Do You Have to Be “Demented” to Make Amazing Art? Yes, and No.

Here’s why.

Making art makes me want to crawl into a dark hole somewhere naked.

I’ve deleted and written the intro to this article more times than I can count. I’m coo-coo for perfection. If this article doesn’t meet my standards, I might throw my computer into a garbage can out of rage.

The pressure to create earth-shattering art is one hell of a drug man. That gets me thinking… do you have to be “crazy” to make amazing art? To be honest, I’ve seen no one do anything that left the world in a tizzy unless their minds were in space somewhere (no Elon Musk pun intended).

Here’s why you need to be demented and not demented to make art that shakes the table.

My best art comes from my darkest thoughts.

I once wrote an article called 10 Hard Truths That No One Wants to Accept in Life.

I wrote this in my grandma’s basement at around 1 am. I didn’t have a care in the world at that point. I felt like my life would go nowhere. I didn’t want to give up on writing, but I lost the will to write that night.

As I sat on my grandma’s couch with the glaring lights of the TV shining across my face, I swung my legs over to the front of my seat and sat up straight.

I already had the title. It was just a matter of writing the damn thing.

So I wrote the first bullet point, then the second, then the rest poured out.

That entire experience felt surreal.

I don’t want to get too ominous here, but I didn’t feel human. All the words came so easily to me. It felt like a spirit stood in front of me and told me about myself.

This is just one article that’s given me this experience. There have been a couple more, but this feeling is rare for your average Joe.

The best artists in the world have a history of mental illness.

I’ve done some digging, and there are a lot more people than you think that have struggled with mental illness and have created world-changing art:

Kanye West — He got diagnosed with BiPolar disorder some time ago. He’s one of the few Black billionaires on Earth with his Yeezy apparel reaching an estimated net worth of 3.2 billion dollars. Not to mention his large influence on hip-hop as well.
Steve Jobs — The Apple juggernaut himself struggled from O.C.D. He once sat on the floor of his mansion because he couldn’t figure out which furniture he liked. He also spent half an hour figuring out which shade of grey the first Apple stores should be.
Michaelangelo — This artistic genius struggled with Autism. He spent eight years working on one painting. He even skipped his brother’s funeral one time to devote all of his energy to his projects.

I’m not trying to say that a mental health illness is the only reason why these people had so much influence. However, you can’t deny that it played a part in amplifying their artistic vision. That’s one of the sad truths about art.

“Well damn Khadejah, what am I supposed to do with that?”

Well, create art that you feel.

Create art that moves you. Create art because you have a vision that no one else sees. Create art because you love it.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t make art because you don’t have a mental illness. A huge part of making amazing art is hard work as well. Steve Jobs was so obsessed with design that the iPhone came out of it. Michaelangelo was so obsessed with finishing paintings, he created masterpieces. Kanye West was so obsessed with creating the best apparel ever, he created a Yeezy empire.

Even though these guys, unfortunately, struggled with mental illness, it drove them to work twenty times harder than anyone else they know.

It forced them to dream and imagine harder than the rest of the world.

Final Thoughts

Mental illness is something you should seek treatment for if you need it.

I take the subject of mental illness seriously so this is no sneer towards the people who struggle from that. I just wanted to say that mental illness played a huge role in the work ethic of earth-shattering artists we know today. It drove them to create a different world in their mind that no one else could see. You can do it too if you work hard enough.

So what are you waiting for?

Create now.