As a creative, my biggest struggle is finding motivation, battling creative frustration, and knowing where to start. Inspiration is like the ocean, sometimes the tide is out, sometimes it is in. Sometimes the crest of the waves are so high that they become overwhelming. Also, when the crest passes, the trough can be low and wide. It can be impossible to see the next wave coming in the far distance. Sometimes I feel I can’t call myself a creative, because I can’t create. I remember many years ago when I wanted to get into writing and someone said “if you are a writer then you write… so write.” I am still struggling with that. I like trying everything, from writing to drawing, painting, clay modelling, computer graphics… the list is long. I can safely say that I am a jack of all trades and a master of none.
Taking Shortcuts
So, since I like creating various things, it can be easy to get frustrated when I don’t feel my artistic abilities are up to scratch. That frustration can immediately distract me from focusing on the whole point of why I like to create… which is to relax and feed my soul.
While working in a studio as a graphic designer, I learned that speed and taking shortcuts to complete a job were important. The more jobs you get done in a day then the more money the company makes. It was good experience to stop me running away with my creative self and over doing work. I just had to understand the brief from the customer and give them what they asked, no fancy swirls or endless options that I may like. It was all about delivering what was asked.
My First Children’s Book
Nowadays, I have learned how to combine my own creative skills with the shortcuts, borrowed inspiration and extra help from other creatives. When making my first children’s book, Snowflake City, I learned how to use 3D software to create backgrounds. I used Daz Studio to design my own characters from the 3D files supplied and created by other digital artists. This sped up my workflow and I was able to complete the book within a few months of starting it without feeling frustrated or hitting limitations with my own creative and technical abilities. I loved rushing home from my teaching job to spend my evenings working on my page designs. Once I created my graphics in the software, I composed the artwork in Adobe Photoshop and laid my text out in InDesign. This approach boosted my creative confidence as I now had a completed creative product which I could share with the world. It also looked pretty cool to see it up on Amazon.
Creative Resources to Help and Inspire
There are a lot of free resources out there to get stock images to help with your creative projects, including Pixabay and Pexels. I use these mainly for photo searches and inspiration for my illustrations. Lately, I have started focusing on creating a small creative business. I need to make products quicker. So now, I have been using Creative Market and Creative Fabrica to sorce some graphic elements. Both have been a blessing. They have allowed me to create quickly without spending hours or days on making a lot of my graphics or fonts.
Using Creative Fabrica
With Creative Fabrica I was able to make some printable Christmas cards within a couple of hours. I have also made some activity books and pages for kids. Recently I just completed an educational alphabet pack as a printable download. Exciting and fun times ahead.
Am I A Creative?
So, does this make me any less of a creative? Hmmm… who knows. I just know that when I can’t motivate myself or lack inspiration, then I can still create with the help of other creatives. I may be good at drawing people but bad at drawing trees and flowers. Instead of not making my book because it is based in a forest, I can now spend a few dollars on downloading another creative’s tree images to add to my own artwork. The digital world has completely changed what an artist is. I love creating my own work from scratch, but I also love logging onto Creative Fabrica to see what other artists have added and are willing to share with the rest of us creatives. I then get inspired by them and use their work as my seed to grow my own ideas. This keeps me creating constantly and not dreading the tide going out or being at the mercy of my own creative frustrations.
Am I an artist? Well, maybe sometimes when I pick up a paintbrush or pencil. Am I a creative? Well, if a creative creates, then I guess I am.