5 Ways to Embrace Creative Freedom Article and Illustration by Jeffrey Bowman
Creative freedom can, I guess, be thought of in two ways; the freedom to create what you want within a brief or the freedom you create for yourself in your practice. I'm going to look at the latter, as I think creating freedom in your practice is a fundamental part of being an illustrator.
For me, my recent move to Norway has given me a freedom I've long desired, the freedom to enjoy my surrounds, the freedom to experiment with my work and the freedom to no longer care so much.
1. Stop caring so much
One thing with being a creative is that we care about what we do, we put hours and hours into crafting something we care about. Sometimes we become overwhelmed by this craft and care. It becomes precious. Then we become caged in creating only work that 'fits' the crafter. Often the fear of judgement from working outside of this makes it even harder to do anything else but what we are 'known' for.
I say leave this behind, who cares what you do and when, only you. If you can learn that your not going to lose a bunch of clients because you decided to spend the day drawing bears then do it. Freeing yourself from the judgement of others is key, and if you're really bothered then rule number 1 is; don't put it on the internet.
2. Try stuff out.
'Jack of all trades, Master of none' This isn't as negative as I often think it sounds or is portrayed in our industry. The demand for creatives that work across a broad spectrum of outputs is more common than ever. Try everything and anything out, it could be web coding, painting, it might even be using a colour palette you steer away from.
Understanding and experiencing different ways of working will give you the freedom to create in new and exciting ways. The end results might not work out how you planned but it can't harm your working knowledge to try it out. (see point 01)
3. Get out.
A piece of advice you hear so much is 'go for a walk' or 'move away from the computer, but knowing that you are not tied to the desk is important. You are free at any point to stand up and walk away and breaking that attachment is key. Feeling free in the literal sense.
4. Remember Not every second counts
Now i'm freelance this is something I'm coming to understand more; working in your own time. Being hard on yourself because you don't start work at 8am and work into the night is common (a lot of us do this). But realistically how productive are you if you're forcing these hours of work.
Feeling out what the day is like for you is key, I work around deadlines of course, but if it's something I can plan out then I can take the day and catch up on life, then work in the evening, or get up early work until lunch and start again the next day. Freedom surprisingly creates its own structure or natural rhythm so take a week or a few days and see if you can naturally start and end work without the guilt, you become far more productive in the hours you work.
5. Get in your box
The great thing about freedom is you naturally come back to what you know without that feeling of pressure. Draw a box, write inside it what your comfortable with in your work, the solids. Then outside of it write the things you want to try, then go try them out, you know the stuff in the box will always be there but maybe with time some of the free floating stuff might work its way into your practice and the box gets bigger and better. This article was written by a guest contributor, illustrator and designer Jeffrey Bowman. Jeffrey was also kind of enough to do the editorial illustration for this article. To view more of his work, click here.