musings » Asja Boroš

Random thoughts on blogging

Mar 272013

retro lines

In lately I was thinking a lot about blogging and how it drastically changed (at least for me ) in past few years. I’ve been also thinking about what it means to be blogging as an artist these days (and what it meant years ago). I remember, when I started blogging, almost 5 years ago, sharing my art and photos in a form of blog made much more sense than it does today. I used my old blogspot to showcase latest illustrations and pictures accompanied with very little writing. Sharing my art was enough, it felt enough. Also, at that time I would spend a lot of time browsing through many artist’s blogs, looking forward to seeing their newest work and looking for inspiration. I really enjoyed following work of many artists and seeing how it progresses. Today blogging seems to be completely different story.

With sites like pinterest and tumblr you don’t have to actively look for visual inspiration and stimulation. By signing in to one of those sites you get plugged into literally endless stream of various images. (And very often uncredited images). I’ve been on tumblr for 2 years now and it mostly pisses me off. Well, it’s kind of my fault, I’ve been following back almost everyone who follows me and now my dashboard is full of uncredited images re-blogged by angsty teenagers :) (Note to self : unfollow bunch of people). It also makes me want to shout: hey kids, if you don’t respect other people’s creative work, how do you expect one day someone will respect yours etc… (Ranting against teenagers it’s a sure sign I’m getting old heheh). Anyway, enough of ramblings, let’s get to this post’s topic.

Today, since it has become very convenient to get visually stimulated by being on sites like pinterest and tumblr many people simply don’t go on individual artist’s blogs to look for visual inspiration and just showcasing art is not enough anymore, it feels kinda pointless. So, these days in order to keep their blogs interesting artists are faced with need to share more, to write more about their personal life, to share tutorials, tips, to extend topics of their blogs (art+design+DIY+fashion for example)… It is a natural evolution and a great course for someone who wants to be primarily a blogger focused on art but for artists who actually want to focus on making art, it can be very time-consuming and not as satisfying as it used to be.

That’s the main reason I’ve been debating with myself should I turn this blog into a portfolio site. I feel like focusing more on quality of my photos and drawings which doesn’t leave any time and energy for blogging. To be completely honest, I have conflicting feelings about it: on one side I want to entirely focus on my art, and on the other side I still want to have some sort of online presence, an online venue to showcase my work (that is not a part of some “social networking” site). But having online presence demands, well, obviously to be continuously present online, to be active, to keep on giving…Further more, I hate doing a lousy job at anything and posting like once a in a couple of months would feel like that. I also feel like I am at the crossroads of sort with this blog of mine: will I focus on making this more interesting space, by sharing and writing more (at the expense of time and energy I would otherwise use to enhance quality of my art) or will I completely abandon it and turn it into a portfolio site? Anyway, for now it’s just a stream of thoughts, time will tell :)

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My dear fellow bloggers, how do you feel about blogging right now? Do you think it’s becoming an outdated form of self-publishing or is it still relevant? What does blogging mean to you? Feel free to share your thoughts :)

Arts and crafts in time of recession or what if your work doesn’t sell

musings 4 Responses »

Aug 242012

pure perfection

A friend of mine who is an accessories designer enthusiast complained to me yesterday about how she feels very disappointed by the fact that her creations don’t sell as they used to and she can hardly even cover production costs for her designs with the sales she is making now. She sounded very disappointed and defeated and told me that even though design is her true love and passion she wants to stop pursing it all together. She also pondered what’s the point of creating/designing/crafting/making art in times when it’s become so hard to sell any of your work or make any progress. I tried to comfort her by telling her what I know and have learned about creativity, art and why I think it’s important to keep doing what you love and makes you happy no matter what’s going on with economy, society etc. I also decided to share some of my thoughts about it in this post.

So, here it is, sort of a list of things to remember if you start feeling discouraged by recession and wish to stop creating:

First of all, need to express yourself artistically is an inner need, it comes from your heart, soul, your inner self. It’s not something that is affected by outer world or society (or economy). If you are a creative, artistic person you will always have desire to create no matter what’s going on in a world around you. An urge for self-expression and creativity cannot be suppressed.

By denying ourselves pleasure of creating, exploring, playing we’re suffocating our inner child, stiffing our imagination and even (I’m not exaggerating here) potentially endangering our mental health. We can experience only those things we can imagine. If we forget how to imagine joy of creating, if we forget how to play and have fun we are more likely to slip into apathy and despair without even noticing it.

In a world where we’re constantly bombarded with news about “serious” situation in society, about recession, about crisis, something like painting a landscape, snapping pics of kittens or hot gluing glitter on fabric might feel as a frivolous or trivial thing to do. As if by doing that we’re not being responsible enough or aware of situation around us. Well, I’m pretty sure we are all more than aware of it. That’s precisely why is so important to continue doing what makes us happy- to preserve our sanity so we can face adversities with healthy attitude without fear and panic. Depressed, low-spirited person can’t make healthy decisions.

So…do what makes you happy. If making art /crafting makes you happy continue to do it as much as possible, even if it doesn’t sell, even if no one likes it, even if you creations sit in a box in a dusty basement…Your work may not sell today but one day it might. Economy changes. Governments change. Everything is in a constant state of change and nothing lasts forever including recession.

Just because right now market for art/handmade is stagnating it doesn’t mean we should stop creating. Money does not determine value of artwork, design or craft. Just because something does not sell right now it doesn’t mean it’s not valuable, important, beautiful or appreciated. It just means that right now, due to circumstances outside of our reach there is no market place for it.

Connect with people who are passionate about creating. Let them inspire and infect you with their enthusiasm. Collaborate. Have fun. Continue learning new skills. Share your work online. Opportunity to sell your work and earn will appear sooner or later.

If you feel like you work doesn’t matter, if you feel unnoticed, unappreciated, if you feel like or art or your voice or your self-expression doesn’t matter, you’re not the only one. There are literally thousands of people who feel the same.

We live in highly materialistic society that values money above all and if are not able to earn or if we are underpaid for the work we do (creative or any other work) we can start feeling like less valuable human beings, which, of course is not true. Money or ability to earn it does not detriment our value or value of our creativity, imagination, energy, work, time…

We are all amazing, wonderful, magnificent human beings with limitless capacity to create and express ourselves, and we have every right to nurture that fantastic ability no matter what’s going on in society or world around us. We have every right to nurture and support our imagination, our brilliant, creative minds and our unique personalities and express ourselves through work of art/craft. I strongly believe that being creative is essential part of being a human and it should be celebrated and enjoyed no matter what.

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Obviously, there is SO MUCH to be told about this topic and if you have something to add or share or disagree with me, feel free to write in comments :)

Confessions (on self-promotion)

musings, personal 14 Responses »

Jun 032012

Recently I stopped reading a lot of blogs and sites that focus on art, art as business and giving advice to artist even though I’m very curious about those subjects. Many articles posted on such sites offer advice on marketing, branding and (self)promoting your work both through social networking and other means of connecting with “audience” and clients. Now, to be quite honest, at this point, just a thought of self-promotion, social networking, creating an online presence and branding makes me want to scream. Whenever I read an article on how to promote and market your artwork I feel horrible. I feel like total failure at self-promotion (especially when it comes to social networking) and here are few examples why:

I can’t bring myself to have a Facebook account- seriously, I never had one and from everything I read and heard about it it seems like a machine for privacy violation. I don’t really care that supposedly “everyone has one” or that is supposedly “a necessary tool for self-promotion for artists“. And, yes I’m one of those people who believe that Facebook is a tool for collecting personal data on people and sharing and selling them to who-knows-who without our knowledge.To me, it doesn’t seem right to support that company.

I don’t want to have fans or followers- I deeply respect people who take time out of their lives to look at my work, visit my blog or flickr, send me e-mails, comment or communicate with me in any other way. I deeply respect people who appreciate and support my work in any way and I also respect those who constructively criticize it. I don’t like ideas of fandom and following because they automatically presume that one is on receiving end ( receiving attention, admiration) and one is on the giving end, and that someone is better than others.

I don’t really want to share too much of my private life- even though I read numerous advice that I should in order to give personality to my work and make people more interested in it.

How much sharing is enough? We are encouraged to share our lives on blogs, Facebook and Twitter, our daily snapshots on instagram, our photos on flickr, our inspiration on tumblr and pintrest, our portfolios and CVs on behance, linkedin, our videos on youtube and vimeo…list goes on and on… and we are being convinced that’s the right way to promote our work, if we don’t do it, we are not being relevant, competent and we’ll get overrun by competition because in this globalized world, as artists, we’re not only competing on local level but on world level. At least we’re lead to believe that because when you’re convinced that the rest of the world is your rival you become motivated by fear, anxiety and feeling that you can never do enough, give enough and be enough. So to overcome that you feel you need to share more, promote more, build a better brand and buy more things even though none of those activities make you more creative, productive and satisfied.

At which extent are social networking sites and gadgets that are presented to us as valuable tools actually useful? I can’t help but wonder: are all this means of connecting, networking and self-promoting ( and advices on how and why to use them) actually helpful or it this just clever marketing strategy at work- making us buy into consuming more products.

Also, I wonder have we created a culture in which we believe that we have to share everything, our thoughts, ideas, pictures etc (often without being too selective about them) and that by the very fact that we are sharing we deserve to be liked or followed? Even if we don’t create anything but simply share (re-blog ) work of others we still believe that we should be liked, followed, admired. It’s not my intention to underestimate anyone. Hey, I’m first one to admit I over share at times and I’m definitely not selective enough when it comes posting my work. I just have a feeling that we are creating a culture in which quantity is more important than quality, in which we let our egos run wild and we expect that our every thought, snapshot, tweet is valuable and should get attention and if doesn’t we feel bad or less worthy. Am I completely off with this one? I hope I’m wrong.

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Sometimes I feel, in a world where we are constantly encouraged to share more, I want to share less, become more selective about what kind of content I share even though, judging by common belief and advices that would make me less competitive. But my intuition tells me the more I buy into an idea of competing , the more I’ll get caught up in scarcity mindset, not believing there’s enough for everyone, the more I’ll be afraid, the more my creativity and energy will drain and I won’t be able to produce valuable work that is worth promoting in the first place ;)

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How about you? Do you thrive at social networking? How do you promote your work?

What inspires me the most

illustration, musings, personal 2 Responses »

Jun 012012

you are magnificent

In every interview I’ve ever given one of the inevitable questions was to name artists whose work inspires me or to answer what inspires me to create. It’s a valid question to be asked , for sure, but I usually find it difficult to answer. I don’t have a list of things like movies, songs, events, books or paintings that inspire me (although I do love and admire many) and I’m not sure how that works for people who do. Like, you see a movie you love and after that you instantly make better art? I don’t really get it. To me inspiration can be found anywhere, and most of the time it’s something intangible or hard to define , like, for example smell of rain that triggers some childhood memory. To me being inspired means to be tuned into a certain mood, to feel a certain way which can be hard to described by words.

But there is something that inspires me a lot, without any doubt: people. To be more precise: energy they emit. I’m sure you all know at least one person who, regardless of what her or she does has contagious positive, creative energy. After you spend some time with them, their enthusiasm and motivation uplifts you and you instantly feel better and more motivated to create. Those are the people who dare to live their life the way they want to, who aren’t afraid to claim their birthright to be awesome, magnificent, creative… People who don’t wait for life circumstances to get perfect (nothing ever does) to go after what they want. Those are the people who allow themselves to think outside of the box, who don’t let naysayers or pessimists to crush their dreams, who simply follow the deepest desires of their heart and allow themselves to be who they are.

They are not necessary bubbly extroverts or attention seekers, they can be very introverted and a bit reclusive but you can feel quiet strength, devotion and love in their presence. It comes through their work as well, no matter what they do, it’s always soulful and meaningful.

Those are the people who sometimes break social norms, or chose to redefine common beliefs on “how things should be done“, not out of disrespect or because they have issues with authority but because they allow themselves to follow their unique vision and be innovative and inventive. Those are the people who challenge our belief systems and encourage us to open up our minds to new possibilities.

I feel deep appreciation for people who choose to honor their heart’s desires and have courage to follow their dreams regardless of consequences because they teach us by example that it’s perfectly possible to live a fulfilled life motivated by love and turn your dreams into reality.

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What or who inspires you the most?

On finding photography style

musings, personal, photography 7 Responses »

May 102012

photos

When I rediscovered my love for drawing in 2008. I wasn’t concerned with what it may result in. I didn’t think of becoming an illustrator or choosing a genre I want to work in or finding my own style. I just felt like drawing and sharing my creations online. After a short period of time, a style of illustration I still work in emerged. It happened spontaneously and effortlessly without me thinking about it or putting any conscientious effort into it. My style grew out organically out of many things I was exposed to over the years (studying animation, character design), things that I liked , that inspired me ( mid-century art and design, abstract art, nature, animals) and my own interests and beliefs (self-development, finding joy and happiness in everyday life etc). It all came together so easily, I never even thought about developing or finding a style, it just happened.

But, ever since I got into photography, a notion of finding my own style has been one of the main concerns, sometimes even bordering on obsession. And I found out I wasn’t the only one, many fellow photographers were totally preoccupied with developing their style, especially young photographers or passionate amateurs.So it made me wonder: “Why is it so important to find your own photography style in the first place?“

The only way you can really benefit from having a distinctive photography style is if you want to market and monetize your work. It’s easier to promote (and sell) a consisted body of work done in specific style and genre. But if you’re not interested in commercial side of photography, then it shouldn’t be so crucial to find your own style. Yet, I noticed so many people who have no interest in selling their photos still actively try to “find their own style“.

Why is that so? And why have I been wanting to find my own style even though I’m not particularly interested in selling my photos? Well, I have a theory. I think that a lot of people concerned with finding their own photography style are actually subconsciously trying to find out who they are, trying to get to know themselves and they are projecting that quest on their creative work. Sometimes by trying to figure out what your unique style is, you’re trying to figure out who you really are as a person .That idea doesn’t sound so strange when you think of society we live in.

We live in a society that encourages us to find out own identity, our own self, not by looking within but by identifying with things and ideas from outer world. We are encouraged to look for our identity through clothes we wear, products we buy, food we eat, music we listen to, friends we have, ideologies and philosophies of others, religious ideas, political movements etc. The truth the only way we can genuinely connect to our selves is from within, though introspection, through asking ourselves what do we want to do regardless of everyone and everything else, thorough listening to our intuition etc.

So, to get back to photography, it wouldn’t be unusual to project a need for self-knowledge onto a need to develop a photography style. It was definitely case with me. All the while I was eagerly trying to find my style I was actually trying to figure out who I really am and to connect with myself. My photos were only mirrors of that process. I believed if I find my style (my unique voice, my authentic way of expression) I would somehow feel complete, my work would become more meaningful, somehow everything would have more sense etc. But basically I was projecting my desire for self-knowledge and self-development onto my hobby. I subconsciously believed that by solving “an issue” of what I wanted to do with my photography I would somehow magically also find out who I am.

But my efforts were misplaced. Even though making art (or taking photos) can be incredibly usefully tool for self discovery and can be very therapeutic it is only a tool. As soon as I fully realized that , I felt relieved. I realized that I don’t need to focus on “finding my photography style” but on my on finding out who I am and that knowledge will help me to grow and progress in every area of my life (including creative work such as photography). That comprehension made me feel much better, empowered and relaxed.

A true progress always comes from within us. And photography style isn’t something you find ,actually, it grows out from your heart and soul, it’s a product of all of your experiences, knowledge, preferences etc. It happens naturally and it’s not something that should be forced. And, the best thing I came to realize? As someone who is not so interested in commercial side of photography in this moment in life, I really don’t have to bother with having a definite style or working in one particular genre. I can happily continue to play and experiment and enjoy in every photo I take :)

Utilize everything

musings, personal 8 Responses »

May 042012

click

When we don’t feel particularly inspired it’s easy to get caught in a certain mindset. We become more focused on things we believe we need in order to create something instead on utilizing resources we already have. We think “In order to create this or that I need: new art supplies/better camera/faster computer/graphic tablet etc” . Or, “If I only had bigger work space/models to work with/bigger budget/more inspiration I could achieve what I desire“. I myself am often guilty of such mindset that leads straight down procrastination and frustration lane.

We very often believe that by acquiring more things we’ll become more creative and motivated to produce all the while forgetting the very definition of creativity. (Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems…). And, really one of the most
obvious ways to exercise creativity is by trying to solve some sort of problem, challenge or work within limitations. Seemingly the bigger the problem or limitation is the more imagination you need to apply to solve it, the more creative you’ll need to get.

In other words, it’s not that having the best work conditions or limitless resources that makes us creative or makes our imagination soar. It’ s the lack of resources that makes us look for alternative, out of the box solutions.

Having said all that I made a decision to utilize all art supplies I have before acquiring any new ones. I decide to limit myself on purpose in order to get my brain cells and intuition working and come up with new, original and unconventional ideas. Meaning, I will buy any new supplies, photo equipment or props before I utilize everything I already have.

I also chose to utilize all the ideas I already have as opposed to keep developing new ones. Why? Because, ideas themselves are not worth much until we manifest them in material world. Simply put, you never know if an idea is good or not until you try to realize it. What seems awesome in theory might not work in practical world at all but you won’t know it until you try it. Yet, we often get caught up in having so many great ideas that never get realized but only clutter our minds preventing new potentially better ideas to emerge.

So, I made a choice to utilize every idea I already have written in my art journal regardless of the outcome. Even if my ideas turn out to be failures, at least I’ll let them go and make room for new, fresh ones.

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Have you ever decided to work within limitations on purpose and you you like setting challenges for yourself?

Identity crisis & Co

musings, personal 7 Responses »

May 022012

fruit girls

When I was still in university I had a friend, a temperamental guy with an unique point of view and an offbeat sense of humor. One time, when we were casually talking about life changes and identity crises he suddenly yelled:” WTF identity crises?! So, you’re a teenager- you have an identity crisis, after that you go through quarter-life crisis, every time you break up with a girlfriend or lose a job-there it is: an identity crisis! Not to mention mid-life crisis! The whole life is a fawking identity crisis! I don’t want to play this game!!” At the time I just laughed but, come to think of it, he was right! This is especially true if you’re doing some sort of creative work. If you’re an artist you seem to continually go through series of some sort of “identity crises”.

To make visible, tangible progress you need to constantly invent and re-invent yourself. First you try to develop your style, then you try to deconstruct it. First you try to expand your knowledge and creativity, then you realize you need to specialize in a very narrow field in order to market/sell it easier etc. And as soon as you start feeling comfortable with your work, it’s time for a change. It’s like a never ending cycle of ups and downs that can be both exciting and frustrating. Personally, I do enjoy this dynamics of doing a creative work, going through periods of intense research (and apparent lack of inspiration) and periods of creating and feeling supercharged with energy and inspiration. I’m used to it, I thrive on it. But, sometimes it goes deeper and a real identity crisis comes disguised as a natural part of creative process.

In lately I was feeling quite restless, craving change. I’ve been trying to put this notion aside for last few months but it wouldn’t go away. I knew this because I’ve been unable to make a solid decision on anything in my life, I questioned and analyzed every single thing, and this restlessness and emotional and mental unease also reflected on my physical body, I had various health issues all throughout the year. But, even though I was aware I need to change something, I kept putting this feeling aside.

Until last week an identity crisis hit me full force. First it started with trivial things, like me wanting to clean things up and deleting my Twitter account, deleting a bunch of photos on my tumblr and changing permissions on my flickr account to the point of crashing my blog. I use flickr as photo storage and all the pics posted on asjaboros.com are originally posted on flickr, so by changing permissions several times on flickr I’ve changed HTML codes for them and almost every picture on my blog became “unavailable”. So I had to re-emebed new HTML codes for almost every single post I published in past 2 years. Basically, I had to reconstruct my entire site. By having to reconstruct my blog I was forced to revisit all of the work I did in last couple of years and I realized I simply don’t feel connected to most of it. I’ve changed a lot, I evolved and my work stayed the same.

“Ok, so I’m going to have to change my style too“, I said to myself and started drawing like a mad person trying to alter my style and then it hit me. Actually hit me. I was drawing so much (and not in a relaxed happy way) that nerves in both of my hands got inflamed causing me great pain. I simply couldn’t hold a pen anymore. After few days pain wasn’t as severe but a sense of weakness set in. I still couldn’t draw or write or hold any small object (like keys for example) without dropping it. It sucked. And it made me wonder. “If I’m not able to draw, if I am not able to be an artist- who am I? Have I neglected my other talents and interests to become an artist etc” Yes, there it was: a full-blooded identity crisis in its most cheesiest incarnation, making me question my life, the meaning of it while sitting on the floor and starring at my weak hands.

I strongly believe that our emotions, mind and bodies are tightly connected and that this nerve inflammation was directly caused by my emotional confusion, it was a warning sign from my body to literally drop what I’m doing. My body forced me to take a break and reflect on who I am and what it is I really wanted from life. A few more days have passed and my hands are doing better although I still can’t draw. And, from this point of view I think it’s for the best, I’ve been drawing automatically for a long time without truly feeling connected to my work.

This temporary health challenge is an opportunity for me to reconnect with myself, with my true needs and desires and to let new energy and creativity emerge. I’m planning to use it to the fullest, to try out new things, maybe develop new skills and remember why I started to draw in the first place and why I (still) love it so much. I’ll see what happens. All I know: life is change and change is good :)

To etsy or not to etsy

musings, personal 9 Responses »

Apr 262012

toetsyornotetsy

My story with etsy started in late 2008. when I thought it would be cool to open up a shop to sell prints of my illustrations. Back in time Croatia did not have an option to receive money via PayPal, a preferable way of making payments on etsy so very soon my little shop, something that was supposed to be a fun project turned into frustration fest. Why? Because I’d get at least 3-4 messages every week form people who were interested in buying my prints but couldn’t understand why I didn’t use PayPal. So I had to explain that Croatian citizens are not allowed to receive money though that service etc. I did understand why people loved PayPal, buying a 15$ print and paying huge bank transfer provisions just didn’t make sense. Anyway, to cut the long story short, I eventually got irritated by having to explain monetary system of Croatian banks over and over again and abandoned my etsy shop letting it die slow and painful death until I finally deleted it few weeks ago.

Why I am saying all this? Well, because Croatians now do have the opportunity to receive money via PayPal (hooray!) and few weeks ago an idea of opening an etsy shop entered my mind again. Why not? It seems like perfect place to sell you handmade and art products, right? It’s easy to set up a shop with minimal financial investments, right? You don’t have anything to lose, you can only gain, right? The more I thought about it, the less excuses I would find not to open another etsy store, especially when my ever supporting boyfriend said he’ll do it with me and help me out with everything I need. Ahhhhhh.

But, I did keep making up excuses why I still wasn’t ready to open up a store, I kept procrastinating. My intuition kept whispering something wasn’t right. You see, I’m the kind of person who likes to do everything best I can, when I start a project I tend to put all of my energy into it, doing everything I possibly can for it to succeed. I give 100% of my all or I don’t start anything in the first place. So, if I were to open an etsy shop I would put a lot of my time and energy into presenting it and marketing it right, into making it pay off. And before I fully commit myself to something I want to know is it worth my time and energy?

Basically I was wondering is opening up an etsy store worth all of the energy and time I would invest into it? So, I did some homework, I looked for articles online on being a successful seller on etsy. And there was a lot to read about! One of the best articles I read was 10 Real Tips For Successfully Selling On Etsy on Handmadeology. All valid, practical advice that confirmed what I knew all along, that if I decide to open an etsy store at this moment I might need to put a whole lot of my precious energy and time into promoting it without any guarantee of it actually making profit. Yeah. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not afraid of hard work and I’m not impatient, but I value my time very much and I want to know again: is it worth it? I read a lot of interviews and etsy success stories (as well as some horror stories) and noticed that etsy bestsellers like The Black Apple or ashelyg opened their shops back in 2005. It makes perfect sense, they did it when etsy was just founded, there was less competition back then and their sales accumulated during last 7 years. Also, a lot of successful etsy sellers were very successful ebay sellers and to them moving to etsy was just moving to yet another platform to sell their products, they already had experience of selling online, they weren’t starting from scratch.

Now, I’m not afraid of slowly building up a business or in this case an etsy shop, but knowing that it may take few years to make it profitable I wonder will etsy still be relevant in few years as it is today or has it already reached it’s pinnacle and now it’s in decline? A similar question was raised in a post titled Is Etsy Dying? on Skinny Artist. (Both post and comments are worth reading btw.)

So, I am interested in your experiences and opinions.

Do you have and etsy shop? Have you had any success? Do you think etsy is dying? Do you think a business concept established through etsy (and similar sites like DaWanda and Big Cartel) is slowly dying as well? What do you think is the future of selling art online?

Fell free to share your thoughts :)

Photo diary: drawing on an apron, brooches from Macedonia and thoughts on self-publishing

book, DIY, drawings, illustration, musings, photos, work in progress 18 Responses »

Mar 092012

Hello Friday! It’s that time of the week when I share my personal, daily photos with you. Last week I took you to a walk through Zagreb downtown but this week I’ll share a glimpse into some of my creative endeavors.

So, sometimes I paint and draw on aprons yet somehow I never remember to take photos of my creations. So this time, when drawing on an apron I decided to photograph the entire process (as well as finished result of course).

<> sketch on an apron
I did this apron for Maja, so I tried to come up with a drawing she might like. I decided on a little house and a home sweet home sign. First I did a sketch on fabric using my trusty uni-ball roller.

wip drawing on an apron
After that I painted the outlines using black textile paint and thin brushes. After the paint was dry I added purple details using Kuretake ZIG farbicolor pen. I got this pen from Arlen, it’s really great to draw with, it has twin brushes and like the black paint I used it’s permanent on fabrics after ironing. Unfortunate Kuretake pens are not available in Croatia.

finished apron
This is how the apron looks finished and worn! I also made a little wooden friend to go with the apron. I hope Maja will like it.

drenka's brooches
A couple a days ago I got two lovely flower brooches from Drenka who took part in my swap! You can check out her blog here.

inside of the book
And yet another thing came in the mail this week, a copy of my book Life Is Beautiful. What’s the deal with that now, you might ask. Well, I put together a booklet of some of my older illustrations using lulu.com. I wanted to test their service, quality of their printing and shipping options. I self-published my first book via blurb.com and now I wanted to try something else. I must admit I love Lulu! Prints of my illos turned out beautifully, colors are gorgeous and paper on which they print is high quality. Their site is easy to use and they offer many,many more options than blurb. However, international shipping prices are really expensive and that is the main reason (well probably the only reason ) I will publish my next book via blurb. Why do shipping prices matter to me? Well, from my experience with the first book, many people wanted to buy a signed copy of the book directly from me instead of ordering it directly from blurb (which I totally understand). So, I had to order my books (that are printed and delivered from Netherlands) to Croatia, sign them and then ship them again to their new home making the whole process much pricier than it should be.
Anyway, I really love lulu.com and I hope they find a way to make their international shipping less expensive.

i love photography canvas
I finished this little painting (5×5 inch) last week but I haven’t took photos of it until today. What to say,I love photography!

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I wish you all wonderful weekend and see you all on Monday when my SUPER SWEET PRINT SALE starts :)

On making a breakthrough in creative work

musings 2 Responses »

Feb 202012

(Intro(duck)tion, a collaboration with Arlen Dean)

Recently I had an inspiring conversation with an artist friend of mine on how to make a significant breakthrough in creative production and move into more accomplishing, higher quality phase of work.

The conversation made an impact on me so I decided to write a post about it. This post, is of course, based purely on subjective opinions, personal experiences and observations and if you disagree or want to contribute to the topic in any way please comment below or drop me a line on asja@asjaboros.com

So, recently a friend and I were discussing how amazing and great first years of pursuing some sort of creative, art related work are. They are a period of discovery, learning and developing your own style. They are also a period of connecting with like minded people, fellow artists, attracting an audience and getting attention. During that time everything seems new, fresh and interesting, you can see progress in almost every piece you make and you’re highly motivated to continue working. In spite of occasional frustrations and insecurities, first years of pursuing art are a period of growth and expansion.

And that phase of expansion seems to last on average for 3 years. It seems that after circa 3 years of continuous work many artists reach a plateau that is not easy to break through. It gets harder and harder to notice significant progress in one’s work which can cause frustration, lack of inspiration and motivation and even a feeling of having a major creative blockage. Some artists get so discouraged and frustrated, they don’t see a way out of this and instead of persistently pushing through this challenging creative blockage they move on to another creative pursuit, a different form of art or decide to quit altogether.

Why is that so? Well, after approximately 3 years of following one path, working within one style (within a certain self-imposed set of rules, if you will) you need to make a conscientious effort to move into next phase of work. An effort that involves planning, scheming, asking yourself serious questions and making serious decisions.

This more rational, mental approach is polar opposite to creative, intuitive process and doesn’t come naturally to artists. Sometimes it just seems easier to move on to something completely new, different and start all over again than to go through a phase of rationally analyzing and dissecting your own work.

But, from my experience, going through this “rational” phase is necessary for making a significant breakthrough in creative work. I believe that adopting a rational (and not only intuitive) approach to creative work is a process of maturing and “growing up” as an artist. Becoming aware of your shortcomings and strong points is important. Asking yourself what does your work contribute to this world and what kind of value does it represent to others is also important as is realizing that you are the only one responsible for your success. Setting goals and making plans is counter intuitive but often necessary if you want to grow as an artist.

So, what are some concrete things you can do when you believe you’ve reached a certain plateau and feel like you need to make a breakthrough :

Figure out how to work smarter and not (just) harder, find out what your strongest points and qualities are and work with them.

Take your time to find out what you really want to achieve, set goals and make a detailed plan how to achieve them step by step.

Don’t be hard on yourself, don’t criticize yourself too much if things don’t seem to go the way you hoped, allow your self to grow at your own perfect pace.

And don’t forget, everyday you stick with your pursuit of art you will be putting yourself in a smaller and more relevant group of competition so any effort you invest in your work is worthwhile.

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