For years I have been a digital artist. I produce illustrations and graphic design for clients primarily in Photoshop using my Wacom graphic tablet, and though I do typically start with a pencil sketch I have not really worked on many traditional media projects since leaving college nearly 20 years ago. Why? Time, clean up, time, expense, time, ventilation (for oils), time, etc. You get the idea. lol.
My experience lately has caused me to look carefully at who and what I am. I've discovered that I allowed myself to compromise who I wanted to be and what I wanted my career to look like. I've discovered that, just to get along and make ends meet, I've made so many concessions and compromises over the years - that I have worked myself into a corner professionally and I am not the man I always thought I would become. That sounds rougher than it really is, but making those clear-cut statements to myself has helped me define the lines that need to be adjusted.
Part of that adjustment is getting back to the raw creative energy I once held in my hand like a lightning bolt from Zeus himself. As a 16 year old I would do my usual sports practice, school, and chores and/or work after school, and then sit at my cheap little drafting table from after dinner until nearly midnight just drawing and creating. I was telling stories to myself that I hoped to share with the world some day, but to this day none of them have been published. Now, to be fair, most of them - the vast majority of them! - were such blatant rip-offs or derivative works that publishing them as my 16 year old originally envisioned them would get me sued. But that doesn't mean there is not potential there, and that does not mean there is not something to that lightning in a bottle unchecked creativity that came before I was an "educated and trained" artist post university.
I've noticed that I overthinking my work now. I plan the energy right out of pieces, and I did not really realize I was doing it until recently. I was just trying to create "good" art and make it appealing to clients, but I think what I was really doing was watering it down and trying to be more like everyone else. It's that individual style and energy that makes or breaks a piece or a body of work. I want that back!
So, here's to the first few steps of getting back to basics. I started by diving back into my sketchbook and using almost exactly the same tools I used back in the day. I played the same music while I worked, and I started updating characters and stories to fit into current projects that I can then publish in the near future. This has proven to be a shot in the arm for me. A real return to the vigor of my youth, in creativity at least.
I highly suggest finding whatever it is that originally got you inspired, motivated, and super-charged for your creative endeavor, and taking the time to revisit all of that. It has proven a very worthwhile exercise for me!
