I am really bad at drawing and craft work. I am the kid whose art class grades were all thanks to my sister’s neat and tidy drawing. All credits to her for the drawings that got a place on the exhibition board in the school Annual Day. My understanding of creativity was limited to art. As the Collins Dictionary suggests, “A creative person has the ability to invent and develop original ideas, especially in the arts.”
Since I wasn’t the best at art in school, I always felt underconfident when it came to being creative. Or so I thought. So, I did what most kids do, enrolled myself in an art class!
Why?
Because I wanted to believe that I was a creative person.
I learnt all about drawing, painting, shading with different types of colors, but back then I did not have the patience to let the colors dry so my paint would always smudge, and sometimes I would over-erase on the paper to draw something perfectly that it almost tore the paper. And so, I started living with the reality that probably, I wasn’t a creative person. To make myself feel better, I would convince myself with thoughts like, “but I am good at sports!” or “I can dance well!”
Creativity is about curiosity
When I was facing writer’s block during my Master’s, I took to painting to release some creativity in me. I ordered a coloring book (because I am really bad at drawing) and some colors. I picked a word which I wanted to feel or was feeling in that moment, and painted/colored the whole page. Here’s a few samples:
I was curious to do something different to get some ideas so I could go back to writing my essays for submission and I was quite happy with the outcome, both with the colors and with the essays. As you can see, the samples are imperfect, my brush strokes aren’t the most professional but doing the exercise gave me so much confidence. It’s those imperfections that make me, me. And I like that version (though I do wish to improve my strokes).
Creativity is about courage and relentless practice
In an article on Medium, I read about two other qualities/characteristics of creativity: having courage and practicing hard. Through the short stories of Picasso, Tiffany, Edison and others, it concludes to say one has to keep trying! Therefore, to be a creative person, one doesn’t need to be the best at art.
Be it writing a blog, a book, learning and doing photography, art and craft, your job, whatever it maybe, creativity is everywhere. It lies in the way you think, in the way you take decisions and in the way you find solutions to everyday challenges. Most importantly, it is to be found within you. You don’t have to look anywhere outside.
So, keep sucking at art in case you do, but don’t believe for a single moment that you cannot be creative! Try things that make you happy, explore ideas that inspire you, be curious, ask questions and keep trying.
Photo by The Creative Exchange on Unsplash
