E19 My Creative Journey so far...
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Hello, my creative friend, welcome to another episode of BDI Create Today. In today's episode, I am going to get a little personal as I share a little bit of my own story of how I became a professional creative. I am going to talk about the transformation from being a little left handed kid with a love for new crayons, that led to a love for drawing, that led to studying art in college, that led to a career as a graphic designer, and then as a licensed artist and product and surface pattern designer, and now a podcaster.
Now, I realized that I have been chatting with you since January, but I really hadn't told you very much about my own creative passion and how it's guided me to [00:01:00] where I am today. So I thought this would be a good time to give you a bit of history about me and my creative past. So this is a journey that is filled with some twists and some turns, some hard earned goals, some pure luck of the draw, lots of practice, lots of learning, lots of unlearning so that I could learn new things.
So please believe me when I say that I have had my share of moments of self doubt. I've had times of fear and terror about decisions that I've made, and I have had moments where I was elated and ecstatic beyond reason about creative possibilities that became reality. But through all the ups and the downs, the fear and the thrills, one thing has remained [00:02:00] and constant, and that is my passion for creativity.
You know, it keeps bringing me back to my art. Now I know many of you listening can relate to that little nagging notion that sometimes is burning bright and sometimes it's flickering but it is that little desire that just doesn't die. that is telling you, you must express your ideas and create those things that are rattling around in your head.
That notion that is often a goal that you don't even realize is a goal, that becomes something that somehow You know, you have to leave your creative fingerprint on the world in your own unique way. I think that is what creativity is. It's our way [00:03:00] of leaving our fingerprint, our legacy, our thoughts and emotions in our unique way and leaving it for others to use even after we're gone.
And remember my friend, the creativity. That is something that can be accomplished no matter what your passion is. This can be cooking and painting, weaving, quilting, pottery, spreadsheets. And I see you, my data queens. I've just spoken with some people who professed a love of spreadsheets. And my friend, if that is your thing and you love to do it, that's creativity.
So whatever your passion is, you can and you should. Leave your creative fingerprint on our world. So why am I sharing my story today?
And the reason is because I believe that when we open [00:04:00] up about our own stories of struggles and celebrations and indecisions and self doubt, when we share these stories, We can truly inspire each other to start or stay on a creative journey , and remain on that journey with courage and a sense of belonging.
So I want you, my friend, to know that no matter where you are in your creative adventure right now, you're not alone. I see you, and I'm either walking beside you or I can relate to where you are right now. Because trust me, I have been walking on this creative path for quite a while. It's hard to believe, but that's true.
So through this episode, I hope to offer some insights, lessons learned, and maybe even a few laughs. , and [00:05:00] inspirations along the way. But most importantly, my friend, I hope to show you that if I can do what I do, Right now, so can you.
Because creativity is not just about the projects that we finish. It's more than that. Creativity, most importantly, is who we are. Whether your creative passion leads you to be A professional working for a company or running your own business or side hustle as an entrepreneur or your creativity is a passion that relieves stress for you and brings you happiness as a hobby in whatever that may be gardening, cooking, sewing, baking.
Creativity as we have discussed is really anything that you do. Where you do a task or perform a skill in your own unique way and [00:06:00] Doing this skill or task. Well, it brings you joy. and let me clarify this task or this skill, it brings you joy more often than not.
Because creativity isn't always going to be that, um, well of, of elation and perfection. It's sometimes it's a hard fought battle, but there will be moments where you think nothing is better than this. So that's, that's Creativity.
So here's the goal for today. Listen to my story and then mold and remake what I share so that you can see your own creative journey through whatever form your passion or passions. Create in your life.
So, sit back, grab your favorite beverage or your favorite creative tools and get a little creative and just [00:07:00] relax. As I tell you a little bit more about my creative self. And who knows, by the end of this episode, you might just feel a little more inspired to chase your own creative dreams.
So as you know from my podcast intro, these days I am a licensed artist, a digital illustrator. Surface pattern designer and product designer. And I'm a creative coach who teaches digital illustration to creatives who want to learn to draw with their iPad and put a little jingle in their pocket using the procreate art that they create.
And since January, I have been chatting with you weekly through my podcast. This podcast has been its own unique journey, creating a completely different kind of art. And that art is just me making words. It's chatting to you about creativity. But how did all of this start for me?
So [00:08:00] let's go all the way back to when I was very little, to Manhattan, Kansas, yes, Kansas, where I was actually in a tornado that left my family without a home.
And the tornado happened the day of my kindergarten roundup. But that's a story for another day. My earliest memories began when I was about four, living in Kansas. And you know, many of my memories, when I started to think about what they were and what they were about, many of them revolve around creativity.
My folks got this little card table for my brother and I. It, uh, was this tiny table that was just little person, big, and it came with two chairs and we set it up in our living room. And our living room at that time had a very big picture window. So my brother Dan and I would sit at our table and we would draw things and my mom would tape up the pictures that [00:09:00] we drew.
She'd tape them up on the window. I remember drawing pumpkins and ghosts and then learning how to cut them out to put on the window. for Halloween. It was then that I realized that thin things were hard to cut out and round things were much easier.
It's strange that I actually remember having this thought about what's easy to cut out and what is not. Pumpkins, easy to cut. Skeletons, not so much. Now, I am left handed, uh, and we did not, at that time, Or ever, actually, now that I think about it. We never had left handed scissors in our house.
And my mom has stories about watching me figure out how to cut with scissors using my right hand. I guess it wasn't pretty. But, that was my only option. And when you're little and you don't know that there are other options, you just do your best and then you figure out [00:10:00] how. your best can get better, right?
Because I had to learn to use regular scissors with my right hand, today I can also use my right hand to cut or trim things with an X Acto blade, and I can paint, mostly to fill in objects in awkward spaces, I can paint with my right hand too. And pardon the pun, but this comes in handy.
Now, when I started kindergarten, I remember I felt important when I could bring home work that I had done and I could give it to my mom. Look what I created in school. I guess I had enough free time each day during kindergarten to draw, and I felt that it was a goal to have a few creations to bring home as often as possible.
And I imagine that most of my creations weren't really even fit for display on the fridge, but at that time, I think I had that [00:11:00] quantity over quality frame of mind, which as an aside, my friends is a really great way to get better at whatever thing you are learning to get better at. So quantity, is better practice than doing quality, another story for another time.
But yay, kindergarten me for thinking about that. Anyway, let's get back to the story. My friend, I loved crayons when I was in kindergarten because that was basically the only art tool I had to work with. So to this day, a new box of crayons it gives me a little thrill. You know what I mean? I bet a lot of you out there have that thrill of.
Opening up a new box of crayons. To me, art smells like crayons. At least it did when I was in grade school. But if you give me a new box of crayons today, you could make me very happy. Now, we moved to Illinois during my kindergarten year and I spent my grade [00:12:00] school summers growing up in Illinois thinking about creative projects to fill my days.
I made a lot of things. I made puppets. I made wallpaper for my dollhouse. I turned my little green pull wagon into a pioneer covered wagon using blankets and hangers. I made patterns to make stuffed animals. I created this A to Z family portrait book that got very thick.
I loved any book about how to draw. My favorite being my Learn to Draw Cats book that, um, I talked to you about just a couple weeks ago. And usually, I had a sketchbook or two or three in use, where I could draw pretty girls from magazines, I could draw animals from the encyclopedia, I could copy cartoons from the newspaper.
I mean, who didn't draw Snoopy or Holly Hobby when you were a kid, right? It was a great way to practice drawing. I, um, I made clothes for my paper dolls. [00:13:00] I made holiday cards for friends and family. I learned to crochet curly caterpillar bookmarks that I sold in class when I was in sixth grade and I learned how to bead.
I made pot holders. I learned to embroider. I made my own embroidery patterns. I still have some of my childhood creations, like old sketchpads, and they are hilarious. I was definitely not a child prodigy when I was growing up. I needed every single minute of my creative history to evolve. to be a professional artist.
Today, if you go into my kitchen and you open up the drawer near my coffee maker, you'll find my sewing box. Now, I don't sew a lot, , but I have this little box and inside it, there is this needle holder. It holds all the needles that I ever use. And I'm not sure what you call a needle holder, but this is almost like, um, like if it would be a book jacket.[00:14:00]
It's lined with muslin and It's a blue felt cover and on this little blue felt piece, I embroidered a little worm and she is wearing a bonnet. I did it when I was in 7th grade and it's amusing to think about how old this little needle cover is with the little worm and her bonnet. But it currently houses all All the needles I used to sew, like, on buttons or hem pants, I still have it today.
So stop for a moment, my friend, and think about your childhood creations. Where are they now? Can you, can you think about where a couple of those are? I bet it would be fun to go back and reminisce a little bit about what you were doing then and how it affects what you're doing now. Now, in high school, I was the artist for the yearbook.
I made countless posters for whatever event I was involved in that needed a little bit of publicity. [00:15:00] And in one of my high school art classes, I discovered a love for painting, especially with oils. I remember clearly the day my art teacher told me how instead of shading an object using black, that I could create more depth with more drama by shading an object using the complementary color of that object.
That tidbit of information, Seriously changed my creative life. I remember that was like a window shade that popped up and it opened up an entire world of how I looked at things. And during that first day, when that bit of information was given to me, I realized I could actually see the purples, the reds, the blues, the oranges, et cetera, in shadowed areas.
I still like looking at things and thinking how I would shade them if I were drawing or painting them. Next time you're stuck in a long line, just for [00:16:00] fun, instead of scrolling on your phone, think about complementary colors and seeing colors in shadows. Now, when I was in college, I knew that I wanted to study art and I chose to focus on graphic design because really at the time I thought, I think I'm probably going to need to have a job.
I think it'll be easier for me to get a job doing graphic design than if I decided to be a painter, right, so, graphic design was what I chose and at that time, , and that was, , in the early eighties, uh, computers were not on the scene yet when I was in college. So, graphic design meant storyboards and layouts using markers, not in design or illustrator or photoshop.
So I learned how to lay out headlines and subheads with pen and ink and markers and colored pencils, which does not leave much room for experimentation. So my first job out of [00:17:00] college, I was a paste up artist for a company that, , designed and manufactured large HVAC units for like school districts and hospitals and large malls, et cetera.
And then, , I was there for about two years ish. And then I changed jobs to be an assistant manager in the marketing department of a company that manufactured and sold business forums. And I don't know if you noticed, but these first two jobs, There was nothing glamorous about the products that I was working with, and the challenge in those jobs was finding creativity in boring products.
Consequently, I didn't stay long at either job, but I learned a lot about printing and preparing art for press, which is invaluable to this day.
But still [00:18:00] all the art was done with layout boards. I could cut rubylith and overlays for spot colors, like no one's business.
And I worked closely with typographers and learned how to choose a font. and font size and kerning size and line width that would match the area of space that was needed for copy on the layout that I was designing. Again, working like this did not allow for a lot of room to experiment and it was difficult and often stressful to make it.
Especially, uh, if a client needed something at the last minute and the deadline was super tight. So I remember getting pretty good at revising artboards, , that needed copy revisions by cutting out a tiny single letter to adjust for a typo or a text revision that the client requested at the last minute.
And printer proofs needed to be checked [00:19:00] so closely before heading off to press because you needed to make certain that none of the pasted up text fell off the board or became crooked after the boards would leave your table. So, heating up the waxer and then remembering to turn the waxer off at the end of the day, having sharp exacto knives and extra blades, having T squares, triangles, and a burnisher.
These were tasks and tools that were used over and over every hour before computers replaced all these hands on tasks and skills. Now I started my creative business in the late 80s and began digital illustration in the early 90s. I purchased my first computers along with layout programs like PageMaker and Quark and this new illustration program called Illustrator and a software program to edit photos that [00:20:00] came, believe it or not, free with my first scanner.
And this program was called Photoshop. So as a left handed artist who is starting to use computers, I again learned how to use my right hand to be creative by using a mouse with my right hand. Because at that time, if you think about it, computer desks and the setup of the mouse and the cord on the mouse, how it connected to the computer, only allowed for right hand usage to maneuver the mouse.
So today I can draw with my trackpad using my right hand. Now I can't draw everything, I'm not super detailed with it, but if it can be accomplished on a trackpad by any right handed person, my non dominant right hand is up for the job. Flexibility is everything. And my friend, My First Computers, this is where I became completely besotted [00:21:00] with digital art.
Computers helped me experiment and discover best solutions for layouts. And the computer helped me create and design with better results faster. It helped me embrace rewrites or revisions to art or layouts without panic. And it saved so much time. And I then became curious about all things digital. And when drawing tablets became something I could afford, I bought a Wacom tablet and I learned how to draw with my left hand while my eyes looked at my monitor.
Super weird. But it was doable. So it was when my oldest daughter was born that I really started my business. And it was called Buffington Design and Illustrations, BDI. Having my own business took away long commutes to get to work and to come home. And my own business made me [00:22:00] in control about when I worked, how late I worked, and if I was going to work overtime or work on weekends.
But having my own business also put the responsibility on me to make money And that was entirely up to me. And here's where the income roller coaster started and the regular paychecks. Finding clients in the early nineties before the internet was something that you surfed and eventually googled.
That meant cold calls in the nineties. So I would pick a day where I would just drive around industrial parks near me, and I would look for companies that I thought seemed like a fun place that might also need outside creative help. So I would write down the names, and I would look up the names.
The company's in the phone book. Heh, yep, the phone book. That was a giant resource for me at the time. And then I would call out to, the company [00:23:00] and I would find out who I needed to contact. Can you tell me who in your company, works with your marketing? Who is that person? And I would write them down.
And my marketing approach then was twofold. Cold calls. I would call the person at their desk, and then direct mail. And then when I thought I had a prospect that was warm, who was kind of talking back and forth, like, maybe someday I would have some work for you, I would send them little gifts.
And often the little gifts, were food. I had one company that kept telling me, um, I, next time we need help, we'll, we'll give you a call. So they hadn't called me and they hadn't called me, but I kept getting that same sort of feedback. One day at lunchtime, I sent their creative department a big submarine sandwich with a note that said, um, something about, uh, they could find more time for their lunch by letting me help with their deadline crunch, that kind of stuff, right?
And they called me. pretty much that [00:24:00] day and became a client. Other direct mail things that I did dealt with my illustrations. I did one at Halloween of a girl carving a pumpkin and it said, let me carve out more time for you in your day by helping you with your creative needs, that kind of thing.
So finding new clients. that needed consistent creative help, that was my goal. And then finding clients that had a consistent creative need and projects who would pay on time, that my friend was the dream. You needed to have people pay. So I had one client that paid in 90 days. Now they gave me a lot of work, but 90 days.
So after a project was finished, they would pay their invoice. three months later. And if you weren't happy with that arrangement, they would find another designer and just say, thanks for your interest. [00:25:00] So I had another client and this was actually a church pastor that had me design and print a brochure for them.
The pastor asked for a rush on a four color printed brochure and then never paid me. Never. I was on the hook for my time and the cost for printing, which I had to pay the printer because that was one of my vendors that I used quite a bit. And you did not leave your vendors in the lurch. So each time something catastrophic would happen like this, I would rearrange how I had to work with clients.
After the pester catastrophe, new clients from then on, they had to pay me 50 percent upfront , on design work. And if they were a brand new customer, they would have to pay the last half when the job was finished right away. And then they would pay a hundred percent of a [00:26:00] print job. And I wouldn't deliver the printed project until they paid me.
It always made me sad to have to change up the way I worked to cover a possible area where I could be left in the cold and dark with the project. Because most clients were used to 30 days after an invoice was sent so that they could get it through their system and then get your invoice back to you.
Having these extra disclaimers and upfront costs whittled away at that friendly and warm demeanor that I really liked to offer my clients, but being left high and dry with a project that made even friendly me figure out how to have a net. underneath me to catch me if I fell from a high wire.
So a creative business, while it isn't all pencil drawings and watercolor paintings, my friend, there's a lot of behind the scenes work and this can often be the thing that shrivels up a [00:27:00] creative's excitement about having their own business. So, the secret to success, my friend, is finding ways to do these things that you're not exactly excited about and find ways to be creative in doing those tasks.
Creativity in bookkeeping. Creativity in how you invoice. Creativity in how you communicate. Creativity in how you market yourself. It can be done. But it takes a little extra work. From the very beginning, I knew that I wanted to have more illustrations in my business than design work. But finding good illustration projects, that seemed, for some reason, to be a bigger challenge than finding graphic design work.
So I explored a lot of avenues to find illustration work, and I ran ads in illustration directories, and I researched and found a couple different illustration agents. [00:28:00] One of these illustration agents that I brought on was amazing, and another one was not, and now I have another one that I'm really happy with.
Being persistent with my search for illustration work Did bring me some exciting projects. I have had the pleasure to illustrate for many children's publishers, mostly , for text and early reader books for school projects or school publications. But my favorite illustration client came from one of my directory of illustration ads and I got this phone call from a woman and on the phone she told me that she would like me to illustrate for Smithsonian Magazine.
And you can bet that I danced around in my studio with wild abandon after I got this exciting project. That was actually my husband who helped me find my first product design job. [00:29:00] He told me about this new thing called Craigslist and he thought I should advertise on it. So, he ran this ad for me
But, , from this ad. I had a bath and beauty company call me to work on gift products that they wanted to design that would hold their bath and beauty lotions and oils. This ended up being a dream client. The work was super fun and really creative and I learned to design product and then create mock ups that looked very realistic.
My work that I completed for this company was first presented to the company's clients who were interested in buying their products. So they would come with a presentation for a new collection and they would present it to large stores like JCPenney, Kohl's, Target, Walmart, Costco, etc, etc. This was the first time I saw the work I designed and [00:30:00] illustrated actually show up on the shelves in a store.
I remember the Christmas that I gave my mom this little octagonal train case that I designed and she still has that little case and uses it when she travels. This led to other work with other companies such as Claire's and Icing and OfficeMax. These were all freelance jobs that I found either through an ad or through a creative headhunter that I found.
And yes, my friend, creative headhunters, they exist and they are a great resource. When my girls started college and they started getting married. I have two girls. These years pretty much lined up back to back. I realized at that time that having consistent income, uh, seemed like a dream.
So I had a creative headhunter that matched me with a small, , gift company and I became the manager [00:31:00] in that graphics department. I had a group of three designers and we designed and prepared the artwork for all the product collections as well as designing and laying out a very large yearly catalog that was printed between Thanksgiving and Christmas every year.
The work was amazing and super creative, and I, , loved the designers that I worked with. But the commute was brutal. I had an hour to an hour and a half commute each way to get to my job.
So I found a job that was closer to home. As a marketing specialist at a liberal arts college for their music conservatory art and communications department. Now, these paychecks, they were lovely to receive regularly, but my friend, my passion for my business to create my own art kept pulling on me.
I realized I really wanted to work on my projects. I wanted to do my own creativity and [00:32:00] not have to follow the rules, the regulations, and the corporate culture that a company told me I should be. So when college tuitions were paid and all my girls were happy in their marriages, I said goodbye to my real job and started on my own again.
shortly after starting up my business again, and this time I was BDI, celebrate. today. I bought An iPad and a Mac genius at the Mac store told me about this little drawing app called Procreate.
And my friend, it changed my creative life again. Now I'm creating my work, all of my illustrations. Improcreate. I license my arts and my pattern designs and my product designs. I have clients I love to work with who are licensing my art and I also have a art agent that I work with as [00:33:00] well.
And it was when I started licensing that I decided it was time to find a way to share with other creatives all the experiences I've had as a designer and an illustrator. And so I started teaching. I started first at the college level, teaching college students how to do digital arts. And now I am teaching creatives through my own business, BDI Create.
Today, how they can profit with my favorite program, Procreate. It's great to teach other creatives the digital treasures that Procreate provides. And then help them map out their path to creative success. It is so much fun for me.
So far, it's been a remarkable journey that has filled myself with growth and learning, discovery, and the [00:34:00] positivity of what could be or happen tomorrow. I love the possibility of what is yet to be. But beyond the stories of childhood sketches and Smithsonian illustrations, what I hope you take away from this episode is a sense of connection.
A creative connection to my story, to your own creative story and aspirations. I hope that I've sparked some ideas, some inspiration, or maybe bridged a gap of doubt that you had about what to do, where to go, when to do it, how to do it.
And it's when we share with each other that we find no matter where we come from or what challenges we face, we find our shared curiosity for creativity That, my friend, is what unites us in a powerful [00:35:00] bond. So I hope that by hearing my story, from new crayons to new computers, that you found a thread of inspiration and hopefully some encouragement to pursue your own creative dreams.
So whether you're an artist, a writer, a musician, a gardener, a baker, or maybe you're someone who is searching to find and express your creative voice. Know that the path ahead, it's probably going to be challenging, but like a left handed child learning to use right handed scissors, stay positive about what you can achieve.
Keep working. It's never easy in the beginning, but keep working. It will help you get better. Quantity over quality is something I learned in kindergarten. And you know what? It's sometimes your best bet. So keep your heart positive about the infinite [00:36:00] potential that creativity holds for every single person in this universe.
And when you think that there's no light in sight, My friend, walk a little farther. The sunrise is going to come up. Remember creativity. It's not just a destination to reach. I mean, I've been walking on this journey for decades, but I do not want to get to a destination.
I want to stay on the journey. I want to embrace the journey. I want to appreciate what every day brings. It's about wallowing in the messiness of every day, the imperfection of just the process of creation, and allowing yourself the freedom to explore and experiment and evolve along the way.
It's okay to have a lot of sketchbooks with hilariously bad art. I, I've been there. I have the stuff in my closet. [00:37:00] Remember that your creativity matters, no matter where you are in your journey, that your voice deserves to be heard and that your journey, well, that's uniquely yours to craft. And know my friend that I am here each week.
I'm cheering you on every single step of the way. Thank you so much for joining me on today's adventure and never forget the transformative power your own creativity can have in your heart, mind, body, and soul. Until next time, stay creative, my friend.
