To any creative person, ego is both friend and foe.
Ego is defined as the ‘I’ or ‘the self.’ And if creativity can be defined as the expression of self, it’s no wonder why having a healthy ego is so important. Belief in what you’re doing is fundamental.
If you’re truly great you’re going to be creating work that breaks barriers, changes the way we see things, and alters our visual landscape.
Leonardo’s Mona Lisa changed the way we thought of portrait painting. On top of the incredible luminosity of his subject’s skin, he painted her looking straight at you, confronting the viewer in a unique and profound way. Leonardo’s conviction that a portrait could and should be painted differently helped make it one of the most famous in the world.
But too much ego can be your downfall. And that’s called egotism. Losing touch with your audience and driving your thinking into a cul-de-sac.
Walking this fine line is difficult. How do we know when we’ve gone from the positive to the negative? From ego to egotism?
My simple test is when one of my creative colleagues starts to tell me everything they have done is brilliant. They replace ego with arrogance. That’s when it all starts to go wrong.