These hands belong to my designer, Kristin, who used an actual spirograph to help me create Emily's logo - despite me saying "we can do that in Illustrator." What a great reminder to get off the computer.
Lately I've had a craving to do work that involves using my hands - like writing with a real pen in my Moleskine. I have a fantasy that I'll start practicing hand-lettering or art journaling or even picking up a paint brush again. The fear of coming off as a total amateur is holding me back.
Have you been creating with your hands lately? If so, I'd love to see or hear about what you're working on.
Wasn't it Seth Godin (among others) who said something to the effect of "If it scares you, it's a good indication you should do it"?
ReplyDeleteThough it's somehow good to know awesome, talented, successful creative entrepreneurs like you still have fears like that.
When I left my Creative Director gig after working in web development for 10 years, all I wanted to do was make something that would last. ALL of the web projects I'd worked on had either died before launching or were launched then overhauled within a year. I felt like nothing I created actually existed anymore -- and that realization was accompanied by the understanding that as long as I worked on huge corporate clients, that would be the case.
ReplyDeleteThe next big project I worked on after that was Roller Derby and my book Rollergirl. The league thrived and I can hold my book in my hands.
But I was broke :-) So I went back to corporate land and made web sites that didn't launch for another 5 years.
Cue the craving to do something tangible and lasting. And that's when I wondered into the kitchen.
Now cooking feels like a huge creative outlet for me, and writing about it is very rewarding, too. I love the feeling of kneading ingredients in a giant mixing bowl and trying to make notes with cumin stuck to my pen-holding hand.
Finally, I think I've found the way to work with my hands and support myself. Fingers crossed that this career is the one that sticks!
I love this! It reminds me that I want to get my younger son a spirograph for Christmas. He LOVES drawing.
ReplyDeleteKnitting is my current handiwork. I'm working on a jacket - ambitious for me!
I always have to have something available to keep my hands happy.
Today while I was nannying, I made these out of clay:
ReplyDeletehttp://instagram.com/p/Ph_oS5rDl_/
Does that count? =P
I am terrible at hand lettering but I love practicing! I miss painting too. I think it's important to get away from the bright screen =)
ReplyDeleteI love working with tactile mediums. When I was in art school, the trend seemed to be to work completely digitally. Friends were trading secrets to get their wacom tablet creations to look like oil paints or pencil strokes. I couldn't get into it. I understand the ease of working digitally, but personally, I'd rather get my hands dirty. Nothing compares to the feeling of dragging graphite along the surface of piece of paper.
ReplyDeleteOMG. I loved spirograph when I was a kid and I just got a new set at the Art Institute of Chicago gift shop. My most recent hands project is this collage. http://www.inwardfacinggirl.com/blog/hi-nathaniels-mom-a-collage-inspired-by-motherhood.html
ReplyDeleteI hope to do more soon!
oh spirographs. they kept us entertained for exactly 5 minutes when we were young then we were bored again.
ReplyDeleteI try to use my hands more but sometimes it's hard... just doesn't come naturally anymore. how silly is that?
This looks fun!
ReplyDeleteI too have longed to do art journaling for years. I've bought the supplies, got it all set up, multiple times and then decided I just "can't". Damn that stupid perfectionism!! Perhaps it's time to let it go and just "do it afraid".
ReplyDeleteStart with a piñata! I think that might help you get over your fears, I mean, it's almost impossible to feel intimidated by fringing and sticking paper but, on the other hand, the possibilities are endless! If for a crazy reason you happen to hate the final result you just have a perfect excuse to bit it to the ground (hahahaha) so what is there to lose? Just have fun!
ReplyDeleteThis one is a nice tutorial to get you started --> ohhappyday.com/2011/08/how-to-make-a-number-pinata/
I'm a design student and over fall break I'm going on a camping trip to beaver's bend in southern Oklahoma. I have vowed to myself that I will dust off my old drawing board, pick up a big pad of paper, and get out my charcoal to bring with me. It's been too long since I've drawn anything besides thumbnails.
ReplyDeleteHave you heard of The Sketchbook Project? http://www.arthousecoop.com/sketchbookproject/
ReplyDeleteI'm participating this year and my sketchbook is all dedicated to drawings of my dog Louis. They're not very refined drawings, but it keeps me practicing life drawing which is always a good thing.
http://ellenhawkins.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Sketchbook%20Project
I'm an interior designer for a university and I have been working on a tricky space plan for a department this week. Instead of working it all out in autocad, I took to my "trash" paper, pencil, and scale to work out the kinks before laying it out on the computer.
ReplyDeleteI have been feeling the same way. There are SO many creative new artists here around my local small town and most do hand lettering and self drawing. When I was in school it was all about the new digital age. The most hands on stuff I did was for painting and ceramics (side note my ceramics teacher said I missed my calling, that I shouldn't be a graphic designer but a potter...) My mom was an amazing artist, painting, drawing you name it. I have some of her talent but I feel like I don't utilize my hand creations as much as I should.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the reminder, and now the desire to go purchase a spiragraph... I want one more than ever! Wonder if they still make fashion plates ;)
I think its easier to create on a computer because of the undo function. Mistakes aren't permanent, you can review everything before it "gets out there" and switch things up. There is where the beauty is lost. I have gone back to sketchbook for drawings and scanning them in. Even if I then digitise an idea the spontaneity of the process is no longer lost. I miss that organic flow from creating in real life vs cyber space. Ideas grow much better on paper than on screen and work has soul again, someone (you) have touched the thing you have created with your own hands, it means something again.
ReplyDeleteHi Kathleen,
ReplyDeleteLast week I wrote about finally finding creative work that physically compels me to do it, after having last painted intently over a decade ago. It really has to be habitual for me and I need to find the space and time for that, so I feel lucky I've gotten to that place again. Here is the link to that writing (with some links within to what I've been creating with my hands!). I wouldn't normally leave a link, but I'd like to share what I've been making.
http://bloggingcornerblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/busy-hands.html
xo,
Tiffanie
Good memories with those as a kid! Many a family road trip were spent with those on our laps, keeping us occupied for hours!
ReplyDeleteI can't go a day without creating with my hands. I spend every night in my art studio after my kids are in bed and my husband and I have spent some time together. After that, it's off to my studio to work on an illustration or sketch until my eyes are drooping and I have to force myself to go to bed, knowing I'm going to need a nap the next day. It's totally worth it. I don't feel complete without art.