“Before I Started, I Did Not Know if I Was an Artist”
As a child in school, I remember drawing and feeling a deep affection for it. However, I knew nothing about creating artworks. All I had was a love for drawing portraits, so I drew portraits of my grandfather, my brother, friends, myself, and other people. I used to draw using a grid technique, which I learned in a two-month course during the school vacation back in 9th grade. It always gave me immense pleasure to draw faces. (Check out my class “ANYONE CAN PORTRAIT” on Skillshare to learn an easy technique through tracing to create portraits).
As a college student, I loved fashion illustration and was a fan of the world-famous fashion illustrator Arturo Elena. The funny thing is that I didn’t even realize I looked up to him as an inspiration until I met Anna Sokolova (a story I will share with you soon). I did not know that I could look up to someone for inspiration, and this realization took almost 7 to 8 years until someone pointed it out to me.
I never found books interesting unless they had good pictures. I was a visual person. Can you relate? My Acha (dad) bought me books as a child, but I never developed a habit for reading, except for Harry Potter. The deep, dark, magical story of J.K. Rowling always inspired me to read her books and watch her movies.
Books became interesting to me once I found a reason to read them—when I found art in them. I love reading and looking at illustrated books. I just love to buy and own them. Through them, I am learning about new people, new artists, new creatives, and new authors. Now, I find books interesting to read and learn from because I have finally found my reason to read them. Art, illustration, and design are topics that deeply interest me and help broaden my imagination.
My mom, Amma, used to tell me, “You have beautiful skills. Why don’t you create paintings and teach others? You keep searching everywhere for an answer, like the musk deer that searches the woods for a beautiful smell only to find that it comes from its own body.” Amma was right. We all are like musk deer. We keep searching for an answer without focusing on the strong skills deeply rooted within us, without knowing the artist in us.
If you are an artist, if you can create paintings, create strokes, create photographs, create music, if you like to act, if you can sculpt, dance, write, sing—what else can you think of? If you are a creator, then you are an artist!
Exercise:
1) Answer these questions:
– What do you want to be in life?
– What do you want to do in life?
– Why do you want to do it?
My answers would look like this:
– I want to be a successful Surface Pattern Designer creating artworks for products I love to see in the world and an Online Educator teaching women Internationally,
– I want to create artworks, turn them into designs for branded products, teach women how to create artworks and designs, and work with clients internationally, thereby helping myself and others to build the best creative career that we all love and enjoy doing.
– Through this, I want to build a career, have a consistent income, be financially stable and independent, bring my dreams to reality, and be able to take care of my parents and family.
What does your answer look like? Write them down one by one.
2) Draw or paint one artwork that speaks to you about what you want to become or is related to what you want to do in your life. It does not have to be an obvious answer. You can paint your dreams as aptly or as a vague picture
