Why Creatives Struggle to Define Their Artistic Self

I've been creating art (visual art, music and written works) in a professional sense for more than 20 years at this point.

While I've had dry spells at times (or had life events that required me to pull back on my art immersion), I've always chipped away at my artistic practice.

I started more as a visual artist, before I owned a guitar, but I always associated music (if only in my head at those times) with the visuals I created. 

As I finally got my hands on a guitar my creativity expanded. I erupted with a creative explosion, prolifically writing songs and creating art inspired by the stories of emotions of those songs.

Writing was always a backbone of both my visual and musical outlets as I believed (and still believe) that it's important for an artist to write well if for no other reason than to articulate his/her artistic vision and intentions to others.

College  is when I honed in on purposely expanding my creative horizons by further developing my writing abilities.

In a societal and cultural sense (at least in the western world) there is a pressure to focus on, and get good at, one thing to forge your career.

For me, I've always struggled mentally with this idea because I'm interested in constantly meddling in multiple art forms as each provides me different forms of inspiration to keep me creating. 

In fact, I feel most comfortable when I can develop a project that incorporates all of my main creative outlets -- music, art and writing.

At times, over the years, I've held myself back by succumbing to the pressure of needing to focus on one art form.

At first, I felt liberation -- I wanted the simplicity of only having to focus on one art form. I thought I could truly develop a distinct style and define my creative self if I only concentrate on one thing.

However, after a little while it just drove me nuts. That's just not me. I need a more holistic approach.

So in a pursuit over the years for my own style in one art form and/or genre I've realized my style is to be interdisciplinary in my approach to my creative output. 

Doing so has led to more success in my career -- my own personal creative career as well as the work I'm paid to create for businesses I work with (past and present).

How about you? Let me know here.

Posted by: Nick Venturella