Resources for Finding Your Voice:
- Andy J. Pizza's podcast "Creative Pep Talk" has a lot of great exercises for finding your voice. I recommend listening to this episode. I've also created a summary of the exercise with a worksheet:
- Do the "100 Questions" exercise from the How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci Workbook
- Try the exercise in this video I created about exploring ideas based on an exercise by Fidalis Buehler:
- Ask yourself this question: If you could watch a documentary or informational show about something, what would you watch? Maybe it's about a social issue, maybe it's a nature documentary or an adventure documentary about climbing Everest, maybe it's a feel good cooking show, maybe it's about true crime or history history or art. Maybe you thought - gag me - I only like to watch entertaining, fictional things. That’s good to know! As an artist, you need to find a subject matter that you can delve into. This question can give you an idea of what that might be.
- Look at other artists and identify design elements you like. Do you like how they use empty space? Try composing your own image using similar empty space. Do you like how this artist creates a melancholy mood? How do they do it? Try composing your own image using those tools. Or try smooshing things together that you love. Do you love birds and expressive painting? Smoosh them together. Do you like music and portraiture? Smoosh them. Again, most of this work will be bad, but you’ll find little elements that start to click with you, and when you feel a click, build on it. Ask yourself why you like it. Continue to experiment with it, strengthen those elements. Clarifying yourself is about following the clicks.