For a while now I have being wanting to do something different, I’ve being wanting to start something new and exciting within the realms of illustration and design; a craft of some sort. Having said that I have also being considering pushing myself and having a go at YouTube. If I’m honest the thought of that used to terrify me although in recent months I’ve not felt as daunted by the prospect. I’ve always been somebody who has appreciated the world of art and indeed that HUGE array of work that is out there. Typically when you think of art (or at least I did when I was younger) you may think of intricate drawings and precise detail that captures the moment, the expression and emotions of the subject as if a drawing had quite literally been a photograph; it looks simply too real to be by pencil or paint. Yet art can be so much more than that, it can include such a wide variety of different forms of media from the likes of film, photography, painting, illustrations and many, many more.
Within my life at the moment I feel like I’m lacking creativity, I’ve always been a creative person yet I have let it slide considerably. In a way this is down to time of which I’m not about to use as some sort of excuse. It’s something I have let be pushed aside for other things that may at that particular time have been more important and yet I have never returned back to that creative impulse. I have let that happen although not intentionally. In another way I rarely feel happy with what I produce which then sadly puts me off even starting. I know that is a quitters attitude and is one that I should nip in the bud but it can be easier said than done. I have all these ideas in my head yet I find getting them down onto paper never quite transpires how I had envisioned making me feel a bit of a failure. I have a nasty habit of comparing myself to others which is not good, it’s not healthy and will only make me feel worse. It’s not something I intend to do and I don’t go out of my way to do it; let’s face it who does? I think it generally boils down to a lack of confidence, courage and self-assurance; you’d think by the age of 25 I would have got through that stage in my life and be wearing the t-shirt to prove it.
At the moment I feel like I want to do it all, I’m not pacing myself. My ideas are BIG (for me anyway) yet I don’t even know where to start off; does that make sense? My educational background where the arts are concerned are poor, I didn’t do a art based degree whereby my only qualifications and general artistic knowledge feel like they stem back to the stone age when I was studying my GCSEs. Feeling a bit out of touch would be a bit of an understatement at the moment, I miss being creative. I’ve let it be sucked out of me in the world of work and studying and somehow I need to change that, I need to make time for it once again although in what form I’m not entirely sure.
To all the artists out there, whether you paint, make music, produce jewellery or spray walls (waves at Banksy) how did you find your niche? How did you discover what you were good at? What has made you feel like your work was unique without resembling somebody else’s?
Writing this post I feel like I lost my way with it a bit, I do hope it made sense in some way or another.
