[faizafaiz]

INFPs are often described as artistic.

I don't consider myself an artist, but I have a strong interest in art - cinema, poetry, music, especially classical music, and so on. I often sing and whistle, when alone or with friends I am comfortable with. I also remember a lot of poetry and recite it if the atmosphere feels right.

But the only artistic activity I participate in as the creator / artist is writing. I write a blog, mostly about things that interest me - films, spirituality, personal growth, relationships, occasionally poetry. I don't write more than once a fortnight, on an average, so I wouldn't really call myself a serious writer. People often find my writings dry and understated.

As a child I played the synthesizer, but got bored after a few years and left it. In my teens I participated in a film-making workshop once where we were supposed to make a short film, each of us. I couldn't come up with many ideas, and the images I did were found too dull by the teacher, so I dropped out ..




Do you do something artistic? If you do, how do people characterize your style, if they do?

Or, are you interested in art without being an artist yourself?

 

[Kriash]

I'm an INFP. I am not artistic. I do enjoy music though, and novels. I don't think that makes me different from most people though.

 

[Blazethefierce]

I just like doing art because I love making it. I like writing and drawing and playing instruments. I tend to be very oriented in the arts at school and people see me as "the artist" of the class. I sometimes make short films as well. That's just the way I am regardless of type or anything. I guess my INFP mom and dad are both art teachers and my INFP brother likes to draw but he prefers experimenting with science sort of things. (There are a lot of us in one household...) The only other INFP I know aside from my family is a dancer if that classifies as art.

 

[strangestdude]

Not these days. I used to like music intensely and write, but not anymore.

I love a good flicks, especially gangster flicks, I find them non-condescending morality tales; Carlito's way and Goodfellas are my all time favourites. And good TV series like; the Battlestar Galactica remake, the wire, the sopranos, walking dead, etc.

Not much of a fiction reader but Matheson's 'I am Legend' and Douglas E Winter's 'Run' had me captivated.

Some may not consider this a form of artistic expression but I do; sports. MMA commentator Joe Rogan articulates kinesthetic genius brilliantly here;

I even enjoy 'pro' wrestling (WWE is appalling these days, but TNA is good), when it's done well it's like atheletic theatre IMO like this promo;

 

[stevedazombie]

Well actually INFP are also called healers by some and i consider us as possibly artists or psychologists, a field that is quiet exiting to me.

 

[Lawless Land]

Well I am defiantly an artist. I've been playing guitar for 6 years and am currently in a band, I draw and am quite good at even though I never took an art class, I used to do some acting in plays when I was younger, I also write short stories just to keep myself busy. Art is something which I have been interested in my whole life and takes up quite a lot of my time. The things I create I create for myself I don't do it to please others, its for me and if other people like it that's great but I don't care if they don't.

 

[cubilone]

Some people have called me artistic or an artist, but they have been exclusively non-artists. I don't consider myself one for there's nothing that I am particularly good at and the forms of art that I am not crap at (photography or graphic design) I don't feel as if I'm good enough to say I practice.

My life is my art, as Nietzsche would have it. That's the easy answer.

 

[IcarusDreams]

No; nor are all ESTJs in business.

As Mr. Cubilone said, though, to many NFs, their life is their own work of art, and it is also not rare to find them attracted to the arts in its many forms.

As a side note, an artist is an artist, regardless proficiency levels-if you think your art is not "good enough" it doesn't make you less of an artist-it means your art is a work in progress, much like our lives will always be.

 

[cubilone]

No; nor are all ESTJs in business.

As Mr. Cubilone said, though, to many NFs, their life is their own work of art, and it is also not rare to find them attracted to the arts in its many forms.

As a side note, an artist is an artist, regardless proficiency levels-if you think your art is not "good enough" it doesn't make you less of an artist-it means your art is a work in progress, much like our lives will always be.

I would define my standards of "good enough" as when you know an art well enough to feel as if you can express yourself satisfactorily through it. Nothing to do with good enough to use for a job or all that, appreciated as it might have been.

 

[StellarTwirl]

I'm artistic in the sense of ideas ... using tangible things to express concepts. I'm also highly imaginative.

But I have no natural talent for drawing or music ... aesthetics just aren't my strength. I do have good instincts, however, so I can generally "feel" my way around until things are where I want them.

 

[Belovodia]

I'm not artistic at all, by the usual meaning of the word and initially, the infp descriptions
confused me. I felt inadaquate as an infp.

Perhaps the word artistic should be substituted with the word creative, which is
more all-encompassing and for me personally, includes simply creative thinking.

 

[Aqualung]

In high school I was always drawing my imagination. Weird stuff. People always asked "What the heck is that?" Didn't know how to explain any of it. But it was fun. Took art classes 4 years straight. Did the same in college but I burned out on art there in a year because I had to crank stuff out like a factory. I was just making junk fast for a grade & I lost interest. Hard to put a stopwatch to expression. By then I was getting more interested in playing guitar & I've stuck with that since.

 

[Olivia]

I wish!

 

[blueandviolet]

I just like doing art because I love making it. I like writing and drawing and playing instruments. I tend to be very oriented in the arts at school and people see me as "the artist" of the class. I sometimes make short films as well. That's just the way I am regardless of type or anything. I guess my INFP mom and dad are both art teachers and my INFP brother likes to draw but he prefers experimenting with science sort of things. (There are a lot of us in one household...) The only other INFP I know aside from my family is a dancer if that classifies as art.

Wow! Four INFPs in the family. That's wild. I wonder what that would be like. When I run into an INFP, I often feel "understood," but I imagine that could be quite different with family dynamics. Anyway, that's fascinating to me.

[Edit] DERP...to add to the topic of the thread. I agree with whomever mentioned feeling inadequate as an INFP. I have always felt like a creative type caught in a self-inflicted perfectionism spiral. I spend a lot of time thinking and mulling things over (about my feelings), and it often seems to block the creative energy. Would like to keep working on this. Sometimes I break through it and do cool things, but I still wouldn't quite identify myself as an artist. But I feel it in my soul, and have a great love of film, literature, music, and theater. I did used to do ballet, sing, act, and write a lot of angry teen letters to my super-strict parents. But as a young adult, this has fallen away, or has been driven away by perfectionism. I was never really enjoying my performance activities...but was rather strongly urged to stick with it by teachers and my ESFJ mother. OKay, enough about me I'd like to find my inner creativity, and own it this time.

 

[Peevler]

I most certianly wouldn't say all INFPs are artists, however, I think this should be said...

After delving into the MBTI community, near the beginning, I was incredibly distraught to consider that my type was not the type catchphrased as either the 'creators' or the 'artists' - something as the isfp are. I had spent an entire life referring to myself as that because I write, I draw, I paint, I sculpt, I write music, I like film... It took a little while to realize that the process by which I went about gathering ideas and expending them was different than,perhaps, an isfp would - not that validility of the creation. It's just... really - i think what has been said earlier in the thread is true. The word usage should be change to 'creative'. Depending ont he person, I assume that some versions of creativity stick out more than others. That's what's neat about it, we may all type as infp... but we are by no means the same people.

 

[IcarusDreams]

I would define my standards of "good enough" as when you know an art well enough to feel as if you can express yourself satisfactorily through it. Nothing to do with good enough to use for a job or all that, appreciated as it might have been.

I understand perfectionism; it is a great virtue, and not an "INFP weakness" at all. That said, when one doesn't stop to appreciate however "little" you may be able to express through your "imperfect" art, one will never feel "ready", much less deemed an artist. Many INFPs don't give themselves enough credit, because their art is not good enough in their eyes, and they don't feel as if they can do anything up to their high standards. But practice does indeed make "perfect" (although for some INFPs, it will never be "good enough".) Let your perfectionism serves you well, as I am sure it does in your life, but also learn to appreciate every step of the way while you master whatever art form it is that you practice-we'll rarely be "good enough" in our own eyes unless we finally acknowledge it's not nearly as bad as we think (it's often quite good, depending on your perspective), and that indeed we can still express ourselves imperfectly as artists and still be considered one.

Not that it matters, for "artist" is only a label, but feel free to express yourself, however limited you may think your current skills are.

I never think about money when talking about art. I meant it just as I stated it. A beginning pianist is as much a pianist than an accomplished, touring virtuoso, and both are able to express themselves, limited only by their current skills, experience, and creativity/musical imagination. Perhaps the beginner is not ready to express himself musically as much as the experienced pianist, but he/she does what he can with his/her current training level. Whether you make money or not matters little, but that you are expressing yourself in some way-and everybody has the right to do so, regardless skill level (even if it's only for himself/herself.)

This is not meant as debate, however-I just know perfectionism from my own personal experience, and if I would deem myself an "accomplished violinist" ONLY after mastering the 6 Paganini violin Concertos, all the 24 Paganini Caprices from memory, the Wieniawski Ecole Moderne, all 6 Ersnt Polyphonic Etudes, etc. then I probably am not "yet" a "good violinist." Yet I can express myself, and am happy doing so, even if not at the level of such master violinists as David Oistrakh or Nathan Milstein. I have learned to give myself credit, because my art is never "finished", being always a work in progress; it is important for me to appreciate every step of my artistic journey, although of course always striving for that next step that will help me to better express myself musically.

 

[jd_]

I've certainly strived at one might call artist... In school for writing and film... Haven't exactly been an artist in terms of career or getting paid though. I have attempted other paths such as business world, academic path, etc... they are inviting, for money, for intellectual prestige, for stability... but I always go back to my own "beat of my drummer path" and like actually creating something.

 

[Blazethefierce]

Wow! Four INFPs in the family. That's wild. I wonder what that would be like. When I run into an INFP, I often feel "understood," but I imagine that could be quite different with family dynamics. Anyway, that's fascinating to me.

When I talk to my INFP friend I feel very understood. It is very different in my family though. Being with so many others makes me realize differences, like my mom is more extroverted than the rest of us and my dad is more introverted, as well as my brother being more thinking it seems, We are almost too flexible and easy going and then we get mad at each other for not making the rest of us speed up XD. Instead we just wait for each other. It means we lack some organization as well. When I read about INFPs I immediately thought, we're rare? Actually VERY rare??? There are only two other INFPs I'm aware of at school including my dad.

 

[faizafaiz]

Well actually INFP are also called healers by some and i consider us as possibly artists or psychologists, a field that is quiet exiting to me.

i too find both these fields quite exciting and am planning to study psychology.

what do you think in the INFP makes him (or her) a healer?

i think it is the introverted feeling, which can sense and attach itself to a particular way of looking at the world - that could be the psychoanalytic way, the Jungian way, the existential way, the christian way, and so on. once i have faith in a certain truth about the human condition, i will strive to bring that alive to others who come to me for help, and do whatever i can for them to also see the truth i see.

for instance, the psychoanalytic way perhaps functions on the basis of freud's dictums.. 'love and work, work and love, that is all there is', and that the purpose of therapy is to enable one to work and love as fully as one can. to bring this vision alive in the life of a patient, the INFP would do whatever is needed - empathic listening, penetrative insights, even taking on some of the suffering of the other, exposing oneself to harsh remarks, and so on, because all these are objects on the path to the therapeutic goal.

similarly, i think many traditional parish priests could be INFPs. they consider it their vocation to bring alive a spiritual perspective in those who they have to take care of. the difference between a priest and a therapist would be, for one, that the priestly role is more active and didactic, at least to some extent, and hence has a somewhat more intellectual streak than the role of a therapist.

 

[LonelyHunter]

I’m highly imaginative, and I’m full of ideas, however, I haven’t tried to put it in a concept yet. I think that this is what makes a person artistic: it’s the way you are able to view the world, to look at it with a fresh, new eye, to look deeper than what’s already there. And I believe that this is the sort of eye a lot of infp’s share. The concept is, as Schopenhauer said, only of secondary importance.

In my own case, people view me as ‘poetic’ even though I don’t really make art (except for some unfinished writings, I couldn’t survive without doing this now and then). But no, I’m no artist, however I do belief I can call myself ‘artistic’ because of how I perceive the world.