A Journey of Creative Growth

As an artist and creator i'm always working on upskilling and learning new styles in order to continue my artistic evolution. Lately that has come through courses, studies, and general playful exploration of my craft.

It hasn't been an easy journey and i'm still just at the beginning but I am starting to feel that breakthrough of unbridled excitement and creativity every time I pick up my pencil, whether it's my Apple pencil or my mechanical one! 

I thought I would kick off this blog with a little snapshot into my journey so far and what I'm currently doing in order to keep growing as an artist.

The Before

I've always been creative but like many folks I struggle with what I call Comparitis.  Since I was little I've compared my creative work and life in general with others. Some would say my sin is envy and I'd have to agree! I have always looked at the skills of others and the work they put out through the lens of "I'll never be able to do that" and "Wow they are so gifted I wish I was gifted".  This mentality followed me through my childhood, into adolescents, and all the way into adulthood. 

My time in university was riddled with self doubt, Comparitis, and a desperation to get to the results without putting in the hard work.  Well let me tell you right now... That got me no where! I did learn skills and do art but I realise now I was following formulas, doing the bare minimum, and not allowing myself to experiment with my own style.  I didn't believe I could be an artist so I turned away from it. I leaned into other arts.  Writing (which I desperately love), layout design, and interior design specifically. 

While I am good at those three styles of creative expression I was still missing something.  I wanted more but still felt inadequate. I got bogged down in my thoughts comparing my uninspired art with others.  It was not a great time for my mental health.

Enter my career in Tech.  We are taught to thrive on change and embrace a growth mindset. I was starting to develop one when I first joined the company but it wasn't until I joined the company that I really understood what it meant.  This video by Trevor Ragan has a great breakdown of what a growth mindset looks like. 

The TL;DR is that people with a growth mindset think that they can learn skills and improve based on effort where as if you have a fixed mindset you find yourself thinking that you can't be as good as someone else or learn a skill because you weren't born with the talent or aren't able to learn the skill.

I have slowly been curating my growth mindset and now I can confidently say that i'm living my best growth mindset life. 

The Present 

Over the past two year in particular I've seen the biggest shift in this mentality.  It started with allowing myself to accept the title of "Artist".  I used to think I wasn't an artist because I wasn't selling my work or for that matter posting it anywhere.  I thought it wasn't worth sharing.  Now I've realised a few things.

1. Art is valuable without the price tag: All art is worthy. Art is about play and letting go of preconceived notions. Allowing yourself to express without judgement and comparison. Artists make art that's it.

2. GSD (Get Shit Done): All that actually matters with art is that you're doing it! Doodle in the corner of a notebook. Take a course, do TikTok art DIYs. I don't care. Just get creative and allow yourself to create art.

3. Be Curious and Thirsty for Knowledge: The biggest change for me was instead of thinking "I could never make that" I started thinking "How did they create that?", "What would I need to do to make marks like that?".  This opened up so many doors and the more I asked this and studied others work the more I grew as an artist.  

Unlocking these realisation made a huge difference in my process and my work.  I found my skills increasing twice as fast because I was enjoying being creative but I also was analysing my work without my ego getting a seat at the table.

Instead of putting down my work for its flaws I would think to myself "Okay that was really fun. I'm pretty happy with this piece" or "wow that's not what I meant to draw but it was fun to create" and then I would look at it with curiosity and think "How could I push this piece further?" "If I did it again how would I approach it differently?" "What areas of this piece caused me the most strife?" and from there I would either study those areas of growth, or do it again differently.  

The gist is, comparison is the thief of joy and curiosity is the giver of growth.  The more you can embrace the playful joy of creating and a growth mindset without letting your ego and self worth get in the way the more you will grow and evolve as an artist.

Here's my challenge for you:

1. Doodle for 15 minutes today.  Pull out your iPad, a pencil, draw in the dirt or snow, I don't care just shut out the noise of the internet and those around you and create for fun.  Go in without a plan and just make marks. When you're done think about it.  How did it make you feel?  Repeat this as many times as you need to in order to get out of your head!

2. Find three to five artists you admire.  Make a Pinterest board (like this one).  Start building your library of inspiration and curiosity. Next take three pieces and try drawing them. I would do two studies. Do two studies of each artist you pick.

• For the first study copy it as exactly as you can.  Can you get the same brush strokes, weight, colours etc? How are they layering the elements and using principles of design?
• For the second study try using the same style and techniques but with your own piece.  If you struggle with creating your own pieces no worries! Try changing the characters pose or the direction of the landscape.

Repeat this for each of your artists. The more you do this the more you will learn.  Please don't share these on social media however as these are for studies not reproduction.

The purpose here is to learn techniques and gain a better understanding of other artists workflows and styles you admire. I do not condone stealing or replicating others art for sale. This is only for inspiration and education!

 3. Write down your takeaways from the activities above. 

• How do you feel after trying them?
• What did you learn?
• What elements made you the most curious?
• Do you feel like you've improved by studying others' work?
• Did these exercises help you grow as an artist?
• What part was the most fun?

Below are examples of my studies so you can see what I mean. The rights to these pieces are entirely owned by the original artists. I merely learned from their work. 

Feel free to share your takeaways in the comments section! I would love to hear from you and see what you worked on.