push for change it can get better it's just about putting in the work and getting the right kind of people involved

[TheLemmaLlama]

Art is like the best medium for philosophy and leadership. If you think those things are going to fix the world, then art is certainly not any less useful

That said, if you're being an artist just for the sake of being an artist, I can totally see existential dread creeping up on you if you're just sticking to it as a career. If you're just the hands doing grunt work to manifest a project you find no meaning in.

I'd suggest getting into art with something specific you want to say. Use your art as a medium for philosophy and leadership.

That's not to say there's anything wrong with just being an artist and not worrying about whether it's what the world needs; it's not your duty to save the world. What you want is not lesser than what needs to be done.

But if this is less of a guilt thing and more of an existential purpose thing, I won't lie; the path of a career artist can indeed trap you in a sense of existential purposeless. I'm saying this as someone who's also invested a lot of time into pursuing a 'useless' career path

[LostKelp]

It's ok if you want to step away from art. Many artists find that over the course of their career that they loose their love of the process due to personal fatigue or creative stagnation or the personal pressures we put on ourselves to make the best thing we can even when it's not fun anymore. If you're finding that the search for a creative job is making you miserable or the act of creation makes you miserable then it's ok to let it go and peruse something else.

A lot of people in this thread are saying that art is important because it helps people through the problems of reality through escapism or through confrontation in a safe environment and they are right. but if you don't want to keep on making art because commercializing it makes you miserable, then you don't have to commercialize it. you can slow down and make the stuff you enjoy making and you can do something else that makes you feel more fulfilled (monetarily or existentially).

The world doesn't need more artists, it needs more joy. and if being a professional artist doesn't bring you joy anymore, then you can try something else and see if that makes you happier.

[river121693]

Read up on Soft Power. Art is absolutely necessary for you as a human being, and for the world.

Every creative thing you make is you expressing your existence. Every comics, TV show, books, songs, and film you consume tells you something about the world and move your belief . Art is what historian use to learn about past society, and what different groups use to create political and social narratives. Art is what people use to inspire and organize protests-- that's why artists are always the first to be silenced when an oppressive government is in power.

Rather than "does the world need more artist", the question should be "what kind of art should more people be making." There are a lot of art doesn't better society and art that further oppression. There are also a lot of ways to make art that amplify its impact-- you can connect with grassroots orgs and help them design posters for example.

[esquarecomics]

Being an artist doesn't seem that important when you compare them to other jobs like being a doctor or a lawyer but there is a reason why countries like North Korea, China, or even currently Russia filter and censor the media that their citizens consume. Art is a form of communication and the art and media we consume. Like @river121693 said, art is now currently an asset of soft power. We can see this with America, Japan, and Korea which have a large influence on other cultures through their media. Thats not to dismiss or antagonize the artist that works on the project rather it emphasizes the value of art.

Also, I've watched a lot of videos like that. I saw the thumbnail of that video a while back. I highly recommend taking a break every once in a while from those videos or even YouTube in general. As informative as they are, they also give you this feeling of helplessness. When I draw I usually listen to those videos but every once in a while I listen to an audiobook just to balance things out. Maybe you can listen to music or something? I don't know.

[Shanny8]

I'm like this: while I do have the knowledge and the capacity to do other things, while those other things DO make me a nice penny, for the most part I'm not exactly happy or peaceful...the only time that I feel happy or peaceful is when I'm working on my art, or selling the results of my art at a convention; coz then I feel like I'm making the world a better place coz my work is contributing to someone else's happiness- while their support is contributing to mine.

Heck, even if I'm just posting my webcomic online it feels good when someone is really engaged in my story...or I inspire them to make a comic.

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

I suppose one might say that the question implies that simply living your life to the best of your abilities and treating others like you'd want to be treated is not actually making the world better. Should we simply accept that as a given?

[Flug]

@KennethLopezJr921 So did you make up your mind? I hope we could help you a little?