So I have a confession to make... I have most recently come to the conclusion that my creative juices may have come to a screeching halt. I am not sure when the tap may have actually turned off but after careful review of my last entries in the Perfect Match Minted Challenge, I'm pretty sure it was just about....there.
What I had hoped was inspired was questionable. What I had hoped was modern looked half finished. My attempt at watercolors looked like a third grader gone wild with three very angry crayons. My very very retro seemed well just plain weird. How did I not see that BEFORE I designed them? How is it that I am only able to recognize how awful they were after I am dumbstruck by the absolutely stunningly, gorgeously and ridiculously creative works of the very talented around me? Where does that kind of creativity come from? Can I order that from Amazon with overnight shipping please?
You know I have this fear that what it takes is the studious application of copious amounts of time and energy spent trolling pinterest, voraciously reading twenty blogs a day, daily ripping editorial pages from a stack of magazines waist high, weekly visits to art museum's and gallery openings, learning the art of using my smart phone to catapult me to creative genius thru instragram and tweeting my every creative thought real time. For the love of all that is holy, please someone tell me that's not true. Because if it is I see an epic fail coming on. Where does all that free time come from? Am I just not doing it right or is it as I fear ... I used to be creative and now I am just not. I tell you dear reader, the worry is great that the well has gone dry. Or as my husband says...maybe you just need a vacation and bigger glass of vino. Not sure just yet I hope sincerely you will stay tuned as I try to figure it out.
Photo: Daniel Everett
1 comment:
Reading this post was a huge relief and reassurance to me. I hope my response will have a similar effect on you. I've been doing the solo design thing for four years now and sometimes it just gets damn lonely, creatively speaking. Since it's just me, myself and I, I serve as my own critic, cheerleader and co-worker. Some days, the critic wins out and I am filled with self-doubts and worry. I look at the big world of design and feel I will never measure up. Those aren't fun days. Then there are the days when I'm "in the zone" and my work just seems to click. And sometimes what I think will really click with others just doesn't. Minted is a fickle, fickle world. I distinctly remember one design that I turned in got an award and I thought they must have been crazy, blind or both. Then I submitted a design more recently that I felt pretty good about, and thought looked very "minted-like" and zip, zero, zilch.
And you know what? I think devoting time to studying design, blogs, pinterest, fonts, etc. helps us grow as designers, but I think the most important thing is a real passion for design. You cannot learn that. You either have it or don't. I think most of the rest can be learned, and our passion for design will help us do that in our own time.
I have really tried to learn to respect the cycle of my flow and not force too much. Sometimes if I'm feeling blocked, sometimes simply starting a project will open me up. Other times, nothing works and I have to respect that, too. When I'm really feeling something, I try to ride it for as long as I can (something I know is not always possible with kids). For the most part, I've learned to be okay with my dry spells and try to use them expeditiously by focusing on other tasks (such as updating my website, etc.--things I never want to do when I'm on a creative high).
So that's a very long way for me to agree with your husband: maybe you should step away from designing for a moment, have a glass of wine, watch something dumb on TV, go on a vacation. But don't give up; you're a great designer! I can't even remember when I started following your blog, but it was after I saw your designs for a minted challenges and found your work inspiring. So there you go! You never know who you might be inspiring. :)
Warmly,
Rachel
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