{"id":8807,"date":"2017-04-27T11:33:04","date_gmt":"2017-04-27T10:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/?p=8807"},"modified":"2017-04-27T14:30:22","modified_gmt":"2017-04-27T13:30:22","slug":"share-the-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shopjessicabuckley.com\/blog\/share-the-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Share the Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently watched a talk<\/a> by Austin Kleon<\/a> from the first Creative Mornings<\/a> event in Austin, Texas a few years ago. At the time, Austin was working on his new book, Show Your Work!<\/a>, which is about something I\u2019m very passionate about \u2014 the process of creating and the sharing of that process<\/strong>. I\u2019ve been sharing my process work and unfinished pieces online since I started my first blog back in 2007, but in the past year, I\u2019ve started really sharing.<\/em> I\u2019m sharing much more now than I would have been comfortable with before. And with all that sharing, I\u2019ve found some big benefits from sharing your work.<\/p>\n

Some artists (I\u2019m looking at you, writers!) warn against sharing your process, saying that if you show unfinished work you are misrepresenting yourself, opening yourself up for criticism\/judgement, or even that you\u2019re teaching other people to do what artists do and therefore bringing more competition into the creative market.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t agree with any of that.<\/strong><\/p>\n

All my work, in-progress or not, is a representation of me. I actually believe the exploratory work is probably more of a representation of the true me than the final work anyway. And all work invites criticism and judgement. Sorry, but yes, if you share something, someone out there will probably not like it. Oh well. And having a scarcity mindset about the creative world is really not conducive to a creative environment in my opinion. Art is for everyone, and art making is ESPECIALLY for everyone.<\/strong> Be confident in your skills and you-ness to know there\u2019s room here for everyone.<\/p>\n

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\"Art is for everyone, and art making is ESPECIALLY for everyone.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

Here are some benefits I\u2019ve experienced from sharing my work, and a few actionable steps you can take to get right to it. Let\u2019s jump in!<\/p>\n

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Sharing shows the reality of art\u00a0making<\/h2>\n

Contrary to what a lot of people seem to think, the process of making art does not involve a strike of brilliant lightning that immediately leads to a beautiful piece. It\u2019s a process of trial and error; just getting in there, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, choosing which mistakes are worth keeping around, slowly progressing, and maybe eventually having a strike of insight that came about precisely because of all the prior work you put in.<\/p>\n

Creative work is sort of like parenting \u2014 it\u2019s a hard, dirty, and sometimes frustrating process that usually gets portrayed with a heavy dose of romanticism.\u201d \u2014 Austin Kleon<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Sharing process work shares the reality of making art \u2014 the pre-work, the quick test sketches, color studies, testing, thrown out drawings, experimenting, and exploring. What did it really take to get to that final piece?<\/p>\n

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Sharing helps everyone\u00a0grow<\/h2>\n

So much of what I\u2019ve learned has come from other artists being open about their process online. I\u2019ve taken classes where well-known illustrators shared their process and techniques, read FAQs on illustrators\u2019 websites detailing their favorites tools and work flows, and blog posts of work-in-progress letting me peek into their steps of creation.<\/p>\n

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\"Sharing your process helps everyone learn and progress together.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

To me, it shows trustworthiness, honesty, generosity, and a pure love for what you do. I\u2019m beyond thankful to all the illustrators that have unknowingly helped me in my career. I want to continue to be a part of that community evolution, and throw my own process into the mix so we can all continue to learn from each other and grow together.<\/p>\n

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Sharing teaches you about your own\u00a0work<\/h2>\n

When I first began sharing my work, I was afraid to share my process work. I only posted final pieces, the work I thought was my best work. But occasionally, I would post a sketch or process shot. And guess what? People responded way more when I shared that process work, than my final work!<\/p>\n

Now, to be clear, I\u2019m definitely not suggesting you make your artistic decisions based how many likes or comments your post gets on social media. BUT. I do think sometimes it can give you clues on what\u2019s working on what\u2019s not<\/strong>. At its base level, a like\/share\/comment is a human responding positively to your work. They get it <\/em>and can relate to it.<\/p>\n

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\"The work I thought was best \u2014 my final work \u2014 was not speaking to people as much as my process work was.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

What I realized at that moment (it was actually a series of moments, because I\u2019m hard headed apparently), is that the work I thought was best \u2014 my final work \u2014 <\/em>was not speaking to people as much as my process work was. So I began to ask myself: Why?<\/p>\n

A lot of artists think sharing their work is merely a matter of putting it where people can see it, but sharing really means opening up and having a relationship with your audience, letting them talk back to you and work alongside you, and learning something from them. \u2014 Austin Kleon<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

That led me to a problem with my work that artists encounter all the time. I was losing the liveliness and vitality in my sketches when I refined them into a finalized piece. I was doing too much, messing with it too much, beating it to the ground, trying to make it look good, and losing whatever original spark of life the idea had in the beginning. So I learned from that lesson, began sharing more process work, and now try to consciously focus on keeping the original vitality from my process work in my final pieces.<\/p>\n

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Sharing helps you focus on the process, not the final\u00a0piece<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m gonna argue something crazy here. I think there\u2019s more value in the process of making art than in the final piece.<\/strong> I think I probably get more value out of making a piece of my art, than you (the viewer) get from looking at it. For me, making art is a process of self-discovery and self-awareness, and it would be a lot to ask the viewer to have that same kind of experience looking at my work.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s ok!<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve found that by recognizing the importance of the process, committing to the process, and sharing that process, it makes my final pieces stronger. My final art has more depth, and that sense of my self-discovery can shine\u00a0through.<\/span>
\nAnd maybe one day, if I keep focusing on the process, my work will encourage a sense of self-discovery in the viewer too.<\/p>\n

Last year, I was reading my friend Mike Monteiro\u2019s great book, Design Is A Job<\/a>, and there\u2019s this bit about explaining design work to clients, where he writes, \u201cThis isn\u2019t magic, this is math. Show your work.\u201d \u2014 Austin Kleon<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Focusing too much on the final artwork while creating is paralyzing. You can\u2019t know what the final work will look like when you begin. So don\u2019t worry about it. Focus on the process, the mark making, and the exploration. If you\u2019re able to focus on that, the liveliness will carry through the whole piece.<\/p>\n

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Sharing helps you reflect on what you\u2019ve accomplished<\/h2>\n

There are few things I love more than looking back on the process of a project. It could be a time lapse video of a drawing from my iPad, looking through folders of sketches and character explorations for a book, flipping through a stack of manuscript revisions, or clicking through hashtags I\u2019ve started to document projects. I love it.<\/p>\n

So often we artists are too hard on ourselves. I do it all the time. I\u2019ll draw something, it will look bad, and I\u2019ll feel bad. I\u2019ll struggle with a drawing in my sketchbook, a story revision, or project planning, and I\u2019ll get a heavy dose of self-consciousness and doubt about my skills. It\u2019s natural to have those feelings.<\/p>\n

But in order to not let them take over, and to stop ourselves from quitting, or believing in that voice that tells us we\u2019re bad, we need to have a voice that tells us we\u2019re good,\u00a0too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking back on my process work is that voice for me. When I look back on a timelapse video or a pile of sketches, I get a giddiness and excitement from reliving the process. I can remember how I felt while I was drawing it (ie. I was completely unsure of where it was going) and then watching as a third-party viewer where it went and how it developed is thrilling!<\/p>\n

Most<\/em> artists know that their work is really a never-ending, evolving process, full of ups and downs. And yet, most artists only choose to share their perfect, finished products. \u2014 Austin Kleon<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure to some people this may come off as sounding egotistical. But first of all, I don\u2019t feel this way about everything I make. Trust me, I make plenty of things that start out bad, keep being bad, and end up bad. But when I do make something I like, and have a moment of pride, I don\u2019t want to squash that.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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\"I want to recognize that pride and use it to combat the negative inner critic that\u2019s always\u00a0there.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

Looking back at my process after I finish a piece allows me to reflect on what I\u2019ve accomplished, even if the only accomplishment that time was that I made something. That\u2019s worth celebrating too.<\/strong> This sense of pride in what I make and a commitment to the process encourages me to keep drawing and keep making.<\/p>\n