By Jessica Harvey
Featuring Commentary from
Designer, Emily Rose Scott
January
31, 2014 || Updated: February 1, 2014
Hello readers! As you can
tell (from the boxes full of text), my good friend and role model—Emily Rose
Scott has taken the time to give her feedback and expertise on each point!
Emily is in her fourth year studying visual communications at Seattle Pacific
University. Currently, she has plans to become an art therapist and continue
to serve God through art and design! I’m honored that she would allow me to
share with you her Godly perspective as a fellow believer in Jesus Christ.
Having her evaluation has made me think more outside the box, reconsider some
things, and helped me understand art on a deeper level. I hope you
will appreciate her commentary as much as I do!
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1. Art glorifies
God.
This is my first point because it is
the most important point. Since we are made in His likeness, we are
creative beings. I am in awe of the amazing ability God has granted
humankind to create. Art is not just for our enjoyment, but for
His! Often times, I feel closest to God when I’m using my gifts to make
something new. Like music is a form of worship for some, art is a form of
worship for others. Each one is special in its own way.
I love this one (duh) haha. My
identity as an artist is rested in the fact that I was created first. I
created because I serve a God who has an eye for beauty. I seek to glorify
Him through all of my work whether it is a painting I feel inspired to create
or a logo for a client.
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2. It takes time.
It’s easy to compile trash together
and call it a “masterpiece.” Usually, you can even convince someone that
it is. For the longest time I thought that way. After all, art is
what you make it—right? Not necessarily. Art takes time.
There are a handful of artists whose ultimate goal is to get attention so, they
try to make art in large masses; quantity over quality. However, the
artists I find more admirable are the ones whose work has grown over
time. The quality of your art is also determined by your motivation . . .
which, leads to my next point.
I don't necessarily agree that all
art takes time. I think that being an artist takes time; or rather developing
a creative and open mentality takes time. There are some projects that I've
worked on for classes where I spent weeks working on something and was only
partially happy with the outcome. There are some projects where the idea
popped into my mind while I was in the shower so when I got the chance I
immediately took the time to jot down my ideas and do some sketches. The
process of implementing that idea later on took comparably less time than the
previously mentioned scenario. That painting that I did of the mountain/sky/tree
(it’s predominantly blue) took me literally like 15 min. The save the
date I made: 4 or 5 hours. The pen and
inks: roughly 30 min each. That’s not a lot of time. But they are
incredibly meaningful to me because they came from a place of truth and
vulnerability. I feel like the point you were making was concerning art that
looks like trash and I'm guessing you mean more modern art styles? I
personally am not a fan of modern art at all. Something that actually bothers
me a lot about the art world is the amount of cockiness and self-indulgence
and flattery. I feel like that happens in other genres as well. People create
because they think they have a message to share with the world. I'm sorry but
turning a urinal into a statue just doesn't do it for me. (Or pretty much
anything created during the dada movement.) Rants aside, some modern artists
do find personal meaning in the artwork they create. I had to create a
sculpture out of trash my sophomore year and I thought it was an extremely
stupid project at first. But the point of the project was to create beauty
out of something that is cast aside and forgotten. The real point of the
project was to remind us that that's what Christ did for us.
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3. The primary goal isn’t
money—that’s just a bonus. I
struggle with this a lot. My favorite works stem from spur of the moment
inspiration. When my original intent for designing something is money, my
creative juices run dry. I tend to spend more time racking my brain for a
good idea than actually finding one. Good ideas come more naturally when
I’m not under the weight of “Will this idea sell?” Just saying!
This point is something you'll
definitely have to work through to be a graphic designer. If you want to make
a living as a designer you're going to be asked to design some weird stuff
for things you probably don't care at all about. Instead of thinking of it as
a waste of time or a means to a pay check, think of it rather as you using
your gifts to communicate someone else's idea. You may not even like their
idea, but the more practice you get designing; the better you'll get at it.
There have been times where I've had to do something for work or for a school
project where I definitely had a hard time getting the creative juices
flowing, and other times where it wasn't so hard. Either way, you have to
stick with it. I agree though that money shouldn't be your motivation; using
your gifts to serve the Lord should be. If God places you in a job where you
have to be creative in order to make money, I wouldn't view that as a curse
on your artwork but rather as an opportunity that God has given you to be
able to do something that you are really passionate about in order to support
yourself financially.
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4. If you’re comparing, stop.
It’s not easy, but it’s
possible. Sometimes I nonchalantly compare my work with someone
else’s. You could even compare that guy’s killer web design skills with
her less impressive ones. It’s all the same business, but I want to focus
more on personal work. When I find a style of art I really like, I
naturally gravitate to others who are good at it. However, the more
artists that are better at (let’s say) hand-lettering—the more envious I become
of their talent. How can this please God? It doesn’t. At this
point I have a couple of choices: I can a) copy them to make myself feel better
or b) admire their God given talents and become inspired to work harder!
Some people may think so and so was born with the capability to make
impressive, hipster, hand-lettered quotes, but no. Just like anyone else,
they had to work long and hard to develop that skill. Here is the part
where you feel encouraged to practice! Who knows, maybe you’re the next
Picasso.
When you spend 4 years as an art
student with the same classmates [like me], it definitely gets easy to
compare. That is when you need to look at your own work and embrace your own
style. It also makes for really awesome collaborative projects. Make mental
notes of the people you know who are really skilled in an area where you feel
that you are lacking - because in the future you could combine your talent
and ideas into one piece and it will be totally better than if you had each
created something individually. Don't be so worried about copying people
either. Everything we see influences us in some way. So spend time looking at
blogs (designspiration is
really great, so is we and the color). Look at art created from different cultures. Look at
nature. Look at photography. Look at other forms of design such as
architecture and product design and development. You don't have to compare
yourself to be influenced by something.
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5. You are your own worst critic.
We’ve all heard that before and we
know it’s true. There are people out there who actually like your
work. No joke and no strings attached. Sometimes, I feel like
people are getting paid under the table to compliment my work. “They’re
just saying that. They don’t really mean it.” Over exaggerating much?
This is such a twisted idea. Am I doing this to please God or men?
The only reason I could possibly bring myself down is because I am concerned
about what others might think of me. Even as I’m typing this, I feel such
a heavy conviction. I am my own worst critic. To stop this, I have
to remind myself daily that I create to glorify God and not others (see first
point).
I totally agree. I am hard on
myself a lot of the time and super perfectionistic about a lot of what I
create. Don't seek praise from others to drive your work though. I've
definitely been caught up in that. Constructive criticism is super important
from peers and creative professionals. Not all constructive criticism is
helpful though as art is highly subjective and hearing a bunch of opinions
that you trust but they all go against each other is sometimes more unhelpful
than no help at all.
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6. It’s not all about publicity.
You know that dude. The one
that already has a thousand likes on that instagramed photo of a breakfast
burrito? You could only dream of having that kind of publicity. Why
can’t you have that many retweets, likes, shares, followers, and what
not? Maybe you need to post more pictures of food? Please stick
with doing what you love. The people you should want following you are
the ones that actually appreciate what you do. That could mean being less
noticeable to the masses so, tough crackers. You are the best person you
can be! I’ve had to ask myself numerous times, “Why am I doing
this? Would I still share this if more people hated it than loved
it?” If yes, than I am doing what I enjoy best and I don’t care what
people think. If no, I might want to reconsider my priorities.
Definitely not about publicity.
The goal shouldn’t be how many likes something gets. Create to praise God and
to satisfy your need to create. Express yourself and don't be afraid to
share, but don't seek to get an ego boost. "Please stick with doing what
you love. The people you should want following you are the ones that actually
appreciate what you do. That could mean being less noticeable to the masses
so, tough crackers. You are the best person you can be!” Love that. As a
graphic designer you will be creating things that are viewable to a large
audience. And that's actually a really good thing.
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7. I don’t care if I stand out.
The opportunities can be endless,
but the options can also be limited. Just like there are only so many
notes on a piano. When a musician writes a song, it’s likely that a
couple of bars will sound identical to another song. There is only so
much you can do with what you’re given. The trick is to make the most of
it! I’ve seen so many wonderful artists who have thrived in one
particular style. Good for them! It’s awesome that they found what
they enjoy most and stick to it. I however, have not found my
“style.” It’s fun to combine different techniques and try new
things. I’m all for experimentation. Understandably, that’s not for
everyone, but I’ve developed more skill because of it! I have more
“failed” projects than not, but I’m okay with that. By “failed” I don’t
really mean flat out failed. If I did, I wouldn’t have used quotation
marks. What then do I mean by “failed”? I mean, there is no such thing as
failure. Cliché, I know. I have become much more successful through
my failures than my accomplishments. For example, when I submit a design
on Threadless and it tanks, I get valuable feedback from other artists.
Thus, I seek improvement. The more I submit designs, the more “failures”
I have and the more “failures” I have, the more successful become! For
every one good design, I have about five that don’t turn out the way I
expect. In conclusion, each failed challenge presents itself with the
opportunity to excel or the option give up. What will you choose?
I wouldn't say that anything is a
true failure. Instead, consider it a learning experience that pushed you
further in the direction you really wanted to be going. Just because you
submitted a design that didn't get chosen doesn't make it (or you) a
failure!! If you submitted it you were obviously excited about it, right?
That in and of itself doesn't make it a failure. There have been several
times where I have made something that wasn't chosen or other people didn't
like it, but I didn't consider it a failure. I tuck several of those ideas in
my back pocket too to save for later. Revolutionary artists from the
impressionist movement such as Claude Monet weren't accepted but that didn't
stop them!
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Get to know Emily better by reading
her spring internship interview from The Constellation Co.