The Unstoppable Artist Manifesto is a guide for artists who feel stuck. Learn why grit matters more than talent, how to overcome creative setbacks, and how to build a resilient art practice with patience, community, and daily discipline.
What No One Tells You About Becoming an Artist
If you spend enough time making art, you learn very quickly that talent is not what separates the artists who grow from the ones who stay stuck. It is grit that moves you forward, not flashes of inspiration or natural ability. This Unstoppable Artist Manifesto serves as a reminder that patience, discipline, problem-solving, and showing up through discomfort matter far more than anything someone is born with.
Any artist can create when inspiration is high, the room is clean, and the vibe is vibing.
But real growth happens on the days when your mood is foul, your brushes feel heavy, the lighting is off, and everything you mix looks muddy. If you still choose to keep going, even a little, that’s grit. And grit becomes a habit when you push through in these unsexy moments. Here are a few books I have read that help me when I fall off track.
Mark Manson said it well in The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck:
“You are always choosing your pain. The trick is to choose the pain you want to live with.”
He’s right. The examples he uses in the book are brutally simple.
You can choose the pain of showing up to do the work, or the pain of watching another year pass without progress.
You can choose the frustration of figuring out the techniques that bring your work to life, or the frustration of never improving.
You can choose the discomfort of fixing the parts of your painting you are not satisfied with, or the discomfort of never painting at all.
You can choose the pain of showing up to do the work, or the pain of watching another year pass without progress.
You can choose the frustration of figuring out the techniques that bring your work to life, or the frustration of never improving.
You can choose the discomfort of fixing the parts of your painting you are not satisfied with, or the discomfort of never painting at all.
There is no path without difficulty. The only choice is which difficulty leads you somewhere interesting.
Austin Kleon reminds us in Steal Like an Artist:
“You don’t just steal the style. You steal the thinking behind it.”
And the thinking behind every artist who grows is grit. It is staying with a painting long enough to see it through the ugly phase. It is returning after you mess up. It is being patient enough to try again. Some of my strongest paintings took months of refining. Oil painting is a slow process, and if you can learn to sit with the discomfort of delayed gratification, the results are more satisfying, and it hits somewhere deeper as well. Pushing through hard tasks is how you grow as a human being.
This is the core of the Unstoppable Artist Manifesto.
4 Challenges Every Artist Faces (and How Grit Helps You Get Through Them)
1. Technical Problems and Unexpected Chaos
Sometimes it can seem like nothing is going your way. You can anticipate sometimes your tools break, or your reference photo prints in the wrong color. Eventually your laptop will crash with all of your art images on it. Most beginners think these problems mean they’re doing something wrong.
They aren’t. This is normal. in fact there is value in these disasters because with every disruption, there is a lesson. What sets Unstoppable Artists apart is how they deal with problems. They troubleshoot, test things, research and then they try again.
Grit in action means not quitting because something went sideways. It means trusting that you can figure it out, even if it takes a little patience. Technical skills aren’t gifts, they are earned through repetition, problem solving, and time. With troubleshooting, testing, research, and repetition, the consequence is not wasted time because you will learn valuable lessons that you can apply to your work to avoid these things from happening again in the future. Even if they do, sticking with it teaches your nervous system that you can figure it out! You are capable! Any financial advisor will tell you to invest in yourself first. This can apply to money but it can also apply to your time.
2. Motivation Fades and Discipline Steps In
Your connection to the work you do creatively work is like a lover. Everyone starts with excitement. The honeymoon period feels good. You set up your palette with intention. You pull out the fancy brushes. And then one day you don’t feel like painting. Then it becomes two days. A week. Three weeks. Motivation is unreliable. The longer you wait to reconnect, the more the connection may fade.
Discipline is what gets you through.
Grit means showing up anyway, even if all you can manage is mixing a single color too block in the background. Grit is the understanding that consistency beats intensity. The small daily actions matter more than the big inspirational bursts.
Patience plays a huge role here. Growth is slow. Slower than anyone wants. But slow progress is still progress, and showing up again and again compounds into mastery.
3. Mistakes Feel Like Failure (But They’re Not)
You ruin a canvas. A project falls apart. A collaboration fizzles. A client doesn’t like the commissioned piece. A painting you loved yesterday looks awful today. This is not failure. This is data.
Resilience means being able to look at something that didn’t work and learn from it instead of throwing your hands up and deciding you’re not cut out for this. You start fresh, but you bring the experience with you.
Every mistake teaches you something: Color. Edges. Value. Patience. Your own limits.
Grit helps you stay long enough to get the lesson.
4. The Negativity Gale (External or Internal)
Nothing slows an artist down like negativity. Its extremely difficult to awaken you creativity and be consistent with all the other unglamorous tasks such as logistics and marketing when weariness of the world is weighing on you.
Sometimes it comes from your environment. Unsupportive friends and family can make you feel misunderstood and alone. A job that you rely on to pay bills can drain your energy. Collaborations can crumble. People commenting and criticizing something you put a lot of effort into can be devastating, especially if you look up to them.
What can be worse than external factors is when this negativity comes from within yourself. We are human after all, and no one is exempt of going through periods of self doubt, which can manifest into behaviors that do not serve your goal, or even become self-destructive. Low sales can make you feel like you are wasting your time. Comparing your work with others instead of how you did yesterday is a trap. You don’t know what that artist had to go through to get the skills you admire so. Imposter syndrome is the worst! Feeling like you aren’t a real artist and someone is going to catch on. That little voice in your head that tells you that you aren’t good enough and you should just give up. It is much simpler to block out external negativity than when the fire is in the house.
The unstoppable artist must learn to weatherproof their drive, even when the passion is not showing up for you. Showing up for yourself when everything feels wrong builds mental toughness. Doing what is best for yourself and your craft protects your vision even when you cannot see it clearly. You have to trust your inspiration even when you can’t feel it anymore. The good news is, you don’t have to do it alone. If you want to learn more about surrounding yourself with creatives to stay inspired, read my blog on the importance of a creative community.
When you push through and show up for yourself, even if it’s only the bare minimum for the day, it helps you remember who you are when the noise gets loud.
The Unstoppable Artist Manifesto: Your Invitation to Push Forward
Here’s the truth no one says out loud. Giving up does not really make your life easier. If you did not want to grow you would not have started this journey in the first place. Staying stuck where you are in life is its own form of exhaustion. It feels familiar, but that does not mean it is easy. The longer you sit in your own avoidance, the heavier it becomes. The only way to lighten the load is to keep going. You do not have to run if you are tired, just keep walking at the pace you are capable of doing that day, and forgive yourself for holding yourself back in the past.
Every little step you take puts you closer to your goal. Make that decision to show up anyway and it will get easier every time you push through it.
This Manifesto is about patience, grit, and choosing the kind of hard that leads somewhere. That resistance is showing you where you need to focus to grow as an artist and as a person.
What lesson is it trying to teach you that could level up your life?
If you’re building something, it deserves your patience. You also deserve your patience. Be kind to yourself and keep moving.
Be patient with your progress.
Be patient with yourself.
And keep going.
Be patient with your progress.
Be patient with yourself.
And keep going.
You’re an unstoppable artist in the making.
