Creative Focus or Lackthereof
Sometimes I feel like I can’t focus on a medium, a subject, a technique etc. which leaves me feeling out of sorts. I’m an art nerd so art is an obsession, when I’m not making art I’m looking at it or discussing it, learning about techniques and reading about the history. Art is a big part of my identity and for some reason I feel like the art I make is also wrapped up in that and authenticity. Last month, I dropped my previously dogged pursuit of digital painting so I don’t think about that anymore which is a relief and sometimes I want to drop another pursuit just to gain some consistency and focus.
As I continue making art, I often bounce from my automatic drawing practice to my cozy comic illustrations with traditional or digital mediums to full-on vector artwork. The transition between these “styles“ is jarring but feels necessary once I start feeling out of whack with my current work. Then I’m left wondering which one is authentically me.
My automatic drawing practice is therapeutic, it’s spontaneous, unstructured, loose and energetic. I love the flow state feeling and the creation process is fun but the final work is not really marketable as a brand for my career as it’s rough finish is the opposite of the clean aesthetic of the digital work common in my role.
I feel like my cozy comic style scratches a different itch, as it’s more structured, has a lighter tone and is fun to look at. My spouse seems to think the cozy comic style is more likely to appeal to a wider range of people but each illustration takes a much longer time to complete and I seem to have a hard time staying in that groove for very long. I like being able to wrap on an individual piece and move on to something new because I truly believe in failing fast and often leading to art growth.
My vector illustrations lie somewhere in between but are in-line with my career goals and has the clean aesthetic that could be in my professional portfolio as well as part my personal branding. Vector feels rigid at times but in it’s own way the constraints provided by the medium makes me engage the visual problem solver part of my brain. Vector illustration turns each of my concept sketches into a puzzle I have to solve with vectors which is very satisfying.
Last week I saw a video from Struthless, an artist and youtuber I’m subscribed to, talk about the “Stallion Theory”. The general premise of Stallion Theory is that every person’s creative energy can be like a stallion, wild, out of control, unruly and if not adequately reigned in and can be self-destructive as a result. Stallion theory’s solution to this problem is setting constraints to your creativity to promote creative focus. I found the idea interesting and downloaded a copy of the worksheet that helps you create goals for a project with constraints. I’m happy to report I’ve been very focused because of it. I’ll attach some examples of the three directions my image-making takes and my filled out worksheet. I think my art “styles“ can coexist but just not all at once in my brain.
A pretty typical automatic drawing piece, a happy place for me but pretty dark huh?
The cozy comic style, fun to look at but takes forever to complete, a very draining process.
Vector Illustrations, feels more professional and in-line with my career aspirations
My filled out Stallion Harness worksheet
