Silencing Your Inner Critic During a Creative Master’s

Are you studying a creative master’s? Do you need help silencing your inner critic? Here’s how…

Being your own critic can be good as a self-improvement technique, but sometimes creative folks have a habit of being overly critical of one’s own work.

Whether you’re studying fine arts, photography, animation or performance arts, it’s important to have a structured approach to critiquing what you’ve done. At the University of Bolton, our passionate tutors will help you do this, while building your confidence and aligning modules to your personal and professional development needs.

If you’re guilty of being over critical, here are four ways to starve your inner critic and wave goodbye to self-doubt!

1. Be conscious of your inner critic

Silencing your inner critic starts with recognising what you’re doing, and why certain thoughts are popping into your head. Just being aware of your thought process will help you understand that some thoughts are intrusive and unhelpful.

Once you know what you’re up against, you can find more constructive ways of critiquing your own work. You can also ask others in your class to help you too. Their feedback won’t be tainted with self-doubt, and will give you a different perspective of your work.

2. Stop comparing yourself to others

One of the biggest problems students face in creative subjects is comparing themselves to other people, and doubting their own abilities. At master’s level, the pressure is even more intense as everyone is focused on building their portfolio and finding ways to stand out. But while it’s great to be inspired by other students’ work, comparing yourself is not healthy.

Every artist or performer is unique, and this means you will have your own style. This should be embraced. If you love someone else’s work, appreciate it for what it is. But don’t associate it with what you’re doing.

3. Stop searching for perfection 

Are you a perfectionist? If so, you will have a harder time silencing your inner critic, because your constant search for perfection means you are continually setting the bar too high. Perfection doesn’t exist, and imperfections are actually beautiful. So embrace everything you create or design, and instead, try to learn from projects that haven’t turned out how you thought they would.

Being an artist or creator is about growing, and the journey is as important as the final result.

4. Find the root cause 

If you’re a harsh self-critic, breaking habits can be a tough thing to do. If you’ve spent years drowning yourself with self-criticism, you’ve likely created a fertile ground for your internal critic to grow, feed, and reproduce. So it’s important to go back to beginning…who put doubt in your head in the first place?

Silencing your inner critic can only be done if you know the source of your insecurities. So whether it’s playground bullies, unsupportive friends and family members or a toxic ex-partner, try to face your demons and rise above their words.

Do you need help managing your internal critic? We believe it’s important to have a friendly and supportive learning environment during a creative master’s. If you want to study art or any other creative subject at a university that cares about your personal development, apply for the University of Bolton, where we deliver #UniAsItShouldBe.

As a leading Greater Manchester university, there’s nowhere better to study in this subject.

To find out more about creative master’s degrees in 2022, see our available art courses.