(Minus David Bowie or Freddy Mercury.)
Is it just me, or does anyone else have a problem creating their art under the weight of high expectations?
I'm not talking about the stress of deadlines or anything like that. I'm fantastic at working under that kind of pressure. It's not even really other people's expectations that get me. It's my own.
Let's say I was about to start a painting and someone said to me "This piece has to be PERFECT because it's going into your portfolio", I'd be frozen. I wouldn't even be able to pick up a paint brush.
I think the equivalent happened to me this week in my Typography class. We have an ongoing logotype assignment. Most people just made up a company for themselves and branded it. I have my real shop - Honeydew Studio - which has been waiting for some sort of logo and branding since I opened it last year. It's already gone through probably half a dozen shop banners.
I worked up about 7 logos, none of which I was happy with, and brought them to class. Oh. My. God. My project went over like a lead balloon...and rightly so. None of my logos were any good. I'm starting to feel almost incapable of producing anything great because of all the pressure I'm putting on myself. I mean, if this logo comes out well, I'll be using it in the real world for years to come. I can be fabulously creative when I have to brainstorm a project for someone else. It's just that this particular project is for me and it isn't just a school assignment.
It's quite literally back to the drawing board for me this week. That will put me a bit behind everyone else. (They'll just be resolving their final logos and starting to design business cards etc.) Ugh. Any suggestions how to get myself out of this deer-in-headlights mindset?
4 comments:
Can you pretend you are designing for someone else with a similar theme/store? (Maybe go find a shop on etsy that strikes you as kinda close) Make something for them, based on their shop...then look for the parts of that you love enough to port over into your design...hopefully just a few tweaks and you are good to go!
Lots of luck!
Just relax. Take a deep breath, grab a pad of paper and start with a blank slate. Just doodle around until something sparks you, then get a bit more detailed. Just keep snowballing this way until you have something that is workable, and only then move over to the computer.
You'll be Ok.
Those are both really good suggestions. You're both totally right. I actually got a couple solid ideas today just by floating around online to different art pages, and trying NOT to think about my assignment.
And Scott - you read my mind. Since hand-drawn fonts are acceptable in this assignment, I'm thinking about trying one out. So, I will be sitting down with my pad of paper tonight. Thanks for your help, guys!
Good luck!
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