I tend to admire things I can’t do and the people who create those things. There are pieces of painted art I don’t like and wouldn’t buy or hang in my home, but I marvel at what I don’t have the skill to do.
I drew the picture above freehand, it’s a ‘scene’ from my old Super Mario sheets. I remember spending hours drawing these and all the other characters on those sheets.
I wish I had an designer’s brain. In my free time, I can spend hours looking at packaging on pinterest, logos on dribbble, and illustrations on behance.
I know there are skills that can be learned and with a crazy amount of hours of practice, I could improve. But, right now, I prefer to dabble and spend the majority of my time writing.
I have a desire to be a graphic designer, but I don’t have a desire to do the work it takes to be a graphic designer. And you can’t have one without the other. So for now, I hack, I mimic, I copy, and I steal like an artist.
I recommend you do the same.
Whether the thing you admire, wish you could do, or enjoy is something you want to turn into a career, or if it’s just a fun hobby, reproduce. Sing the song and match your pitch to the singer’s, play the instrument and perfect the chords, look at the photos, learn the buttons on your camera, and take similar ones, watch the videos and mimic the editing, you get the point. The best way to practice, to learn, to find your style, your voice, and your individuality is to replicate.
The reason there are entire sections of the same type of books and entire genres of the same type of music, and entire websites dedicated to the same type of pictures is because every creator, by the time they’ve practiced, copied, and stolen enough, brings a fresh and unique style and POV to their work.
Don’t abandon the things you enjoy, even when other things in life demand your attention. Spend some time each week practicing, listening, studying those who’ve done what you want to do and from all those hours and all those influences, design the work you want to gift to the world.
[blockquote]”You are a born maker and we need what you can bring to us, because you’re the only one who can bring it.” -Brené Brown[/blockquote]