Keeping a Firm Hold on Creativity
Pablo Picasso said that “Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up”. This statement is so true. We don’t have a care in the word as children. We create without boundaries and our eager innocence drives us to share our art with the world. As we grow older and go through secondary school and then college, our desire to be praised for our work is overshadowed by the fear of being harshly critiqued. We become more reserved with our boundaries in the desired to be accepted by the masses. We allow our past work experiences to shape our body of work as designers. After 7 years of working as a graphic design in corporate America, I had a host of credit card designs and only a few packaging samples to show for my bachelor’s degree in graphic design.
In 2011 I decided to go off on my own and start a freelancing business. This was a huge leap of faith and I wish I could tell you that my efforts were greatly successful. I had my own company with moderate success for about 4 years. During that time I was able to really boost my portfolio and show clients that I could provide artwork in a wide range of fields from web design to branding, packaging, marketing and even animation and modeling. It was like the kid inside of me started to take over and I was eager to show my work again. I felt recharged, reassured and rejuvenated. Almost everything that I worked on was portfolio worthy. Though I really enjoyed working for myself, the clients were not consistent. I enjoy having the ability to pay my bills on time so I decided to get a full-time contract position in the creative field. I had to adult.
I still long for the days that could choose which projects I would work on, having a hands-on approach while molding young minds in the fields of design and animation, and having a very creative day to look forward to each time that I woke up. Who knows, maybe I will give this creative firm another try in the near future. But in the meantime, I will educate myself on how I can market my business and my skill set in order to drive more clients and repeat business in my direction.
