23 July 2015
For my entire life I’ve been entrenched in art. My fascination only continues to grow when it comes to the creators themselves, and with it, my jealousy. Compared to a lot of people in my life I am relatively creative, however, it isn’t a muscle that I have exercised very frequently. I’m not an artist. Or as creative as a lot of the people that I have been following for the past few years. From comic creators, Apple bloggers, photographers, and vinyl toy artists, to musicians, designers, and developers. The list goes on and on and on. But these are things I love. I wish I were as talented as these people but my true skills lie in other places. Even if I did put in the time and hardword like these creatives, my interests vary so widely that I would never become an expert like the great artists that have grabbed my interest in the last few years.
This is something I have come to accept but that does not mean I can’t exercise that creative part of my brain. Like the saying goes “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” So any morsel of creativity inside me is best when put to work whenever possible. That doesn’t mean I expect great works of originality. On the contrary, my only goal is to produce something. Anything. To find some ounce of creation within me for pure creativity’s sake.
So how do I go about doing that exactly? I copy everything I can get my hands on. It’s all about practice and repetition. If I see a cool sketch somewhere online, I dabble and see if I can recreate it. The more this happens, the better I get, and the more areas where I learn to add my own spin to it. I know the creative work others put out isn’t natural, it takes a lot of hard work to get to those points and the goal for everyone is continuous improvement. In doing so, I’ve coined my own little word, Arteration, because I know all I am doing is iterating off of the great creative stuff people have shared with the world.
In search for an outlet and a place to share the things that fascinate me I started this site. Discover, consume, and create has become a mantra Of mine as of late. I’ve discovered so many great writers, so I write. I’ve discovered great artists, so I draw. I’ve discovered so many great vinyl toy makers, that I have begun to attempt to make my own. Again, the list goes on and on. I practice my guitar, the drums (which is the one thing I’ve actually been doing for more than five years), and have even dabbled with photography after seeing so much great stuff out there.
Much of the creation for me has been done behind closed doors (or barely at all in the last two months). A large reason being that it’s mostly silly stuff that no one would really care about. Through the last few months some of it has been put up on this site. Things like the little character I started doodling that I call Grub, or some of the sketches I’ve done based off of artists I’ve discoverd on Instagram. However, following Austin Kleon’s mantra “Show Your Work,” I figure the best way to improve is to share. Some of this will be shared here, and other, more out there stuff will find it’s home at dumbnonsen.se.
Discover, Consume, Create, and Share.