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Related: Ira Glass on "The Gap": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91FQKciKfHI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91FQKciKfHI > Nobody tells people who are begi

Related: Ira Glass on "The Gap": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91FQKciKfHI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91FQKciKfHI > Nobody tells people who are beginners — and I really wish somebody had told this to me — is that all of us who do creative work … we get into it because we have good taste. But it’s like there’s a gap, that for the first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good, OK? It’s not that great. It’s really not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it’s not quite that good. But your taste — the thing that got you into the game — your taste is still killer, and your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you, you know what I mean? > A lot of people never get past that phase. A lot of people at that point, they quit. And the thing I would just like say to you with all my heart is that most everybody I know who does interesting creative work, they went through a phase of years where they had really good taste and they could tell what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be — they knew it fell short, it didn’t have the special thing that we wanted it to have. > And the thing I would say to you is everybody goes through that. And for you to go through it, if you’re going through it right now, if you’re just getting out of that phase — you gotta know it’s totally normal. > And the most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work — do a huge volume of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week, or every month, you know you’re going to finish one story. Because it’s only by actually going through a volume of work that you are actually going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions. It takes a while, it’s gonna take you a while — it’s normal to take a while. And you just have to fight your way through that, okay?

boris 6y ago
> But your taste — the thing that got you into the game — your taste is still killer, and your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you, you know what I mean? "Talent is feeling how should not be."
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pram 6y ago
IMO this has little to do with “taste” and more to do with analytical/critical ability. The more experienced and knowledgeable you become in a creative endeavor, the easier it is to self-critique and (especially in visual art) see mistakes. When you’re starting out drawing for example, you literally can’t see your mistakes. You intuitively know it sucks but you don’t know exactly why. Figuring out that last part puts you on the road to mastery. The rest is accurate though. It does take a lot of grit and working through lots and lots of bad stuff. Developing a creative talent can be a pretty horrible experience because of that ;P
- jdoliner 6y ago
  I believe experience and knowledge in a creative endeavor that makes it easier to critique (self or otherwise) is what Ira Glass means by taste.
- microtherion 6y ago
  I think what Glass misses in the grandparent post is that this analytical/critical ability is not innate, but acquired along with the performance skill, and at times the analytical ability gets ahead of the skill. Many years ago, when I was in a youth choir and we were practicing a lot for a festival, I asked our director why we sounded worse at each practice. His explanation was that we actually sounded better, but that our analytical abilities developed even quicker than our singing skills.
- pdonis 6y ago
  > You intuitively know it sucks but you don’t know exactly why I think that is what the GP is referring to as "taste". You already have that intuitive sense that some things suck and others are good. What you need to develop, as you say, is being able to tell exactly why something isn't good when it isn't, so you can fix it.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- gfodor 6y ago
  This sucks. This sucks, because... This doesn’t suck. The three phases
pawannitj 6y ago
Amazing adaption of same quote by zen pencils : https://www.zenpencils.com/comic/90-ira-glass-advice-for-beginners/ https://www.zenpencils.com/comic/90-ira-glass-advice-for-beg...
allenu 6y ago
That video is one of my favorites as it really hits home for me when I try to learn something new. You can know what makes something good, but you don't quite have the muscle memory or skill to reproduce it and it's frustrating. You might know what a good painting looks like, but you can't move your arm in the right way to create those strokes. You don't know how to mix the paints to get the colors you want. When you are sketching out a scene, you're not quite adept at positioning elements of a scene on the page to have the aesthetics you're aiming for. Another thing this reminds me of is learning how to dance. It's easy to watch someone walk through steps and mentally you know exactly how they are moving, but you just can't quite move your body in the same way. Super frustrating! What's worse is the first time you watch a video of you dancing. There's a huge disconnect between how you think you look and how you actually look and it's quite discouraging.
majormajor 6y ago
It can be discouraging, even if you know this is true for so many people, though, to see the "young genius" types. They're exceptions to almost every rule by definition, but it can be hard to remember that when you see someone years or decades younger burst onto the scene and seem to eclipse what you can do with far less effort. But yes, it's important to remember that even in fields with famous examples of luminaries like that, there are still countless other experts who practiced and practiced and continually got better to achieve their expertise out of willpower more than sheer transcendent prodigy.

boris 6y ago

> But your taste — the thing that got you into the game — your taste is still killer, and your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you, you know what I mean? "Talent is feeling how should not be."

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

pram 6y ago

IMO this has little to do with “taste” and more to do with analytical/critical ability. The more experienced and knowledgeable you become in a creative endeavor, the easier it is to self-critique and (especially in visual art) see mistakes. When you’re starting out drawing for example, you literally can’t see your mistakes. You intuitively know it sucks but you don’t know exactly why. Figuring out that last part puts you on the road to mastery. The rest is accurate though. It does take a lot of grit and working through lots and lots of bad stuff. Developing a creative talent can be a pretty horrible experience because of that ;P

jdoliner 6y ago
I believe experience and knowledge in a creative endeavor that makes it easier to critique (self or otherwise) is what Ira Glass means by taste.
microtherion 6y ago
I think what Glass misses in the grandparent post is that this analytical/critical ability is not innate, but acquired along with the performance skill, and at times the analytical ability gets ahead of the skill. Many years ago, when I was in a youth choir and we were practicing a lot for a festival, I asked our director why we sounded worse at each practice. His explanation was that we actually sounded better, but that our analytical abilities developed even quicker than our singing skills.
pdonis 6y ago
> You intuitively know it sucks but you don’t know exactly why I think that is what the GP is referring to as "taste". You already have that intuitive sense that some things suck and others are good. What you need to develop, as you say, is being able to tell exactly why something isn't good when it isn't, so you can fix it.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
gfodor 6y ago
This sucks. This sucks, because... This doesn’t suck. The three phases

pawannitj 6y ago

Amazing adaption of same quote by zen pencils : https://www.zenpencils.com/comic/90-ira-glass-advice-for-beginners/ https://www.zenpencils.com/comic/90-ira-glass-advice-for-beg...

allenu 6y ago

That video is one of my favorites as it really hits home for me when I try to learn something new. You can know what makes something good, but you don't quite have the muscle memory or skill to reproduce it and it's frustrating. You might know what a good painting looks like, but you can't move your arm in the right way to create those strokes. You don't know how to mix the paints to get the colors you want. When you are sketching out a scene, you're not quite adept at positioning elements of a scene on the page to have the aesthetics you're aiming for. Another thing this reminds me of is learning how to dance. It's easy to watch someone walk through steps and mentally you know exactly how they are moving, but you just can't quite move your body in the same way. Super frustrating! What's worse is the first time you watch a video of you dancing. There's a huge disconnect between how you think you look and how you actually look and it's quite discouraging.

majormajor 6y ago

It can be discouraging, even if you know this is true for so many people, though, to see the "young genius" types. They're exceptions to almost every rule by definition, but it can be hard to remember that when you see someone years or decades younger burst onto the scene and seem to eclipse what you can do with far less effort. But yes, it's important to remember that even in fields with famous examples of luminaries like that, there are still countless other experts who practiced and practiced and continually got better to achieve their expertise out of willpower more than sheer transcendent prodigy.