The Artist’s Dilemma: Staying True to Your Vision vs. Pleasing an Audience

I think every artist has wrestled with this at some point—maybe not out loud, maybe not even consciously, but it’s there. The big question: do you make art for yourself, or do you make art for an audience?

And look, I know, in an ideal world, the answer would be both. You’d make exactly what you want, exactly how you want, and it would also happen to be the thing people love and respond to. But…that’s not always how it works. And that’s where things get tricky.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about this push and pull. How much do you lean into the work that excites you, even if it doesn’t seem to “land”? How much do you take audience response into account without letting it dictate what you do? It’s a weird balance, and honestly, I don’t have a perfect answer. But I do have a lot of experience sitting in this tension.

I can think of so many times when I’ve made something that felt exactly right to me—only to have it met with total silence. No engagement, no sales, not even a “nice work” from a friend. And then there are the times when I’ve made something almost as an afterthought, something that didn’t feel like a big deal, and that’s the piece people latch onto. It makes you pause. It makes you question things. Do they see something I don’t? Am I too close to my own work to know what’s good? Should I lean into what’s working or keep going with what feels right to me?

I think about this even more as someone who sells work. Because when money is involved, the stakes feel higher. It’s one thing to say, “make what you love,” but what if what you love doesn’t pay the bills? At the same time, what if you start chasing sales and suddenly your work feels…less like your work? It’s a slippery slope, and I’ve seen plenty of artists get stuck on it.

So where do you go from here? How do you stay connected to your creative vision while still acknowledging the fact that, yeah, you do want people to care about what you make?

For me, I’ve had to create some boundaries in my own practice. I have work that’s purely for me. No audience, no expectation, just exploration. If I feel like everything I’m making is for something (to post, to sell, to show), I step back and give myself time to make something just because. And let me tell you, that tiny shift makes a huge difference.

I’ve also had to remind myself that audience response isn’t always about quality. Something being popular doesn’t automatically make it better, just like something being ignored doesn’t automatically make it worse. And trends? Trends shift. What people respond to today might not be what resonates next year. But if you stay true to your voice, your style, your interests—your work will have longevity.

And yeah, sometimes that means making the thing that you know will sell so you can keep making the work you really want to make. And that’s okay. But if you ever find yourself feeling trapped by your audience, or like you’re only making what’s expected of you, that’s when it’s time to check in with yourself.

So I guess what I’m saying is: there’s no one way to do this. The balance between making for yourself and making for an audience is going to look different for everyone. But the best thing you can do? Stay aware of it. Be intentional. And above all, keep making work that feels right to you.

Now I’m curious—have you ever felt this struggle? Have you ever had to step back and reset your relationship with your own work? Let’s talk about it.