The Trap: The Shadow Artist & Resistance

The Shadow Artist as mentioned in 'The Artist Way' & Resistance.

Hi Actor,

I've been working my way through 'The Artist Way' a book by Julia Cameron. I want to talk about something specific she spoke about early in the book. She warns of the risk of becoming a Shadow Artist.

She discusses first, that at a young age, ideally, we children would have been encouraged to pursue our creative interests. Encouragement from those very formative individuals around us (Parents, Teachers, Friends and others) would set our hearts alight and align us well with the path leading to incredible artistic growth and future artistic career plans. Rather, often what happens, is we're steered clear from these natural inclinations in the fear of failure. Consequently when we "grow up", A lot of people settle for the life of "would have beens", "should haves" and regrets, rather than actually chase those mystical, exciting ambitions. The Shadow Artist is born and thats that.

A Shadow Artist is:

• A man who silently wished to be a playwright, settling instead for a job as a theatre critique.

• A woman who dreamed of being an actor and instead opted for a "stable" job. Weekly visit to the cinema keeps that child like wonder alive just enough for her to remember the dream.

• A man who's ambition to be a painter was overthrown by self doubt. He marries a woman who's a dancer. He swallows the ambition he had and instead decides to support and encourage her passion, never truly giving himself the opportunity to express his artist within.

Accepting the life of the shadow artist is creative torture. Luckily this is something that can be undone. We can decide at any stage of our life that we want to take the creative path. We can make the choice to be an artist.

The risk doesn't just stop once we decide to pursue our chosen field though. Chances are if you're reading this, you have indeed already decided to follow your dreams of acting. The risk of the Shadow Artist looms around almost every corner. All we need to do is hit the instagram and be reminded of everyone else excelling. Everyone else is: moving on, buying a home, marrying, having kids, driving nice cars and climbing the ladder of what only appears to be a very lucrative, successful business. "If only I chose something more stable" we exclaim. It doesn't just stop there...

Instead of actually getting out and having a career, auditioning, going to classes, booking work, meeting people, practicing, being bold and creatively pursuing this line of work, we think:

1. Oh no, before I get seen by casting I need to make sure I'm "ready".

2. "I can't afford acting classes!” but proceeds to spend money on things that aren’t of value to them.

3. “I need to make sure my friend who's auditioning regularly has a reader instead of thinking about my up coming auditions”

4. "I don't have time to read acting books."

5. "I need to make sure those around me are succeeding before I allow myself to succeed."

6. "I need my family to be okay with the decision of me to pursue acting before giving it a crack."

7. The need for other classmates to "go fist" when the acting teacher asks the class "who wants to do their scene first?".

8. We get together with our acting tribe and instead of jumping up to get work stared we think "I'll let the other person practice before me" - give me a chance to "settle in".

9. We think "I'll write a blog about acting and spend most of my time doing that!" 😂

   
   

In other words, "I'll do absolutely anything to avoid chasing my dream, because if I really tried and then failed, what would that mean?" Resistance is winning my friends. Don't let it. Get out there and "do it". Life is too fleeting to allow Resistance to be the champion. Chase those dreams, every step of the way.

I'm going to leave you with an excerpt of a letter written in 1965 by artist Sol LeWitt for another artist Eva Hesse:

Just stop thinking, worrying, looking over your shoulder, wondering, doubting, fearing, hurting, hoping for some easy way out, struggling, grasping, confusing, itching, scratching, mumbling, bumbling, grumbling, humbling, stumbling, numbling, rambling, gambling, tumbling, scumbling, scrambling, hitching, hatching, bitching, moaning, groaning, honing, boning, horse-shitting, hair-splitting, nit-picking, piss-trickling, nose sticking, ass-gouging, eyeball-poking, finger-pointing, alleyway-sneaking, long waiting, small stepping, evil-eyeing, back-scratching, searching, perching, besmirching, grinding, grinding, grinding away at yourself.

Stop it and just DO.

Talk soon,

Lachy

Lachlan is an Australian Actor who has been working within the industry for a decade. He’s worked in Film & Theatre.

© Lachlan Stuart 2025