Don't Limit Yourself to Just One Medium
Explore your many creative sides
Most creative people1 I know have more than one creative hobby. One friend loves to write, but also loves to draw. Another loves writing short stories but also writes music.
One of my own non-writing creative hobbies is making visual art. I drew all throughout my childhood, usually diddling on notebooks and desks. I sketched in college in fits and spurts. Later, I experimented with acrylic painting. It took me a while, but I finally found my home in 3D art.
I started about four years ago, and I was pretty bad at it. Here’s one of my first 3D renders. I still love this image, but after years of practice I see lots of things wrong with it (your mileage may vary.)
And here’s another early render of mine:
Compare the above two with some of my more recent 3d renders below:
It’s far easier to see an artist’s progression in visual art. It’s much harder to see their progression in fiction. Not just because prose takes longer to read than looking at a picture, but because the changes can be more subtle. Punchier nouns, stronger verbs, clearer visual descriptions, better dialog, and many other non-quantifiable things. All may be morphing and changing as a writer matures.
I sometimes find that progression in my own visual art skills translates into progression in my writing skills. There’s something about translating an image or vision in my head into something tangible that is similar in visual art and fiction. I start with a vision, but as I put words on a page or objects into a scene I have to make minor adjustments to account for how my vision differs from reality. Often times, this means I’m be making dozens, if not hundreds of minor adjustments to refine the work. My vision is still compelling me — I almost never compromise it — but the practical considerations of working in a specific medium force me to make choices that alter the work, usually for the better.
The best way to describe it is how a human being is constantly making small, almost invisible adjustments to their musculature in order to walk without falling. You are balancing your body’s strength against the pull of gravity. This give and take, when it’s perfectly balanced, can result in a “flow” state akin to walking without thinking.
Certainly, visual art and writing are very different skills, but I find the creative expression in one often informs the other. And, lately, when I make 3d art or when I write stories, I find myself in a similar, if not identical mental state, totally focused on refining my work to fit my vision.
Are you a musician? Singer? Painter? Poet? Do you have a garden? Do you like to draw? Sculpt? Make collages? How does one art form inspire and inform the other?
For me, it’s like walking different paths in the same immense field. Exploring each gives me a greater sense of my own infinite creative landscape.
Anyway, I’m curious to know about your creative hobbies besides writing. Please feel free to share in the comments!
You can find more of my art on my website.
And if you like these posts, please consider supporting me by buying one of my books online, like my novels King of Shards or Queen of Static. Thank you!
For the record, I think all people are creative, but I’m specifically referring to those who are artists of one form or another.
Merry Christmas Matthew!
I have three primary hobbies; Woodworking, Engineering, and Writing. I also dance around within mediums. BTW, I really like computer renderings, I get envious every time I see a cool render, but then I remind myself that I already have too much to do to invest the time into it. Thing is, I don't "see" the flaws that you are talking about. As a technician, you have trained yourself to look for flaws (ahem, Editor), but most people won't see them. Mary Sue and Uncle Bob may REALLY like my short-stories, but you read it as a trite, convoluted mess. THAT is why it's been important for me to learn the processes of writing, so I could be my own "technician."