Sometimes I’ll admit I don’t know what I am. Sometimes I don’t feel like a whole person—just a creative void that somehow manages to produce art. But nothing can truly come from nothing. The art we create comes from who we are. In less words, you need to find your artist brand.
Art is very much wrapped up in the individuality of the artist. You would never create what you create if you were someone else. But sometimes it’s hard to find the foundation of who you are as an artist. Exactly why do you do what you do? What’s your inspiration? What’s your goal? What’s at the heart of it all?
These questions matter when you are in the process of creating art.
Why is it so important to know who you are as an artist?
Your personality and character will come though and shine if you stay true to who you are, what you want, and what you believe in as you work. To put it simply, to live up to your full potential as an artist, you have to find yourself.
Now you might be a little critical of the idea of “finding yourself.” Maybe it sounds kind of vague or cheesy, or maybe, as a Christian creative, you have a negative reaction to the whole idea. After all, it sounds self-centered. It sounds like you’re focusing too much on yourself instead of on God, who should be the center of your creative life and your mission.
Of course, God should be at the heart of your mission, but here’s what you need to remember: anything you want to do for God with your art he could have done himself with no help from you at all. But he didn’t leave you out. He wants to use you. And he wants to use you specifically—as a unique individual. Exploring and examining the person he made you to be isn’t self-centered at all. It’s a way to find clues to how he wants to use you.
What elements of your identity come into play when you create?
The best of your work will probably lean hard into your personality. When your art grows up from your deepest roots, it will be alive with originality and rare beauty. In order to find your artist brand, you need to find what makes you different and study it. I like to analyze this uniqueness this way:
Your inspirations are the other artists who have influenced your work. Everyone is drawn to different artists for different reasons and as an artist yourself, you have probably picked some things up from other creators you love. This isn’t copying. This is one of the things that makes your work unique.
Your heart—the things you value at the core of your being—will also influence your identity as an artist. What you love and what you consider to be the important things in life will probably show up in your art sooner or later.
Your mission is the reason behind what you do. Why do you create? Who and what do you do it for? You’re bringing art into the world—what value do you want that art to carry with it as it reaches out into the hearts and lives who come in contact with it?
Your aesthetic and your irony or contrast are the more concrete elements in your artistic personality. The aesthetic is your themes, your subject-matter, the genre and tropes and motifs your fall back on. The contrast is the effect that you get from juxtaposing elements of your aesthetic in unexpected ways, and is an often overlooked part of artistic voice. Don’t overlook it. It’s going to help you stand out once you discover and develop it.
How can you pin down what makes you a unique creative artist?
So, that’s a lot to think about and I know I just barely touched on it. That’s why I recommend you sign up to get the key to the Secret Library and grab my Artistic Identity Workbook, where I take you through a simple but thought-provoking questionnaire to help you explore and define all those elements listed above. I designed it as an easy first step on the journey to find your artist brand and explore it.
That’s just a starting point, but I hope it can help you feel more focused and inspired to continue to do what you do best. You are a fantastically unique person—and once you tap into that in your artistic life you’ll never have to worry about being boring or unoriginal.